Apparently some people prefer taking exercise on the beach rather than just lounging with a Margarita. I don’t understand it myself. It’s all very impressive but I’d be hanging out with that handsome guy in the bottom photo chilling out and getting a tan.
There are 4 major versions of Cleopatra that I know of: the silent movie version with the exotic vamp Theda Bara in the title role, the art deco masterpiece starring Claudette Colbert, the Taylor-Burton 1960s version and this: Caesar and Cleopatra. This is a very different version of the Cleopatra story to the others which(…)
Elizabeth Taylor wore a staggering 65 costumes during the movie Cleopatra (apparently her costumes alone cost nearly $200,000), so it’s hard to come up with one particular style which sums up the movie. The general rules seemed to be: low plunging necklines or off the shoulder dresses with nipped-in waists and long flowing skirts. Oh(…)
If you’ve watched Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (and I’m pretty sure you will have done) you’ll remember those twin girls. Hello Danny. Come and play with us. Come and play with us, Danny. Forever… and ever… and ever. The photo above is from an exhibit in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I think they’ve(…)
You may not have heard of Vera Kholodnaya, but she was Russia’s first major silent movie star. The majority of her movies were destroyed by the Soviet regime and she died under suspicious circumstances aged just 25 but she managed to in a lot of living in her short life! Born in 1893 in Poltava,(…)
Swedish-born Greta was christened Greta Lovisa Gustafsson. Garbo’s first job was as a soap-lather girl in a barbershop. She also worked as an errand girl in a department store, in the millinery department selling hats and as a model before her acting career took off. After being spotted by MGM she moved to America where(…)
After watching Triple Cross earlier in the week, I couldn’t resist looking into the story behind the movie and finding out more about notorious double agent Eddie Chapman. It sounds like he was every bit as charming in real-life as portrayed by Christopher Plummer, only with perhaps even fewer scruples. After reading up on his(…)
You will probably know by now that Rita Hayworth was always my favourite classic movie star – she just seemed so impossibly glamorous. So how could I leave her out of my vintage paper doll series? Which outfit do you think suits her best? Personally, I love that sea green voile gown!
After last week’s disappointment watching Citizen Kane I was delighted to discover a real gem this week. Don’t be put off by the grim movie poster (right), this isn’t a harrowing war movie it’s a delightful James-Bond-style wartime spy thriller with the delectable Christopher Plummer as debonair British double agent Eddie Chapman. I knew nothing(…)
This is part 2 of the photo feature I ran yesterday released by the War Office in 1941 and show some of the grim realities of living in wartime Britain. Part 2 has a much happier ending though (scroll to the end!) Above: Mrs Day separates cardboard and tin from her household rubbish, ready for(…)
This series of photos were released by the War Office in 1941 and show some of the grim realities of living in wartime Britain. The lovely Mrs Day admittedly lives in a 4 storey town-house in South Kensington, so her life is probably a lot smarter than most people actually experienced in wartime London. However,(…)
Betty Ford wasn’t born a First Lady (well, of course she wasn’t!), and in fact didn’t even meet Gerald Ford until she was 30 years old and divorced from her first husband. All of these photos are from when she was still young Betty Bloomer before she married and I thought it was just lovely(…)
Am I the first person to ask what all the fuss is about Citizen Kane? It has been heralded as one of the greatest movies of the 1940s. I only watched it for the first time this week and I have to say I don’t really get it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a perfectly(…)
Cheerleaders didn’t always look and dress they way they do today. Far from athletic girls in crop tops Cheerleaders of the 1920s looked very different (and they weren’t just women), and in the 1950s it was the band girls dressed in the sexy outfits, the cheerleaders looked very different! Here are some vintage cheerleading photos(…)
Bear with me, I know the idea of thyme in a lemon cake might seem strange but it adds something truly special to it. I took this recipe from Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries II, which I can’t recommend highly enough. I love the way he delights in simple good-quality ingredients and makes thoughtful unfussy(…)
You’ve probably heard about the dubious history of fashion designer Hugo Boss and his Nazi past, but I thought you might like to hear about it in more detail and see some of his designs!* Hugo Boss started his clothing company in 1924. It wasn’t particuarly successful and he even went bankrupt, that was until(…)
We all know Carmen Miranda as the famously exotic lady in the tutti-frutti hat, complete with stacked platform shoes and fabulously ruffled costumes, but she didn’t always have this colourful image. Back in the 1930s she was a lot more understated and looked completely different, take a look, you’ll be surprised! If you’re not sure(…)
I haven’t done a vintage lookbook for ages now, so I decided to put together a 40s outfit inspired by the fabulous Carmen Miranda, who can’t have been dressed in frut-topped hats and exotic costumes all the time! I think she would have rocked a look like this, some chic wide legged trousers, a tropical(…)