I am back, and going to Portland and LA

 Bagdad Theatre, Portland

Dear all

Sorry I have been absent from my blog for so long. The good news is that I finally submitted my thesis and it passed, so I am celebrating by going on a vintage-hunting trip to Portland and LA in April-May.

I have been wanting to go to Portland for ages, it looks like such an interesting, arty and creative place, and seems to have FANTASTIC vintage shops. And of course, one of my favourite bloggers, Solanah from Vintage Vixen lives there.

I will be taking my camera so will be doing quite a few posts about vintage shopping in the US. Let me know if there are any particular shops you would like me to visit.

Thanks for your patience, and I will catch up soon,

Maria, aka Vintage Suburbia

Life in France

Sorry it has been a long time between posts, but as usual my life is fairly hectic at the moment. I have a rather large and looming deadline - that being my 90,000 word PhD thesis which is due mid-December. So you will have to excuse me but I will be absent from the blogging world for a few more weeks. In the meantime, these are some snippets of my life in France - which at the moment consists of cold weather, wine and food!

Au revoir for the moment, and I will see you all in December.

Thank you so much, Maria (aka Vintage Suburbia)

A Lovely Vintage Carousel in France

Recently I took my two young children on the train from our home in Grenoble to a nearby town, Valence in  the South-East of France.  The train ride was only one hour, but rather stressful as my kids insisted on acting up and fighting with each other . . .  sacre bleur as the French would say. But the ride was almost worth it when I saw this lovely vintage carousel . . .

My four year old boy riding the plane.

Most French towns have a small carousel in the middle of the town, which is a lovely feature of French villages, and also gives adults a chance to have a break from their kids for at least five minutes! We have a nice carousel in our home town of Grenoble, but this one in Valence is one of the nicest ones I have seen. It was very old-fashioned and was in perfect condition.

There was also a lovely hot air balloon on the carousel . . .

I actually took these photos with my new(ish) Samsung phone. I was very dubious about how they would look on the web, but I am pleasantly surprised. The ones taken when the carousel are moving are a bit blurry, but the others are actually not too far off a proper camera. I am impressed!

Stay tuned for more on vintage and living in France . . . 

Pin up Sailor Swimsuit by the pool

This is my last instalment of posts from my lovely trip to Spain in August (we travelled to Cartagena for a friend's wedding). The weather was perfect, not too hot, not to cold so a swim was in order . . .

As I have a curvy figure and pale complexion I have to put a little effort into assembling a swimming outfit - I can't just pick a bikini off the rack and hope it will look OK! I had decided on a nautical theme for my outfits so I hunted down this fantastic retro swimsuit on etsy (thank you Heather from The Red Dolly!). I like the fact that it is stripy on the top and navy on the bottom which I think may be more flattering for my type of figure. I am glad I didn't go with my original plan, which was striped all over. I had ummed and ahhed about whether to get an original 50s swimsuit or replica, but the originals tend to be expensive and you can run into problems with elastic that has wasted away and so on. I am very glad that I bought this replica - it is made of good quality fabric and fits like a glove.

We stayed at a place called 'Roda Golf and Beach resort' near Murcia in Spain. The pool was lovely and clean and the accommodation is very reasonable. However, the 'beach resort' is actually 40 kms away (a bit of poetic licence used in the brochure I think!).

Its a pity that I had to ruin the look by actually getting in the pool and swimming. It didn't do my red lipstick any favours I can tell you (I ended up with red smear all over my face, which my 8 year old daughter found very hilarious).

Good luck with finding your favourite swimsuit this summer season (that applies to my Australian friends, my US and European followers will have to wait a bit longer for summer I'm afraid!).

Outfit details:

Vintage swimsuit Pin Up Sailor Retro swimsuit– Heather at The Red Dolly

Swimwear cover up etsy

Vintage red parasol – the lovely Maura Bee at etsy Maura Bee

Sunglasses: Accessorize (Dublin, also available in the UK)

Red wedge shoes - a shoe shop on Henry Street, Dublin

Rockabilly Bernie Dexter style in Spain

In preparation for my trip to Spain recently, I put together some great outfits built on a nautical/red and white rockabilly theme. Sticking to one colour palette when you pack for holidays means you can use the same accessories and have more outfits to wear - yay! In my next post I will show you my fantastic Retro Sailor swimsuit. Today it is a figure-hugging Bettie Page style look . . 

This is my first time doing the 'Rockabilly' look. I am not sure if you can make out my hairdo clearly, but it is that very striking roll-under that Rockabilly girls often wear. Bettie Page, a model who became famous for her pin-up look in the 1950s.

In most photos she seems to be wearing her hair in 'bangs' (or in Australia we call this a 'fringe') but most modern girls re-create this by putting in 'faux bangs' by rolling the hair under. This is particularly good if you don't want to cut your hair off and want more versatility in your hairdos (for instance, to be able to wear victory rolls as well). Now I should say, I find this hairstyle quite difficult to do. But there are a few very good tutorials on youtube. I used one by Fleur, otherwise known as '1940s Vintage Girl'. See this link. It is very important to buy a 'hair rat' for this, which is basically a roll of fake hair - that helps to give that full look to the 'fake bangs'. I thought this style might be too severe for me (cause I aint young!) but actually it works really well (probably because it distracts from my wrinkles!).

This is also the first time I have bought any reproduction vintage like that made by Bernie Dexter and others. I have to say I think the quality of Bernie Dexter clothing is VERY good. The fabric is very robust (not flimsy) and the sewing is all done to high standards. As you can see, the capri pants are VERY figure hugging so if you are buying a pair (which you should do, they are great) then don't go small (I bought a size 10 pants and size 8 blouse). When I first put the capris on I was worried they were a bit TOO figure hugging. But my husband absolutely loves them, and they were hugely popular with the Spanish men (ones over 50 years old I must add) so kerching, kerching - they are a winner. Anyway, I figure, like Joanie from Mad Men - if you have the curves, show them off!

Outfit details

Blouse and high waisted capri pants: Bernie Dexter http://www.berniedexter.com/

Earrings: etsy Old and new boutique

Handbag: etsy - Nells Vintage House

Striped bangle  etsy  Rosemyne Vintage

Red bangle: etsy Mabel studios

Vintage red parasol – the lovely Maura Bee at etsy Maura Bee

Sunglasses: Accessorize (Dublin, also available in the UK)

A beautiful Spanish wedding (and what I wore!)

Last weekend I travelled to Cartagena in the south of Spain for a wedding of a my hubby's very good friend of many years - an Irishman who married a beautiful girl from that region in Spain. It was a beautiful wedding - the bride looked gorgeous and everyone was happy and relaxed, just as a wedding should be . . . .

The happy groom, pictured here with my little retro daughter . . .

I am very lucky as my hubby's friends are great - they are some of the funniest people I know and kind to boot. They have known each other since childhood and have kept up their friendship over all these years, which I think is wonderful. Not many people do that these days.

The wedding ceremony was held in a lovely church in Cartagena . . . 

 

In Plaza de Jaime Bosch . . .

The interior of the church was stunning, as many European churches are. You will see below that there was a string quartet playing during the service - there was a violin and soprano - a lady that did an beautiful 'Alleluia' and 'Ave Maria'. She had the most amazing voice.

 A lovely stained-glass window above the altar .  . . 

And of course, a blog post about a wedding would not be the same without mention of the bride. As you will see, she was absolutely stunning. I wanted to particularly show you her veil, which was a feature of her outfit. I am not sure if it was lace from Spain or Ireland (both countries specialise in lace) but all I know is that it was really really beautiful . . . 

 And, of course, a wedding post also would not be one without small mention of the other wedding fashions. I wore a 50s frock and hat  in deep blue and pink - two of my favourite colours. Both purchased from etsy. My hubby wore a 70s suit that he purchased in Melbourne a few years ago - it fits him like a glove and he looks absolutely amazing in it.

My 8 year old looked absolutely gorgeous in her 50s poodle skirt (courtesy of www.hiphop50s.com, thank you!). The Hip Hop 50s shop is available via etsy or directly online and are very reasonable and very good. You can buy matching poodle socks (sooo cute!) and waist cincher, plus many more accessories in the store as well. My daughter is a real tomboy, she loves soccer and wearing jeans most of the time, but she loved wearing this outfit . . .

Outfit details:

Skirt, socks and cincher: www.hiphop50s.com

Shoes and white blouse - school section of Marks and Spencers (Dublin)

Hair clip and bracelet: Claires accessories 

Sunglasses: Accessorize (Dublin)

After the ceremony, there was a great traditional band playing all sorts of instruments whilst the bride came out of the church. After they finished each set, the crowd would yell out 'viva!' (and something else in Spanish too, someone told me it was 'long live the bride). It was just wonderful, such a great atmosphere . . .

Lastly, a few photos of the beautiful vintage Bentley that served as the wedding car - a 1959 model my hubby told me (he loves cars) . . .

(I couldn't seem to get the driver out of the photo, I think that was due to my 4 year old boy running around putting his greasy mits all over it and the poor guy had to keep on rubbing them off!)(we dragged our son away very reluctantly soon after realising this!).

I love the flowers on the handles of the car . . . 

 

I love the cans tied to the car - we don't seem to do that anymore for weddings in Australia. Such a funny, nice touch.

So there you go, a bit of an epic blog post there, but I hope you enjoyed a little insight into a wedding Spanish style. It really was a beautiful wedding.

A French dinner in vintage pink

A few weeks ago, my hubby and I treated ourselves to a night out in Grenoble 'sans enfants' (no children!). We don't go out for dinner much as I am a pretty good cook and, for the most part, I enjoy cooking for the family. It is also pretty expensive to hire a babysitter and pay for a meal and we try to save our money for holidays.

Here I am in one of my favourite 1950's pink dresses (also featured in this earlier post). Some pink gloves and earrings a deep pink pashmina set off the outfit. I picked up 5-6 pashminas of varying colours on a trip years ago to Turkey - they were very cheap and they come in so handy, particularly when you are dining outside like this and there is a little chill in the air.

Here is my hubby enjoying his beer . . .

Which he is just about to choke on as I have obviously said something hilarious and he is trying not to laugh  

. . . (!). That's what being on a night out without your children and not having to cook does to you. Fabulous!

 

 The restaurant we went to is right in the centre of the 'old town of Grenoble. And as you can see it is beautiful . . . 

I really love France - the people and countryside, food and wine are so beautiful. The only thing they don't do is vintage clothing - which is weird. There are absolutely no vintage clothing shops in Grenoble and only a relatively small number in Paris (and of those, they only have expensive 80s Chanel and not much else). But that is why etsy was invented - yay!

I hope you enjoyed that little look into French life and architecture. Stay tuned for a look at another meal out in a typical French brasserie next week!