Atomic Festival!

So since my last post there have been a few changes in my little world... I have moved into a new place with my guy... and it's great!  I also have a new job... or I will do in a few weeks when I start it.  I will still be working in clinical research but in a different role with more responsibility (and more money!) in a different research facility so yay for me.  And I booked a holiday to America for 2015 (Yes, I will finally get to revel in all the VLV fun!)  And I managed to do all this in one week.  But now on to more important things such as....

Atomic Festival!  At the beginning of May, the first ever Atomic Festival was held at Sywell Aerodrome in Northampton.  I had tickets for the Saturday but I kinda wished I had weekend tickets because it was so much fun that I didn't want to go home on Saturday evening!

 

I am so glad that it did not rain... and although it was very sunny, it was a pretty cold start to the day!  This plaid dress was perfect to wear to this 1950s Americana event and I teamed it with my Rocket Originals wedges and then, later on in the day, my saddles shoes. 

 

 

This is actually the second Mr. Mort dress that I own.  The first Mr. Mort dress I have yet to wear even though I consider it to be one of my favourite dresses (how is that possible, to have a 'favourite' dress that I've never worn?!)  This one has a fully lined circle skirt and it's pretty heavy (it swings and hits your partner when you jive in it!) 

 

 

 

 

One of the reasons why I'm a bit gutted I was only there for the Saturday was that I missed the Poodle Parade on the Sunday.  I did get to snap some photos of this super chic lady and her lovely dogs though.

 

 

 

So I have to admit, I was not that enthused to see Demon Drome's Wall of Death but my guy really wanted to go so I went too... AND THEY TOTALLY BLEW MY MIND!!!  It was definitely one of the highlights of my day at the festival - the two guys and girl were amazing and I still can't get over the stunts that they did (they went so fast that I did not get any good photos but if you ever get the chance to see them at an event - DO IT!!!)

 

 

 

I love Classic American cars and I'm glad we got to have a good look around the cars parked in the field.

 

 

Not only was the Festival lots of fun but it took place at such a fantastic venue!  The beautiful Art Deco surroundings of the Aerodrome building and Aviator Hotel looked like they should be the backdrop for an episode of Poirot (rather than a 1950s event!) and I would love to go back one day to explore more of this venue.

 

 

There was so much going on but we managed to see The Revolutionaires later on in the day.  They were so lively and energetic, I hope to be able to see them again in the future.

 



 

To be honest, I don't remember much of Bobby Brooks Wilson's set at Rhythm Riot so I made sure I was right at the front when I caught him at Atomic.  He is so charming and sounds just like his Father, it was a great end to a great day.

 

There was also lots that I didn't take photos of, such as the racing on the drag strip, roller disco, Jive Championships, vintage traders, great food stalls...  Definitely an event I would like to go back to (and next time, hopefully, for both days!)

 

Dress: Vintage Mr. Mort from Etsy

Shoes: Rocket Originals

Sunglasses: Vintage from Vera Mode

Bag: Vintage from Etsy

Earrings: Vintage from Etsy

Bracelet: Vintage from trader at Rhythm Riot

 

 

Rhythm Riot 2013 Part 1

So a few weekends ago my boyfriend and I attended our first ever R'n'R weekender... Rhythm Riot!  We only learnt to jive quite recently and so I was a bit nervous about going to an event where there would be a lot of people but we had a really good time! 

Some of the outfits that I chose to wear have been featured on this blog previously so I won't bother showing you them again.  And my iPhone did not take very good quality photos of any of my evening outfits so I won't be showing you them either (and I did wear a rather lovely late 1940s dress on the Saturday!  Although I am sure I will wear it again at some point in the future.) 

First up is the outfit I wore on Saturday during the day.... 

As Rhythm Riot is a Rhythm and Blues and Rock 'N' Roll event, most people dress in either 1940s or 1950s vintage wear and so I thought it would be a good opportunity to wear this 1940s rayon dress.  It has quite a great print on it and I hope you'll be able to pick up on it in the photos.

As well as the yellow flowers on it, there is also a conductor and musical notation!  Also, the yellow flower by my shoulder actually has white beads around it too! 

I bought these vintage shoes from a random vintage shop in Chichester and they were pretty cheap.  When I bought them, I thought they were a 1960s/1970s does 1940s shoe but on further inspection when I got home (and some Internet research later on the brand name) I discovered they were genuine 1940s shoes (unworn as well!)  So I was pretty pleased with my bargain.

I don't want to bore you with all the photos of the cars I took (and there were lots of pretty cars) so here are two of my favourite 1950s cars.

As well as the awesome cars, there were also awesome bands too!  I really enjoyed seeing The Inteli-gents, Los Mambo Jambo, The Teenagers and The Royal Rhythmaires...

I think that's probably enough to fill this blog post so I will talk about the amaaaazing vintage traders and well-dressed Rioters in the next post :)

Dress: Vintage from Etsy
Shoes: Vintage from a Vintage shop in Chichester
Bag: Vintage from eBay
Necklace: Vintage from a Vintage Fair
Hat: Vintage from Lou Lou's Vintage Fair
Gloves: Vintage from Lace and Tweed Vintage Fair
Coat: Vintage from Vintage to Vogue, Bath
Fox stole: Vintage from a flea market in New York

Rally of the Giants Car Show

Last weekend we attended the 'Rally of the Giants' classic American car show at Blenheim Palace.  I had never been to the Palace before or a specifically American car show and this was advertised as the "Best American car show in the UK" so I was really looking forward to it and it certainly did not disappoint! 

The cars were arranged by era and my favourites were easily the '50s!  I don't actually drive (would really like to learn in the future but have never been able to afford it!) but I have now decided that one day I would like to buy either a Ford Thunderbird (one of the first generation ones!) or a Chevrolet Bel Air.  We saw a few of these and the colours were just dreamy! 

I love going to car shows and it does make me hopeful that I can own one of these beauties in the future!

So a little word on my outfit... This is my new-to-me Bobbie Brooks dress which I love.  There were two being sold on Etsy when I looked - one appeared to be my measurements essentially but was just too short in the bodice, so I opted for the slightly larger one which was being sold and had it altered to fit (though it wasn't altered enough and I still had to do my own adjustments!)  I have also seen this dress featured in a blog post from Vivian de Violet (unable to post links at the moment) and she looks lovely in it!

Although generally I do not care if a dress is a particular brand or designer, when I find a dress with a style or fit that really works, I do like to seek out more from that brand and I am keen to do the same with Bobbie Brooks. 

We didn't explore the Palace as much as we would have liked to but the gardens were amazing!  We walked by the side of the lake and saw the beautiful cascade.  Above is a photo taken in the Rose Garden and below is a photo taken inside the Palace Chapel with me standing at the Pulpit!  All in all a thoroughly enjoyable day out!

Dress: Vintage Bobbie Brooks from Etsy

Shoes: Next

Bag: Vintage from Etsy

Necklace: Vintage from This is Vintage in Boscombe

Hat: Vintage from Etsy

Gloves: Vintage from Scarlet Vintage in Bath