Vintage suburbia

Vintage Pretty in Pink

2012-01-07T10:56:00.000+11:00

Pink is one of my favourite colours (along with royal blue and emerald green!). I particularly like a good hot pink, which seems to go well with my pale skin (after quite a few disastrous experiments with beige I have learnt that I look best with some strong colour). And of course, I loved Molly Ringwald in 'Pretty in Pink' - some of her outfits were fantastic.

This is one of my favourite dresses - being pink AND floral - my two favourite things together! The label is very cute - it reads 'Palm Island "Little Fittings" Specially proportioned American half sizes'. Like I need to be told I am short! (I am 5 foot and a half, 155 cm to those of us who are not familiar with feet and inches). Actually, I don't mind being 'petite' - particularly as I gives me access to lots and lots of vintage clothes (and its good on long haul flights)(gosh, I am really grasping at positives there aren't I!).

Speaking of petite, these pink shoes are one of the few vintage shoes I own. I find it very difficult to buy shoes as, again, I am small (a US size 5). I did buy a few vintage shoes from ebay and etsy but found it difficult to get the size right. Often the length was OK, but the width not. And if the seller is not 100% accurate in measuring, the shoe won't fit. But anyway, these are one of my successful etsy shoe purchases. I have to say the vintage shoes are much longer lasting than contemporary shoes - I find modern shoes lose their shape very quickly. Vintage shoes can be a bit uncomfortable to start off with as the leather tends to be harder, but they do keep their shape beautifully. And you can get heels that are not dangerously high! (I can't wear platforms or the wedges in modern shops - have you seen Posh Beckham's heels - OMG!)

This fan is one of my best bargains ever - the grand sum of $4.80 from the Chinese junk shop in Oakleigh. Being made of wood it is very sturdy - quite important in the Melbourne winds.

And last but not least, one of my latest crazes - vintage sweater guards. If you haven't seen these before, do try them out, they really add a cuteness and unique factor to outfits. They simply clip onto your cardigan so are easy to use (called a sweater guard as they literally guard your cardie from falling off!).

Outfit details

dress ebay

cardigan Laura Ashley 2011

sweater guard Etsy Rose Acre Cottage
shoes etsy

handbag Frocks and Slacks, St Kilda

A vintage purple prom dress . . . and lots of lucite

2011-11-24T13:45:00.000+11:00

My hubby and I went out last weekend to a lovely French restaurant in Melbourne called 'Bergerac'. It is a very traditional French restaurant, so we had snails for entree, a lovely Seafood platter and a Bombe Alaska for dessert, with a Grande Marnier flambe. We then went for cocktails to the Vue de Monde bar (great view but ordinary cocktails). It was a great night.

We were celebrating the news that we are moving to France for 2 years next March. My hubby is from Europe (Ireland) so it is great news for us - we can be near his family instead of 10,000 miles away.Of course, that means that I will be 10,000 miles away from my family, but that is the price you pay for marrying a handsome Irish man I guess (I blame it on my 80's crush on Bono).

I wore this purple 50's prom dress which I got at a vintage store in Melbourne yonks ago, but haven't worn until now (I had to get it taken in a bit, then I had to wait for it to be warm enough to wear it).

I absolutely love this colour. I would love to get a royal blue version of this dress actually.

I wore it with my favourite vintage Lucite shoes. . .

And my very favourite Lucite bag . . .

Outfit details

Vintage 50s purple dress Top Hat Vintage, Northcote, Melbourne

Shawl ebay

lucite shoes ebay

lucite bag ebay/etsy (can't remember!)

brooch thrifted/op shop

earrings Callie Whelan, Camberwell Markets and the Vintage Garage

Channelling Joanie - A curvy red dress

2011-11-18T22:03:00.002+11:00

I know I don't come anywhere near looking like the amazing Joan from Mad Men . . . but we can all dream can't we?

This is a dress by the fabulous US designed Hattie Carnegie. She is not as well known as Suzy Perette, Lilli Ann and the like, but the suits and dresses are very nice. I personally do not think the quality of the design and fabric is the same as Lilli Ann, but as I said, they are very nice all the same (and quite a bit cheaper as they are not as sought after!).

Everyone should own a curvy red dress like this. It really does make you feel fabulous, particularly if it hugs in all the 'right places'!

I am a latecomer to the colour red. Because I am so pale and freckly I have been very scared of it. The right shade red can look great though (although I have learnt to stay away from the orangey type reds). I

am also a late arrival to the advantages of figure-hugging dresses. I have fairly 'generous' hips and for many years tried to hide them from view. It is only in recent years (and with a little help from shapewear!) that I have discovered it is actually better to celebrate your hips in dresses like this! (Thanks Joanie!)

Outfit details:

Vintage red dress (mid 60's?) Hattie Carnegie ebay USA

vintage needlepoint bag etsy

PS Sorry for the absence from the blogging world. I have been seriously busy at work, but hope to be a better blogger!

A brown velvet Handmacher Suit

2011-10-13T16:45:00.003+11:00

I have been a bad blogger of late . . . apologies! There is the little matter of my Phd and my work getting in the way of my blogging. These past few months have been very stressful one way or another. But one thing that keeps me sane is my vintage!!

I am sure my law colleagues think I am an air head - one of my colleagues was talking to me the other day and said "I had some important info to pass onto you, and now I can't think of it". And I said (quite seriously) 'Was it about fashion or law?'. She gave me rather an odd look when I said that and said, in a very deadpan voice: 'Law . . .'.(Oops!)

Anyway, onto much more interesting things (!). This is number 2 in my (small!) collection of Handmacher suits (the collection being only made up of 2 suits!).

I got this suit for an absolutely bargain price of US$30 from etsy because the jacket has some fading on the sides of the sleeves and under the arms. But it is still very wearable. The nature of the fabric makes the fading not so noticeable.

The only thing I would say is that (as you can probably see!) the skirt is a little 'snug' on me. I need to lose a few pounds there I think (don't we all!). On that point, I have been doing cycle classes on my gym - if you need to lose a few pounds those classes are the way to go. My gosh they are intense!

The Handmacher suits are nice in that the shoulders are quite soft and feminine. Some of the Lilli Ann 40s jackets, whilst beautiful, are a little too wide on my shoulders. If you are short like me (I am 5 foot and a half!) you have to be careful of jackets with wide shoulders (they make you look like a gridiron player!)

If you want some more information on Handmacher suits, the lovely Couture Allure has a great blog post on it. http://coutureallure.blogspot.com/2010/10/history-of-handmacher-suits.html

Happy Handmaching hunting!

VS x

Hats off to the High Tea - Melbourne Spring Fashion Week

2011-09-10T11:19:00.006+10:00

Yesterday I attended a lovely event - the 'Hats Off to the High Tea' at the Block Arcade in Melbourne. The event is organised by the Collins Street Precinct and is part of the hat exhibition run in Melbourne Spring Fashion Week. I also went to this tea last year (see this link). I absolutely love this high tea. The people are fantastic (the guests are usually all local milliners) and the high tea, which is catered by the Hopetoun Tea Rooms, is beautiful. There was a great mixture of savoury and sweet things and the salmon sandwiches are particularly nice.

I wore a 'Dior style' hat and dress to the event and managed to win 'Best dressed'. That was quite the compliment given how well dressed the other ladies were. The picture below shows myself (on right) with Sandy Aslett, the winner of the best hat competition (there were prizes for the best exhibition of hats during the week). She is a milliner from Buderim, Queensland and a lovely lady (for her online shop please see this link). All the milliners are very friendly and inspirational ladies. I greatly admire them for their creativity. They are all so talented and I like the fact that they run their own businesses in what is a very competitive market.

My outfit details:

1950s 'New Look' hat etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/melmacparadise)

Marie Phillips 1950s dress ebay

This dress is actually a pink and grey version of the dress I wore to the High tea last year. I love this Dior style with the nipped in waist and soft shoulders. I had in expertly taken in by my fabulous tailors, St Kilda Tailors, highly recommended for altering vintage clothing.

I have also loaded some close ups of my hat at the end of this post if you'd like more details about that.

Now onto the gorgeous hats at the High Tea.

Look at this fabulous red creation . . .

Look at this beautiful lady, how happy does she look? Do you know why? She is wearing a hat!

This lady was sitting next to me at the High Tea. Her name is Zuzana Vranovska and she was also very lovely and friendly. She is also a local milliner and sells vintage as well (see below near end of post for her contact details). I love the cherries in her hat.

Another gorgeous red creation - a close up of Sandy Aslett, talented Australian milliner . . .

And lastly, this beautiful girl was wearing a hat from the Hat shop at Flinder's Street Station (where she works). But she added some magnificent decorations to it. I love the feathers and art deco look to it. Divine.

So there you go, a' hat heavy' post, but I hope you liked it!

Many of the milliners pictured above sell their hats in Collins Street and online so if you are interested, please look them up. Some of these include:

- Marea Bright Exclusive Milliner Level 1, Suite 107 Centreway Arcade 259 Collins Street.

Zuzana Vranovska, Couture & Vintage Millinery, shop 8 , 974 High Street Armadale - Kings Arcade

Online - see Serena Lindeman and, as mentioned above, Sandy Aslett.

Also, for those who are interested, please see below of close ups of the hat I wore to the High Tea. I might give you a good idea as to how to date and buy hats online. The style, along with the label (see photo 3) dates it as vintage. On that issue, I have found that anything with the label 'New York' is going to be top quality. The only thing to note with buying hats online is the sizing. You need to measure your head and then make sure it marries up with the measurements given by the seller. You also must ask the seller to package the hat well so it does not get damaged in the post. That is why, when possible, I like to buy my hats in a 'real life' bricks and mortar store!

Happy hat shopping!

A beautiful 'Lilli Annette' Diminuitive Suit

2011-08-08T22:59:00.000+10:00

As regular readers will know, I love the US vintage designer 'Lilli Ann'. I was very lucky to buy a beautiful 'petite' blue and red suit on etsy from the lovely Catbooks1940s a few months ago. It is probably one of the nicest suits I have ever bought. The quality of the fabric and tailoring is really quite breathtaking.

I should note that the skirt I am wearing with the jacket is not actually Lilli Ann, but one that Catbooks1940s had originally listed with the jacket on etsy. She had misplaced the matching Lilli Ann skirt, but then later found it and threw that in for free so I got two skirts for the price of one (what a nice seller!). This is great for mixing and matching and makes the suit really versatile.

Unfortunately I can't wear the matching (navy) skirt at the moment because I have put on a little bit of weight over winter (cough!) and it is too tight on me now. Fortunately I think the red skirt works well with this jacket (I do have to cut down on the sweets though, I just ate homemade apple sponge pudding and icecream - yowzers!).

I love the red cuffs on the jacket - totally adorable.

These are some photos of the suit from Catbooks1940s listing of the item on etsy which will show you better detail of the jacket. You can see (from her far superior photography!) the beauty of the trim on the suit. . .

And finally, one of my favourite parts of vintage items - the label! This one says 'Lilli Annette - Diminuitive. Ahhh, isn't that cute? (I am only 5 1/2 feet tall)(I count that half!) so it is accurate, and rather nice, to say I am 'Diminuitive'!

I hope you enjoyed that little look at my little Lilli Annette suit!

Outfit details

Lilli Ann jacket and vintage skirt Catbooks1940s on etsy

bag etsy

earrings etsy

A handy green Handmacher suit

2011-07-23T23:03:00.000+10:00

Hello again, I am finally back! Thanks to everyone for being so patient during my 'computer crash' hiatus from blogging. My new computer is still on its way, but in the meantime I actually figured out how to upload and edit photos on a laptop without Canon software (answer: irfanview - free software from the internet, in case you were wondering!)

Anyway, enough about boring computers, lets talk vintage now . . .

Regular readers will know I love Lilli Ann suits, but I have recently bought a few 'Handmacher' suits, which were also made in the 40s and 50s and have excellent tailoring. I have to say I don't think they are equal with 50s Lilli Ann in terms of the workmanship and complexity of the tailoring, but they are beautiful in their own right. I particularly like the close cut of the jackets . . .

The cut of the suits are also very feminine and hug in 'all the right places'. I particularly like the rounded colours and the pocket detail which is a signature feature of Handmacher suits.

This is not actually a colour I would normally buy for myself as I am a little scared of pastel type colours with my fair skin. I tend to go for deeper greens, like emeralds. However, the hue of this particular acqua green is OK on me.

It also looks nice with the jacket open and a nice white pussy bow blouse underneath (that is also a little more comfortable too!)

This is perfect work wear, although I had to darn a number of holes in the skirt (6-7 in total, some of them quite large!) so I probably wouldn't wear it to an important meeting or in a lecture. It is OK for in the office though and like me, I guess many flaws are what makes it!

Lastly, I thought this photo might give you a laugh - I have to take most of my photos with a tripod and timer. So I try and line up where I will stand, centre the camera, press the auto button, it beeps for 10 seconds and in that time I have to run around to the front, look composed, smile and off it goes. Naturally it takes me about 20 goes to get 2 decent photos and I have a tendency to go off centre all the time. Exhibit 1 - little ol' me in the very corner of this photo - after I cut all the unwanted background out, all I was left with was this . . .

dear me, enough said!

Outfit details

1950s Handmacher suit etsy

white pussy bow blouse ebay

earrings vintage Lisner - etsy

A momentary service interruption to my blog

2011-07-03T16:23:00.000+10:00

Dear Readers
Apologies for my delay in posting these past 2 weeks. My computer hardrive decided to crash and we have to get a new computer (something to do with the 'motherboard'!). Unfortunately all my camera/photo programs are on that computer so I will have to reinstall everything (when I can find the CD's in which to do this!). I will be back to 'normal' in a few weeks. Thanks for your understanding! Maria (Vintage Suburbia)

A little more Lilli Ann . . . Suit up!

2011-06-17T14:29:00.000+10:00

I love a good suit (as the fabulous Barney in How I Met your Mother would say 'Suit up!').

I justify my rather large collection of vintage suits on the basis that I have to wear suits to work. Well, actually I don't have to. I just choose to. But I find it far better to stand in front of 200 students wearing a nice suit than jeans.

This jacket is one my favourite vintage designers, Lilli Ann.

I got it for an absolute song on etsy for $45 (plus $16 postage, so $61 in total). I do find if you are prepared to buy a jacket separately rather than a full suit than Lilli Ann can be reasonable (you just need to look around). This jacket had some very minor issues - just a couple of small holes in the back of the velvet collar which were easily mended and it needed a good dry-clean. It is also missing the top button, but I don't particularly want to wear it with the top button done up anyway, so that is not a problem (all these issues were revealed in the etsy listing by the way, which is always good, thank you etsy seller!).

The fit of the jacket is fairly snug - I prefer my suits to fit like that. Although I did notice that when I actually wore this to work and had to do a lot of typing and mousing it was a bit too snug!

You will notice that in any of the 50s suit ads, the suit is always super fitted. See for instance this ad . . .

Now, I'm sorry, but there is no way this woman could do a day's work in a suit that was that tight!

(but it does look absolutely fantastic!)

One of my absolutely favourite aspects of buying vintage, especially from the US, is the labels.

And these labels are some of the best I have seen. It is always a bonus to not only get the designer label (eg Lilli Ann) but also where it was sold in the US.

How I wish I could be transported back in time and visit Arthur's in Wilmington, Delaware!

When I can control myself and stop spending all my money on vintage (!) I would love to do a road trip around America and visit all the towns featured on my labels - Portland, Delaware, Ohio . . . Of course, all the old shops are probably gone, but the places sound great anyway.

Just to end this post, a photo of one of the best things you can ever see on a vintage suit . . .

This Lilli Ann label dates my suit to the 1940s (see

http://vintagefashionguild.org/label-resource/lilli-ann/)

The suit also had a union label on it (which was too hard to photograph - sorry!) but which also obviously ads to its authenticity. There are some great tips on dating garments using union labels at this link.

Thanks for reading about Lilli Ann and good luck with finding your own Lilli Ann treasures!

Outfit details

Lilli Ann 40s jacket etsy (seller was 'errolflynn')

skirt also a Lilli Ann, but from another suit

shoes vintage Armani from Salvos op shop Oakleigh (a rare find believe you me!)

vintage black bag one of my most beloved items - my grandmother's handbag. My grandmother died before I was born so I treasure this and love to wear it.

A winter afternoon outfit - cream, beads and pale blue

2011-06-05T16:23:00.006+10:00

Yesterday I went to an exhibition of my friend's art work at her house in Melbourne. Having an exhibition at home is a great idea. My friend is very talented and her art work was lovely (including watercolours of her parent's farm - I love a well-done rural landscape). As it was a fairly casual at-home affair, I kept my outfit low key. I find beaded cardigans are great for these sorts of occasions. Actually beaded cardigans are a staple of my wardrobe - you can wear them to work, out to lunch, to dinner - anywhere really! I would really recommend buying a few of them in different colours. By the way, I am wearing one of my recent purchases from Montreal in the photo above - a lovely light blue handbag from 'Memento' Vintage shop. The photo makes it look like the colour of the bag clashes with the colour of the skirt but it seems to look OK in person - not sure what is going on there!

This is a close up of the sleeve of the cardigan. Isn't that beading gorgeous! I got this cardigan very cheaply off ebay USA a few years ago as it needed a few little repairs and a wash. But it fits perfectly and is in great shape for its age.

This is a close up of the pale blue (do some people call it 'egg shell blue'?) bag from Montreal. Again, got this for a steal, for something like $35-40 (the prices quoted in Montreal are before sales tax, so not sure what the final price was with tax!). I love the shape and colour of the clasp/snap closure thingy (!). Its a nice big size too - I always need a fairly large bag to carry all my bits and bobs.

Hope all is well with you all and hope I can bring you some interesting posts over winter! I do LOVE winter!

Outfit details

blouse ebay USA

cardigan ebay USA

skirt Timeless Vixen Vintage, etsy USA (doesn't she have great stuff?!)

earrings Vintage Weiss, ebay USA

shoes Dianna Ferrari

bag Memento Vintage Store, Montreal

My Quebec Holiday - Art Deco gems

2011-05-20T17:28:00.000+10:00

I have just spent a lovely holiday in the French speaking part of Canada - Montreal and Quebec City (so yes, sorry for the 3 week absence of posts!). I was there mainly for work, but managed to squeeze in some sight-seeing along the way. Montreal is a great city - particularly the neighbourhoods around the CBD, such as 'Mile End' and 'The Plateau' - lots of second-hand bookstores, cafes and . . .. yes . . . vintage stores! My vintage shopping haul will be the subject of next week's post, but for now I just wanted to talk about the architecture of Quebec. Of course, the most famous building in Quebec is the Hotel Frontenac . . .

'Old Town' (Vieux Ville), Quebec City, showing Hotel Frontenac at the top of the hill

Hotel Frontenac is absolutely gorgeous. It is very expensive to stay the night (around $500-600 a night - out of my price range me hearties!) but it is possible to do a tour of the hotel (very worthwhile) and go to the bar and restaurants. The atmosphere in the hotel is very old-world class. I absolutely loved it. You can sit in the bar and look out on the harbour sipping an Apple Martini (highly recommended!)

But some other lesser- known buildings in Quebec City are its art deco gems. Now, I don't know about you, but I love art deco buildings. We have some great ones in Melbourne, see my post on the Manchester Unity building here and I always like to track down art deco buildings when I am overseas.

The most famous one in Quebec City is the Price Building, or 'Edifice Price' as it is known in Quebec . . .

Price Building is on right; Hotel Clarendon on left

The Price Building was built in 1930-31 and was a little controversial at the time because two historic houses were demolished in order for it to be built. It is called the Price Building because it was originally built by Price Brothers Ltd - a family company that unfortunately went bankrupt in the Great Depression.

I love the floral motif on this part of the facade. I am sure there is a proper architectural name for it!

Magnificient doors . . .

The inside of the building is beautiful too . . .

The next door building, Hotel Clarendon, is also a lovely old art deco building.

The hotel was undergoing some restoration work when I was there,

hence use of the temporary cover over the doors.

I particularly loved the detailing at the sides and top of the Hotel Clarendon, it sort of looks like black stitching . . .

The Hotel Clarendon is still a working hotel and the rates are actually very reasonable. Look at their website for more information.

I hope you liked this little insight into art deco in Quebec. Stay tuned for my take on vintage in Montreal next week!

A dark blue wiggle dress

2011-04-26T14:46:00.000+10:00

I wore this outfit last weekend to a friend's play at Lambassa House, an historic mansion in Caulfield, Melbourne. The play was a real hoot and the performances very good. I always like amateur theatre productions - they are great fun.

The dress I wore is a lovely dark blue, which is one of my favourite colours. But it is very much a 'wiggle dress' - it was very tight around the hips so some shapewear was very much called for (I love a good strong girdle!)

I was able to take a bit more time to get ready than I normally do as my hubby stayed at home to look after the children (one of which you can see running around with his wheely toy to the left - he is a 3 year old terror!). Normally we get a babysitter in if we have a night out and I have to be a crazy multi-tasker - not only getting myself ready, but making the children's dinner, getting the house in order etc.

I love beaded bags and this is a very intricate beautiful piece. The photo probably does not do justice to it. A few months ago I bought a floral designed beaded bag, which I have been wanting to get for ages (the ones that are sort of a cross between a needlepoint and a beaded bag). I can't wait to wear it out soon.

Outfit details:

dress ebay

bag Williamstown Vintage Fair

gloves op shop (a rare find!)

diamonte necklace (I have always wanted one of these after seeing Carrie wear it on SATC) ebay

diamonte earrings Callie Whelan, Camberwell Markets (she also has a great stall in the Vintage Garage, Smith St Collingwood)

An Easter Sunday outfit

2011-04-24T16:06:00.000+10:00

Happy Easter to you all! I have had a restful Easter doing very little except read books, drink red wine and eat (bliss!). This morning I went to Easter mass which was very nice. I don't go to church as much as I should. But with everything these days geared towards materialism and consumerism it is always refreshing to go to a community-based event like mass. This is my Easter Sunday mass outfit . . .

I bought this Victorian style lace blouse ages ago on ebay. It is very pretty but it buttons up at the back so need a hubby close at hand to help put in on (I need a 'Lady in Waiting'!)

And of course, no outfit would be complete without a vintage needlepoint bag.

(by the way, consumerism doesn't apply to vintage items - one can never have enough vintage needlepoint bags!)

oops, I have just noticed a slight bulge at the top of my skirt where I was not able to fully close the zipper (!). I need to do a few more sessions at the gym and cut down on those glasses of read wine if I am going to be able to fit into this skirt again!

Because its getting a bit chilly here in Melbourne, I wore this cream vintage beaded cardigan over my blouse. I love beaded cardigans, but find it hard to get any colours apart from black and cream. I would love a blue one like the one Molly Ringwald wears in 'Pretty in Pink' (80s nuts will know what I mean by this!)

Hope you all have a lovely Easter and don't overdose on chocolate!

Decorating Vintage Style - 1950's sewing baskets

2011-04-16T15:01:00.003+10:00

I have been on the look out for a 1950's handmade sewing basket for months and months. They are such a cute way to store bits and bobs around the house. I use the baskets to store my (far too many) books . . .

These baskets are usually made from all sorts of cards and photos, sewn together and then laminated.

The basket above is a very large representation of these vintage items - normally they come in smaller sewing basket styles. I imagine the above version was made by someone to hold knitting needles and wool.

The second basket I bought is a rectangular one depicting old photos from various cities around the world. I am not exactly sure which cities are depicted, but the main two look like something from Scandinavia, definitely Europe somewhere.

Its quite funny though, because on the side of this basket (see above) there are ugly photos of suburban sprawl and what looks like coal plants and furnaces. Quite the contrast from the main photos of Scandanavian harbours! (perhaps the maker was trying to make a subtle political statement!)

I would love to know more about how these baskets came to be made.

I imagine there must have been groups of women across Australia in sewing or craft circles making them? There must have been thousands made because my mother and all my aunties had one in their houses.

I love the fact that they are 'shabby chic' and so individual, but also because they represent someone's thoughts and creativity (and they are exceptionally well made and sturdy)

If you are interested in buying one of these sorts of baskets, you will need to look around quite a bit as they have become a collector's item in Australia. Any that I have seen on ebay have been quite expensive. I managed to buy these on ebay recently because no one bid on them (perhaps because they are much larger than the 'standard' sewing baskets people collect?).

These are the sorts of treasures you may be able to pick up at a thrift/opp shop - so keep your eyes peeled!

My Cranlana Fashion Parade outfit - Deep blue dress and yellow opera coat

2011-03-26T18:44:00.000+11:00

On Thursday morning I attending a lovely vintage event - a talk and vintage fashion parade organised by Charlotte Smith of the Darnell Collection, with assistance from Nicole Jenkins of Circa Vintage Clothing. It was held at the lovely historical Cranlana home in Toorak (Melbourne) which is owned by the Myer family (the owner of the largest department store in Australia). It was a lovely event and the talks by Charlotte and other guests (including a curator from the National Gallery of Victoria) were really interesting. Unfortunately, I can't show you any photos of the parade itself as no photos were allowed in the home. But you can get a glimpse of the outfits worn on Nicole's website here: Circa.

As it was a morning tea event, I wanted to wear something appropriate - not too dressy but something smart and sophisticated (for my international readers - Toorak is a tres elegant and fancy suburb - the most expensive address in Melbourne so I wanted to look the part!)

I chose a vintage deep blue fitted dress (late 50's perhaps?) with a 50s mustard yellow opera coat.

The coat was given to me by my mother's cousin, who was in her 70s at the time. I love the label 'Le Monde Modes - Melbourne'. Sigh . . .

With my fair skin and propensity for freckles, I wouldn't normally wear yellow (I only have three yellow things in my wardrobe, all given to me!). However, I find I can get away with it if I wear a strong colour next to my skin - like this deep blue. Blue is my favourite colour by the way - I particularly love royal blue. It is actually sometimes difficult to find that colour in vintage dresses. Not sure why!

I did all these photos with a self-timer and pedestal-thingy - what do they call them again? Oh yes, tripod! Anyway, as you can see I need to practice a bit with placement - but thought you might like to see some my treasured dresser - which I had to quickly dust before I took these photos! (I am THE worst housekeeper)

Last (but not least) the fab silver buckle shoes I wore with my outfit. They are 60's era, so not quite in keeping with the 50's dress and coat. But still, they are fabulous! (quite uncomfortable by the way, but comfort is not really something I factor in any more to my outfits!)

Outfit details

late 50's blue dress Top Hat vintage clothing store, High St, Northcote

50s yellow opera coat gift

brooch op shop Edinburgh ($5 bargain!)

50s earrings Callie Whelan Camberwell markets

60s silver buckle shoes etsy

My austerity drive

2011-03-17T17:43:00.000+11:00

I am in the midst of my annual 'austerity' drive. This usually comes around every year when (a) my work offers to send me overseas and (b) I realise I am penniless and cannot afford to pay for my share of the 'personal holiday' bit of my travel (because, surprise surprise, I have spent all my money on vintage!) This is where my desire to have a wonderful time in Italy and Canada overrides my etsy obsession (and who of you can blame me for that?!). This time however, the austerity drive is going to last quite a long time as my hubby and I are saving to buy a house next year. Ouch!

Unfortunately I am not naturally frugal with money. For me, money is there to be spent on wonderful things. When I could have bought a house in my 20s I instead spent all my savings backpacking around the world. It was totally worth it and the best thing I ever did (just the night making out with the handsome Canadian welder in Hanoi was worth it alone!!)(I will spare you the details don't worry)(unless you want to hear them - that will cost you $5 a minute - ha ha!)

But when I do have to save (and I usually need a reason), I actually find it quite therapeutic. Although etsy have great stuff, and it is difficult sometimes to resist its allure, it is actually nice to just enjoy the things you have without having to buy things all the time. And it allows me to take a good, long hard look at my wardrobe and realise I have waaaaay too many clothes anyway - why do I need anymore. Exhibit A - my wardrobe:

Now I have to be honest and say I probably have the equivalent of another of these wardrobes stored in various parts of the house so I cannot tell myself that I don't have enough clothes. And some of them I have worn only once or twice so I really need to work on better utilising the wardrobe I have. I am also starting to find it hard to look after all the clothes I have - make sure they are all mended and clean and free of moths. Another reason for my austerity drive!

Of course, austerity drives are vintage in of themselves. During World War II, rationing was very strictly controlled and there was a public push to 'make do and mend'. . .

Of course this philosophy is also great for the environment. The less I consume the better it is for the health of the world.

But of course, saving and not consuming is not always easy. So if you are interested, these are my personal keys to saving success:

(1) Get creative and feed your soul
There is a good reason why the best pop music ever made was in Britain under the rule of Thatcher in the 80s. Everyone was poor and depressed. Result: genius pop music creativity. Now, we don't want to go back to Thatcher (do we?!). But it is an indicator that not buying stuff helps your creativity. So utilise your free time that you would otherwise waste buying things - write a short story, read 'War and Peace', join a Toastmasters or book group. I have had such a great time this past month reading books - I have been devouring about one a week. They have all been brilliant and made me so happy (if you are stuck for recommendations - start off with the No. 1 Ladies Detective Series by Alexander McCall Smith - brilliant. Then go on to Dickens!)

(2) Learn how to bake a cake
One of the best ways to spend your time, and save money too, is to bake your own cakes, and make your own pikelets, scones and pancakes. Your family and friends will love you for it and home made food is much better for you than processed stuff (it is also less fattening as it is more natural)(believe me, its true!). Start off with the Women's Weekly series or recipes by the Country Women's Association (CWA):
http://www.cwaofnsw.org.au/merchandise/home.do;jsessionid=1E13DD59631A48C130F1F6960995A54D
Don't go for smancy fancy, just plain honest home cooked fare your nanna would have made. Delish!

(3) We are all in the same boat
Sometimes I read blogs where the writer seems to have limitless money with which to buy fabulously expensive vintage clothes all the time and they live in an enormous house and you think 'where do they get the money for this?'. The answer probably is: debt! We all know about the GFC (Global Financial Crisis). My husband is Irish and many of his family and friends are under financial pressure (another reason for my austerity drive). So I try and remember that everyone has to save - not just me!

I could go on and on about this, but there are a few hints to help you out if you are interested. Hopefully I can stick to my austerity drive and make it to Italy for my trip. You may see me curled up on a park bench in Pisa if I don't start saving for my hotel bills so I had better do it!

Happy saving!

Pretty blue (and green, and red and . . .!) floral vintage dress

2011-03-03T20:06:00.000+11:00

I tend to say this about all my vintage dresses, but this really is one of my favourites summer frocks . . .

It is actually one of my very rare finds from an op shop (Brotherhood of St Laurence in St Kilda, which is really a 'vintage' op shop I guess - although don't expect to find any treasure there now, it has changed a lot since I bought this dress many years ago).

Although this is not in the class of a designer vintage dress (think Adele Simpson and the like), this is just a great, versatile and wearable dress. And, importantly, the cut is quite flattering. Although I have a small-ish waist (which I work on, believe you me), on the downside I also have a fairly large behind (it sort of sticks out at the back - my ballet teacher was always hounding me 'pull your bottom in! I wanted to say 'I can't, its just like that!!).

Anyway, the cut of the skirt on this dress is quite flattering to my rather fullsome rear-end which is nice (the cut that is!). If I was handy I would make a few copies of this dress, but I can't sew (and really don't have time to sew more importantly!) so I will just enjoy this version.

The other reason I love this dress is that the pattern is very very cute. It also has a number of great colours in it, so I can team the dress up with various nice bright cardis and accessories to make up different outfits. Love that.

I am not sure of the date of the dress as it is evidently handmade. I would say the 1970's? Definitely not the 50's. But I don't mind either way, its just a great, individual day dress which can be worn almost anywhere - even to the park with my troublesome, headache-inducing 2 year old son! (who at this moment is headbutting my desk computer - God help me)

And of course, an outfit would not be complete without some gorgeous vintage Trifari earrings (part of a demi parure, that is, comes with a matching necklace). I love Trifari jewellery. Pity the size of my wallet doesn't allow me to buy more of it - it is very well-made and great design.

Outfit details:

dress Brotherhood of St Laurence, St Kilda (years ago when it was a 'vintage' type op shop and had great stuff - no longer like this, a lot of tat)

Blue cardi Saba (their cardis are good)

bag Old Hat Northcote

earrings etsy

Pink and white stripe pleats

2011-02-24T18:54:00.000+11:00

I have been home all this week after I had a little knee procedure done last Friday (so sorry for delay in posting!).

I do jazz ballet (or should I say 'did' - that may have to be in past tense now!) - hence my bad knees. After asking how old I was (I will admit to being 'late 30's' to you all!) my doctor 'tsked tsked', shaking his head and said 'no more ballet!' so Natalie Portman can feel safe and secure - there will be no menacing 'Black Swan' pirouettes from me!

But I digress, although it has been fun to stay at home and catch up on some great films and read good books, it has been soooo depressing not to be able to go out in my fab vintage outfits. So it was great today to go out for a latte and get dressed up for a change. Unfortunately I had to go out with crutches, which did not really go with my outfit - but at least I was in a dress!

I looked at my wardrobe last week and thought 'I really need to have a big cleanout and sell some of these dresses on ebay' (I really do have too many clothes). From time to time I have these brilliant bursts of thought and then I try some of the said dresses on and think 'no! I can't possibly part with this!'. This is one of the dresses I was going to cull - it is actually not great to wear on a hot day as it is polyester and totally un-breathable (is that a word?). To be honest, the pleats also make my already generous butt look seriously huge (!), but it is very cute, so its staying put. Also, I just can't be bothered selling anything on ebay (I am a buyer through and through!)

I am not sure who I am trying to channel with my pose here - I look like I've swallowed a lemon! I would be terrible as a model! (don't worry, I am not going to give up my day job!)

Outfit details:

60's dress (I think?) ebay Australia about 5 years ago

white cotton cardigan David Lawrence - again many years ago

handbag vintage store in Northcote (Old Hat I think its called?)

earrings Sydney Vintage Clothing fair (they are great, but they hurt like hell!)

My wedding dress (vintage peachy pink)

2011-02-13T14:59:00.000+11:00

This is the peachy pink vintage dress that I wore to my wedding in 2003 (that is my hubby on the right!). Now wearing it again in 2011!

I am pleased to say that I still fit into after 8 years which is nice (thank you Pilates). I have not had the occasion to wear it again since my wedding so I took it for a much awaited outing to a 'Debutantes Dinner' in Melbourne last night, organised by the lovely ladies at the Lindy Charm School.

I searched for a vintage wedding dress for ages before I found this dress (in a little French-style shop in South Melbourne). This was before shopping online was as easy as it is today - there are now lots of vintage wedding dresses to be found on etsy. I actually don't think the colour of the dress does much for my skin tone - a deeper, mauvy pink probably would have suited me better, but it was such a lovely style, I couldn't resist it.

This is a close up of the embroidery/flowers on the dress:

The flowers have a little diamonte/rhinestone in the middle of them so I wore a pair of vintage diamonte earrings to set that off. The fabric in the dress is a sort of stiff, papery-type material which drapes beautifully, but is quite delicate and prone to tearing, so I am always careful when putting it on. I probably should have ironed the flowers to make them sit down a little flatter on the bodice but I was a bit scared to given the delicacy of the fabric. I will have to do that when I have some time and space to concentrate on such a task (which is usually never!)

I hope you liked looking at my wedding dress!

Outfit details:

Vintage (1950's?) wedding dress Little French-themed shop opposite South Melbourne markets

diamonte earrings Callie, Camberwell markets

fake fur stole and vintage purse ebay

gloves modern - Myer

handsome husband from Dublin, Ireland (picked up for a song in a little hostel in Rome, 1998!)

A pretty purple floral and lucite purse

2011-02-06T20:17:00.000+11:00

I love pink . . and I love purple so I was very happy in my outfit today. This is one of those dresses I have had in my wardrobe for ages, waiting for (a) being slim enough to wear it (my excuse: I have had two children!) and (b) having the right accessories to pull the look off. I wore it to Chadstone, one of our big shopping malls in Melbourne, where I took my 7 year old daughter to see 'Yogi Bear' and have lunch. I had to have a stiff red wine when I got back home . . .! (I am not a fan of modern children's movies, give me Disney's Snow White anytime)

I bought this dress last year on ebay and at first did not like it (sometimes things look a lot different from what they appear online!). The texture of the fabric is shiny, so it looks and feels like a bridesmaid dress (perhaps it was?!). I was going to give it away, but in fact, I have found that with some hot pink shoes and a pink cardigan it looks quite nice (excuse the non-ironed cardigan by the way, as usual I had to get dressed in rather a hurry).

Of course, an outfit always looks good with a matching hat and earrings. I got this hat from etsy for a song (as the netting has deteriorated). I bought these earrings from the Sydney Vintage Clothing show - one of my batch of $10 pairs - I love these chunky clip on style earrings - really fab (although I can only wear them for 3-4 hours before they start to hurt!)

I am only 5 foot and a half feet tall (note the half, very important!) so I find I the 'teen' vintage outfits fit me the best (and I think this was made for a teenager). Otherwise I have to pay my tailor to adjust everything and that can prove a bit costly if shoulders need to be adjusted etc. Still, I do find it is worth it to have something fit really well.

Last but not least, one of my two vintage lucite bags. This is not a 'designer' lucite bag from the 50's (not a Wilardy or Rialto which are highly collectable) but it is still very cute. As you would know, some lucite bags can cost $200-300 dollars, but if you look around and don't care too much about whether the purse is signed or not, you can get one much cheaper (this was $59 on sale on etsy). The only thing I would say is careful of flaws such as cracks and odours with lucite - those things are hard to fix (always ask about any chemical odours with lucite as this is a sign the lucite has started to break down).

Oufit details:

dress vintage of uncertain age (handmade) - ebay Australia

cardigan Cue

shoes etsy

hat etsy

earrings Sydney Vintage Clothing Show Oct 2010

lucite bag etsy

A pretty pink and silver grey floral

2011-01-31T18:54:00.001+11:00

This is one of my favourite skirts - a lovely pink and silver grey floral that I picked up for a song in St Kilda. I am not exactly sure what era it is from - it looks home-sewn and has no label. I have always loved the colour combination of pink and grey - it was hugely popular in the 80s - and I am a child of the 80s - so that may explain things!

I have teamed it with a silver grey tshirt from Myer (Basque label) and a little bolero (Jacqui E)(middle of the road cheapish fashion stores for my overseas readers!). I don't really go shopping at 'normal' shops anymore, but I have a collection of little cotton and wool cardigans and boleros that I have picked up at various sales at department stores over the years and I do admit they come in very handy.

And I do have to say that the tshirt material does wonders for my bust (which after two children is a shadow of its former self I can tell you!)

And of course, great way to end is to show a close up of the cute 50s earrings I bought at the Sydney Vintage Fair in October last year. Many of the things there were quite overpriced (in my humble opinion)($350 for a 50s dress is waaay too much in my book!)(etsy has spoiled me I know). Anyway, I did manage to pick up some cheap little 50s earrings - one was this set - for only $12 each pair. Now that's better!

Outfit details
vintage skirt vintage store in St Kilda - no longer there unfortunately

t-shirt Basque label, Myer Department store

bolero Jacqui E women's clothing store

shoes rather ugly but comfortable flats from Myer

earrings Sydney Vintage Clothing Fair

Pink Polka Dots and Hairspray

2011-01-18T22:29:00.000+11:00

Hello everyone and sorry for my extended 'holiday' from blogging! Happy New Year!

Now on to more exciting things . . . vintage dresses!

This is a little number I have had for years. I bought it off ebay when vintage dresses were still cheap, so I got it for a song! If you take a good look you might be able to see that the buttons are little ceramic roses - very cute (but they are not the original buttons and so don't 100% fit into the buttonholes, they therefore do have a tendency to open of their own accord - as a result I am always looking down at my bosom)(possibly not a good look!)

I wear it with a little cotton cardigan/bolero that I got from an Australian department store called 'Myer'. I hardly go into stores these days, as I can get everything I want online (yaay!). However, little cardigans like these are good to get from modern 'real' stores and they are very handy for when it is cold in the morning and warm during the day (that is Melbourne weather for you)

I am wearing the dress with $10 vintage earrings from Clara Fox vintage in Fitzroy (another 'yaay'!)

This dress is actually a 'junior' dress I think as the waist is quite high and bust is very small. However, as I am only a little over 5 foot it is perfect for me! The dress has a lovely cotton petticoat inlay - a very nice touch.

I wore the dress to see the Melbourne production of 'Hairspray' on the weekend which I really enjoyed. The dancing was quite extraordinary. There were a few dancers from the Australian version of 'So you think you can Dance' (which is my favourite show!) and they were amazing - I have trouble doing one turn and they did about ten!

It is great to be back in blogging land and I am really looking forward to posting lots of photos up for you this year!

Vintage Suburbia xx

A little 'holiday'

2010-11-07T17:42:00.000+11:00

You may (or may not!) have noticed that my posts have been a little far and few between of late. The demands of my two 'full time' jobs (mother and uni lecturer). Unfortunately due to some looming deadlines at work I am going to have to take a little 'holiday' from blogging for a while and will be back to 'normal' (as normal as I will ever be!) in January.

I have some great posts planned for next year, including a little homage to my very first (and favourite) vintage icon - Molly Ringwald (remember those great outfits she wore in Pretty in Pink? Fab!).

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and I will see you in the New Year.

Lots of vintage love
Vintage Suburbia x

Decorating Vintage Style

2010-11-01T13:18:00.001+11:00

Like many of you, I not only collect vintage clothes, but love to collect other vintage treasures like old paintings, crockery and old books. So for this week's post I thought I would share some of my favourite pieces with you. I love this painting, mostly because I love books and it shows a very beautiful girl reading a lovely old book, but also because I got it for only $15 at my local St Vinnies op shop - yaay!

As you can see, I love a good doily. This Carltonware bowl was also purchased from my local St Vinnies. It has a slight chip at the back so I got it for a bargain. Carltonware in good condition is very collectable and worth quite a bit of money. I don't mind the odd chip in things like this though.

Next, is part of my fairly large collection of vintage children's books. I LOVE Enid Blyton - I grew up on The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. She writes so well too. My daughter has just started reading The Secret Seven series which is great.

This is another one of my favourite pieces of chinaware - a vintage cake/slice plate, again bought from my local St Vinnies op shop. It was a bit pricier, at $25, but it is gorgeous and the money goes to a very good cause, so its win-win for everyone! I bake a lot of cakes and slices at home, so this has gotten quite a bit of use. I love the handle, a little bit art-deco . . .

For a little bit of fun, I have a few 80's albums scattered around the house. I LOVE 80s music, like New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode etc and this Simple Minds album is just great - very unusual style (a little bit Russian)

Sometimes you can pick up old stockings and other lingerie at op shops for only $1 or $2. Even if you cannot wear the actual stockings, sometimes the boxes themselves are worth buying. I got this lingerie box for free at my local St Vinnies!

Vintage lingerie box (op shop) pictured with wooden jewellery case (homeware shop in St Kilda)

Last but not least, these are some of my vintage books. I love books and have hundreds of them around the house. I buy most of them from book sales and fetes that they have occasionally around Melbourne. They are usually only $1-3 so are a great, cheap way to decorate a home.

(the photo on the right is of myself on Graduation day and my lovely Mum)

I hope you enjoyed that look at some of my vintage bits and bobs around my house!

A French inspired Lilli Ann outfit

2010-10-21T12:40:00.000+11:00

Recently I went to the annual French Festival at Como house and thought I would wear the French colours to fit in with the theme of the day. C'est magnifique as the French say!

I love red and navy blue, such a great combination.

Lilli Ann suit ebay

Hat etsy

earrings ebay

top op shop

In between drinking lots of red wine and eating fabulous Brie cheese and crackers, I went on a little tour of Como House. It is sooooo me - lots of old furniture and bits and bobs. It is well worth a visit . . .

Look at this - the most beautiful pair of gloves and a real live box from Georges Department Store! (formerly the best department store on Collins Street, Melbourne) - everyone talks about how wonderful this store was . . .

And my personal favourite - vintage canisters!

And last but not least, a cute little tea cosy in the dining room of the 'servant's quarters'

Como House, Toorak: see http://www.comohouse.com/

A Vintage Geoffrey Beene dress

2010-10-07T16:51:00.000+11:00

I wore this lovely pink and black checked dress by the American designer Geoffrey Beene out to dinner last week. I hadn't really heard about this designer before - I really just stumbled across the dress during one of my (many) browsing sessions on etsy.

Geoffrey Beene seems to have been rather an interesting character - he studied medicine, but after a few years, left to pursue an artistic career, eventually becoming a fashion designer (much to the angst of his parents as you can imagine, who were counting on having a doctor in the family!). There is some really interesting information about he and his designs at The Vintage Fashion Guild website.

From the look of the label on my dress and consulting the Vintage Fashion Guild information, I would put it as being made in the 1970's, which is interesting as the cut is quite 1950's.

The material in the dress is quite interesting - the label does not say what it is made of but it is an unusual cross between satin and taffeta (if that makes sense!). It is very soft to the feel but also quite stiff, which gives the skirt great structure. I actually usually wear the dress with a patent black belt which draws in the waist and sets off the checked pattern, but in a mad rush to get two children and one husband fed before rushing out the door I seem to have forgotten to wear it!

Those buttons down the front are sort of 'false' in that there is actually a zipper right up the front so the buttons are just for show.

The whole piece is of magificient quality and I love wearing it, it is very flattering and just beautiful to wear. I would really recommend his vintage pieces if you can find them.

Outfit details: Vintage Geoffrey Beene dress etsy USA

earrings ebay I think!

Shoes Myer, years ago

A vintage Snakes and Ladders game - A lesson in morality

2010-09-29T19:14:00.001+10:00

I had to share this great vintage snakes and ladders game with you that I purchased from an op shop recently . . .

It is a real lesson in morality - you go up for honesty and kindness and down for bad temper and pride. . .

Although I was wondering just how many of the 'Snakes and Ladders sins' I was guilty of - pride, greed, gluttony, lust (does lusting after Don Draper count if he is fictional?!) The list goes on and on!

Wouldn't it be great if this applied in real life?

A waspish waistish Dior(ish) dress

2010-09-28T20:43:00.000+10:00

Last Thursday night I attended the premiere of a lovely independent film about the history of Collins Street (the most prestigious shopping street in Melbourne) called 'Boutique Magnifique' by Lesley Rosenthal. The invitation called for vintage dress, so I pulled out all the stops and squeezed into a Dior(ish) New Look dress . . .

Outfit:

Dior(ish) vintage black dress etsy - Shop: SybilStyle

New look black hat etsy

black gloves ebay

vintage brooch and earrings Callie Whelan, Melbourne and online (see below for her shop details)

This is a dress I bought on etsy a month or so ago and to be honest, I had to go to extra pilates sessions to fit into it (!)(the waist is only about 24 inches in my defence!). Before I got into the dress on Thursday evening, I had wait for my husband to get home so he could put on my waist cincher - on the second rung no less! (I have never usually gotten the cincher past the first set of rungs!). It was rather comical, me yelling at him 'go to the second rung, the second rung!" and he replied 'you're not that skinny!" (not a good thing to say to a woman who has had two children!)

Melbourne is known for its penchant for wearing black, so I thought this colour scheme would fit the theme of Melbourne shopping history.

You may notice that the netting on my hat is a bit frayed and broken,

I could take it off I guess but I sort of like it like that!

The film itself was really interesting - a collection of interviews with various people who had operated shops in Collins Street - the former owners of The House of Merivale, a model who had worked for the designer Hall Ludlow, various couturiers and milliiners from the Block Arcade and, of course, the famous Georges department store. The lady who made the film, Lesley Rosenthal, is a real character and very passionate about her work. I did not grow up in Melbourne so it was really fascinating for me. There was a big crowd at the premiere (around 400 people apparently) and I met a lovely lady there, Lesley Phillips, who had also made the effort to dress up in vintage. She makes 1950's reproduction dresses (look out for her at the various vintage markets) . . .

Finally, a close up of the lovely brooch I wore with my frock, it is my favourite . .

Vintage brooch: purchased from Callie Whelan, Vintage Jewellery expert and seller, Melbourne

You can buy her jewellery from Camberwell markets, at the Vintage Garage Fitzroy and online at http://www.huntedandcollected.com.au/.

I know I have mentioned Callie before on my blog, but I would like to recommend her again, she is very knowledgeable and helpful and her jewellery is very reasonably priced. She also sells vintage men's cufflinks! I bought a beautiful 50's pair of cufflinks for my hubby at Callie's Vintage Garage stall and they cost me the princely sum of $15 - a bargain (and my husband loved them). I really like to support local people (not just etsy USA!) so please, as Molly would say, do yourself a favour and take a look at her stuff.

A Vintage suitcase tower - A gift from Hard Rubbish

2010-09-17T15:28:00.000+10:00

Last weekend they had what is called 'Hard Rubbish day' in my neighborhood. The theory is that you are supposed to put out anything unsellable or not able to be given away to op shops and which cannot go into normal rubbish and the council picks it up. Popular items for hard rubbish include broken TV's and the like. But of course, for vintage bounty hunters like myself there is also some treasures to be found amongst the trash!

So here is my bounty from hard rubbish - three beautiful vintage suitcases (well in my eyes at least, my hubby begs to differ - I did have to smuggle these into my house while he wasn't looking!). Now I do have to admit, I gave these cases a good clean so they didn't look quite as good as this when I picked them up, but all they really needed was a little clean with soapy water and then some scrubbing of the aluminium to remove some of the rust and ta-da!

As you can see, there are still rusty bits on the aluminium but I think that just adds to their character. By the way, to remove rust I found the best thing to be lemon juice and salt (I think I got that tip from a book called 'Speedyclean'). Of course, you just have to be careful to wash all the salt off afterwards so it doesn't corrode the case. Can you see the little ticket stub on the suitcase above by the way, it shows an old Qantas logo. See, that is why I love vintage!

I love the logos on these cases 'futura' and 'bon voyage' - such character!

I still haven't quite decided how I am going to arrange and decorate my vintage suitcase collection - I thought I might add a hat and put on my vintage beauty case . . . not sure yet . . .

Vintage beauty case - op shop/thrifted ($5!)

Hat - op shop/thrifted

Speaking of hats, vintage suitcases are a great way to store your hats. I lined my cases with tissue paper, put a ball of tissue paper in the skull part of the hat to keep its shape and there you go - a great storage idea for hats (dust is the big enemy for hats so I tend to store my best ones away).
You will notice that the inside of the suitcase above is water-damaged. That is because, unfortunately, it rained very heavily the weekend of the 'hard rubbish' day. However, it is a testament to the quality of these cases that they are still very beautiful and show very little damage to the outside despite the rain (by the way this photo probably shows the damage a little worse then it looks in real life).
The only sad thing is that the water made the name of the person unreadable and I love to have that sort of thing written in my cases - again it adds such character and gives the case even more history.

I hope this has inspired you to fossack away during your next hard rubbish day - all the best of vintage luck!

The Hats off to the Races High Tea . . and a little Dior

2010-09-04T00:14:00.005+10:00

Today I attended a 'Hats Off to the Races' High Tea as part of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week. It was a really lovely afternoon spent with fabulously-talented milliners and hat lovers. I splashed out and bought a Dior-style black wide-rimmed hat from Clara Fox Vintage in Fitzroy for the occasion . .

New look hat - Frankin Simon Saks 5th Avenue

Clara Fox Vintage Clothing, 479 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy North

I teamed with a Dior-style (I sense a theme here!) red and black striped dress from etsy (where else?). . .

A late 1940's red and black dress from a very nice seller on etsy Bird and Flower Vintage

Dress is worn with a waist cincher as the waist on this dress is tiny!

The high tea was hosted by the Hopetoun Tea Rooms, which has lovely old fahioned tea place in the Block Arcade, Melbourne city. Because we were such a large group, the tea was not held in the tea rooms itself, but right in the centre of the Block Arcade so there were a lot of Melbournites and tourists bepuzzled by the sight of all these fabulous hatted ladies having tea!

The milliners (from all over Australia) had exhibited their hats through different buildings on Collins Street during the week and prizes were given out for the best exhibit and best hat at tea. The milliners were all such a lovely bunch of ladies, very warm and friendly and they seemed to be very supportive of one another's work which was lovely (as people involved in fashion can sometimes be . . . well, not so supportive of one another!). The judging was done by one of Australia's best milliners, Peter Jago, and the Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne Susan Riley.

Peter Jago on the right - a real character, warm, charming and very very fabulous!! On the left, a lovely milliner who also teaches millinery at RMIT - Serena Lindeman (please click on that link to access her blog and etsy shop - she has some absolutely beautiful hats available for purchase)!

Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Susan Riley, very elegant and also very friendly

Now a close up of those wonderful hats . . .

Look at these two fabulous creations!

I'm sorry this photo is a bit blurry, it does not really do the hat justice, but I wanted to give you an idea of the how beautiful it was from the back and how much work was involved in making it.

If any of you are interested in meeting these milliners or buying some of their hats, many of them run stalls as part of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, so keep your eye on the Melbourne Horse Racing website for information on those hat days.

I think Collins Precinct which organised the High Tea is planning to have one next year for Spring Fashion Week too, so I would urge you to come along, it was a beautiful afternoon and it was lovely meeting all those fabulous milliners.

In any case, you should take yourself off to Hopetoun Tea Rooms for High Tea as the food was absolutely beautiful. Sometimes I find high tea at big hotels a bit 'commercial' - bulk made and a bit tasteless - but the food at Hoptoun was super fresh and really tasty, and the cakes appeared to be homemade. I am very fussy about my cakes and these really were nice. The cake stand we got had, amongst other things, smoked salmon finger sandwiches, maccaroons, lemon tarts and fruit. I could have eaten the whole lot by myself! Highly recommended!

A Fabulous 'New Look' Lilli Ann coat - a nipped in waist to die for!

2010-08-24T20:12:00.000+10:00

Regular readers would know that I absolutely love Lilli Ann (see previous posts) and was so pleased to find this 'New Look' nipped waist Lilli Ann coat on ebay. Finally here are the photos of me wearing said coat!

This coat is an absolute pleasure to wear, it is so well-tailored and drapes beautifully (it is quite heavy actually, I think Lilli Ann coats are often weighted around the bottom to enhance the shape). The only thing I would say is that it is quite 'snug' to I have to wear it with a waist cincher!

Gotta do a spin !

Do you think I look anywhere near as good as the model? (perhaps not!)

By the way, I wore the coat out to a friend's play (Adelphi Players) at Labassa House. It was a set of short Chekhov plays and they were absolutely fabulous. I find some of Chekhov's plays a little hard to take (very intense and a little of their time), but these ones were great (the best one: 'The Bet' - google it, a fabulous one).

Labassa House is a National Trust house located in Caulfield North. I think it is open to the public occasionally so please take a visit: see Labassa House.

A Vintage Pendleton Houndstooth skirt suit

2010-08-17T22:12:00.000+10:00

As regular readers would know, I absolutely love houndstooth - the classic black and white pattern that has been used for eons in fashion. Although houndstooth skirts are fairly easy to get online, I have always found it a difficult to find a houndstooth skirt suit (they are very sought after and often go for quite a lot on ebay and etsy). So I was very happy when I found this lovely 1960's Pendleton suit on etsy a few months ago.

I bought the suit from 'Dear Golden Vintage' who is a very good seller on etsy (see here for a link to her etsy shop). She has very good quality items at reasonable prices - highly recommended.

It was such a good investment because I have absolutely worn it to death this winter (and of course being vintage it doesn't look worn to death at all!). Look at this close up of the wonderful fabric, what a classic design . . .

The 'Pendleton' label

I must say I had never really heard of 'Pendleton' before, but it seems to quite a famous US woollen company. It is so-called because the mill and company are situated in Pendleton, a town in Oregon.

This woollen company started up in 1909 with the manufacture of blankets and over time has diversified into other areas, including the creation of mens and women's clothing. It began to manufacture women's clothes in 1949 with the release of a woollen jacket that became so popular it is known as the '49er jacket'. The 49er jacket was developed over the years into different incarnations and colours, as can be seen from this 1957 ad . . .

I have to say I am not a fan of plaid and you should be warned that a lot of the Pendleton suits online do seem to be plaid, but if you keep on looking, you should find something a little less, well . . . plaidish (!)

I was also interested to see, from their website, that Pendleton is what they call a 'vertically integrated company', which means they basically perform each step in the manufacturing process - they dye, spin and weave the wool and then manufacture that wool into suits. That control over the whole process is probably why their clothes are of such good quality.

The Pendleton Mill and Company still functions today and from the look of their website it looks as if they make beautiful clothes (although nothing contemporary can be as good as vintage in my book!).

I hope you enjoyed that insight into one of America's very interesting clothing companies and good luck with buying your very own houndstooth suit!

A 'Mad for Mad Men' Dinner Party - Part 2 - Invitations, Menus and Trivia

2010-08-08T16:18:00.000+10:00

As promised in my last post, I thought I would give you my tips on how to host a great 'Mad Men' dinner party.

The table set in preparation for dinner - I brought out my best china and linen napkins! (PS I served the appetizers in the lounge with drinks, they are just on the dining table to keep them away the hands of my little children who would have devoured the lot otherwise!)

First, the most important thing: dinner and drinks. I was going to cook an exact replica of the 'trip around the world' dinner Betty hosts in Season 2 but I didn't really like the food she cooked for that (I am not a fan of gazpacho for a start!). So instead I devised a menu based on food and drinks featured in various Mad Men episodes (or with a New York theme), as follows:

Appetizers: Caramelised Onion dip in a 'Chip and Dip' with crackers, melba toast and pretzels (Season 1: Pete Campbell takes back an unwanted wedding present to the store, a 'Chip and Dip' which he says is used to serve onion dip and chips; Season 3: Betty looks for Melba Toast to eat whilst pregnant)

Entree: Waldorf Salad (Season 3: Connie from The Hilton mentions this iconic salad)

Main: Beef Wellington (Season 1: Roger Sterling orders this for one of his rendezvous with Joanie); served with Potato Gratin and Creamed Spinach (Season 1: Betty orders this during a dinner with Don)

Dessert: New York cheesecake (not featured in Mad Men but obviously very New York!).

I got all my recipes from the internet, except the New York cheesecake one, which I got from Jamie Oliver's 'Cook with Jamie' book (its called "Bloomin easy vanilla cheesecake'). I will leave it up to you to find the recipes you most like as the Beef Wellington can be made several ways (some use veal pate, others use prosciutto). I highly recommend the Jamie Oliver cheesecake - it is made with real vanilla pods (not essence) and orange zest and is absolutely fabulous. One tip for the Waldorf Salad - don't use commercially bought mayonnaise - yuch. Homemade mayo is fairly simple to make (again, I used a Jamie Oliver recipe), you just need an egg yolk, dijon mustard and lots of olive oil. It really made a difference to the salad - it was really nice and fresh with homemade mayonnaise.
Now onto drinks - yaaay! Obviously no Mad Men dinner party would be complete without the mandatory 'Old Fashioneds', 'Gimlets' and wine (Betty is always holding a glass of red wine in the evenings when Don comes home from work)(I try to emulate her!)

There are various recipes for 'Old Fashioneds' so I will leave it to you to find the one you like the most. I found that having some orange and lemon zest added a nice zing to it (I am not a fan of Bourbon whiskey) and some soda water makes it more palatable (otherwise it can be rather strong).

Next to creating a 'Mad Men' ambiance for your dinner party. As well as printing out vintage ads and putting these around the house, I also made up some menus to incorporate the theme of Mad Men and to show the guests the link between each course and the relevant 'Mad Men' episode. . .

(I have attached a copy of the menu to the bottom of this post if you want to look at it more closely)

I also put on some 1950's and 60's music (such as Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan). If you want to be really authentic, you can download the actual music used in the series from http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/music/.

Another great way to get guests in a 'Mad Men' mood is to have games, so after the main course for my dinner party I organized a ‘Mad Men’ trivia quiz, which was great fun. There are a lot of trivia questions on the Official Mad Men site http://www.amctv.com/games/. I have attached below the trivia questions I used (a mixture of my own ones and the ones from the Mad Men website). I included some silly ones to add some fun to the evening (eg: Exactly how many hours of work does Bert Cooper do per week? How many times in the series (S1-3) does Betty say to her children ‘Go watch TV’!)

I have also attached below a copy of the invitations I made up for my dinner, so feel free to use these if you wish!

I hope you have great fun holding your very own 'Mad for Mad Men' dinner party!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

INVITATION:

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO A EXCLUSIVE VIP ONLY EVENT . . .

A MAD FOR ‘MAD MEN’ DINNER PARTY

Where: [insert address]

Time and date: [insert]

Dress: Please dress as your favourite Mad Men character (if possible!)

Highlights: Gimlets, Old-fashioneds; a ‘Mad Men’ Triva contest and other fun-filled 1950’s and 60’s activities

Menu: I will be serving a 3 course meal, including a beef main. Please let me know if you have any dietary requirements.

Please bring: a bottle of wine and lots of room for food and drink!

Contact details: [insert]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MENU CARD:

A MAD FOR MADMEN DINNER PARTY

Friday 23 July 2010

Appetizers

Caramelized Onion dip served in a ‘Chip and Dip’ with ‘Utz’ potato chip Pretzels and Melba toast (S1-3)

Entrée

Waldorf Salad (S3)

Main

Beef Wellington served with potato au gratin and creamed spinach (S1)

Dessert

New York Cheesecake (S1-3)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MAD MEN TRIVIA QUESTIONS

1. An easy one to start off with. Who said this?

‘What you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons’

Ans: Don Draper

2. Where do the Drapers live?

Ossining, up State New York?

3. What does FDDT stand for?

That’s how Bobbie Barrett refers to Don Draper’s way with the ladies: getting the Full Don Draper Treatment

4. Who at Sterling Cooper discovered Donald Draper and where? Ans: Roger Sterling, as a fur company

5. What are Joan Holloway’s measurements (bust, waist and hips please)?

Answer: I have no idea, but I would guess: 38DD; 27, 40

6. This is one for the girls: What would you do if Don Draper burst into your bedroom:

(a) ask him to take off his clothes and give you the ‘Full Don Draper treatment’

(b) ask him to leave his clothes on and admire his fantastic early 1960’s suit with white breastpocket fold and gold cufflinks all night

(c) ask for the Full Don Draper treatment but tell him to keep his brilliantly shined black shoes firmly on and be very careful not to tousle his immaculately groomed hair.

7. What does Betty give to Glen (Helen Bishop's son), per his request, when she is babysitting for him?

A cookie

A beer

A lock of hair

Her garter

A lock of her hair

Now onto some hard ones:

First, some from Season 1:

8. When Ken chases down the office girl to peek at her underwear, what color does he say he discovers?

• Blue

• Tangerine

• Pink

• White

Ans: Blue

9. What war did Don fight in?

Korea

WWII

Vietnam

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Ans: Korea

10. Which character says the following line: "Psychiatry is just this year's candy pink stove."

• Don Draper

• Roger Sterling

• Mona Sterling

• Ken Cosgrove

Ans: Roger Sterling

11. Which character says this line? "If you had your way, I would be stranded in some paperweight with my legs stuck in the air."

Helen Bishop

Peggy Olson

Joan Holloway

Hildy

Ans: Joan Holloway (to Roger Sterling)

12. Which of these characters has sex in the Sterling Cooper offices?

• Pete Campbell

• Harry Crane

• Peggy Olson

• All of the above

Ans: all of the above

13. What breed of dogs are in the cage on the roof of Menken's department store?

Black Labs

Golden Retrievers

German Shepherds

Pit Bulls

Ans: German Shepherds

Now onto Season 2:

14. What is the name of Roger's childhood nanny?

Belva

Malva

Mirabelle

Mona

Ans: Belva. During dinner at Toots Shore, Roger says, "My nanny Belva made fried chicken. I used to take it to school wrapped in wax paper."

15. Pete's postcard refers to Niagara Falls as "The ______ place on earth."

happiest

wettest

sexiest

saddest

Ans: wettest. "He's on a honeymoon, right?" asks Peggy. "Hasn't left the room, apparently," Ken replies.

16. Which Frank O’Hara poem does Don Draper read from in Season 2?

Mayakovsky from the book ‘Meditations in an Emergency’

(read from it)

17. The characters on Mad Men do quite a bit of reading. Link each of these books to the characters that either referred to them or read them in the series

Atlas Shrugged - Bert Cooper told Don in Season 1 to spend $1.99 on a copy of Ayn Rand's book

Meditations in an Emergency - Don reads from this in Ep 1, S2

Ship of Fools - Betty reads on couch after defrosting the fridge

Lady Chatterley’s lover - Peggy asks to read it in S1 - I think it is Joanie’s copy

18. Airlines were mentioned frequently in Season 2. Which one was actually a Sterling Cooper client?

American Airlines

Mohawk Airlines

Pan Am

TWA

Ans: Mohawk: Eventually, however, Mohawk was dropped as a client when Sterling Cooper decided to go after American Airlines.

19. What is the name of the Draper’s family dog?

Polly (golden retriever)

20. At his physical, how much does Don admit to drinking and smoking every day?

4 drinks, one pack a day

4 drinks, two packs a day

5 drinks, two packs a day

5 drinks, one pack a day

The correct answer is 5 drinks, two packs a day

"You live too hard," the doctor tells him.

Now onto Season 3 I think:

21. When Gene and Sally go for a drive, how fast does Gene make the car go?

25 mph

30 mph

35 mph

40 mph

The correct answer is 25 mph

With Bobby sitting in the back seat, Gene takes the car to 25 mph to keep traffic flowing while Sally is driving.

22. How much time does Peggy spend going to and from work each day?

1 hour

2 hours

30 minutes

90 minutes

Ans: 2 hours Peggy tells Anita her total commute is two hours, requiring her to spend a fortune on subway fare, cabs and new pantyhose.

23. According to her ad for a roommate posted up in Sterling Cooper, how does Peggy feel about pets?

She'd prefer a pet-free home.

She'll only consider cats.

She's allergic to cats; dogs are fine.

She's a lover of all kinds of animals.

Margaret Olson, as Peggy calls herself on the ad, is allergic to cats but "will tolerate dogs

24. What does Duck send Peggy after their lunch time meeting?

A box of Godiva chocolates

A Cartier watch

Earrings from Tiffany's

An Hermes scarf

"Elegance and success" reads the attached note. Peggy muses, "I wonder who wrote that for him."

25. Where did Betty go to College?

Bryn Mawr?

For extra points, what was her major?

What did she say after revealing this tidbit? "We all have skills we don't use," says Betty

26. How much does Don tell Sal that the Lucky Strike account is worth to Sterling Cooper?

$5 million

$10 million

$20 million

$25 million

The correct answer is $25 million

"They could shut off our lights," says Don to Sal about letting his firing stand.

MAD MEN HISTORY TRIVIA QUESTIONS - 1963

1. Who was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1963?

Supreme Court in 1963?

Earl Warren

Felix Frankfurter

Thurgood Marshall

Warren Burger

Ans: Earl Warren

An Eisenhower nominee and former governor of California, Warren was chief justice from 1953 to 1969.

2. Which Brit was proclaimed an honorary U.S. citizen by President Kennedy?

honorary U.S. citizen by President Kennedy?

Harold MacMillan

John Profumo

Queen Elizabeth II

Winston Churchill

The correct answer is Winston Churchill

Churchill was recognized on April 9 at a ceremony in the White House. Only five others, including the Marquis de Lafayette and Mother Teresa, have received the honor.

3. On June 11, Gov. George Wallace stood in front of the doors of what university to prevent black students from registering black students from registering? black students from registering?

University of Alabama

University of Georgia

University of Kentucky

University of Mississippi

Ans: Uni Alabama

Wallace was elected on a platform of segregation, declaring at his inauguration, "I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."

4. Who was the highest paid movie star of 1963?

Cary Grant

Elizabeth Taylor

Sean Connery

Steve McQueen

Ans: Elizabeth Taylor - she received a $1 million salary for starring in that year's Cleopatra.

5. Which of these toys was introduced in 1963?

Crissy Doll

Easy Bake Oven

Etch A Sketch

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots

Ans: Easy bake oven - Kenner introduced the pint-sized oven in 1963 for $15.95. Hasbro sells a modern version today.

6. On June 11, 1963, Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc assumed the lotus position in the middle of a Saigon street and proceeded to light himself on fire. As he burned to death, more than 300 fellow monks warded off police so that he could finish what he had set out to do. What was the monk protested? Against South Vietnam president Ngo Dinh Diem, a Catholic, U.S.-backed leader accused of repressing Buddhists

And a few general ones to close:

1. If you were a psychiatrist and Don Draper came to see you, what would your prognosis be?

2. How many sessions would he need to have to be cured?

3. Exactly how many hours of work does Bert Cooper do per week?

4. How many times in the series (S1-3) does Betty say to her children ‘Go watch TV’

5. Which Mad Men character are you most like?

6. Finally, if you were on a desert island, which character from Mad Men would you ask to take along with you and why?

A 'Mad for Mad Men' Dinner Party - Part 1

2010-08-07T17:28:00.002+10:00

As any vintage lover worth their salt would know, Mad Men is the best show on television, not just because of the great story (and the drop-dead-gorgeous Don Draper of course!), but because of the fabulous fashion. To celebrate this (and the fact that it shows people drinking hard liquor at 10 oclock in the morning!) I decided to celebrate the best TV series of all time by hosting a 'Mad for Mad Men' dinner party. I invited two friends who are both Mad Men fans also (no sense in inviting people who don't watch the show given that we were going to be talking about it all night!). It was a great night of eating decadent 1950's style food (potato gratin has a lot of cream!), Old Fashioneds and red wine.

To add some atmosphere to proceedings, I printed out some great ads from the 1950’s and 60’s which featured Sterling Cooper clients, including Samsonite, Monarch Airlines, Lucky Strike and Clearasil, and put these up on the walls. I just did a google for 'vintage 1950's ad', 'vintage samsonite ad' etc and was able to print the ads out. I also printed out the 'Utz' logo and put that on a chip packet. You can actually buy Utz chips from the US but you have to buy a minimum of 6 in a box and its quite expensive to ship so I passed on that!

Unfortunately, I was too busy cooking to take an outfit photo of myself, but I wore a lovely black figure-hugging 50’s cocktail dress from Frocks and Slacks in St Kilda (I will try and do an outfit post on that later). I would like to say that I looked very much like my fashion idol Joanie Holloway, but I don't think I have the measurements for that!

My hubby looked fantastic in a lovely 60's suit from Old Hat in Northcote, teamed with a skinny 60's tie from Frocks and Slacks, St Kilda. The suit is of unbelievable quality, it was actually made in Northcote and still has an old Northcote local number (3 digits) on the label inside. Pure class. My hubby uses one of my vintage napkins for his fold by the way, a little tip for you vintage gents out there. . .

My friends went to a lot of effort and wore vintage clothes which was great. As you can see, they looked very gorgeous. . .

In the next few days I will be doing a separate post on how I did my invitations, menu, place settings etc, so stay tuned for my 'A Mad for Mad Men Dinner Party-Part 2' blog post coming up soon . . .

A lovely day out at the Tahbilk Winery and Wetlands

2010-07-24T17:33:00.000+10:00

Vintage Suburbia and family at Tahbilk Vineyard, Nagambie Lakes, Victoria

Last weekend I went to a 150 year anniversary tasting day at Tahbilk winery near Nagambie Lakes in Victoria. It was a lovely day (even though overcast), although when you are tasting great wine it doesn't matter very much what the weather is like!

The best sight in the world - wine casks!

I had never been to Tahbilk Vineyards before and I must say I absolutely loved it. Firstly the buildings are very historic and full of character - it makes for a great ambience.

I love the red and white on these old buildings - they look a bit Old American don't you think?

I stood under this spout with mouth open waiting for the gush of red wine to come out - didn't work unfortunately!

There are great retro relics littered all around the winery grounds, including this old Shell petrol pump - love it! (I am glad it was Shell and not BP though - not so fantastic!)

Now to the wines - as it was a 150 year anniversary tasting, the winery had tastings of wines from 1982 onwards. They were very very nice, the standouts being the reds from 1998 and 2002. The wines from Tahbilk are also very reasonably priced, we bought the 1998 for only $30 and the 2002 for about $18 - a bargain in my book.

The cellar door at Tahbilk is great, you can walk down some stairs to the cellar itself and see all the huge wine vats . . .

After tasting about 15 different wines, Vintage Suburbia was feeling rather happy and proceeded to run around the lawn with her two small children. How embarrasing (my tip for the week: never look at photos of yourself tipsy when you are sober!)

After our wine tasting, my hubby and I had a lovely lunch at the Tahbilk cafe and had a walk through the vineyards and wetlands.

The best sight in the world - a vineyard

The wetlands (tickets cost $5 per adult, children free) were really gorgeous and, as a bit of a greenie, I was so impressed that the vineyard owners have preserved this beautiful part of nature.

Tahbilk Winery Wetlands - beautiful

Tahbilk Winery Wetlands - love the lillies on the pond and the great old bridges

All in all, this winery is a fabulous day out and is great if you want to do wine tasting with kids in tow, as there is space for them to run around in and both the cellar door and cafe was very kid-friendly. Highly recommended.

If you are interested in more info, see Tahbilk's website at: http://www.tahbilk.com.au/

Happy drinking everyone! (in moderation of course!)

A beautiful vintage nurses' cape

2010-07-17T17:52:00.000+10:00

My husband and I went to St Kilda for a day out on Friday. For those of my readers who live outside Australia, St Kilda is a lovely seaside suburb of Melbourne with cake shops, great restaurants, and vintage and second-hand book stores - heaven! To celebrate being in bohemian rather than my dull suburban surroundings, I wore my vintage nurses cape from the US. It is just gorgeous (and very warm!).

As you can see from the photo below, the cape has 'BCH' stiched on the collar. I assume this would refer to something like 'Boston County Hospital'? I tried to do some research on google about this, but did not come up with anything. If anyone out there has some thoughts, please let me know!

I bought the cape from US etsy for the grand bargain price of US$35 (of course postage cost around $40). But I think all in all it was a bargain. The cape has a lovely red lining in it . . .

To match the lining, I teamed the cape with a red patent bag (what else?!) from etsy . . .

Now I just need a knock-em-dead pair of red vintage heels to complete the outfit (there is always something, isn't there?)

You may notice my hair is looking much more 'vintage' (and neat!) than normal. That is because I attended the Lindy Charm School in Melbourne last weekend. I would thoroughly recommend this to those of my readers living in Australia. It is run by two lovely ladies from Brisbane and they do regular 'schools' around Australia:. The hair part of the school (they also discuss clothing and make-up tips) was the best, they show you how to do pin curls and 'up do's like the one I have tried to replicate above (I am still practising on perfecting the look!). I am also wearing a 'snood' (the crocheted hair thing at the back) which I would again highly recommend to vintage lovers to complete the vintage look. You can buy these and other essential vintage items from the Lindy Charm website.

Before I go, I wanted to show you some of the photos from my day out in St Kilda. We had lunch at a place called 'Mirka at Tolarno' in Fitroy Street.

It is named after a great lady who used to own the restaurant some years ago, Mirka Mora. She is a really unique artist and you can see her art work is featured prominently in the interior of the restaurant . .

My lovely waitress from Mirka at Tolarnos

We had a lovely lunch there of goats cheese zucchini flowers, rainbow trout and creme brulee (are you feeling hungry yet?!). They have a lunch special at the moment - 2 courses, a glass of wine and coffee for $35 (which is what we had) - an absolute bargain for fabulous food. You really must go! The waiters were also very nice (not rude or 'too cool for school' as I sometimes encounter in trendy restaurants).

I hope you enjoyed my vintage cape and a little insight into restaurants in Melbourne.

My six dollar vintage skirt - bargain!

2010-07-15T11:07:00.000+10:00

I discovered a lovely grey/blue vintage skirt at my local op-shop last week for a whole $6! It has a lovely centre pleat in it which is quite flattering on my wide-ish hips. It does not have a tag in it, so perhaps is home-made, but I would say it is early 1970's (?). I also bought a similar, more-heavily pleated Sportscraft skirt at the same op-shop which is lovely - it was my lucky day!

This skirt is perfect to wear grocery shopping and for all my other errands during the day. It could easily be worn to work as well. It is lovely, good quality wool which is very warm, but not scratchy (I find some wools to be scratchy - yuch)

I teamed it with a nice pale pink cardi I bought (on special) from Laura Ashley a few seasons ago. I emphasise 'on special' as when I do buy contemporary clothing (which is rarely these days) I refuse to pay full-price - the quality is just not good enough to warrant that - but I do think sale-priced Laura Ashly can be good (particularly the cardigans).

A close - up of the pretty frilling on the cardigan. Very soft and feminine.

Outfit details:

vintage woollen skirt op shop/thrifted $6!

cardigan Laura Ashley - a few seasons ago

grey polka dot tights op shop $1

shoes Sandler - Myer - few seasons ago

Baking day - Cinnameg Cupcakes

2010-07-11T17:25:00.001+10:00

Today my daughter and I had fun making 'Cinnameg cupcakes' - cupcakes with sultanas, cinnamon and nutmeg (they are actually called 'Spicy Cupcakes' but I like 'Cinnameg' better!)

I am a fairly strict 50's style mother in many respects (I am vintage in more ways than one!). I try to encourage my children to entertain themselves and to make things from scratch - one lovely thing to do together is to bake.

This cupcake recipe comes from a fantastic book I got from a mail order company when I was about 9 years old. It is directed at children, but in fact the recipes are great to make for everyone. It has great traditional things like scones and pikelets. The recipes are very simple to follow as you can see . .

And they turned out perfectly . . . (well, perfect as I ever get things!)

Yum!

Vintage Suburbia taste testing (excuse my make-up less face!)

If you would like to make these cupcakes, I have put the recipe below.

Happy Baking!

Recipe for 'Spicy' Cinnameg Cupcakes

Ingredients:

125 g butter

1 egg

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup milk

1 cup sultanas

Method:

1. Turn oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 F). Set out 18 paper patty trays in muffin tins.

2. Beat butter, eg and brown sugar until smooth.

3. Sift flour, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into a separate bowl.

4. Stir in half the flour mixture and milk into the butter mixture.

5. Fold, then stir in rest of flour mixture and sultanas.

6. Spoon into muffin/cupcake tins.

7. Bake for 15 minutes.

Eat up - yum!

A Lilli Ann magazine ad to match my coat

2010-07-09T18:27:00.000+10:00

Firstly I should apologise for my absence from the blogging world for the last few weeks. I have been very busy with work. Now, onto more excting things . . !

As my regular readers will know, I love Lilli Ann suits and coats (and other 'New Look' outfits). I recently bought a fabulous 'nipped waist' coat from ebay which, by the way, is divine (see earlier post). When I got it in the post I nearly cried it was so beautiful (yes, I know, its not normal to cry over clothes, but I don't think I am normal). An outfit shot of the coat in question will be the subject of a separate post, but for now I wanted to show you the fabulous magazine ad I just bought from ebay to match my coat!

I am going to frame it when I get it and hang it near my closet. I very much doubt I will look as fabulous in it as the model, but I have hope yet!

These ads can be purchased from ebay - just search under your desired designer and 'ad' and it should come up.

I think its a really cute idea if you really love a particular item. Perhaps I will buy some more (?!)

Let me know if you have any good ideas for showcasing vintage or other decorating ideas.

For the love of Lilli Ann - a 5.30am bidding frenzy!

2010-06-13T16:16:00.001+10:00

Regular readers of my blog will know that I love Lilli Ann, a US designer that made wonderful suits and coats from the 1940's-60's (her company made garments after the 60's, but the best stuff is from the 40's and 50's). Unfortunately, her 40's and 50's garments are quite rare and quite expensive (suits range between US$ 400-700), so it was wonderful that I found this fabulous 'nipped waist' coat on ebay recently . . .

I love the 'hourglass', New Look design of this coat - it is really divine. I have been on the prowl for a coat exactly like this for months, but the ones on etsy were in the US $399 range. I simply did not want to pay that much for something I could not try on so imagine my delight when I spotted one on ebay USA for $9.99 auction (or $195 Buy it now). Of course, like a fool I didn't use the Buy it now facility and instead thought, 'oh not many people will see this (no one had bid on it by then), so I will go for the auction, perhaps I can get it for much less'.

Little did I know that the 12.43 bid end time in the US translated to 5.43am on a Sunday morning Australian time - ouch! So on Saturday night, after having a few too many red wines at a school trivia night I set my mobile phone alarm for 5.30 - was I mad? The answer is, yes, I think I am a little mad when it comes to vintage, so up I got at 5.30am, foggy with a slight hangover and logged on to ebay, just to find out that the coat was already up to $203.50. I must explain that I not an early morning person, I repeat not. I usually get out of bed at 8am when I can (!).

However, there was a happy ending to this story, as I can report that due to my well-timed spipe I got this little beauty for US $232.50 - more than what I could have gotten through 'buy it now', but much less than the equivalent on etsy.

So what is the lesson for me (and perhaps for all of us in this?) I think (a) sometimes 'Buy it now' can be better when it comes to rare items and (b) before bidding work out what the local time will be for end of the auction - bidding at 5.43 am after a big Saturday night is not an experience I would recommend!

Happy bidding to you all!

A hidden Art Deco gem in Brisbane: University of Queensland

2010-06-05T17:17:00.002+10:00

I was fortunate enough to travel to Brisbane a few weeks ago to give a lecture at the University of Queensland (St Lucia campus). I had never been to this university and was amazed by the Art deco architecture on campus. It is a little hidden gem in Brisbane . . .

I gave my lecture in the Law Building, which is at the centre of the main college quadrangle called "The Great Court". This consists of lovely sandstone art deco buildings in a big semi-circular arrangement, with beautiful green grass and pathways in between - a little bit like Oxford University. It is a heritage listed building and I can see why . . .

The St Lucia campus is only about 10 minutes drive from the Brisbane city centre and I think it is well worth the trip. It is absolutely gorgeous (and there are great cafes and a bookshop to look at after your Art Deco tour!). There is lovely, energised vibe on the campus, which match the beautiful surroundings - really a very lovely place to visit.

Can you read what is written on the building (above the doors) in the photo below?

It says 'A place of light, of liberty and of learning'.

How fantastic is that?

I also love the detail on these doors . .

A lovely view down the portico/cloiser (not sure what is the correct architectural term!) in the college quadrangle . . Just makes me want to wander around and ponder the meaning of life!

I love a good arched window . . .

For details of how to get to the St Lucia campus of University of Queensland, please see this link: http://www.uq.edu.au/maps/directions.html?menu=1

Vintage casual: A 'to be sure to be sure' Irish-green jacket

2010-06-03T19:41:00.000+10:00

With two children, one husband and a job to look after, I don't always get the time to get dressed up in 'full-on' vintage style every day. This past week has been rather hellish as both my children have both been very sick with a stomach bug so my daily outfit has consisted of whatever was handy. As a result, it felt absolutely fantastic today to get back into wearing some vintage . . .

Green wool jacket little vintage store in Grey St, St Kilda (no longer there)

Brooch Opp Shop, Edinburgh : see this this earlier post for details

blouse op shopped/thrifted

black trousers Basque, Myer (they have great wardrobe staples like this at very good prices)

This is one of my typical vintage 'casual' outfits - one that I can go grocery shopping in, take my child to the park etc and not be overdressed or uncomfortable. I am a big believer in black trousers as a good wardrobe staple - I can look nice, but still be able to bend down lots to pick up children, toys etc and not be too worried that my clothes will get stained by my 2 year old's grubby little hands! I personally don't like to wear my 'good' vintage when I am with my children for the day as there are too many dangers - I have had some bad experiences with the staining danger posed by white nappy cream so I am over-cautious.

I love the colour of this jacket - a deep Irish green - one of my favourite colours (others are royal blue and of course, pink!). My husband is Irish (don't you love that accent) so he likes to see me in this jacket. I dress it up with a brooch, and if its a bit chilly, a scarf. I am only just getting 'into' wearing scarves. I have never known exactly how to tie them and they always seem to look odd on me. However, I am trying! I bought this one at a market from my fellow Melbourne blogger, the gorgeous Lady Melbourne. It was a whole $5 - bargain!

Before I go, a close up of the lovely brooch on the jacket - the silver against the green looks great in real life - really sets the colour of the jacket off nicely.

A vintage afternoon tea at home and the best chocolate cake ever!

2010-05-28T17:22:00.000+10:00

I love putting on afternoon teas for my friends at home and so last Sunday I baked my favourite chocolate cake (see recipe below), bought a few extras from my local pattisserie and got out the good china for a visit from one of my oldest friends. I just love drinking out of vintage tea cups - so civilised! It also justifies my many vintage china purchases to my hubby! (see darling hubby, they aren't just for show!)

My favourite vintage china pieces and tablecloth - purchased mostly from op-shops (except blue tea and cup set - ebay; milk jug and sugar bowl - part of wedding gift from my Mum). The only thing I was missing was champagne glasses so I just made do with what I had in the cupboard! Main dish contains chocolate cake (homemade), baked cheesecake slices and hazelnut macaroon pieces (Swiss Patisserie, Syndal)

Vintage Suburbia posing for the camera before her guest arrived - sorry for fuzzy photo! (I am picking up my new Canon 1000D next week so hopefully better photos will be coming up very soon!)

I always try to have some savouries in my afternoon tea selection - here I have some lovely quiches and cheese and tomato topped baguette - from my local patisserie - Tanner's Swiss Patisserie, Blackburn Road, Syndal. They have really lovely stuff and their baguettes are some of the best I have ever tasted.

Afternoon tea would not be complete without vintage cake forks - I got these from Ebay Australia a few years ago. I love the case and look at the gift card that was still in it when I bought it. It reads 'Dear Sue, here's wishing you all that you wish yourself - May every joy and happiness be yours, Margaret'. Don't you love that? People in the 50's and 60's (which I am guessing this set is from) wrote so beautifully back then. I feel very privileged that I can keep this set in memory of its original owner.

Close up of my favourite vintage tea set - Vintage Spode - purchased from Ebay Australia a few years ago. It wasn't cheap I have to admit, but it was worth it, because I absolutely love it!

Last, but not least, you should really try out this fabulous chocolate cake recipe - you can use it to make a cake or put the mixture into patty cake tins and make cupcakes (just put in oven for less time, say 20 mins). The secret to its loveliness is the vanilla essence and brown sugar - divine! Let me know what you think of it once you have tried it out! The recipe actually comes from our very own Australian Prime Minister Rudd (who I used to like once upon a time, I'm not so sure now!). Anyway, I came across it on a website and am now sharing it with you . . . (PS I wonder if President Obama has a favourite choc cake recipe - I must google that!)

My Mum's Favourite Chocolate Cake Recipe

Recipe provided by Hon Kevin Rudd – Prime Minister of Australia

for PDF version of cake recipe which you can print out see: http://www.cuppaforkids.org.au/downloads/recipes/PM_Chocolate_Cake_recipe.pdf
CAKE

Ingredients

185 g Butter at room temperature

155 g Brown Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

2 Eggs at Room Temperature

190gm SR Flour

30gm Cocoa Powder

125ml Milk

Method

Cream Butter, Sugar and Vanilla, add eggs one at a time.

In another bowl sift the flour and cocoa together then fold it and the milk alternating into

the creamed butter and sugar.

Bake for 40 minutes in a moderate oven - fan forced about 150 degrees.

ICING

Ingredients

1 and a half TBL Cocoa

1 TBL warm Milk

75 gm Butter room temp - cubed

125gm Pure Icing Sugar

Half teaspoon vanilla

Method

Mix together and spread over cooled cake.

Heaven is a Houndstooth skirt, Art deco and great coffee

2010-05-22T20:28:00.008+10:00

Vintage Suburbia's Saturday outing outfit (!)

(further details of outfit near end of blog)

Today I went on a trip into the city for my favourite things in the world: fashion, architecture and good coffee. The first pitstop was Open Day at the Victorian Supreme Court library. I love books and libraries so this visit was wonderful. The library, which is 124 years old was lovely - you walk into a big foyer covered over with a dome and there is a lovely wrought-iron balcony above. Unfortunately cameras are not allowed into the Supreme Court building, but you can get some idea of what it looks like from this photo from the library's web-page . . .

Victorian Supreme Court library Exterior of Court showing beautiful dome

Next stop was my favourite place for coffee: Cafe Mediterraneum in the Manchester Unity Building, Collins Street. If you have never been to this cafe or to this building you must, because both the coffee and the architecture are sublime.

Cafe Mediterraneum, Manchester Unity Building, Collins St, Melbourne

My favourite food - portuguese tart and a great latte!

Firstly and most importantly lets talk about the coffee: the coffee is, in my humble opinion, the best in Melbourne. Coffee freaks online talk about 'Dancing Goat' and other trendy coffee bars, but Cafe Meditteraneum is better, both in terms of the quality of the coffee, and the ambience and friendliness of the waiters/owners. The cafe is a family-run business - even though I am only able to go there occasionally I know them by name and they are very, very friendly. Secondly, the place is very quiet (no loud music - great when you are like me and want to read) and third, it is very child-friendly (lots of room to park a stroller).

Next the architecture - simply the most beautiful building in Melbourne. See for yourself . . .

Last, but definitely not least - what did I wear to fit in with these glorious surroundings? A vintage houndstooth skirt is what! . .

Vintage houndstooth skirt etsy (seller: Whiteelephantsale)

crinoline underneath ebay

black top laura ashley

pearls 'borrowed' from my mum

belt etsy

Vintage Armani shoes op shop/thrifted

art deco sideboard pictured op shop/thrifted

The skirt is really gorgeous (a heavy houndstooth woolen fabric with lace panels around the bottom). I think from the 1950's (the label says 'Jack Posluns'). It is however, very tiny, so I have only been able to wear it now after many hours spent in the aerobics and dance studios of Melbourne (a 25 inch waist - ouch!).

Before I go, just a quick close-up of the shoes, found in an op shop for the princely sum of AUS 12.99. They are a bit small for me, but I am trying to stretch them!

PS sorry if I have been absent from the blogging world for a few weeks - I have been trying to get my life organised after our big trip to Europe. Although it was wonderful, taking two children on a long haul flight was rather exhausting so we are all only getting back to normal now. I will be back to my normal blogging self (one post on a Friday) this week! Thanks so much for reading.

Vintage shopping in Dublin

2010-05-11T20:57:00.000+10:00

Lucy's Lounge Vintage Store, Dublin

This is my last post from overseas and my last fossick for vintage treasure in international lands!

Unfortunately I didn't find any treasure on any of my visits to vintage stores in Dublin. As with my previous shopping expeditions in the vintage shops of London and Paris (before I was a blogger) I found that there are only two types of vintage shops in Dublin - the high end, way-out-of-my-price range store, and the 'This is really just an op-shop' type store - full of cheap and nasty 70's and 80's "vintage" (notice the quotation marks around 'vintage' in that last sentence - I think some vintage shops really need to more accurately rename themselves as 'second-hand shops').

Anyway, it was interesting to look to see what is on offer overseas in any case. It has made me realise how lucky I am to live in Melbourne where we have more affordable quality vintage clothing stores (I must note that I haven't yet properly fossicked in LA, New York or Portland, where I suspect all the great 50's clothes are).

Now onto specifics: The best store I visited in Dublin is called 'Lucy's Lounge' in the Temple Bar district. It is decorated in a very funky way, with old children's prams and dollhouses placed up on top of shelves, and is packed with stock. The stock mainly consists of late 60's, 70's and 80's low-end vintage, with lots of things around the Euro 5-10 range (about AUS $8-13). This is not really 'my thing' as I love 40's suits and 50's dresses. However, if you were a student (which most of the customers appeared to be, you would love it). There were a few nice 60's hats, but I was a bit reluctant to take these in my luggage lest they be squashed.

Lucy's Lounge, Temple Bar, Dublin

The interior of Lucy's Lounge - notice the prams hanging on the wall - fabulous!

Some of the stock in Lucy's Lounge. The stock was nicely put out and laundered. No musty smells here!

At the other end of the scale is the very (and I repeat, very) high-end vintage store called 'Jenny Vander'. The prices would make your eyes water! The stock consists of a lot of beaded handbags, jewellery, and vintage dresses that I actually found difficult to date. I presume they were from the 1930's, given that there were around EUR 180 (which is about AUS $300), that is, given that they were pricey, but I am not sure. Perhaps you can be the judge from these photos . . .

Jenny Vander Vintage, Georges St, Dublin

Expensive dresses in window of indeterminate era - perhaps 1930's? (PS sorry for the reflection of glass)

So there you have it, my little tour around Europe, presenting you with my op-shop and vintage store fossicking. I hope I haven't been too negative in reviewing these vintage stores overseas, but I have to say it as I see it and I have to say that for me, the vintage treasures are in Melbourne plus etsy/ebay. I am sure you all have your own opinion about where the vintage treasures are to be found. I hope you have enjoyed my glimpse into far-off vintage lands!

Op-shopping in Dublin

2010-05-10T10:30:00.000+10:00

I had a lovely time fossicking around the op-shops of Dublin during my recent trip to Europe. Op shops in Ireland are quite similar to those in the UK - a mix of Oxfam, Cancer Society, Age Concern with a smattering of 'independent' ones like the 'Simeon Community' and Catholic-run stores like St Vincents.

Irish Cancer Society op-shop, Camden St, Dublin

Like their UK counterparts, Irish op-shops are very clean and organised and have amazing window displays. I noticed that most of the window displays are not for sale until a certain time and day (usually 10am on a Saturday) so I missed out on trying on and buying some of the really nice stuff, but I can say it looked very nice indeed. The best op-shop I found was called 'Age Concern' in Camden St, Dublin . . .

Window display - Age Concern, Camden St, Dublin

Look at that beautiful tea and cup set on the right - divine!

Window display - Age Concern, Camden St, Dublin

I saw these Prada Shoes on sale in the window at 'Age Concern' in Camden Street, but they only went on sale on the day I was leaving Dublin - arghh! They look ultra cute and only EUR 10!! I am sure there would have been a queue outside the door on that day for these shoes.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to spot any real 'vintage' pieces in my travels through the Dublin Op-shops (which was also the case in the UK). Perhaps savvy vintage buyers regularly go through the shops and buy up all the vintage? Or perhaps there is not so much around? In any case, it was good fun to go treasure hunting all the way over in Ireland!

Op shops in Dublin

The main 'drag' for op shops in Dublin is Camden Street, which is within walking distance of the centre of Dublin (eg about 10 mins walk from Trinity College). You can also catch the no. 22 bus. There are also a few op shops, including Oxfam, on Georges Street, which is in the heart of the city.

Vintage Chateaux in the Loire Valley

2010-05-04T00:12:00.000+10:00

I have been wanting to visit the famous Chateaux of the Loire Valley for ages so it was great to visit some of them on this trip. We took a little tour from Tours (ha ha!) which is the main town in the Loire Valley. We visited two chateaux, the most famous - Chateau Chenonceau - and Chateau Amboise. Chateau Chenonceau was definitely the grander and more interesting of the two. Both the exterior and interior were stunning . . .

Chateau Chenonceau, Loire Valley

Main banquet hall

One of the many magnificient fireplaces - notice the over-eager tourist with his head up the chimney!

Beautiful detail on the ceilings

Re-created interiors such as the kitchen and butchery

OTT picture frames!!

Beautiful 16th century cabinet

These photos represent only a small part of the interior of the chateaux - there were many rooms with gorgeous furniture and paintings. I absolutely loved it so I would encourage you to try to get there if you are over in Europe.

Vintage Sububia at Chateau Chenonceau, Loire Valley

Outfit: Cardy: Laura Ashley, Bag: Paris; skirt - etsy; Boots Sandler

Cycling in style through the Loire Valley vineyards

2010-05-03T12:06:00.001+10:00

I love France and, in particular, French wine, so it was a dream come true to spend three days in the Loire Valley sampling red wine with my dear hubby. We left our two children with my parents-in-law in Dublin so we were 'sans enfants' as they say in France - parfait!. We went cycling through the villages and vineyards surrounding the town of Chinon on our first day in the Loire and it was absolutely fabulous. I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who loves France and/or French wine. There is a formal cycling route all around the Loire Valley (velo de la Loire I think they call it) so it was very safe and the bicycles are very cheap to rent.

Vintage Suburbia, Loire Valley

You will notice the vines are very bare - I think they cut them back during winter (a bit like what is done with roses)

As you will see, even though I was cycling I tried not to look too shabby, so wore my standard travelling outfit, black Laura Ashley top, black pants, hat and pearls. Just because I am a tourist doesn't mean I want to look like one! I find that this is very important in France, where sloppy dressing is often interpreted as rudeness (and I totally agree with them on that score!). I also try to be 'sun smart' with a hat and gloves.

During our cycle, we came across a French wedding at an old church. As you can imagine, the guests were immaculately dressed, with the ladies all wearing hats. The wearing of hats is very much the 'done thing' at European weddings - my mother in law who is Irish, wore one at our wedding and was a bit perplexed that the other guests were hatless. Unfortunately I was unable to wait around to photograph the bride, but I did get a few photos of the groom and his friends and some of the guests . . .

A French wedding, Loire valley - the groom was obviously a member of the military - look at those gorgeous uniforms (and those gorgeous French men!!)

The hotel where we stayed in Chinon, called 'Hotel Gargantua' was fabulous and I would thoroughly recommend it. It is an old turreted tower place with a winding staircase and old fashioned, light-filled rooms . .

Hotel Gargantua, Chinon, Loire valley.

Outfit: Vintage Asquaculture trench coat - from my relative; Red bag: from one of those cheap luggage shops in Chadstone - I don't take vintage bags with me overseas - they get bashed around too much and I always need a fairly roomy bag for glasses, passports etc.

The 'Pirochole' room, Hotel Gargantua, Chinon

I loved the little alcove next to the room - so me! (and perfect for blogging!)

Outfit: blouse: opp shop in Murembeena, Melbourne; skirt - my Mum's

The above outfit is also, along with the black shirt/pant outfit above, one of my other travel 'staples' - a classic skirt and pussy bow blouse. I find this outfit is great as it is so versatile - you can wear this sort of classic outfit to work meetings, with flat shoes for walking around towns, and then dress it up a little with jewellry for going out to dinner in the evening. The synthetic material of the blouse is also great as you can wash it at night and it is dry the following morning.

I hope you are enjoying reading about my trip through Europe - please let me know if you are interested in knowing more about any of the area I have travelled through - my next post will feature the beautiful chateaux of the Loire Valley!

The little gems of Paris - chocolate and pussy bow blouses!

2010-05-01T21:12:00.000+10:00

Like everyone, I love Paris so it was great to spend a few days there on this trip. My favourite area in Paris is definitely the Marais district near the Hotel de Ville (Paris 'Town Hall') and St Paul metro station. There are lots of cobbled streets with cute little boutiques, cafes and boulangeries. I saw some very cute outfits at a little shop called 'Antoine and Lili' at 52 rue Franc Bourgeois in the Marais district, including this great polka-dotted pussy bow blouse . . .

Clothes in Paris are not cheap, for instance, this blouse was EUR135, which is about AUS $160 (I think, the exchange rate keeps changing all the time!) but you do get quality. I have to say that the vintage shops in Paris are very disappointing, so I did not visit any of those on this trip. I find the vintage stores in Paris have either low-end cheap and nasty vintage or over-priced ugly designer stuff from the 1980's and nothing much in between. They also don't really have a lot of 1950's items, which is my favourite decade.

However, that is all made up for by the fact that the food is absolutely fantastic in Paris! I have put on so much weight since I have been away as I have been having chocolate eclairs and creme brulees every single day - shocking. Here are some of my favourite foodie spots in Marais:

Patisserie, 32 rue de Turenne, Marais district, Paris

Outfit: skirt - my Mum's wool crepe from the 1980's

Cardi: Laura Ashley, a few seasons ago

Bag: cute Art Deco print from cheap souvenir place near the River Seine bridges

There is a great chocolate shop at 39 rue d'Anciennes which makes chocolate Eiffel Towers and even chocolate CD's!

Au revoir from Paris!

Cute op shops in England

2010-04-30T04:22:00.001+10:00

Sadly I did not find any good treasure in my recent forage in English op-shops (sob sob!). I did have luck in the Scottish ones though (see this link for my post on that). In any case, I want to share some photos from the op-shops I visited. The ones pictured are located in the district around Warwick, a town near Coventry in England. Warwick is a pretty town with lovely parks and a huge castle which is very popular with tourists. One of my favourites was the 'Cats Protection' Op shop in Kenilworth which is a lovely little village right near Warwick. I am very much a dog person, but I thought the name of the shop was cute nevertheless!

The shop was fairly typical of many op-shops in England (and perhaps also Australia?) in that there was a lot of contemporary, second-hand clothing, but not a great deal of vintage clothes. It was still very nice to browse in though. What has struck me about English op-shops is that they are generally really immaculate and have great store window displays. The clothes also appear to have been washed, they definitely do not have that musty smell you can sometimes get with donated clothes.

Store window display, 'Cats Protection' Op shop, Kenilworth, England

There were actually a surprisingly high number of op-shops in the area I visited (Kenilworth, Leamington Spa and Warwick). I think I counted about 15 or so, which is a lot for the area's population.

Oxfam, which runs lots of op shops in the UK and Ireland did have some nice vintage treasure in its Kenilworth shop, but it was only clocks and bric-a-brac, which obviously doesn't travel well in luggage to Australia.

Oxfam Op Shop, Kenilworth, England - notice the lovely window display

This Oxfam shop had a lovely clock in its window, but it was well-above my budget at 65 pounds (which is currently about $110).

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into op-shops in England - stay tuned for more posts on my travels, including Paris and Dublin !!

The most amazing antique-filled hotel in the world

2010-04-28T18:45:00.001+10:00

I am in London at the moment and am staying at what I think is the most fantastic hotel I have ever seen. It is called 'Millers Residence' in Notting Hill and is owned by the writer of the 'bible' on antiques, Martin Miller (of Miller's Antiques Guides).

Guest sitting room/parlour - Millers Residence

As you can see it is absolutely filled to the rafters with antiques - fabulous! In the evening, the staff (Mr Miller's daughter Cara) goes around lighting candles and there is an open bar, including Mr Miller's own label of gin. Needless to say I curled up with a big coffee book on 'hip London', a G&T and had a lovely time!

There are lovely touches all around the house - including a vintage chess set, complete with timers, on a table supported by a stack of books - love it!

One of my favourite things was this large ornamental frog which graced the main entrance hallway. It sounds strange to have a frog in a hall way but it really worked - very funky!

The Residence has been used in a number of photo shoots for magazines, including Elle Magazine. In one of the photos they put shoes and bags amongst the antique books - very cute.

My bedroom was also fabulous - all the bedrooms are named after different writers - eg Blake, Wordsworth etc. The name of my room was 'Tennyson' and had a lovely four poster bed. The bed covers were made from a heavy satin fabric and the bed was super comfy (I hate hard beds). It was a pity that my hubby wasn't with me as it was very romantic! (although he is a real minimalist and I think this hotel would be too much for him!)

'Tennyson' room - divine

Some of the antiques in the 'Tennyson' bedroom

The hotel is situated in Notting Hill which as you can imagine is very nice - great restaurants and little boutique shops. I was really struck this time around in London at how much better the food and wine is. I also found that in Scotland. I think budget airlines, no matter how much we might dislike them at times, have enabled more and more British to travel to Italy and France and that has really improved the food in the UK. I didn't really get the chance to have a look at the vintage clothes stores on this visit, but my recollection is that the ones on Portobello Road in Notting Hill were fairly over-priced. The same applies to the op-shops. I had a quick look at the op-shops in Notting Hill and they were SERIOUSLY over-priced and did not have any vintage treasure.

If you are interested in reading more about this fabulous hotel, see the website at http://www.millersuk.com/index.html. It was a truly memorable experience, highly recommended!

Goodbye to Scotland - un-glamorous hiking and a vintage-style guest house

2010-04-26T03:32:00.000+10:00

I have just finished a tour of the ‘Isle of Skye’, a pretty island in the west of Scotland. As part of the tour of the isle, I went hiking up a hill (but it felt like a mountain to me). When the guide said it would take two hours I was a little alarmed, as I love to exercise, but only indoors in a controlled environment (the gym and aerobics). I am not used to slogging up a hill in the wind and rain! I am glad to say I made it to the top, and I thought I had to show you this picture of me at the ‘summit’. For a girl who loves to dress up in vintage, this was definitely not one of my style-defining moments. I hope it gives you a laugh!

Vintage Suburbia channelling 'Michelin man'

As you can see, I look like someone on ‘American Wrestling’ rather than ‘The Collectors’. When I saw that photo I thought, ‘Gosh, I really need to lay off those cooked breakfasts’ (bacon and eggs every day is a killer for your hips) but I think my ‘largesse’ can be explained by the fact I was wearing about 6 layers of clothes (yes, I know, excuses excuses).

Before I leave Scotland I wanted you to see the photos of the lovely little B&B I stayed at in Edinburgh. Although it did not have any ‘antiques’ as such, it was decorated in a lovely vintage style. As you will see, the wallpaper was particularly beautiful.

Hallway with lovely faux French art nouveau (?) chair

Bencruachan Guest house, Edinburgh

I think the pattern of the wallpaper might be by a famous Scottish architect/designer/artist called Charles Rennie MacIntosh (or otherwise inspired by his work). MacIntosh made very striking designs using dark blue and green with distinctive leaf and flower motifs.

If you want to know more about this artist, please see the Charles Rennie MacIntosh Society website for more information. His designs really are stunning. If you go to Glasgow, you can go to the 'Willow Tea Rooms' which he designed - the building looks beautiful.

I also loved this statue that the lady owner of the B&B had placed in the hallway – really lovely.

But best of all was that they had a decanter of very nice sherry in each room. I am embarrassed to say that I drank about one third of mine and they had to top it up! My excuse is that I was very cold and needed to be warmed up. I don’t normally like sherry, but this was really nice.

I felt very at home in Scotland, as they even sometimes have whisky in their porridge at breakfast time – what a great country!

Goodbye now from Scotland and stay tuned for the next post.

The beautiful Dunvegan Castle in Scoltand

If you are interested in going to Scotland (and I would highly recommend it - I had a wonderful time):
I stayed at Ben Cruachan B&B, 17 McDonald Rd, Edinburgh http://www.bencruachan.com/
My tour of the Isle of Skye was with ‘Rabbie’s Tours’: www. Rabbies.com

Vintage dress shopping in Edinburgh

2010-04-19T06:48:00.007+10:00

After my little foray into Op shops in Edinburgh, I still had some energy left for a little trip around the city’s vintage stores(whilst waiting for the volcanic ash to settle in the street outside!). I did my research before leaving Australia and found only six stores (which makes sense given Edinburgh’s population is only around five hundred thousand). I managed to vist four of the stores: Armstrong Vintage (two of their stores), Barnados Vintage and Emily’s Vintage. Armstrong Vintage is the largest of the vintage sellers in Edinburgh, with three large stores full to the brim with vintage of all kinds and eras, including vintage militaria and vintage Scottish costumes.

The main store in ‘Grassmarket’ (a street off High Street) is their biggest store and is absolutely crammed full of vintage. It also stocks wacky costumes. It is very colourful and decorated zanily, but I am not sure how much ‘quality’ vintage was there. There was a lot of 1960’s and 1970’s, but only a handful of 50’s dresses.

One of the shop windows in Armstrong Vintage - I love the sign!

This mannequin hanging in the centre of the shop is also great.

Despite the fact that it is no Circa Vintage (not many places are), it is always fun to browse in shops like these. Not the least because of some of the interesting ways the mannequins are dressed. Notice the ‘necklace’ of gloves in the middle mannequin below? Cute!

This is an example of one of the nicer things I found in the shop - what looks like an early 1960's coat (? please correct me if I am mistaken!). From memory, it was around 70 pounds (about $110)

Below is a photo of the men's section, which as you can see, was full of militaria.

The other two vintage stores, Emily's Vintage and Barnados were fairly standard 'cheaper' vintage stores (sort of Lost and Found standard, but very small) - so nothing too exciting to report there.

So all in all, I would not exactly rush to buy vintage in Edinburgh, but its good fun to browse. Goodbye from Edinburgh!

PS apologies if this post is not formatted all that well, I am doing this in a Wifi hotspot in an Edinburgh hostel surrounded by around 50 very loud French students (poor things have obviously been waiting here all day for the airport to open again so I didn't want to ask them to pipe it down!)

A statue outside Edinburgh Castle - beautiful

Op shopping in Edinburgh

2010-04-17T07:43:00.002+10:00

Hello from Edinburgh, Scotland, the first stop in my little trip around UK and Europe (far away from Melbourne suburbia!). Edinburgh is an absolutely beautiful city – it has wonderful old buildings, including an amazing castle, a relaxed atmosphere, and very friendly people. I would thoroughly recommend it (not the least because it is socially acceptable to have whisky in your porridge for breakfast – I am serious!).

'Old Square', Edinburgh University

Of course, a committed op-shopper such as myself could not visit a new city without checking out the op-shops (or charity shops as they are referred to here in the UK). I am embarrassed to say that rather than visit Edinburgh Castle like any good tourist would have done, I spent my first few hours in the city at a lovely op-shop close to my guest-house. In my defence, I did have to make an urgent trip to the launderette! (I had to pack very light on this trip, which means having to wash clothes occasionally). It was a stroke of genius though, as the op-shop I discovered on my way to the launderette was absolutely delightful.

The op-shop is called St Columba's Hospice Shop and is one of the prettiest, most organized op-shops I have ever visited. It was full of treasure, including 5-6 sets of vintage crockery (the good English stuff – I was heartbroken that I couldn’t take it home with me!), a lovely bevelled edge mirror and a large collection of beautiful linen pieces (embroidered tablecloths and runners – divine). The store was beautifully laid out and the clothes were all in great condition and very clean. I was a bit shy about asking the ladies there about taking photos of the inside of the shop but I did get a photo of the dressing room to give you an idea of its prettiness.

So what treasure did I snag at this lovely place? Five fantastic vintage brooches – thank you very much (who needs to visit Edinburgh Castle when you can buy vintage jewellery)! I love vintage brooches so when I saw one of the volunteers putting these in the window I snapped them up very quickly indeed.

As you will notice from the photo, the prices at this shop were extremely reasonable. Most things in the shop (including these brooches) were in the £3-5 range (which equates to about AUS4-5 – the exchange rate against the pound is absolutely fantastic at the moment). I struck up a little conversation with the volunteer who was putting out these brooches, she was very friendly and interested in op-shopping in Australia . Actually, she made an interesting comment about op-shopping - when I mentioned that I love op-shopping in Australia and how popular it is there she asked me what ‘op shop’ meant (as I said earlier, they are referred to as ‘charity’ shops in the UK). When I explained that it was short for ‘Opportunity shop’ she thought it was great that we called them that rather than ‘charity’ shops. I had never really thought of it like that, and when I think about it now, I guess it is much nicer and more positive to refer to shops as ‘opportunity’ rather than ‘charity’ shops. I had such a lovely time at this store – part of my brain was saying ‘I should really be sightseeing rather than op-shopping’ but it is a lovely way to meet the locals so I am glad I did it.

Unfortunately, the other op shops in Edinburgh did not yield any such treasure. On my way around the city in the next two days I visited several other op-shops in Edinburgh, including Oxfam, Save the Children, Cancer Research, Heart Research and Vets for Pets (there are many many op shops in the UK!). These were located off the High Street so a lot more central than St Columba's and they mainly sold contemporary fashion and had no real treasure. There was one op-shop that specialized in vintage, Barnados Vintage, in the city centre which had some treasure, but this was priced more like a vintage store than an op-shop.

So what did I learn about op-shopping overseas? Essentially the rules are the same as for Australia: visit the smaller, suburban op shops a little off the beaten track and that are associated with a church or other similar organization. I also visited a few vintage stores in Edinburgh so stay tuned for a post on that in the next few days. Goodbye for now from beautiful Edinburgh!

Round She Goes and Bon Voyage

2010-04-10T16:58:00.000+10:00

Just a reminder that the vintage/second hand market 'Round She Goes' is on tomorrow (Sunday 11 April) at Kingston Town Hall, Moorabbin, full details are as follows:

Time: 10:00am-3:00pm
Where: Kingston City Hall (formerly Moorabbin Town Hall)
979 Nepean Highway, Moorabbin, VIC 3189
Melways Ref: 77 D5
entry: $2 and there is free parking

My favourite Melbourne vintage jewellery seller, Callie, is going to be there, as well as 100 other stall-holders so I think it will be well worth visiting. I know it is probably a bit of a hike for people living in the north of Melbourne, but you could combine it with a trip to Frankston Savers (which is a bit further down south) or a little excursion to the vintage shops of St Kilda. I went to one of the 'mini' Round She Goes at Melbourne Central last year and bought quite a few nice things. There are some photos of past markets at
this link.

Unfortunately I won't be able to make it as I am leaving for overseas tomorrow and will be madly doing last-minute packing. I am travelling to Hong Kong, London, Dublin, Edinburgh and France (Paris and Loire Valley - yaah!) so I hope to bring you some interesting posts on vintage shops overseas and beautiful places to eat and drink.

Sorry this is post is devoid of any photos, I hope my posts from overseas will make up for it! Au revoir for now!

Dry-cleaning versus handwashing - avoiding disasters

2010-04-09T14:21:00.000+10:00

I know this sounds strange, but I love handwashing my vintage clothes. I find it therapeautic for some reason (obviously I need to get out more!). I also try to avoid dry cleaning, which is bad for the environment and can also fade clothes over time (I had a friend who dry cleaned a jacket that was part of a suit and handwashed the matching skirt - yes I know you're not supposed to do that - and the jacket faded a lot over several dry cleans). I also had a bad experience recently with a dry cleaner who damaged some buttons on a 1950's jacket - not good!

However, and this is a big however, you do need to be careful when hand-washing. I have had very fortunate luck with my handwashing over the years and cannot recall any disasters, but I had a very near-miss diaster earlier this week when I handwashed this lovely navy vintage capelet:

Because it wasn't lined and didn't 'look' like it needed to be dry-cleaned (there are no labels on it) and it looked and felt as if it was made of wool, I handwashed it in lukewarm water with some Lux flakes. However, the colour ran like crazy and the capelet kind of gave off a very strong wool odour (as if it was trying to tell me, don't wash me you idiot!). I got it out quick smart, rinsed it and dried it in the shade laying flat and it seemed to be OK, then when it was dry I took it to my local dry-cleaner. I realised in hindsight and by comparing it to other clothes in my wardrobe (plus a few mad google searches!) that it is wool crepe which should not be washed (colour runs, it is liable to shrink). Fortunately the capelet doesn't seem damaged at all by my negligent washing so in the end it was all OK, but thought I would pass on my experience to you all so you can avoid such disasters.

I have done a little more research into this so I can be more informed and careful in future hand-washing escapades and found some good resources on line. Nicole Jenkin's Love Vintage book (see this link for where to buy it) has a good laundering section including a chart of recommended care instructions and tips such as using cold water and handwashing liquid for clothes that run (see pp 218-225). I would also recommend the following internet pages:

http://www.ktcampbell.com/domesticity/hand_wash.html

http://www.fashion-era.com/Vintage_fashion/a13_cleaning_vintage_tips.htm

http://www.vintagevixen.com/articlesCare/washOrNot.asp

From what I understand, you basically have to be careful with handwashing silk (colour can run), rayon (as it is made partly of wood pulp so can break in water) and wool crepe (see above!). I think everyone has to take their own approach to what cleaning they use on their vintage, as some people are better than dating clothes than I am. But my personal approach to these three delicate fabrics is to dry-clean them and handwash (in lukewarm water with a mild detergent) everything else. The only other thing that needs dry cleaning are of course suits, which can't be handwashed.

By the way, a good way of testing the colour fastness of a garment is to lightly press a slightly damp (not wet) cotton bud/cotton wool pad on an inconspicuous part of the garment (eg inside seam or hem) and see if any colour transfers on to it. I actually did this with my capelet (after the near miss disaster and it was dry cleaned) and the cotton bud got navy colour on it straightaway so had I used this technique at the start I could have avoided the colour run in the first place!

Happy washing and please let me know any of your laundering disasters or tips!

A 1960's mustard yellow trench

2010-04-05T17:44:00.000+10:00

As the cooler weather is slowly starting to make its appearance in Melbourne, I have had great fun getting out my autumn trench coats and putting away some of my summer dresses. Being of Irish origin I simply love winter so I am eagerly awaiting wearing my scarves, coats, and my vintage skirt suits. I was given this mustard yellow trench coat by a cousin (twice removed I think, I am not good on the family tree!). It is 'true blue' vintage made in the UK.

I have to say I was a little hesitant about wearing this trench as I have never really liked yellow, and especially not mustard yellow (just the name itself turns me off!). However, I have to say with the right blouse underneath it looks quite nice. I have also tried the trench with a grey scarf and that seems to work too. I wouldn't have though grey and yellow went together, but the right shades do.

I really like the gold tone buttons on this trench and the matching belt - very classy. The label says 'Aquascutum', Made in England, Regent St, London. Don't you love a label that says that says Regent St, London? From my knowledge of vintage (which I have to say is not expertised) I understand that the UK did not make masses of clothes in the 50s due to the effect of WWII but you can find some great 60's English clothes.

Finally, just a quick shot of the vintage blouse I wore underneath. It is 'new/old' stock from etsy USA. The tag, still attached, said 'Laura Mae'. I am not familiar with this manufacturer/brand, but because the shirt is polyester I am guessing late 1960's, early 1970's?

1960's yellow vintage trench, made in London a gift

Blouse etsy USA

pants Basque Myer (ages ago, I try to avoid Myer now, had enough of rude sales assistants!)

An unusual 1950's suit

2010-04-01T14:51:00.002+11:00

This is quite an unusual 1950s summer/spring suit that I purchased from 'Top Hat' vintage store in High St, Thornbury (873 High St). I saw it on the mannequin when I walked in, and had to try it on, as I have never actually seen anything like it before. I was a little worried it was 'too much' as the pattern and colours are quite bright. But I put a silver flower brooch and earrings with it and it seems to work.

Notice my unkept garden - I am not a good gardener I'm afraid!

Look at my white legs for goodness sake - they are almost as white as my shoes!

If you haven't been to Top Hat in Thornbury before, you must pay a visit. It is owned by a lady called Michelle and she is a real character. Her shop is chock-a-bloc with vintage goodies. The day I went there I bought four dresses and this suit, I just couldn't resist. it is a bit more 'ramshackle' than some other vintage stores and the changing room is a bit of a problem (a very small space at the back of the shop with a curtain across it) but its great fun. I don't necessarily think the prices are much cheaper than other places so don't expect bargain prices just because its a bit further out than Fitzroy, but the sheer volume of stuff is great. Plus, there is a great second hand bookshop across the road (and an okay cafe next door). See an earlier post to see another 1950's pink dress (with a bolero - I love boleros!) which I also I bought at Top Hat.

The suit is made of a lovely cotton material so is very breathable. There is no tag on it, so I think it may have been home-sewn.

This picture below shows the colour and detail of the suit and the brooch and earrings a bit better:

Finally, a close-up of the brooch - I love these 60's flower costume brooches that are very easy (and cheap) to get on ebay. I forget exactly how much I paid for it, but I think the set (with earrings) was about $25. The set is in pristine condition, looks like it has never been worn.

outfit details

1950s suit Top Hat, 873 High St Thornbury (tram from the city stops outside)

brooch and earrings etsy USA

shoes Myer (years ago)

The Vintage Guru of Melbourne at Heritage Hill

2010-03-31T13:55:00.000+11:00

I attended a talk yesterday by the lady who I believe is the Vintage Guru of Melbourne, Nicole Jenkins (owner of Circa Vintage Clothing store - Fitroy, writer and generally fabulous person).

Vintage Suburbia (left), Nicole Jenkins V.G. (rt)

Vintage Suburbia is wearing a 1950's dress Ebay Australia (a few yrs ago)

- see at end of post for a full photo of the dress

Nicole is also wearing a 1950's dress - very cute

Nicole has been doing a series of talks in Melbourne to coincide with the publication of her fantastic vintage book 'Love Vintage'. If you do not have a copy of this, you need to get one now - seriously (see this link for where to buy it). It is like a bible for vintage collectors. I have a few vintage books at home, but Nicole's is by far the best - it has beautiful photos and is very comprehensive (she covers all the major designers of a particular vintage era and also things like sizing, clothing labels and the best places to buy vintage). Most other vintage books I have seen just discuss one particular designer (eg Chanel) or just look at where to buy vintage whereas Nicole's is far more broad-ranging than this.

Nicole signing a copy of her book after the talk.

The lovely lady to the left is a vintage seller from Mornington Antique centre.

In her talk, Nicole displayed and discussed a selection of clothes (mainly dresses, but also a 1760 pair of men's breeches!) from her collection. She had items from each important era of vintage, Edwardian and 1920's-70's. As Nicole is an accomplished seamstress, she loves to see how garments have been constructed and she turned many of the garments inside out to show us how to date clothing by the use of handstitching, overlocking and so on. It was very informative so I would encourage all of you to attend one of her talks. As well as having an encyclopaedic knowledge of vintage (she only had to take one look at my pink dress to tell me it was from 1953 - wow!) she is a really lovely person - very open, friendly and she has a great sense of humour. You can tell she has a deep love and appreciation for vintage, which I find very inspirational. I think we are very lucky to have such a great vintage person here in Melbourne.

The talk was held at Laurel Lodge, which is part of the Heritage Hill Museum in Dandenong. I have posted a few photos from the museum so you can see what it is like. I have also put up a full length photo of the pink dress I am wearing in the first picture in case you are interested. I wasn't able to get a proper outfit photo of it before I left, so I am sorry its just one I took last night with the dress on the hanger!

Cute fireplace - Laurel Lodge

Old fashioned milk bottle - how I wish we still used these! - Laurel Lodge

Oh my goodness, the most divine art deco era canisters - Heritage Hill Museum

And lastly, a not-so-great full-length photo of the dress I wore to the talk. My 6 year old photographer was not around when I was wearing it to take a proper outfit photo - sorry!

Below is a close up of the decorative panels on the dress (they are sewn on rather than embroidered straight on to the dress, Nicole did have a name for this, but I have forgotten sorry!)

And finally (really!) my favourite aspect of vintage clothing are the labels. This one says

'Duval of Melbourne'

I wished we saw more labels like these on modern clothes, then I might actually start buying them again!

The joy of vintage costume jewellery - Coro and Weiss

2010-03-25T23:10:00.000+11:00

I have always been a collector of vintage dresses, but it is only lately that I have started collecting and wearing vintage earrings and brooches. I am not sure why, probably because they are relatively difficult to find in Australia (compared to the US). But the joy of etsy is that literally thousands of these vintage beauties are available to us now (and I think I have bought most of them!). I was also a little scared of wearing clip-ons after some bad experiences wearing my mother's clip-ons when I was a teenager, but they seem to be OK now (the trick is not to put them on too tightly).

Some of my vintage jewellery collection.

Notice the teal and blue Coro set in the bottom row, centre box. Divine detail.

That was bought from Callie at Camberwell Markets. Notice the Lisner clip-ons, bottom row, right hand side, purchased on ebay USA. I have not had a chance to wear these yet though - need to buy a nice green dress to go with them obviously. What good luck!

I like to store my brooches and earrings in the boxes they came in, stashed away safely in the drawers of my art deco dresser (away from the destructive little fat hands of my little 2 year old Mr Moppet). Most of them have tissue paper or 'packing fluff' (not sure of the proper name for that!) to add to the protection.

The large silver flower set (top left) is a beauty, but needs an appropriate outfit. The cameo with the silver edging (top right) was from that cheapo costume chain store found in every mall across Australia called Kleins - does a great job of filling in whilst I save up for the real thing - fake it till you make it girls! The divine blue brooch (bottom centre) with white figurine is Wedgewood and at $80 is probably my most expensive purchase. I probably paid too much, but it is very beautiful I must say. I also have to mention that the darling little pearl clasps (bottom right) are from an op shop in my little home town of Boggabri, NSW (pop 1,100 - so cute!). I would seriously consider moving back there just to get my hands on real true blue rural vintage treasures!

I have purchased most of my earrings and brooches from etsy, with a few from Ebay USA and some really beautiful ones from Callie, a seller at Camberwell Markets (I have mentioned her in earlier posts, so search for her name on my blog if you are interested - she has some lovely Coro pieces in particular, really good quality items).

I had never heard of the great vintage jewellery names of 'Coro' or 'Weiss' before, but if you are not familiar with them, I would really recommend purchasing some of their pieces. Callie from Camberwell Markets actually recommended a great book to me, which I would thoroughly recommend to you for increasing your knowledge of this actually quite huge area of vintage. Its part of the 'DK' book range and is called 'Costume Jewellery' by Judith Miller.

I was able to borrow it from my local library, but you could perhaps find a second hand copy on Amazon or ebay. It has an 'A-Z' of the top designers, as well as a section on unsigned pieces. The pictures are sublime - warning, you will want to buy simply truckloads of these pieces after reading this book!

Hope you find a lovely 1950's Coro brooch to make your day soon!

The Red Shoes at the Astor Theatre (and a great latte!)

2010-03-22T00:00:00.000+11:00

I went to see the lovely old ballet film ‘The Red Shoes’ at the Astor in Chapel Street today.

For those who are not familiar with the film, ‘The Red Shoes’ tells the story of a ballerina performing for the (fictional) Lermontov Ballet in Monte Carlo. It was made in 1948 and stars, amongst others, the famous Australian ballet star Robert Helpmann. To tell you anymore about the film would give the plot away, so I will just say it is a lovely film to go and see on a Sunday afternoon, especially if, like me, you dance, or love to watch ballet. And what better place to watch it than the beautiful art deco Astor.

I took my little six year old daughter to see the film and it was a lovely girls day out for us. We went to see the movie, and then had a latte, lemonade and treats at a local café in Windsor - Dino's Deli (34 Chapel St, Windsor).

Outfit: 1950s dress Circa Vintage Clothing, Fitroy Melbourne

Shoes Myer (some years ago)

vintage earrings Clara Fox Vintage, Brunswick St, Fitroy North

The name 'Dino's Deli' does not really conjure up images of great sophistication I must say, but I would highly recommend this cafe. It is a lovely Parisien style café, only a stone’s throw from the Astor, it has GREAT coffee (I am sooo fussy about my coffee so if I say its good, it is good!) and lovely little homemade treats like small baguettes with jambon (ham!) and little pastries served on vintage plates - all a vintage girl with a coffee obsession could ever want!

I have had horrible luck with cafes on Chapel St, which is a surprise given it is such a popular shopping district. There is nothing quite so bad as a bad latte! I was impressed with the fact that this café had snacks that looked and tasted like homemade, not just the mass-produced fare you normally see at cafes in Melbourne. And as a plus, it is right next door to two fabulous stores: an Art Deco print shop and a great second-hand bookstore (the latter of which is currently having a 20-50% off sale - when I went there I got some Trixie Belden books for only $2 each - yaaahh!)

L to R: Second hand book store, Art deco print store and Dino's Deli, 32-34 Chapel St Windsor

If you want to see 'The Red Shoes' it is only on at The Astor for the next two weeks, so get in quick, I have set out the session times below. Happy dancing!

The Red Shoes
see http://www.astor-theatre.com/
Season: Sunday, March 21 to Sunday, April 4.
Sundays & Saturdays — 2 PM, 5 PM & 8 PM
Mondays, Wednesday to Friday — 7:30 PM (no screenings Tuesdays)