My first outfit post!

 

Inspired by Jeni Yesterday, I've finally decided to do an outfit post!  I actually took these photos (or more correctly, Hayley took them) in May when we went for a little jaunt around the seafront, but I hadn't got round to doing anything with them.  So here is my first outfit post, I will try to do more - or maybe even just remember to take pictures of what I wear when I'm filming!

 

Outfit details below all the pictures 

It was very windy so I am actually just making sure my hat

doesn't go for an unexpected swim in the channel

 

 

 

I think this also marks the first post with a 'pier-shot',
which coming from a Brightonian is pretty good going

 

This looks like I have tiny feet and really lumpy calves -
the wonders of photography

 

Should've ironed that

 

The corselette means I can means
I can wear gorgeous tops with sheer backs

 

I'm a little teapot...

 

My lovely helper Hayley who put up with taking
many dozens of photos of me being really awkward

 

1950s hat: picked up at a vintage fair, can't remember which one

1930s style sunglasses: a present from my mum, they're Russian and have CCCP (so pre 1991) and a few other bits in Cyrillic written on them

Blouse: actually a peignoir I bought for £5 when I worked at To Be Worn Again that I shortened

Corselette: What Katie Did, of course

Skirt: Vivien of Holloway

Gloves: again, from any number of vintage fairs

Shoes: Aris Allens I bought at HepCats' Holiday and had resoled - they are the most comfortable shoes

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed a little peek into my wardrobe, I'd love to hear what you think of my outfit and the post in the comments below.

The first Brighton Vintage and Lifestyle bloggers meet up

Just a quick post to let you know about something that I've been setting up behind the scenes with Hayley and Mat.  We thought it would be nice to have a little meet up for all the bloggers and vintage-types in and around Brighton.  It's on the 30th July (the Tuesday after next) at Cotton Tail Club at Above Audio on the Seafront.

Here is the facebook event for a bit more info.

We felt it was about time that all those people you see online but have never met in real life could get together, socialise, network, maybe buy a few bits and bobs and generally have a lovely time.

If you click that you're attending, you'll be in with a chance of winning a bottle of Bootlegger whiskey courtesy of our lovely sponsors, and even if you don't win, there is a free Bootlegger cocktail waiting for you (while stocks last of course)!  As ever with the Cotton Tail Club, all cocktails are half price (my favourites are the London to Brighton, Mai Tai and Waters of March - yes I've gone through the whole menu).

Entertainment will be provided by your favourite trio of vintage wax-spinners, The Gin Slingers.  We (for I am one of said Gin Slingers) will be playing the best the 1930s-'60s have to offer - the hottest rhythm & blues, rockin' roots of rock 'n' roll, big band swingers and many more, all on lovely, shiny vinyl.

As well as delicious cocktail deals and tunes to shake your tail feather to, we also have lots of lovely stalls showcasing the best of Brighton businesses (go alliteration!) including:

·         Ladies and gents accessories from Hove boutique, Bobby & Dandy

·         Bespoke hats and headpieces from vintage inspired milliners, B Millinery

·         Gentlemen's attire from Mr Southern Retro, Mat

·         Handmade swing trousers from Jimmy the Stitch

·         And FREE goodie bags from Beyond Retro

So, if you're free on the 30th and fancy popping by - whether you're a blogger, vintage or just fancy a sip on a Gingerbread Manhattan, do come along.

Pip, Pip and a Merry Christmas!

On Thursday, upstairs at the Prince Albert played host to a slightly more refined gathering than it’s used to, as Mr B brought his sold-out show to Brighton just in time for Christmas.

The evening started with an opera singer gliding through the G&T sipping crowd.  The Gentleman Rhymer’s yuletide show features many Chap-Hop staples taken from both his latest release ‘The Tweed Album’ and earlier offerings such as ‘I Say’.  There were a few festive treats thrown in, including new single ‘Oh, Santa!’ and a brand new take on ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’.

Showing his multi-instrumentalism, Mr B ‘[took] to the pianoforte, as all cabaret performers must do’ and then joked that the set was rather more smut-filled than he had intended, (after a particularly saucy ditty played on his table-top piano).

Mr B was joined onstage by his trusty Gentleman’s personal Gentleman, Carshalton, who performed his own below-stairs take on a blues classic.  

Excellent support from We AreGoose brought the perfect mix of comedy and music, a highlight being their song about a fight to the death of all the ‘Tims’ in the world (with an obligatory Timothy Dalton breakdown of course).

As always, the Brighton-based Mr B engaged the audience and encouraged audience participation and had everyone laughing as he proclaimed that he was definitely “chappy number 1 in Portslade”.

In the words of Mr B, ‘pip, pip and Merry Christmas’.

p.s. Mr B is hoping to get the 'Christmas no. 42' with 'Oh Santa'. I beleive you can get it from itunes, but I don't really understand all that (it's still records and CDs for me) but do have a look.

Biba and Beyond: Barbara Hulanicki

When I received the invitation to the preview of the ‘Biba and Beyond: Barbara Hulanicki’ exhibition, I was excited to go, but unsure how much I would enjoy it given my distaste for all things ‘70s.  However, I was pleasantly surprised as it was a very well designed show and the range of items displayed goes far beyond what I was expecting.

Barbara Hulanicki’s career was kick-started at the age of 18 (in 1955) when her design for a striped beach-suit was selected by the Evening Standard to be made by Norman Hartnell (most famous for being the Queen’s dressmaker).  After some years as a fashion illustrator, Biba’s Postal Boutique was launched in 1963 with a simple evening skirt.  However, the outfit that really cemented Biba’s reputation at the forefront of style was a matching pink gingham dress and headscarf, designed to accompany an article on the most important women in fashion at the time. 

 

Biba eventually sold 17,000 of dresses in this style

The first shop, (in Kensington, London) followed in 1964 and another in Brighton a year later.  After up-sizing their London shop, relaunching their mail order division (including a catalogue with photographs by Helmut Newton) and producing a hugely popular make up range, Big Biba was opened in 1973.  Big Biba was a department store spread over seven storeys where you could buy the entire lifestyle, from the clothes and makeup to stationary and even lentils!  Barbara left Biba in 1974 over creative differences with the controlling stakeholders, with the company closing  the following year.

With its obvious styling influences of Art Nouveau and 1930s Deco, the Biba brand has always been very romantic.  Biba’s main goal was to provide fashionable but affordable clothes so that the girl on the street could buy herself something new every week, and get a complete outfit in next to no time.

The perfect Biba 'dolly' was very slim, had big doe
eyes, long slender limbs and was annoyingly young

The exhibition certainly goes beyond Biba and is an exploration of all of the different aspects of Barbara Hulanicki’s career.  Examples of her fashion illustrations, interior design and development of Miami Beach (in particular the Marlin Hotel) all intermingle with the dresses she is most famous for.

Twiggy in fake fur coat and hat (c.1973).
Biba never used real fur in any of their collections

Although I’ve never been a great fan of ‘60s and ‘70s fashion, I really enjoyed the exhibition.  It showed the breadth of work Hulanicki has produced, and the relevance she still holds in the world of fashion, as examples of her collections from 2009 and 2012 (for Topshop and George at Asda, respectively) show.

 

From Barbara Hulanicki's capsule collection for Topshop, 2009

 

I would definitely reccomend the exhibition to any one interested in fashion, as it not only shows dozens of examples from the archives of an iconic brand of the '60s and '70s, but also the development of a label and one individual's design career.  I met Barbara afterwards and she was lovely, asking whether I’d enjoyed the exhibition and whether I was ‘in fashion’.

Check out the Schiaparelli 'inspired' top

The exhibition is open now and runs until April 14^th 2013.  Admission £6 for adults.

Brighton not Hove, actually

A fairly quick post today.  I thought as I’ve been in my new flat for a month now, I’d show you a few pictures of my new ‘hood.  For those of you who know Brighton, I’ve moved near the border with Hove, actually (importantly still in Brighton though!) sort of near the Seven Dials.  From where I used to live, in the heart of Studentland near Lewes Road, it’s rather different (definitely for the better). Enjoy!

I can see the sea!

 

If you've seen 'Wimbledon' you may recognise this place,
although they changed it into a bookies in the film.



Oh, and 'Hove, actually' is a bit of an in-joke of what residents of Hove reply when people mistakenly assume they are from Brighton (“No, I’m from Hove, actually).  I think it’s even printed on one of the buses.  Let me know what you think about the photos, or just Brighton in general.

Vintage Nation and Emma Duggan photography

Apologies for the quite substantial gap since the last post, we've been very busy in the office launching the new website which went live yesterday.

This was originally meant to be a post about Vintage Nation at Brighton Racecourse, but as it was quite a while ago, I have quite forgotten what I was going to write.  Organisers and sponsors included Judy's Vintage Fair, Hairport and Crabbie's.  I do remember there were some fantastic bands that day (including old favourites the Swing Ninjas and Mr B) and another friend of ours, Simon Webster, was one of the DJs that day.  I also interviewed the members of Bad Bad Whiskey, a brilliant skifflebilly band who I’ve seen a few times around Brighton (playing gigs, not just lurking).  Have a look at the newsreel if you'd like to know more as I've not really put anything here!

Anyway, what I thought I’d write about was a lovely photographer who took my picture (along with 30 other attendees).  Her name was Emma Duggan and she was one of the nicest photographers I’ve had the pleasure to work with.  Emma was choosing a few people whose outfits she liked to record for here website.  When it came to my turn,  Emma told me exactly how to pose, which is such a relief when you don’t like having your photo taken!  Anyway, here are three of the pictures she took of me. 

Featuring our lovely (working) postcard camera and my recently lost card case (if anyone at the Chap Olympiad found it, I would dearly love to have it back – it’s full of my business cards so you should know it’s mine). 

My outfit for the day mostly came from my mum – I was wearing a ‘30s-style pink dress from the 1980s, a russet suede ‘Hunters’ jacket from the ‘40s that the mater bought in the ‘80s.  I picked up the shoes from a charity shop for a couple of pounds and the gloves, I think I bought at a previous fair at the Racecourse.

If you'd like to have a look at more of her photos from the day, or would just like to look through her work, have a look at her blog here.  Thank you to Emma for the lovely photos - and for sending them to me by the next morning!

A jubilant day of fabulous hair, rockin' rhythms and ridiculously high shoes

For the past couple of years, on the Saturday of Brighton Fashion Week, I've strolled on down to the Dorset Public House on Gardener Street as they would no doubt be playing the best rockabilly and R‘n’R the '50s had to offer and this year was no different.

In the past, Simon Webster pitched up his 1930s barber's chair outside the aforementioned pub, offering rockin' cuts to those passing by.  Regular readers will be familiar with the name Simon Webster as the VN attended the opening of his salon back in March.  This year, Simon was set up outside his salon, along with The Vanity Box.  The girls from the Vanity Box were creating beautiful vintage coiffeurs for the ladies of Gardener Street and I think you'll agree, the hairstyles are stunning!

 

As I had already curled my hair for the next day, it was up to Les to step up and face the scissors.  We had a chat with Simon about how the past couple of months had been at the salon, after which we interviewed Verity from The Vanity Box, (all of which you can see here).

 

After we'd finished at the salon, we managed to catch the musicians performing outside the Dorset.  Firstly, there was Dollar Bill, a one man band performing a mix of blues and country who I'd love to see perform again, but preferably somewhere with a dance floor.  After Dollar Bill it was the turn of Hollerin’ Stollar and the Pine Box Boys.  



Dollar Bill, the blues one-man band

ring Hollerin' Stollar and the Pine Box Boys

Mark, the Dorset's manager 
even got in on the action.

For some reason I had a major crisis of confidence in what I was wearing (maybe the fact that the day before a man had loudly remarked that I looked like I was wearing fancy dress, hadn't helped), so I changed my outfit a few times.  In the end I didn't wear any vintage and opted for a Matalan blouse, Vivienne of Holloway pencil skirt, an elastic belt and shoes I bought when I was in New York.  It was the first time I'd worn the shoes and considering how high they are, they were surprisingly comfortable!

 

 

I was unable to attend the 'after party' at the Mesmerist as I was busy making a surprise visit to my sister at her new job in Rottingdean, but from what I hear, the party was rather good!

A Delightful Evening of Peculiar Dining

Sorry this post has been a bit late in coming, but I've had an awfully busy weekend which you will be able to read about in due course.

I was looking forward to the return of Hendrick's to the Brighton festival, as last year a large portion of my birthday was spent sipping their gin-based delights outside their Horseless carriage.

When we were invited to attend one of the many events Hendrick’s was hosting at their Library of Delightfully Peculiar Writings, one particular event stood out to us.  Along with lectures about the literary history of gin as well as few on more specific topics, there was to be a literary feast orchestrated by the culinary architects,  Bompas & Parr.  We were lucky enough to interview Sam Bompas before he was whisked away to add the finishing touches to the feast.   

We were able to have a look inside the dining area, which was set off by a beautiful crimson glow.  Along with the dining tables, one side of the room was dedicated to a tank of sorts which enclosed a breathable gin cloud. 

Adorning the shelves and cabinets that lined the walls were all manner of ephemera and curiosities that would have seemed more at home somewhere like the Last Tuesday Society’s Little Shop of Horrors  (incidentally, the society hosted a couple of events at the Hendrick’s Library).

The outside green (well Astroturf, but who’s telling) was open to the public and was as beautifully decked out as the dining room.

Jo (one of the Hendrick’s hostesses) was kind enough to supply us with a myriad of gin based beverages throughout proceedings.  It turns out I’m less rubbish in front of the camera if I’ve had a couple, at least that’s the story I’m sticking to...

Although we weren’t there for the entire meal (quite sorry we missed the exploding desert!) we had a very good time and look forward to Hendrick’s coming back next year.   If you would like to find out where Hendrick's will be unfurling their library next, have a look at their website, it’s rather good.