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

A handy green Handmacher suit

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