Holiday Outfit Post # 3: The Navy Playsuit

I hope you're not getting bored with my holiday outfit posts because I have a few more to post!  This one features an outfit that I wore to Gruissan's beach. 

I am wearing a 1950s navy playsuit (which I suspect could also be worn as a proper swimsuit because of the material and the fact it has inner shorts!) but I am not keen on swimming in the ocean and wouldn't do so in this outfit anyway.

It was incredibly windy on the beach so I am glad that I wore a headscarf!

I also wanted to show you a closer photo of the bodice of the playsuit, as it features some lovely embroiderery.  

Playsuit: Vintage from Etsy

Shirt: Vintage from Greyhound Vintage from Judy's at Spitalfields

Shoes: Office

Headscarf: Vintage from my Grandma

Sunglasses: Ray Ban Wayfarers

Holiday Outfit Post # 2: The Mint Julep dress

This is the next post to feature one of my holiday dresses and I am not uploading these in chronological order, as this was the last dress I wore on holiday.

I have had this dress for a while and it is one of my favourite colours!  I just love all those gelato shades but as there is only a short window of time in which I can wear these summery colours, I don't tend to buy many dresses in shades of mint/ peach/ lemon.  The colour doesn't look quite as mint in these photos but I can assure you it is good enough to make a cocktail with! 

It is also a bit shorter than most of my other 50s dresses (my guy was even surprised that he could see my knees!) and although I usually prefer my dresses to be below the knee, sometimes wearing something a bit different is good.

These photos were taken at the bottom of the Tour Barberousse in Gruissan.  The hat was pretty much redundant on this holiday as it was just too windy to wear it and I probably shouldn't have brought it with me in retrospect (still, it looks nice in these photos!)

 
Dress: Vintage from Crush Vintage on Etsy
Bag: Vintage from Etsy
Shoes: Aldo
Hat: Vintage from a random vintage shop in Brighton
Earrings: Vintage from a trader at Bows and Braces Vintage Fair
Necklace: Vintage from This is Vintage in Bournemouth (she also has an etsy shop This is Vintage)

Holiday Outfit Post # 1: The Vintage LBD

This will be the first in a series of posts featuring my holiday outfits.  They are all outfits that have never been featured on this blog (though I didn't plan it that way when I packed my suitcase!)  When I packed, I tried to be as sensible as possible and left my gloves/ hats at home (apart from my straw hat!)

I visited the South of France and stayed in Gruissan for a few days, as my boyfriend's parents own an apartment on the marina.  These photos below were taken in Gruissan's Old Town on the day that we arrived. 

I am wearing my new wedges and they are great (I will endeavour to get a close-up photo next time!)  They are from Johnsons Shoes so are new but they are made in the style of 1940s wedges and they are so comfortable!  I just love all the heeled shoes on their website and I am hoping to buy some in the near future.  I find it really difficult buying vintage shoes because I don't like to buy them online (due to not knowing for sure if they will fit.)  This leaves me to stumbling across vintage shoes in my size in shops or buying repro shoes or modern shoes in a vintage style.

The dress is also a style that I really like and I just love the cute eyelet detail.

Dress: Vintage from Etsy

Bag: Vintage from Etsy

Shoes: Johnson's Shoes

Peter pan perfection

Who doesn't love a peter pan collar?  Whenever I see one on a dress or blouse, I am immediately inclined to buy it (provided the fit and price is right.)  This just so happened when I saw this dress on Simplicity Bliss Vintage on Etsy and as it was my size and a reasonable price, I just had to buy it! 

These photos were taken a few weekends ago before my trip to the South of France (when the weather was still ok in England!)  I have a number of upcoming posts which will feature outfit photos from my holiday.

Dress: Vintage from Simplicity Bliss Vintage on Etsy
Bag: Vintage from Etsy
Shoes: Aldo
Necklace: Vintage from This is Vintage in Bournemouth
Belt: American Apparel



The Last of the Summer?

If I have done this correctly, then when you read this, I shall be enjoying the sunny South of France! 

Today as I write this, however, I am looking back to the first Monday in September when I went to Portsmouth for the day and it was probably my last day off in summer weather in the UK.

If I had to choose just one "favourite dress" it would probably be this one... 

It was purchased from Fox and Bear on Etsy last year but I have only worn it twice now because I am worried it will get ruined in some way or another!  I don't always feel that way about my vintage dresses but this one fits like an absolute dream and because it is a pale colour, I've only worn it to places where I don't think it is likely to get ruined. 

I just love the daisy detail around the edge and even the matching belt is in good condition.

I purchased this straw hat in Brighton a couple of weeks ago. I had wanted one for the summer but hadn't found one that I liked and when I stumbled upon this in a vintage shop - and for only £5 - I could not resist!  I shall definitely be taking this on holiday with me.

We went up the Spinnaker Tower at Gunwharf and although I had never been too fussed about going up the tower, the view was great! 

Dress: Vintage from Fox and Bear Vintage on Etsy

Necklace: Vintage from This is Vintage, Bournemouth

Shoes: Aldo

Bag: Vintage from Etsy

Hat: Vintage from a random vintage shop in Brighton

Gloves: Vintage from Scarlet Vintage in Bath

That was the summer we went to Kellerman's...

Last Saturday, I went to London with my Mum for Future Cinema presents 'Dirty Dancing.'

Future cinema specialise in bringing film to life and immersing the audience into the world of the film that they are watching.  They had previously showcased Casablanca, The Shawshank Redemption and Saturday Night Fever but this was my first event and I was excited, albeit a little apprehensive, not knowing what to expect.

All I knew was that I was going to be transported to Kellerman's Resort circa Summer of '63.  Initially the location was kept secret but nearer to the event, they started releasing little details here and there - the location, what we needed to bring, what will be going on.  It was only on for three nights, starting on Friday, and I admit I had looked on the Facebook site to see what people had been saying about the Friday event and a lot of the comments were very negative, which had worried me a little. 

We got to Hackney Downs Park early (as advised) and from my point of view, it was very well organised and we were let in to the park slightly before the entry time, which meant we had a lot of time to check out what was going on and to take photos.  There were lots of activities and we did a bit of dancing and some hula hooping (with my Mum putting me to total shame!)  They had set up Kellerman's Lodge and guest cabins around the edge of the park, with Johnny's cabin on one side.  There were watermelons for sale (of course) and people sneaking into the Staff Quarters.  There were lots of people in vintage too and lots of people emulating Baby and Johnny's style from the movie (there was even a small area selling vintage!)

This was actually not my first choice of outfit but I wanted to wear something a bit brighter.  And there were lots of white plimsolls being worn by the girls!





Someone even brought their Chevy Bel-Air, which is the car Johnny has in the movie (although he has a black one!)



I even met the Houseman family!



I apologise for the poor quality of the next few photos but they were taken by my iPhone...

 



The atmosphere of the crowd really made the event and everyone got up to dance at certain points during the movie.  There were also actors who re-created key scenes in time with the movie and I thought that this was a great touch and really made me feel that I was at Kellerman's! 

I thoroughly enjoyed this event and would definitely go to another Future Cinema event, if it was a movie I liked!  I would love to hear from anyone who went to this event and find out what they thought of it.

Top: Vintage from Etsy

Skirt: Vintage from my Grandma

Bag: Vintage from Retro & Jukebox Fair

Plimsolls: Primark

Vintage Fairs are like buses...

... You wait ages for one, then two come at once!

This happened to me a few weekends ago as the Bows and Braces Vintage Fair in Lymington coincided with the Yellow Vintage Fair taking place in Southampton.  This was the first time for the Yellow Vintage Fair and they said it was set to be "the vintage event of the summer."  Sadly I did not find this to be the case but at least the Bows and Braces Fair was good as usual!

I am trying to get better at remembering to take more "detailed" outfit shots for you to enjoy!  I don't usually wear a lot of pink in my vintage outfits because I sometimes feel that with my 50s outfit being very girly anyway, to throw in some pink just makes it a bit too girly!  However, I do really like the colour pink and thought it would be nice to match this dress with some pink accessories.

So I guess you want to know what I bought at these fairs?  Well, we went to the Bows and Braces one first as that opened at 9am and you have to get to these fairs early to snap up the vintage goodies!  I made a bee-line for the 'Pret-a-Vintage' stall as I had heard many good things about this trader and I was not disappointed!  I ended up buying a very cute pale yellow 1930s knit jumper which has little beads on it.  As soon as I saw that it was my size and in very good condition, I jumped at the chance to buy it.  This lady has a really good selection of vintage items and they are mostly well priced.  She has a shop in Farnham and also sells online (I would add the link to her website but I still can't post links!)  Go google her! 

I also got a cute 1950s brown suede handbag from Flash Harry Vintage and I used my £20 voucher which I won from the previous "Best Dressed" Competition to get this.  Flash Harry also has some great 1940s-1950s accessories and jewellery.

As I said, I did not find The Yellow Vintage Fair to be very good, even though it was incredibly busy.  I did not  buy anything vintage but I did see these awesome "fast food" cupcakes from Nom De Plume Cupcakes.  I bought the hamburger one and my boyfriend bought the spaghetti one!

Although the shopping wasn't very good (or at least not if you want vintage items pre 1960!) there was some entertainment from The Cadettes (a local vocal harmony trio, singing songs from the 1940s) and there were also some scooters on display!!  As you can see, the lovely owner of this scooter saw me eyeing it up and asked if I wanted to get on it.  I felt like I was in Roman Holiday! 

Dress: Vintage from the 'Crikey! It's Vintage Fair' in Exeter
Gloves: Vintage from Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair in Spitalfields
Shoes: Vintage from Beyond Retro
Bag: Vintage from Etsy
Hat: Vintage from The Little Vintage Shop, Lymington
Necklace: Vintage from This is Vintage, Bournemouth