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

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 . . .

Red Door Burlesque - Vintage Style

Hubby wears 1960's dinner suit, Circa Vintage, Fitroy

Vintage Suburbia wears Black 50's cocktail dress, Frocks and Slacks, St Kilda

(for full details of VS's outfit - see end of post*)

My hubby and I went to the Red Door Burlesque at the Order of Melbourne last night. It was a great evening. The MC Andrew McClelland was very funny (if you like corny jokes!) and the burlesque dancers and trapeze artist (who is called Anna the Pocket Rocket!) were amazing.

One of the lovely Burlesque dancers doing her fan dance - very classy

Anna the Pocket Rocket . Yes, she is on a trapeze!

I wasn't sure what to expect from the evening as I have never been to burlesque before. It was a very tasteful show, the dancers wear fabulous vintage-look lingerie. At the end the dancers do take off their tops, but they have very cute tassells on, its all great fun and tongue-in-cheek. Needless to say, my husband was in seventh heaven! Anna the Pocket Rocket did a wonderful hula-hoop routine, followed by an amazing trapeze act (with no safety net I must add - quite stupendous).

I also met up with the lovely Sophie of Piroska and the Wolf who looked gorgeous in a red and white polka-dot wiggle dress from 'Stop Staring' (I should have thought to take a photo - damn!).  She really seemed to enjoy the evening too, as did the other members of the audience.

All in all a wonderful evening!

Event details:

Red Door Burlesque is held on the last Sunday of every month at The Order of Melbourne, Level 2/401 Swanston St, Melbourne. Doors open 6pm, $20 entry

For bookings, phone 9663 6707 or email reddoorburlesque@theorder.com.au
The show is perfect for people with children, as it ended at around 9.15, so enough time to get back to the babysitter (there was a DJ coming on later which we could have stayed for though).

*Outfit details

The black 50's cocktail dress I am wearing is one of my favourite outfits. It is one of the first really nice vintage dresses I ever bought and it is one of the reasons I started collecting. It is made of rayon and falls beautifully. It is very flattering. It is also my favourite colour - black, which seems to suit my pale, freckly skin. The only problem is that (a) being made of rayon (which I didn't know until recently is a man-made fibre), it seems to attract moths and so it has quite a few moth holes in it, despite all my preventative measures against this (b) the waist is tiny, so I have to wear a waist cincher which can be a bit uncomfortable - but hey who ever wears vintage for comfort?!

Waist cincher - ebay (they come from Singapore I think, only around AUS$45)

Diamonte brooch - from the lovely Callie at Camberwell Markets (she is usually in the undercover walkway section) - she has fabulous stuff and her prices are reasonable

(she also has an online shop with more exclusive items, at http://www.huntedandcollected.com.au/)

Fake fur wrap - Salvos, Oakleigh

Glomesh bag - ebay Australia

Gloves - Temcare Op Shop, Station St, Oakleigh

A Vintage James Bond Husband

My hubby was, until recently, a vintage sceptic. My daily vintage outfit would usually be greeted with 'where did you get that??' (said in an incredulous tone) and 'how much did that cost?'. He still queries some of my fashion sense, saying the other day that my lovely pink 60's shift dress looked like 'something my Aunty Marge wore' (not exactly the look I was going for, but I take it as a compliment anyway!).

But I am happy to say he is no longer a sceptic (although he still questions some of my ouftits) thanks to his purchase of two vintage tuxedos from Nicole at Circa. My hubby wanted to buy one for his upcoming university graduation, but he liked them so much he bought two!

Hubby wears early 60's vintage tux, Circa Vintage, Fitroy

Vintage Suburbia wears navy and pink 50's dress, Ebay UK

My Little Moppet is also making herself seen!

It looks like he is not the only one, as ultra sharp, superbly tailored vintage-look mens suits featured prominently in the Hardy Amies Autumn/Winter Collection shown recently at the 2010 London Fashion Week. . .

Hardy Amies Collection 2010

I should note that it is difficult to find men's vintage suits in good condition - Circa has some lovely ones, and also Tracy at Fancy Pants/Frocks and Slacks in St Kilda. The tuxes we bought at Circa were only around $200 each, which my hubby and I thought was a complete bargain - the quality is amazing. The only thing I would note is that vintage sizing being what it is, if the suit does not quite fit in some areas, you may have to factor in quite a bit in alterations (as vintage suits are quite complex in structure). We recently paid about $100 to get a vintage suit altered, but as the suits are so reasonably priced and of such superior quality compared to contemporary versions, we didn't mind that at all.

When my hubby wore the suit to his graduation I told him he looked like James Bond - he was over the moon! So there you are ladies - convert your vintage-sceptic husbands (or partners/lovers!) by buying him a fabulous vintage tux!