The years of Austerity still had style and grace... 40's / 50's wedding Dresses

Yes the war may have been going on yet still brides always found a way to look fabulous on their wedding day be it they borrowed a friends dress, mended family dresses or opted for a very stylish dress already in their wardrobe, this was of course during the war as there were a lot of quick weddings with sweethearts going of to war so all had to be planned quickly.  If you were planning to wed your loved one you could collect pieces of fabrics wherever you could... lace was sometimes bought back from overseas by the men or if a German was to land by parachute the ladies were much more interested in the silk parachutes for its fabric than they were of capturing a POW.  Parachute fabric was a prized find to be made into dresses and knickers.

Trends were for long mutton sleeves where they billow at the shoulder and taper down to between the wrist and elbow coming to a point, high Edwardian type necklines, i guess in our terms they would have been considered "Vintage" style, necklines often sweetheart and filled in with lace if you were lucky or more often netting, emphasis was always on the waist often with a v detail.  Rayon was the fabric used more often due to the wartime silk shortage.  Maybe you don't want to wear a typical wedding dress and would like to opt for a suit like those of the forties period, elegant with peplum waists that were accessorised with a fox fur stole, impressive hats and simple bags.  The birdcage hat came into fashion at this point as a full veil was hard to come by so a little netting was added to the hat to give that traditional veil feel

 Come the end of the war and well into the 50's dresses became fuller as rationing on fabric was lifted.  With nipped in waists and billowing netted underskirts  the New Look took over and gave us the typical 50's look.  Lace Boleros worn over strapless dresses, the dress length came up to what became known as Tea Length with flutter hems of scalloped fabrics, lace was back and necklines were either scoop or sweetheart

If you are a bit of a rockabilly chick  then you are sure to be bringing the 50's into your big day, bring a splash of colour to the day and wear a coloured dress or accentuate your beautiful white dress  with block coloured shoes and a jaw dropping bouquet in the same colour giving you wedding photos to be envious of. I love Reading Rock & Roll Bride and it is a great source of wedding inspiration for everything from venues to wedding dresses, sometimes people want an era themed wedding but also want to bring a little of themselves and originality, or like me just like having a sneaky peek at other peoples wedding pictures... sites like this are surely worth a visit.

50's wedding source www.rocknrollbride.com

WHICH ERA ARE YOU...

 Dress from the 2013 collection by www.yolancris.com

1920'S ART DECO INSPIRATION

The 1920's/1930's deco eriod bought us a time of freedom within our clothes...gone with the corsets and bustles and in with drop waists, beads that swayed to your rhythm and fabrics that made you feel feminine as they moved with you.  If you want to sashay down the aisle with ease and confidence in the knowledge that you are not walking a little too stiffly then this era is a serious consideration for you.  the 1920's bought us both full length, calf length and mid length fashions in wedding style so a little something for everyone.  Laces where in abundance along with beading, fringing and beautiful headpieces .  One of my favourite designers if you are going to go for a new dress is Spanish designer Yolan Cris who creates the most fabulous vintage inspired dresses through all eras.

Dress by www.lyndsayfleming.com creator of fabulous vintage inspired dresses

 Original 20's dresses can be very delicate so do look carefully before buying and you are better off going to a reputable vintage dress dealer rather than buying on line so you can see and feel the fabric, check the seams, sometimes there may be beads or sequins missing... but this can easily be restored, remember these pieces are around 90 years old so a little imperfection is going to be there, a true vintage lover will appreciate this but if you are not a regular vintage buyer you may be a little put off and maybe an inspired dress is the way to go.

 

What i love about the 20's look  is the fabulous accessories you can go with you can adorn yourself with chained & beaded head pieces, feathered fans, flapper purses and those fabulous 20's Louis heeled shoes perfect for dancing the night away.  Pearls, diamantes, feathers and lace can all be used in abundance and fall right in with the 20's style.  You can really tie your dress into your decor theme with this era.

                                   

 All pictures above sourced from etsy 

Upcycled Flapper bag from www.sundayview.blogspot.com so you can tie your colours in.

You can really play around with this era taking ideas from it or going the whole hog and having a full 20' s/30's theme, tips on era specific decor yet to come... next we will look at 40's 50's Dresses

WEDDING DRESS DILEMA?

You have a list of venues to consider so a theme for your wedding must have started to form in your mind or maybe you have known how your wedding was going to go from age 5...either way when it comes to the dress buying there are a lot of shapes and styles that span the eras to choose from so i suggest making an appointment with a reputable wedding dress shop whether they sell vintage dresses or not as these guys do this everyday and see hundreds of brides so can offer priceless advice on everything from what wedding dress shape suits you through to the accessories to highlight the beauty of you and your dress.  Take along to your appointment images of the kind of dress you have in mind so that they can pick out suitable models for you to try and do be open to their suggestions as what you have in mind may not do you justice and their choice may just knock you off your feet when you put it on.  So now you are armed with a little bit more advice from here you can choose which way you want to go either with a traditional dress shop or if you are a bit of a maverick you can take that info and hunt down that dress in places no others think of going,  female relatives wardrobes, vintage shops , auctions or private sales, for some the hunt is what it is all about rather than going down the easy option of a one stop shop and if it is a vintage wedding you are wanting then why not, the fun is putting your look together and the stories that go with each piece will make you feel extra special on your big day.

The only problem that comes with Original Vintage wedding dresses is getting the one that fits, fine if it is too big as any reputable dressmaker will be able to alter to fit you but 8 times out of ten the dress you love will be too small, but dont despair as there still may be something you can do to alter smaller dresses by working in vintage laces and silks and remodelling the dress into a slightly different style ...you just need a little vision and of course if you are not handy with a sewing machine a good seamstress.  I am going to focus on the maverick side as that is the way i would go.

Lets start the search in relatives wardrobes, your mum, grandma, great grandma, aunts and great aunts may still have the dress they wore on their big day the older the better so get digging in attics and at the backs of cupboards to see what you can find and what better way to have something old on your big day.  You may even find some vintage fabrics or lace that you can have worked into your own creation.  For the love of vintage or just because you fancy it you really have to think about the era you are going for as you can easily pick up dresses that are not quite on trend and add satin bands,
                                                                       ribbons and vintage brooches to give a completely different
Original 1960's Lace Dress                             look.  Take the Dress above right which was once a 1980's
www.heavenlyvintagebrides.co.uk                  Puffball sleeved dress which has been re worked into a
                                                                      fabulous backless creation.


You can pick up floor length empire line dresses which often come with capes or long lace jackets and take up into a mini dress for a funky 60's style number like the Guipure lace above left. Have a little vision and look at the fabric the dress is made from and if it is not very inspiring think about adding a a lace overdress, ribbons,satin ssahes and brooches or even some sparkle  , i have several dresses in my shop which come with full length lace coats/capesand the dress is just straight plain white satin not anything to write home about but with a some added lace/ribbon detailing or taken up to above the knee and voila you have a dress which is very different and a little bit of you added to it not to mention a fraction of the price of a modern new dress and  of course with added accessories of capes or lace jackets your whole look can be transformed. Here is  is a before and after shot of what Saucey's Sprinkles hustled up from a 70's dress to bring it into the 21st century.  Stop by for the next blog about styles through the eras x

Visit her blog
www.saucysprinkles.com

Picking the Perfect Wedding Venue For your Big Vintage Day

THIS WAY TO THE WEDDING

 Image from Newton Hall Northumberland

We have so much scope to personalises our weddings nowadays...out with the generic hotel with chair covers and tables centrepieces which get wheeled out every over day in different colours and in with off beat locations and funky props to personalise your big day.  First on the list of course is the venue.  With many questions to ask yourselves about what you want your day to be about...dig within your lifestyles, hobbies and loves for clues to the answers to where your big will be held.  The first question is do you want a church wedding or a civil ceremony at the actual venue so your day is all in one place, or you may be able to find a venue with a chapel on site.  And of course your budget will determine the venues you put on your viewing list. 

 If you settle on a spring/summer wedding you give yourselves a lot more scope being able to hold some of the wedding outdoors like my lovely friends whom love to go to festivals so styled their day around festival going choosing a local village hall with marque's and home made decorations.  If you drive around places you love to go see if you can spot local halls with outdoor areas, this option is great for your budget also and if you are crafty or have crafty friends you can really personalise your big day.  A Vintage Tea Party theme would also be perfect for an outdoor affair.                                                                                                                                                                                               www.samanthawhitehead-young.co.uk

You and your partner may be movie buffs so why not tie the knot in a cinema and show your favourite

romance film or if theatre is where your love lies why not get everybody involved and set your favourite production as a theme...think Romeo & Juliette or west side story, a lot of these venues are now licensed for civil ceremonies and you can really make your wedding a stage and give your  guests a true performance.  Or you may be interested in museums or art galleries well you will be pleased to know that you can do that too... i know... how fabulous would it be to get married beneath the jaws of Tyrannosaurus Rex .  But seriously you can make your wedding what you want it to be just by picking the right venue, so do make sure that you

visit plenty and get a feel for the place, check out photo opportunities. Consider how far away from home you are and is there accommodation for your guests whom are not near home within the venue if not is there some nearby that you can pre book for your party.

Town Halls are often grand affairs with gorgeous architecture, you may never have even been in your local town hall so go take a look or check out old unused churches and even masonic halls can be hired out, these type of venues are fantastic for those whom want a DIY wedding as well as local farm barns for that rustic look, again it is all down to taste and what you want from your day.  For those of you whom want it all done for you there are some gorgeous country houses that you can tie the knot in or at the local church, they generally come with wedding planners and believe me they all offer something different and you can have as little or as much as you want.
                                                                                                                                                             www.twmuseums.org.uk/great-north-museum/venue-hire/weddings.html

www.ellingham-hall.co.uk

 My favourite venue to date was Ellingham Hall in Northumberland which has amazing grounds and a wedding planner to help you plan your day, but the twist is you and your party can stay there for the two nights so you can arrive and make yourself at home with a big homely kitchen which you can cook up a storm or get their chef to leave food for you to warm through...no staff on hand in the evening so like a big cosy country home which is all yours to relax and prepare yourself for the big day.  The house comes complete with guest hot tub and the bridal suite has a smaller hot tub on the rooftop terrace under the stars....not forgetting the games room down in the cellars of the house so the bride and groom party can still have their very own space the night before .  Come morning the staff will be there to ensure your day runs smoothly and attend to your every need then at midnight the house is all yours yet again... If you have a very large party they also have cottages on site to hire for long weekends or the whole week.  What I love about this venue is the fantastic interior which is very tasteful and very homely with antique and vintage pieces dotted all over, set in beautiful grounds with loads of photo opportunities.

Other fab Venues in Northumberland that offer something a little different

www.woodhillhall.co.uk which is a gorgeous  family run boutique country house with an interior to die for, lots of options to personalise your big day in a relaxed  atmosphere.

www.brinkburnpriory.com/wedding/ If a nice clean minimalist setting is your thing then this venue is perfect. Holding up to 70 for your daytime service in the white room or you could up the numbers and do the deed in the beautiful 12th century church within the grounds and go on to have your wedding breakfast in the White room or for more they also cater for camping style affairs with a fantastic tipi outside to cater for up to 100.  What i loved about this house is the furnishings within the house.....very mid century modernist and you can really see that Emma & Mark Fenwick put their heart and soul into making it a calm space to prepare for your big day.  They also have a wedding planner on hand to help organise your big day with

www.newton-hall.com/weddings.php Bold, Romantic & Fantastical are the words they use and you could not have picked finer words.  All of the rooms are lavished in stylish themes and the options you have at this venue are never ending from  garden weddings to beach affairs complete with old school beach huts... they can even arrange for you to release butterflies.  Giant chess games outdoor sofa areas complete with standard lamps and a dance floor to get your groove on.  So if  a statement wedding is for you then you should definitely put Newton Hall on your venue list.

So basically i would suggest viewing as many venues as you can and go with what you feel, read wedding blogs as there are venues out there that you would never even have thought of.... and most important of all is to stay within your budget and view venues which suit your pocket.  Tomorrow we will be looking at the one thing everybody holds their breath for... The wedding dress.  

The Perfect Vintage Wedding

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

Dress By Dregs of Society & Vervias Attic

Vintage Brooch Bouquet by Hazel Millington

Well it is that time of year when brides start getting into the swing of wedding planning and with my best friend about to take the plunge i have been immersed in wedding venues and planning details.  So if you are planning a vintage wedding where do you start, over the next week i will be giving planning and styling tips to make your day a magical experience for all involved from the bride and groom through to the food you serve your guests.

                                                           www.boutiquetoyou.co.uk

Lets start at the beginning, the question has been popped and you are all excited and then the realisation dawns on you that you have a wedding to plan... with a bit of luck you will have at least 1 year to get it right but like my lovely friend whom has 6 months to plan so a venue is first on her list but my advice is to attend a few wedding fairs, they an be held at venues to showcase the venue with a selection of their own approved suppliers and others are held at large spaces with everything you need under one roof from stationary to wedding dresses. You can go to vintage, alternative or traditional event so just do a loittle research and go to the event you will get most out of.   On Sunday 16th February we will be heading to Harrogate to attend a Vintage Wedding Fair which is ran by Keeley Harris at Discover Vintage and is an award winning and one of the longest standing Vintage Wedding Fair's and in my eyes THE fair to attend,  find out more details here.ww.vintageweddingfair.co.uk.,  they also hold an event at Chiswick Town Hall so there is no
Image by www.cocokelly.com                    North & South divide with these guys.

You will find cake makers, innovative and crafty wedding stationary, vintage music ideas, wedding favours, venue ideas and of course there will be rails of Original Vintage and Vintage inspired wedding dresses and  not forgetting the bridesmaids and of course the groom and groomsmen can be togged up in the finest vintage attire.  Lots of ideas and advice all in one special day, make it a day of inspiration...take along your favourite ladies for a weekend as we will be doing and incorporate a stay in a spa, with some fab groupon and living social deals it is a girls weekend not to be missed...get a real feel for what you want to do with your day by relaxing and talking ideas through with your friends before you move on with your plans.

 Go home and start up a Pinterest board allowing access for your groom and anybody else you have helping you plan your day so that they can pin ideas for you or do it the old fashioned way and  get yourself a wedding scrap book so that all your ideas are in one place and you can take along to meetings with wedding planers, parents and your groom can flick through at his leisure  ...then you can start thinking about your wedding date... do you want a summer wedding or a winter wedding with a backdrop of roaring fires or will you go for a bit of a spring fling with fresh blooms galore and there is always the changing colours of Autumn... once this is decided you can move onto your wedding venue choices.... Until next time Sista Society x
Scrapbook From www.mapletreehouse.com

BE MY VALENTINE

No.... Valentines day was not made up by Hallmark and yes they do make an absolute fortune out of us consumers on the only day of the year set aside for Lovers.... i myself tend to duck out of this day as I give Dr Dregs love tokens all year round...found in charity shops, auctions and sometimes even skips...so what is it all about and why do we spend thousands of pounds of our hard earned cash every year.  The day itself actual dates back to pre-christian times in ancient Rome when a pagan festival took place which involved naked torso's, animal skin whips and the spanking of ladies bottoms all in the name of fertility of course.  It took place over three days the 13,14 & 15 of February and was called Lupercalia and was done to promote fertility.  Then came a series of Valentines through the ages whom all seem to have died on February the 14th, one beheaded, the second was imprisoned for giving aid to prisoners whom was then martyred on the 14th for converting and falling in love with his jailers blind daughter after sending her a note "from your Valentine", another tale says that the ruler of the time Emperor Claudius banned men from marriage to make better soldiers of them and Valentine carried out secret weddings.

The first declaration that 14th of February would be St Valentines Day came circa AD 496 and was to be a christian feast day...i guess this is where the saying that food is the music of love came about.  The Christians where trying to take over the Pagan festivals to gain a bigger audience.  The meaning of Love on this day came into play when King Richard II announced his engagement to Ann of Bohemia and Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of the occasion that "this was on St Valentines day when every fowl cometh there to choose a mate" .  This was 1382.
Come 1400ad  on St Valentines day a court of High love was opened in Paris to deal with all affairs of the heart from marriages  to separations and even beatings of spouses and the first official Valentines love note was recorded to have been sent to his beloved by Charles the Duke Of Orleans while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London after capture in 1415 at the Battle of Agincourt.

It was not until the mid 18th Century that the sending of Valentine Love notes became popular in England with the sending of notes made from Lace and paper and there was even an early publication called the Young Valentine Writer   filled with  rhymes and messages for to write your loved, do you recall in your tens how we used to fill our cards with rhymes and S.W.A.L.K our envelopes.   The start of the postal system allowed you to send anonymous Valentines... which of course was always exciting when you where young and received a valentines from an unknown admirer.  The Valentines card gained popularity and come the early 19th century they went into mass production.  1913 was the start of the moneymaking machine that is hallmark and the sentiment of homemade love trinkets went to the wayside and money was being squeezed out of all lovers and would be lovers, today Valentines day estimates to gross £11 Billion so why not be different from the rest.. make your own card or even hunt down a vintage card to send the love of your life on ebay or if that is not for you go buy one from a local craftsman and support a small business... but most of all just tell your loved one you love them every day of the yearafterall  love is all year round not just one day of the year.

Happy Birthday Mr Bowie

I wish i could say that David Bowie has influenced me throughout my life but sadly he has not... not through dislike to him of course, simply the fact that he was not listened to in my house as a child.. i think my first memory of him was from his hit "Lets Dance" from the same titled album in 1983 and since then he has fascinated me. Since becoming a vinyl collector i have managed to acquire all of his LP's and they are regular visitors to my record player.  Its not just his music or the artwork that fascinates me  is his ability to change his persona and what a body of persona's he has....Davie Jones, The Thin White Duke, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane covering all genres from glam rock to rock and roll.  In 2013 he pulled it out the bag with his first album in 10 years "The next Day" with a series of amazing videos to go with it.  The album ending the year on a high topping the 2013 most selling record chart and amazingly the whole thing was kept a secret from the press until its release and he sounds and looks as good as he did way back when he was just Davie Jones...well he certainly looks better.  Today i want to celebrate not just his Birthday and achievements but his fashions.  David Bowie was not a dedicated follower of fashion he was a fashion leader...he even penned a song entitled Fashion for his 1980 album Scary Monsters.  We all like to think that David Bowie fell from space ready for action in his winged sparkly catsuits and face paint...but no he started off as a very dapper young man all suited and booted.  The year 1962 saw David as a fashion leader starting off the trend at his school with tapered trousers and even dyed his quaffed hair with food colouring while playing with the band The Konrads.  Not sure who decided on their artwork but Bowie's future album covers certainly suggests he had a hand in it

 Then came the mop top...suits were still high in the fashion stakes and i am pleased to see he also has a sense of style in his home.  All of those pieces would still sit very nicely in our modern homes, the chair he sits on has been a firm favourite for guitar players even to this day, every one i have sold from the shop has gone to a musician and look at that daish style sofa and hanging lamp.

Then with the late 60's David Bowie's first major style shift came OUT with the mod and IN with the Hippie Era.  During his Mod years he worked at an advertising agency and i guess the suits went with it and with his escape from the job he hated into full time performance came his dalliance with long hair, maxi dresses, blouses and of course his first marriage in 1970 to Angie Barnett, the wild child daughter of a US army Colonel.  Angie was a major influence in Bowie's persona changes and the next few years were certainly a roller coaster ride for them.  His first outing in a dress was the cover of "The man Who Sold the World"  with Bowie reclining like a Pre Raphaelite in a dress designed by Michael Fish the designer whom is accredited to starting the Peacock Revolution and of course the Man dress worn by both Bowie on stage and Mick Jagger, and it all started from here i guess with outlandish outfits worn to shock, impress or simply to feed his desire to find or maybe to just forget himself.

From here on he certainly hit the scene big time more for his outlandish ways, along came Ziggy stardust with his hair dyed red too match the colour of a photo of Marie Helvin styled by Susie Fussey from the Evelyn Paget Ladies Salon who then went on to be the The Ziggy Stardust Tour Hair stylist and wardrobe assistant before meeting an marrying Mick Ronson.  The hair style was taken from  a magazine featuring a Kamsai Yamamoto fashion show.  Ziggy's make up was the brainchild of Pierre Laroche originally from Algiers whom came to England via France and joined the tour after working for Elizabeth Arden for 5 years and needed to break free due to there need to make him work a little more "conservative", he went on to become THE make up artist to the stars and was responsible for Bowie's most famous looks.

Bowie went on to hire Kansai Yamamoto after attending the first Japanese Fashion show to be held in the UK in 1971 to design his outfits for is Aladdin Sane Tour which included the outlandish space samurai suite and one legged/one armed body suits and of course this is when the iconic lightening bolt made an appearance.

His zany fashions took many twists and turns but in the mid seventies he went to a Temptations concert and from then his music took a much more soulful turn and his fashions took a step back and once again took on the persona of his music.  He opted for Yves Saint Laurent tailored suit in powder blue's and in came his "Thin White Duke" look.  Bowie loved the dandy side of tailoring and the famous Ola Hudson (guitarist "Slash"'s Mum) monochrome suits certainly showed the "thin" in his White Duke look with 26" waists to go with his pale make up. Ola was costume designer to the stars including Yoko Ono, Diana Ross and Ringo Starr.    After Starring in the cult Movie The Man Who Fell to Earth Bowie saw a turn in his life and he took off to Berlin to be amongst the burgeoning music and art scene, moving in with Iggy Pop and taking on Brian Eno's cut up strategy for writing songs cutting up words from papers piecing them together as song lyrics, here his monochrome image stayed giving him that moody look with quiffs and leather jackets

Come the 1980's and once again Bowie was back on the fashion trail coming too life as a new romantic and once again turned to the designer Natasha Korniloff whom designed the famous cyber clown suit for his Ashes to Ashes cover in 1980, she was also attributed to his "Pierrot in Turquoise" outfit for his stage debut in 1967.  

In 1997 Bowie commissioned one of Britain's most loved designers Alexander Mcqueen while he was the chief designer at Givenchy to make him a Union Jack frock coat complete with cigarette burns to wear while looking over our green land for the sleeve of Earthling.

Now here in 2014 we look back to last year which saw the release of his long awaited album, filming for Luis Vuitton advertising campaigns, sell out Bowie Retrospective at the V&A and to top it off he was crowned Best Dressed man of all time by BBC History... beating kings, queens and political bigwigs.

All Hail David Bowie i say and may he keep delighting our ears and eyes or more years to come.

Many Happy Returns Mr jones