A short dress and long drinks - The official Bootlegger launch

Sorry for the lack of any posts, I've been spending a lot of time in London and setting up my etsy shop (I make fans if you didn't already know!) This does mean I've got lots of things to write about - but no time to write about them!  I've decided to forego chronology and write about the latest event we covered. 

 

I was handed a cocktail as soon as we arrived
- it's a tough job but someone's gotta do it

 

We were invited by Bootlegger White Grain Spirit to their official launch, which was held in the Clapton branch of the über trendy Blue Tit salons.  I've seen Bootlegger at a few 'vintage' events over the past few months (they even sponsored the Brighton Blogger meet up in July) as they seem to have really targeted that scene.

Not recommended for dogs (unless they're real booze hounds - I thank you)
 

The salon is consciously cool, with lots of distressed wood, reclaimed furniture and vintage props, which made it the perfect place for the launch of a drink based on the erm, spirit, of prohibition era booze.  Of course, there were plenty of cocktails doing the rounds, my favourite was the Moonshine Cooler, a mix of Bootlegger spirit, sugar syrup, cloudy apple and lime juice.  There are two other Blue Tit salons in London, one in Dalston which co-owner Perry described as a little more in the Edwardian side and the newest of the three, the Peckham branch with its Art Deco styling and original Victorian tiles.

Interviewing one of the salon owners, Perry

 The Vintage 78s DJs (whom we met at the National Vintage Awards) were on hand to spin a few platters as well as providing an array of parlour games to keep the guests entertained throughout the night.

 

A selection of gramophone needles

With Annabel from the Vintage 78 DJs
doing our best promo girl poses

 

Anyone for (miniature) croquet?

 I'm sure there will be many other Bootlegger events of the vintage scene, but for now I'm going to sit back after a hard day of editing and have a nice glass of Bootlegger and apple.

During our interview, James from Bootlegger joined me in sampling
some of the prohibition-inspired spirit

 Oh, and while I remember, my dress isn't vintage - it's actually from ASDA (!) and I bought it about 7 years ago for a Christmas party.  I don't wear it very much as it's quite short but I just love the print.

 

 Have you ever tried Bootlegger or bought a really short dress from Asda ... or both?

Pretty Knickers and Gin? Ra-ther!

As I may have mentioned before, I am quite the fan of What Katie Did lingerie.  I have slowly built up my collection of stockings, shapewear and bras to have quite a nice little collection now (started with one of their fabulous Sophia corsets, not the most obvious starting off point).

Some of the lovely new things for SS13

Anyway, poured into various items from their A/W 12 collection and wearing a green lace dress I'd been altering until the early hours, I went up to their Portobello Green boutique after being invited to some sort of a show, and of course gin cocktails and cake...

 Along for the ride was Vintage Vessel and Kieren (it was technically work after all!)  In September, we'd taken a trip to the lovely boutique to see a preview of SS13 (and the launch of AW12) so I wasn't sure what this event would be if it wasn't going to be another catwalkesque  show.

The lovely Vintage Vessel,
also known as 'Snappy Browne'

We were in for a treat though as the faces of SS13,  Slinky Sparkles and Sophia St Villier did what they do best and performed burlesque routines wearing the Marlene and Coco sets, respectively. 

 

 

 

 

 Sophia also wore another new addition to the shop, a Bernie Dexter dress (the Beatrice dress in tiki mask print in case you were wondering).  I'd not actually seen any Bernie Dexter dresses in real life - just yearned for them via the internet, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that they are made from really good quality material, much better than you normally find in repro dresses.

 I was lucky enough to interview Katie again, the founder of WKD and she was lovely as ever.  She told me about the plans to stock Miss L Fire shoes in the near future - as if we need any more reason to go to that little paradise in Ladbroke Grove?!

 Here is the footage from our visit if you'd like to take a look.  Here is the link to the show in September if you'd like a better look at the whole collection, I even did captions so you know which piece is which - you're welcome!  And I may have treated myself to a little something after all the filming was finished, but I couldn't possibly tell you what...

 Do you have any What Katie Did in your wardrobe and what's your favourite piece from the new collection?

Hollywood Costume at the V&A

I had been looking forward to the Hollywood Costume exhibition at the Victoria and Albert for at least a year – whenever it was that I heard it was opening.  So when I found out we were going to the press launch I was understandably rather happy.

Like a child in a sweetshop, I was running from costume to costume, catching my breath at the names of who wore some of them: Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Mary Pickford and Claudette Colbert to name but a few.  Not only is the calibre of actors who inhabited these costumes the highest you could imagine, to be able to see costumes from luminaries of design such as Adrian, Edith Head, Travis Banton, Orry-Kelly and Travilla was amazing.

The exhibition is split into three sections ‘Deconstruction’, ‘Dialogue’ and ‘Finale’.  Deconstruction deals with how a designer can create a character from just a few clues in a script, even if the effect goes unnoticed by most of the audience.  Highlights for me were Kim Novak’s green ensemble from Vertigo and Vivien Leigh’s ‘curtain’ velvet gown from Gone with the Wind.

The second room, ‘Dialogue’ examines the collaboration between directors and costume designers.  It also looks at how the role of the costume designer has changed with advances in film-making and how the aesthetics of each era influence period films made at the time.  Claudette Colbert’s green satin gown from Cleopatra and Joan Crawford’s red-beaded dress from The Bride Wore Red are absolutely exquisite.

The Senior Guest Curator, Deborah Nadoolman Landis (the Oscar-nominated costume designer on films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Blues Brothers and Coming to America) said of the finale, “it’s just meant to blow your mind”.  There were some wonderful costumes (particular favourites in room 3 were that green dress from Atonement, Marlene Dietrich’s top hat, white tie and tails from Morocco and two of Marilyn’s dresses, from The Seven Year Itch and Some Like it Hot).

The exhibition is full of digital displays of the creative processes the designers go through, interviews with directors, designers and actors as well as clips from the films themselves.

The exhibition marks the first time a pair of the Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz have ever been displayed outside of the US (only for a month though!)  The V&A was also able to announce that they have just been given 700 costumes from the British Film Institute, making them the national archive of cinematic costume overnight.

The end of the exhibition seems a little cramped with Kate Winslet’s incredible hobble-skirted white suit from the beginning of Titanic was also sadly lost at the back of a scene.  The final costumes of the exhibition (two dresses that will possibly draw the crowds  more than any others), the iconic white halter dress work by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch and Judy Garland’s Dorothy outfit from The Wizard of Oz, are just tucked away at the end which seemed a bit of a shame.

The exhibition is absolutely amazing, and for anyone interested in cinema, design, fashion history or just pretty things it is a must.  I can’t wait to go back!

Oh, and I was interviewed for Chinese TV while we were there!

Hollywood Costume opens tomorrow, 20^th October and runs until 27^th January 2013 and tickets start at £9.00. You can find more information here.

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.

The Launch party of Simon Webster Hair

 

 

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the launch party of Simon Webster Hair, a new salon opening in Gardner Street in Brighton. 

 

 

I'd met Simon through mutual friends a couple of times and so knew of his reputation as a vintage hairstylist and barber. Simon also regularly Djs (as Switchblade Si), and we've often seen him spinning some platters at Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair at Brighton Racecourse.

 







 

With prices ranging from £40 to £55 for a ladies cut and blow dry (depending on the stylist), it is fairly on par with other Brighton salons. I was particularly pleased with the price of a full-head tint (£45). I may have to visit them to maintain my, ahem, natural colour.

 

This gentleman made the shop signs







 

With prices ranging from £40 to £55 for a ladies cut and blow dry (depending on the stylist), it is fairly on par with other Brighton salons. I was particularly pleased with the price of a full-head tint (£45). I may have to visit them to maintain my, ahem, natural colour.

 



(L-R) Siggi, Rachel and Karen





 Every so often, the acapella soul trio Just the Three of Us would start entertaining the crowd outside the shop.  Their renditions of 'You Can't Hurry Love' and 'Reet Petite' perfectly suited the retro styling of the entire evening.  The ground floor was packed, with hardly any room for us to film, so we headed upstairs to see the upper two floors.



  

There are four floors in total, with each room beautifully yet simply set out.  Photos of Simon's past work adorn the walls, as well as a stag's head on the ground floor!  The decor contains lots of muted colours which makes the whole place look very elegant.  Each room felt very open, even when they were full of revellers.



 

It was refreshing to see a salon in Brighton to have more than a distinct nod to vintage style, not only in the way they style your hair, but also in the whole look of the place. As well as the four floors of cutting and styling rooms, there is also a 'faffing' room for ladies (and I suppose gentlemen) to fix their make up and get used to their new look before stepping out. I thought this was a really lovely touch as often you do want to get yourself sorted before facing your public.

 

The 'faffing' room

 

Sadly, once again we had a really good interview which wasn't filmed, so there may be an accompanying film, albeit a very short one.

 

 Along with offering all the usual hairdressing services, the salon is the only UK stockist of Hawleywood's  outside of London (makers of the world famous Layrite pomade). You can also get your complete fix of New York's Bumble & Bumble.  All these goodies are stored in a big silver fridge which certainly looks cool (yes, I meant that pun, no I'm not ashamed of it).

 

 

 

We met lots of lovely people at the launch and I imagine the salon is going to go from strength to strength.