Bonjour from the French Alps!

So this explains why I haven't posted on my blog for (cough) some time. Its because my family and I moved to France - yay! (sort of). Now, let me fill you in about why I say 'sort of'. In the past 3 months not only have I been trying (and I stress the word 'trying') to complete my PhD, but I also had to pack and store three wardrobes of vintage clothes and organise everything associated with moving a husband and two young children to Europe from Australia. To say it was stressful is an understatement.

However, I am here! And I am glad to say I love it here in France. We are living in Grenoble, which is a lovely city three hours from Paris, at the foot of the alps. As you can see from the photo above, it is still a bit wintery here, but the sun still comes out during the day (I think technically-speaking it is Spring here in Europe?!). Whatever the season, it was great to bring my 60s hot pink Lilli Ann coat out for an airing in France.  That photo was taken right outside our apartment building. Coming from Australia, where large backyards are very common, I was a little concerned about living in an apartment with two small, very active children, but so far it has been great because this park is right outside and our neighbours have similarly-aged children who have already made friends with mine, so all is good (or I should say 'tres bon!)

Photos of Grenoble - Courtesy Grenoble Tourism

These are some photos from Grenoble, courtesy of the Grenoble Tourism office. The photos may not do the city/town justice, as it is very pretty. There are a few things which are striking about living here, and I am not sure whether it is just Grenoble or France in general, but everything is so clean and there is hardly any pollution. I think this is largely down to the absolutely fantastic public transport and cycle lanes here - everyone cycles and it is really safe as most roads have dedicated cycle lanes. The public transport (mainly trams, but also some buses) are super clean and super cheap. I always found driving in Melbourne incredibly stressful so I am just so happy not to have to drive here.

Overview of Grenoble, showing the mountains in the distance

I do hope to post much more often now I am in France (and once I finish my PhD, hopefully in 3 months time). I am going to Italy and New York in May so I will be posting lots of photos of fashion from those trips so stay tuned. I packed all my Dior New Look dresses and hats in my bag so I am hoping to get lots of outfit posts taken in front of lovely French sights.

Thank you all for being patient with my intermittent posts. I really appreciate it.

Au revoir for now from France! (if you couldn't tell by now, my French is shocking)

Outfit details

1960s vintage Lilli Ann trapeze coat in hot pink ebay UK

pink gloves Love Vintage fair, Sydney

scarf Myer Melbourne

Vintage Pretty in Pink

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

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

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

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

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

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