Vintage

Happy Christmas! Have a New Handknit Hat on Me!

Happy Christmas! Have a New Handknit Hat on Me!

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED, AND THE WINNER IS RACHEL CRAIG. CONGRATULATIONS RACHEL RICEFIELD WILL BE IN TOUCH TO ARRANGE YOUR PRIZE. I’ve got a fabulous giveaway for you today. Ricefield Collective have kindly offered me one of their beautiful hand-knitted beannie hats to giveaway. Ricefield Collective are an ethical fashion company who hand-knit all(…)

Quotes: Some Christmas Wisdom from Bing Crosby

Quotes: Some Christmas Wisdom from Bing Crosby

Christmas just isn’t Christmas without some Bing Crosby and I thought this quote was particularly apt, especially after seeing the mayhem and stress out there with everyone doing last-minute shopping today! Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won’t make it ‘white’

The Changing Face of Santa

The Changing Face of Santa

My little boy has seen 3 different Santas this year (or rather he’s seen Santa 3 times this year) and was slightly confused by the fact that Father Christmas wore glasses two of the times and then didn’t the third time. He whispered that he thought the last one *might* have been one of Santa’s(…)

How to Get a 5-Minute Beehive Hairstyle (with no backcombing)

How to Get a 5-Minute Beehive Hairstyle (with no backcombing)

Having vintage-inspired hair is a really simple way to add a retro twist to any outfit, and it doesn’t have to be difficult to do either. This easy-to-do 1960s beehive literally takes 5 minutes. No backcombing, no padding, just a really easy to do hairstyle! What do you think? What you will need: Hairspray Bobby(…)

Bebe Daniels

Bebe Daniels

Bebe Daniels from Motion Picture Classic, 1920. Miss Daniels stepped from screen farce to drama so recently that the even is still being talked about. Miss Daniels was Harold Lloyd’s charming foil in dozens of Pathe film comedies Source and copyright: This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies(…)

10 things you didn’t know about Ava Gardner

10 things you didn’t know about Ava Gardner

Gardner was born the youngest of 7 siblings in a farming community in North Carolina She was scouted for a Hollywood screen test aged 18 after her brother-in-law put a photo portrait he took of her in his shop window. Despite her almost incomprehensible Southern accent (incomprehensible to the studio execs anyway!) MGM loved her(…)

50 Killer Vintage Outfits for New Year’s Eve

50 Killer Vintage Outfits for New Year’s Eve

What will you be doing for New Year’s Eve this year? Will you be meeting someone at the top of the Empire State Building, partying with friends or maybe staying in and relaxing? Whatever you’re doing you owe it to yourself to look fabulous, after all, let’s start the new year the way we all(…)

Silent movie star Bebe Daniels

Silent movie star Bebe Daniels

The stunning 1920s silent movie star Bebe Daniels in a signed publicity photograph. She looks like she’s wearing a velvet coat with fur trim – very chic! If you fancy seeing her in action here she is in the 1918 movie Two Gun Gussie with Harold Lloyd.

Ziegfeld Follies girl Doris Eaton Travis

Ziegfeld Follies girl Doris Eaton Travis

Ziegfeld Follies girl Doris Eaton Travis photographed somewhere around 1918-1920. I love the fancy top she’s wearing – I wonder whether it’s a costume? It seems a bit spangly and skimpy to be a regular dress. What do you think?

A Chinese-Inspired 1920s Ballet Costume

A Chinese-Inspired 1920s Ballet Costume

The caption which goes alongside this photo reads: Miss Finney dancing, Montreal, QC, 1923. Does anyone know anything alse about it? Isn’t the costume fabulous?

The 3 Most Iconic Jewellery Styles of the Past Century

The 3 Most Iconic Jewellery Styles of the Past Century

Take a look around you the next time you walk down a busy street, and chances are the vast majority of people you see will be wearing some type of jewellery. It’s the most common accessory in the world, and men and women alike wear it on a daily basis. Today’s jewellery, while sharing plenty of(…)

The Epitome of 1930s Style?

The Epitome of 1930s Style?

This picture perfectly captures for me the style of the 1930s. I think my glamorous 1930s ideal probably stems from watching too many Poirot and Hollywood movies, where all the young people were beautiful, tanned and althetic, all the men had slicked back hair and dashing looks and the women had perfect pin curls. I(…)

The Enigmatic Ms Garbo

The Enigmatic Ms Garbo

Greta Garbo photographed in 1920 wearing a cloche and a velvet coat. She always looked impossibly glamorous, although I have to say I don’t think she would have looked quite as striking in *colour* as in black and white. I know that sounds strange, but if that lipstick were dark pink or bright red I(…)

Lauren Bacall Looking Oh So Sophisticated

Lauren Bacall Looking Oh So Sophisticated

Lauren Bacall in a publicity photo from the 1950s I would guess. Isn’t she stunning? I’m not sure when this was taken or for which movie, but I’m guessing she’s in her early 20s in this picture. When I compare her with myself in my early 20s she’s astonishingly sophisticated *sigh*

Vintage movie posters: Theda Bara as Salome

Vintage movie posters: Theda Bara as Salome

Three fantastic posters from the 1918 silent move Salome starring Theda Bara. Sadly this movie has been lost so I can’t share a clip with you, but there is a photo from the movie which I’ve posted below. Doesn’t she look fabulous? How on earth did that happen to so many old movies? 

Make Do and Mend: Thrify Teddy with Scraps of Material

Make Do and Mend: Thrify Teddy with Scraps of Material

My son had a sick-day off school today and had the fabulous idea of making his own teddy bear. He carefully drew one out on a piece of paper and went  through my bag of scraps of material to decide which body parts should be made from which bits of material…