A-Z of Me

I'm not one much for copying what other blogs do but I did like this! I thought it was quite interesting, so I hope you do too!

A-Age:

44 – 45 next month eeeek!

B-Bed size:

Double, though I do like Californian King size when in the US  - take that last statement how you will ;o)

C-Chore that you hate:

Ironing, hate it!

D-Dogs:

I’m definitely a dog woman, but we don’t have any. I’d like either a Daschund or a chihuahua

E-Essential start to your day:

Coffee, without a doubt. At the moment I’m swimming or gym before the coffee, this is a miracle

F-Favourite Colour:

I’ve got more than one, green, red, turquoise are my most favourite

G-Gold or silver:

Either I’m not fussed, I like sparkly more than gold or silver, so I’ll be difficult & say rhinestones, I’d say diamonds but that’s never going to happen!

H-Height:

Just under 5ft, yep that small

I-Instruments you play:

I don’t play anything right now but I can play, piano, trumpet, tenor horn, Euphonium (yes I was in a brass band when I was a kid!) and Sax

J-Job title:

Me, I work for me doing stuff for other people, so I don’t have a title

K-Kids:

Nope

L-Live:

Farnborough, Hants

M-Mothers name:

Jean

N-Nicknames:

I don’t really have any, Red is the only one people call me to my face as that was my stagename, who knows what they say when I’m not there!

O-Overnight hospital stays:

Loads I’m a bit accident prone, plus I’ve had my appendix and adenoids out

P-Pet peeves:

Bad manners, people swearing in front of or at kids, racism makes my blood boil, mmm I could go on, I am at that age you know

Q-Quote from a movie:

"Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings, Love Clarence." From It’s a Wonderful Life one of my favourite movies

I’m not much of one for quotes from movies, but I do like that, so true.

R-Right or left handed:

Right, although I was left handed when I first started writing and they made me change, yes it was that long ago, so although I write with my right hand I’m pretty ambidextrous

S-Siblings:

No, just me

T-Time you wake up:

6.15 ish lately, to go to the gym, but it would be waaaaay past that if not!

U-Underwear:

Yes I wear it. Rigby & Peller for bras, great for ladies of large boob size, M&S for pants, unless fancy ones then What Katie Did.

V-Vegetable you hate:

Carrots, I’m a veggie but I HATE carrot

W-What makes you run late:

Only stuff that’s unavoidable, one of my pet peeves should have been I hate people running late and never do myself

X-X rays you've had:

See hospital overnights stays, so ankle, leg, arm, neck, back & ribs (car crash), is there anything left?

Y-Yummy food that you make:

I like my food & fortunately so does my husband! It’s all veggie, but I like making risotto, Mexican, Italian, curry, you name it

Z-Zoo animal:

Penguins

The big vintage dressed man question

As I've been in blogland a while now and met new people outside my regular social crowd I've realised more and more than outside the scene that I'm involved in there seem to be less men into vintage, my scene? some call it 'rockabilly' I don't cos I see Rockabilly as a form of music and anyway I'm an R'n'B gal more, but let's say my background is the Rockabilly scene for want of a better description.

In my social circle the men love vintage & dress vintage just as much as the women, it's part of our 'culture' so to speak. My husband is particularly knowledgeable about his style and he always has been. Long before I met him he was an Edwardian, or Teddy Boy as they are more commonly known. He didn't wear the garish styles of the 70s Ted, but was a genuine Edwardian. So much so pictures of him and his friend often surface on the internet as  a indicator of the 'correct' way to dress Edwardian.

Here's a picture of them long before I met him, it's not my thing, but it sure does look good and it is period correct! Paul is on the left.

His style evolved as we all do and he went to a more late 40s look for a while, settling with his now early 50s style which has been his thing for probably the past 18 years.

What I wear has no bearing on what he wears, he chooses his style, it matters to him.

With this background I find it curious that 'vintage' is so slanted towards women. In fact I know few men who don't care what they wear, I think it's a normal thing. Even the guys on our scene who are more into music than clothes still have amazing 50s gab shirts or hawaiian shirts.

Here's a great pic of Paul recently. I can't imagine him not being interested in clothes,  I'm not saying he doesn't dress down, although jeans do not exist in his wardrobe, his dress down are chinos, like today, he's in chinos and a 50s shirt.

I like that he's as interested as me, when we go to LA and go vintage shopping it's a joint passion, at weekenders he's off looking at the guys stuff, me the girls stuff. I wouldn't say our relationship is based on something so superficial as how we dress, clearly it's not but it's great that we both have the same taste and passion!

See what I mean, vintage stall holders together, Twain from Heyday Vintage Style, Mike from Home Sweet Homestyle, Paul my lovely husband and Martin from Rocket Originals, now those guys looks great, even after working hard all day on the stall!

And my favourite picture of all time, Paul looking stylish even on top of a mountain!!

So are the men in your life vintage lovers? Or are you one, I know 'some' men read this blog!

It's an interesting question, but have to say it's only come to light for me since I started meeting vintage people not originally from our scene or attached to similar scenes.

Would love to know your thoughts.

Hoarding and Vintage.....

Sorry for radio silence, what with trying to get into a new work routine along with a new exercise routine which has me out of the house and in the pool or gym by 6.45am I'm rather busy and sleepy!

Anyway as I've said before this is Sorting September, I'm going great guns, I have already sorted our bedroom, the clothes room, my office and started listing stuff on ebay. But what I notice is that I just have so much stuff and I struggle to part with a lot of it.

I do think hoarding is an occupational hazard of a vintage lover. Am I wrong? Do we all hoard? I just don't think minimalism in possessions/clothes/furniture/jewellery/shoes happens when you love vintage.

I mean I know you've seen this before, but look at our new clothes rack.

This dear readers is what we have after 3 years of culling our vintage clothes, this does not include sweaters of any type, or in fact most of our winter clothes which are currently packed away. Admittedly there are some winter coats in there but still. I hasten to add that selling any vintage clothes made me panic and I had to talk myself into it mostly. I still have stuff that doesn't fit - although I'm hoping the cutting back and exercise will help in that regard!

Same for jewellery, every time I think really I should get rid of some I have far too much, I just can't bring myself to get rid of stuff I love.

Here is just a small selection of what I have.

That doesn't include, necklaces, bracelets, watches etc etc

And don't even get me started on fabric and patterns, remember earlier in the year I had to buy this to store it all

I'm not going to lie to you, I have bought more since, not much but some.

So dear readers is it me? Am I the hoarder or are all vintage lovers hoarders? Please put my mind at rest :o)

Time to rethink my hair....

I am really enjoying my new found love - ok toleration! - of exercise however it poses a problem with my hair.

I am not someone who goes to the gym with red lipstick on, I don't feel the need to be vintage in the gym, or in the pool, I am 'vintage' if such a thing exists inside myself so I don't need to show it to people in the gym & the pool. However my hair is an entirely different matter, I don't care about wearing modern gym clothes - within reason of course - and I don't mind wearing a cheap modern swimsuit as it will get wrecked by the chlorine within a short time anyway but my hair, what to do?

I haven't been able to set my hair in more than a week, when I go to the pool even when I wear a swimming hat I need to wash the chlorine out as it seeps in, and when I go to the gym, it gets all sweaty anyway, so I'm rethinking my hair. I want it shorter anyway but I'm trying to find a style that I can set or just wear anyway without looking crazy, I have wild thick crazy hair that if I don't do at least something with I will just look like a crazy lady.

So I searched the internet and have come up with some great inspiration. First up here's me with the shortest hair I've had although at the moment it's longer. Do you think I'd be ok going shorter? I'm interested to know you're opinion, I don't want to compromise style for comfort so to speak but I need something where I feel good everyday.

How fab does Elizabeth Taylor's hair look here? I suspect though it's not much shorter than my hair above, but it's not 'set' as such so I guess this is an idea

This is kinda cute but not sure it would suit me, but it looks easy.

I do like this but it might be a bit too fussy, what do you think?

I really do like this but it's such a departure from my normally curled and set hair! It's slightly scary but it could be the one eeek

I used to have my hair very similar to this when it was bleached blonde years ago, not sure if would translate as well to red hair, although she is a cutie isn't she?

So opinions please? I will of course get the very lovely Nina from Nina's Hair Parlour to sort it out, and I'm sure she's give me an opinion too, but would love to know what you all think in the meantime!

Saturday shopping!

I rarely go out browsing on a Saturday, well I work from home so I can avoid the hordes at the weekend but we didn't have anything particularly planned this weekend, I've been sorting and DIYing for the past 2 weeks, so we decided to go out and about this morning.

The day started a little too early, I joined the gym this week and have been rather enthusiastically going there and swimming, so I got up to go at 6 and guess what it doesn't open til 8 at the weekend!! Damn, I'm not exactly a morning person so you can imagine I wasn't best pleased....

As we were up early we decided to go to Farnham Maltings Monthly Market, this used to be an antiques only fair years ago, we have got some amazing things there many years ago but now it's a combination of antiques, crafts and new stuff, we stopped going when it starting going in this direction but actually since we had a stall there a few months ago we want to go again. It's not full of stuff we want but there is the odd gem!

The first thing I came across was this fabulous 50s hanging travelling wardrobe, still in it's packaging! Please excuse the picture of it on the washing line, it needs an airing, 60 years of being in packaging has left it a little musty. It looks like it's fabric but it's actually a kind of plasticy fabric, terrible description but I hope you know what I mean!

It's tough to see what this is but you hang your clothes inside, it's like a soft wardrobe this next picture shows inside at the top, when you hang your clothes.

It's a super handy and stylish thing, I'll be using it to take my clothes to the Rhythm Riot!

I then picked this lovely bias binding up in it's original packaging. Usually I wouldn't because there is no way I'll open it, the packaging is too nice and so it would be a waste of money but at 20p I could hardly not! How beautiful are the graphics on it?

I also saw a stunning dress at a knock down price, it wouldn't have fit me, but I ummed and ahhed as I'm sure I could have found someone for it, however I talked myself out of it, I'm still kicking myself now ha ha!

We then went to a local church hall where they purported to have a small antiques sale, I didn't have much hope, but I'm so glad I went!

I bought everything on one stall, a lady had a couple of bags on the floor full of material, buttons and stuff like that, I got down on the floor and had a good old rummage! First up I picked up this lovely material, it looks like shot silk but I suspect it's rayon, the colours are gorgeous and there is enough to make a straight dress, not a full one, but something nice nonetheless! I got all this material for £2, I nearly fell over, it's not a reprint, it's vintage fabric, ah the gods were smiling on me

Next up I found a bag of buckles on the same stall, I asked how much each one was but saw loads of 30s & 40s ones, so I said how much for the lot, it wasn't expensive! I bought them all, there are some lovely ones in there, really lovely, however now I've got them home I realise I probably won't use them as they are too early for me, so I'm going to sell them on. I don't really wear 40s stuff and certainly not 30s and it would be a shame for me to hoard a load of buckles just cos I like them when some people would use them, I didn't buy them meaning to sell on but really I should. Here are just a small selection!

Aren't they lovely? Can you see the one in the middle, it's covered in fabric and was obviously done so to match a dress, I bet that was some pretty dress!

I also got some buttons on the same stall, she had a jar but I resisted in asking how much for the whole jar, see I was good, these were also not expensive, proper prices I would say!! Here are just a few.

All in all a great day for finds and all cheap prices, which I particularly love!

Hope you had as much success with your finds today.

I'm off for a snooze, 6am is far too early to get up on a Saturday, have a lovely weekend!

Old Picture Post

No not the mag, old pictures of me!

A suggestion from the lovely Coedith of Life in a Pink House blog fame was to post some pictures up of some of my past and present collection of vintage clothes with me IN them! Sadly I can't take any right now, I don't fit into most of them which makes me sad, however a remedy is under way and that's all I'll say for now....

So this is very picture heavy, but it is some lovely clothes that I either still have or parted with long ago and these pictures make me regret it, however if I'd kept everything I would need more that a double 6ft rail I'd need an entire house to keep it all!

Here goes!

First up is that beautiful blue beaded dress in 2 separate pictures, one picture I love, it's one of my favourites from when I was singing, the second is probably more accurately me on a night out, I look like such a lush ha ha!

Professional singer

Lush!!

I LOVE this skirt, I no longer have it, but I love the print!

This dress and bolero were so stunning, I got rid of it a long time ago, it didn't fit and I was broke and it's so stunning I got good money for it, but what a shame, it's so beautiful and you really don't find things like that easily these days.

I loved this dress but sadly this one fell apart, although the top is velvet with rhinestones the bottom was taffeta and very delicate, it didn't make it.

This really was one of my favourite Hawaiian style dresses ever, look at that colour, stunning! I don't have this anymore either :o(

This outfit I lost to moths, I know unbelievable, well obviously not the whole outfit, but it was ruined which is weird as we've never had any problem with moths, but for some reason they got hold of this and that was it.

I sold this only last year, the girl who bought it had seen me on stage in it and remembered it, when she tried it on, not only did it fit like a dream but she was really proud to have it, so I'm really glad it went to a good home!

I still have this lovely dress and bolero to this day, I don't think I'll ever part with it I love it and I'm not a million miles away from fitting it, so it's going nowhere!

And last but not least my beloved gold lurex number, won't ever part with this either, not a million miles away for it, can't wait to wear it again!

Hope you liked the old pics, hope you see some new pics of me wearing some of this again soon!

Wardrobe sort out!

As you've guessed I'm on a bit of a roll sorting stuff out at the moment. I am not a spring cleaner, I'm an autumn cleaner, for me autumn is a fresh start, I don't know if this stems from being at school as that was quite a long time ago for me, but I suspect it does. You know the fresh school uniforms, new books, bag etc etc. Well I get that about the house at this time of year, please tell me I'm not alone!

Anyway I sorted out our clothes room this weekend, yes we're lucky enough to have a room for our clothes, it's really where guests stay when they come, but as we have more clothes than guests, it's essentially the clothes room!!

I would love to have enough cash to do this properly but I don't so I'm having to improvise. I already had a 6ft rail, which I bought an extension for so I now have a double rail

I guess we could always become vintage clothes dealers! I also have a wardrobe in here which I'm going to hang sweaters in, but currently have some of my handbags and what I'm about to sell on ebay too.

I'm not happy about the shoe situation, I currently have this rack and you can see a bookcase on the right, but I'm going to make a few sales on ebay and then buy some custom shelving for shoes.

The lovely thing about sorting through your wardrobe is seeing everything you have,  the bad thing about it is the realisation of all the lovely stuff I have that currently doesn't fit me as I need to shed some pounds :o( However now that it's all there out in the open I'm determined to get back into them. I have 2 dresses in particular that I really want to get back into again.

First one you've seen before is a beautiful 50s dress with a fabulous neckline encrusted in rhinestones and pearls, I love it

The second one looks kinda plain on my dress form but in reality it looks fabulous on! I bought this in LA several years ago, I walked into a vintage clothes shop and the woman behind the counter said 'hey there, I have a dress that was made for you' can't say this happens to me very often and I really thought it was a sales technique, but she was right. This dress was apparently tried on my lots of women who went in the store, but no one could 'fill it up top', I could and that dress was mine. It's especially nice as the underneath of the dress is straighter than the net on the top so it gives a fabulous silhouette.

It's cute huh? I have to get back into this oh and my gold lame dress too, perhaps if I don't eat for a year I might get back into them *sigh*

Last but not least I sorted my lingerie drawers, no don't worry I'm not going to show you my underwear, but I am going to show you my lovely 30s stocking holder that contains all my vintage seamed stockings, I took a pic without the stockings in. Sadly it's a little stained now and worn, but it is truly beautiful and I always feel special putting my stockings in it.

Also my collection of scarves, well I say collection, it's not really a collection it's a few! I use scarves in my hair a lot, either just a straight scarf tied round my hair or a larger scarf to cover over my curlers or pin curls. As you can see I have some vintage and then a couple of modern bandana type scarves too.

I have 3 favourites, firstly this lovely red, green and brown abstract design, it's so beautiful

Next up, very unusually for me is a floral print, I am not a floral gal, I'm not keen on florals, but I just love the colours of this scarf.

My last is my favourite, it's a little worse for wear as I do wear it a lot. It's an amazing design and honestly I think this has been made from a dress originally, it's quite a 40s crepe type material, if so I would have loved this in a dress, it would have been spectacular, as it is I'm pretty happy with is as a head scarf, check out the detail of the print!