Outfits to fill the boring gap

It's gotten so boring on my blog it's sad!

I am back in the UK but my laptop is still down and no silver lining in these regards. That means hardly any online time and the little I get has to be divided between various course work, picture editing (a zillion pics I took in Austria), general chit chat and of course blogging. So first things first - a blog post! And as I have no time to research I'll delight you with two outfits! :-)

40s inspired playsuit by Jasmine Guinness

 I love this suit, it is the most expensive clothing item I ever bought or owned. But I bought it via Littlewoods which means no big amount of money all at once! Yay for deluding yourself! 

When it arrived in the mail order just before Christmas Mr. Bossy loved it so much on me he happily accepted the price. It is indeed quite short and daring (well at least for me it is) but despite the shortness it still has an elegance to it.

And please do not forget the true model in my house.
Le poser extraordinaire!

 Suit - Jasmine Guinness via Littlewoods (not available anymore)

Shoes - Peacocks (years ago)

Cardigan - Primark (dito)

Bag - Marks & Spencers (last year)

Sweater Guard - Ebay

Snood - homemade

I particularily like the Gerbera, my favourite flowers, print.
Very punchy colours!

And here a land girl inspired outfit.

I really like knitted tank tops - I've had a few sitting in my wardrobe for years but hardly ever wore them. They certainly get their wear now! I also do a similar version of this outfit in grey/pink.

Trousers - Marks & Spencers via Ebay
Shirt - Pimkie in Austria (about 10 years ago)
Tank - Primark (few years ago)
Snood - homemade

What a failure to try to photograph my hair and my black snood. Blame the toddler who made me laugh.

These little lovelies I bought in Austria (at Deichmann) a few weeks ago. I love them! They were cheap as chips, have exactly the look I wanted and the heel is so reasonably low that they are comfortable for the whole day!

You may have noticed my new brooch. This was actually a birthday present my great aunt gave to my mum many years ago. She doesn't know what era it exactly came from but it certainly matches my growing collection. I hope my great aunt doesn't mind - I love it and wear it a lot!

And talking about family heirloom - as you know my nan recently passed away and I brought a few treasures (treasured by my heart and by my vintage loving eye) with me. But this one is my true precious. I inherited her seal ring with my grandad's - her late husband's - family's coat of arms. My mother and aunts all have one as well and my nan would always say I'd get one for my 18th birthday. I suppose because suddenly so many grandchildren appeared in the family or maybe because my grandad got ill around my 18th birthday and died the following year we never talked about this again. So I was very touched when I inherited her very own ring. And it fits like a glove.

Which is a stupid saying by the way because I have such tiny hands - no glove ever fits me. Unless it's a child's glove.



My true precious



I have just discovered photoscape. Indeed I don't know what I am doing yet but you can see I already had some more fun with these pics than with boring old Picasa. It will take me a little while to get the hang of it but I'll get there!

Pop pop popppppp art

I am certainly no true aficionado of the fine arts but I am also no unaware rookie. I have grown up surrounded by art as my dad is a fine arts photographer and an amateur fine art historian (knowledge comes with the job). Art nouveau was the most appreciated art form and era in our house. I completely disregarded it as a child or a teen, my love for art nouveau awoke much later.

When I was a teenie I discovered pop art for myself and fell in love with it. The vibrant colours, the bold statements, the cheekyness - I admired everything about it and always considered it very me. These days I am much calmer and I like to spread my tastes in my house. It's not only a colourful explosion of pop art with some 50s pin-ups in between, I like to dabble in a lot of eras. I adore art nouveau, I like art deco, I adore pop art and I also really worship vintage kitsch and modern Kawaii. So a mix of all these is me or my interior!

And when I realised that there's currently a Mel Ramos and Roy Lichtenstein exhibition in Vienna I just had to go. No I ran. 

Both artists mean a lot to me and my personal history. Earlier today I stood in front of one of the nearly life size big candy coloured naked pin-ups of Mel Ramos and I just smiled at her. She really made me happy, I wanted to touch her, stroke her. I know that sounds a bit iffy but you know what I mean, don't cha?

Unfortunately two of my favourite Ramos images were missing in the exhibition. Amongst lots others, but those I personally missed as I had them up my wall in my very first flat donkeys years ago.

Roy Lichtenstein inspired art you can find everywhere all over the world. And I always loved him. I cannot tell you why but he is certainly amongst my top 5 artists.

Again my favourite work by him was not shown.

I had planned to elaborate much more on the two artists but quite honestly I am really beat. And I don't want to miss blogging all the time. So there you go. I had a lovely time today as my dad looked after my son and my middle sister accompanied me in enjoying the exhibition. Just the two of us. Great feeling!

I've been very lucky in recent years with exhibitions in Vienna. There are always tons all around the year but I seem to catch my favs. Last year I went to see Alphonse Mucha, another one of my top 5. How I loved it!

Evening - by Mucha. I bought a print in Muchas hometown Prague years ago and still haven't had it framed!

So next year I expect de Lempicka, Vargas or Elvgren. Got it? 

Tamara de Lempicka's self portrait

Pin-up girl by Alberto Vargas  

The Fence - by Gil Elvgren

             

And talking about Gil Elvgren - in the museum gift shop I snatched up the Gil Elvgren Taschen Anniversary book. It contains all his illustrations and frankly it left me speechless. I did not know all his work and it's beyond beauty. I love it. I was surprised by the size of the book, judging from the Amazon pic and prize I assumed it was pocket-ish in size!

I am already half in my pjs and I look quite  tired. But I really liked my hair today. And the book :-)

                                          

So people in Vienna - if you have not done so yet go and see Mel Ramos and Roy Lichtenstein at the Albertina. The're on until May!                              

Victory rolls like magic!

A few days ago the beautiful Fleur posted this video tutorial. 

I've been doing Victory rolls for a little while now and I do them quite often, so I thought - well what else can be new? I already tried a few techniques but nonetheless I watched it because it was Fleurs. 

And I am glad I did because even though I do them in a very similar way - roll them half way down around the fingers because neither rolling from the base nor rolling from the tips worked well for me (I could never achieve the desired stability) - I never tried this very simple alteration: Fleur rolls around only one finger whereas I always roll around two - I have teeny tiny fingers I never thought this would work with only one bony stick like mine - but it does and how it does! 

I rolled around one finger and like magic I had much more control over the placing and shaping of the roll - it even works with uncurled poker straight hair. And my hair is not only poker straight it's also very fine and silky - backcombing doesn't last and the ends just spring out, they just want to stretch and be free (they are such a pain while pincurling I tell ya!)

I am still in Vienna at my parents - I took these pics a minute before we all left the house in quite a hurry. So please excuse the blurriness etc. But just before we left I took out the very obvious pin and added an obligatory vintage brooch to my cardigan.

And since this is a vintage blog - Vienna in general is quite the vintage mecca - not neccessarily for the 40s or 50s but for the periods Biedermeier (obviously) and Art Nouveau (my very favourite). It is such a pleasure to look around for vintage loving eyes and ever since my parents moved into the inner city (which is the very oldest part of Vienna) I see daily many different antiques traders - you can find little shops all over the city, also in the neighbouring building. But as it is very much appreciated in this country it is also very, very expensive. 

Note the floor in the background of the pics in my parents flat - this is a truly vintage floor, it dates back to medieval times. My mum is not 100% - it's an original floor from anytime between 1200-1600. The building they now live in (which has about 10-20 appartments) is the second oldest building in the district and a very historical one. Beautiful!

Proof of life - and death

First of all thank you so much to the many new followers! Despite my lack of attendance the number keeps rising - I am in awe! I promise there will be a time where I can show my gratitude and I will browse, follow other blogs and comment.

At the moment I am at home in Vienna in Austria. Sadly my beloved nan passed away 2 days ago but I got here in time, I was able to say good bye and she died at home surrounded by her 3 daughters and me, I am her eldest grandchild. We basically held her and watched her dying and as horrible as this sounds - it was a beautiful moment, she was able to let go after a number of years of suffering, she managed to just fall asleep peacefully without a fight and I perceived it as a very bonding moment between my mother, my aunts and me.

My nan, or Omi as I called her, partly raised me, for at least 10 years of my life I lived with her - for parts of my childhood full time and later on in my very late teens/early 20s I lived across the hall from her in the flat opposite of hers. To me she was more than just a nan, she was my second mother. A woman who always took care of me - my whole life, even as a severely handicapped old lady in the last years she supported me financially. My parents are great people and I love them dearly but the one rock who was reliable was my nan. Her flat is is the only steady home I ever had as my parents always moved around. The street, the district, the appartment she lived in - to me this is where I come from, my roots.

3 1/2 years ago she suffered a very bad stroke which she - amazingly - against all odds survived. Her whole life she had a very, very strong spirit, a true fighter and this amazing stamina and spirit also showed after the stroke - she even gained some speech again, she managed to walk a little but she had to have full time care. Once a very elegant and proud woman she still kept her pride and died very much loved. I hope she can rest in peace now with my equally beloved grandad who died nearly 13 years ago.

I want to scan some old pics of me and my nan and some of her as a young woman but for now a pic of me and my boy yesterday, the day after she died. 

The church is just opposite of my parents flat, tomorrow I will say a little prayer for my nan and light a candle in the church. 

Mastering the art of faux bangs

Well I haven't really but I am getting there. 

Alone the expression "faux bangs" is just great. A French and American fusion of words. In the world of hair on your forehead there are many different expressions - the Brits call it "fringe" (fairly obvious why) and the Americans "bangs" - which I like better but I wanted to know why. I am always keen on etymology so of course I had to look it up - this is what I found:

    The term bangs, always used in the plural, is, as you know the fringe of hair usually cut squarely across the forehead.  According to etymology scholar Robert Barnhart, the term is strictly American in origin first surfacing in 1878.  It was  believed influenced by the adverbial use of bang in the meaning of abruptly, as in hair cut bang off;  some sources offer a relation to earlier bangtailed (1861) of a horse's tail that has been cut horizontally across.

The Germans call it a "pony" - the German word for pony (the neighing kind) is the same word as in English so because of the resemblance of a Pony's fringe it's called simply a pony! And I guess it's not called horse (which would be a much less glamouros word anyway both in German and English) beacuse a pony tail is called a horse taul. Confused yet? Well the Austrians on the other hand call it a "forehead fringe" though I do know Austrians who also call it a pony. I thought you might be interested in this terribly important trivia....

Now on to the actual faux bangs! The photos (click to enlarge) are based on a mix of these two great video tutorials by the swanky FLEUR and the equally elegant CASEY.

Fleur's 40s tut - click

Casey's 50s tut - click

(for some unknown reason blogger does not like me inserting a video link, that's why the videos are posted like that I'm afraid)



I shyed away from faux bangs for quite a while - thinking it would look plain weird having a roll on the forehead. I guess because I do think it does look weird if it's not well done and I have seen some pics that must have put me off. But I take it all back, it looks fantastic if I may say so myself.



The back is based on the first part of Casey's video but I used a rat like in Fleurs video. I crochteted myself a small and short rat as I have currently a growing out fringe/bangs so I can't roll a big section of my hair.



Different day and this time the back is based on the latter part of Caseys video but again I used my now much beloved little rat.



And of course soon I have to try this iconic Dita look with a victory roll on either side!

And while I am at it - can someone tell Nicole Scherzinger that she's doing this exceptionally badly - she looks like a superhero gone wrong. Dreadful!

This is a superhero doing it well!
Carla Gugino as Sally Jupiter in Watchmen.

Outfits'n'hair

I am showing these outfits not because I think they are so great - by golly I really don't - but because it amazes me what I can find in my wardrobe with a bit of rethinking. It's the wardrobe of Narnia! I find old forgotten pieces in there and pieces I wanted to throw out but deserve new love - all kinds of things. I really consider my hesitation to go full time vintage (inspired) so silly. For years I would always don a full skirted dress with a petticoat and 50s hair for occassions but never dreamt of the possibility to do it every day. All it took was some rethinking, some "new" vintage jewllery and of course the hair. I still think that is what makes or breaks the outfit.

(click to enlarge all pics)

I really liked the pink number, not so keen in hindsight on the navy-red combo (in the mirror the 2 navy tones didn't look that different) and I have never been fully convinced of the teal cardigan. I think I just need to find an ideal item to wear it with.

As mentioned before I started selling bits of my wardrobe to fund new vintage or vintage inspired items. One of my first treasures is this pair of grey M&S high waisted trousers. Blimey do I love them. I live in them at the moment. Currently I am trying to hunt down a navy pair on Ebay. These grey ones were in mint condition and cheap as chips.  

The floral cardigan from Primark is also a newer aquisition via ebay and the leopard print one I had for a while - also Ebay but originally Next.

2 brooches from my vintage jewllery treasure chest

I thought my hair is also blogworthy

These were taken the day after the vintage event in Letchworth after the hairdresser told me to roll at the base around 2 fingers. I managed to get the victory rolls more standing up but I still have not got the hang of it.



I crocheted myself a rat - what a difference! I love it how neat and tidy the back looks now - and when I am in not such a rush in the morning I could also try hiding the pins...



I absolutely love this pic of my lil' man and me.

The little scallywag always tries to hog the limelight - here's the proof!

Add caption



Pimp my coat

For months I'd been trying to hunt down a nice vintage coat for a reasonable price. Always unlucky - lost the auctions, wrong sizes or wrong cuts. I do love the look of swing coats but in reality they just don't suit me, I need something more tailored. If my waist is not cinched in I look like I'm wearing a tent. Tough luck.

So here's my solution. Take my old but well fitting dreary Primark coat with only half of the original black plastic buttons (I kind of lost one a day in the last few weeks) and exchange them for some vintage buttons!

Actually already not so dreary anymore with my beautiful vintage brooch pinned on.

Successfully I found these beautiful original 50s buttons on Ebay.

The buttons I used for the coat in detail

Et voilà - a perfectly fitting coat with a vintage twist!

The other day someone asked me if I found my "vintage" coat on Ebay. So I guess - result!

Finally the review of the vintage event in Letchworth

Finally!

THIS event was indeed very interesting!

The beautifully restored Mrs. Howard Memorial Hall in Letchworth was the perfect setting for a very pleasant but a tad quiet evening organised by the FIRST GARDEN CITY HERITAGE MUSEUM. Mellow 1940s music in the background, homemade cakes to die for and endless servings of tea - served on the most beautiful vintage crockery.



Beautiful ladies of Buns and Buntings



 Please do have a look at http://bunsandbunting.blogspot.com/ - what a wonderful local vintage catering service! Just to look at their wardrobe, swoon over the crockery and not least of all indulge in their cakes was worth going for!

Weird pic of myself but the only one we took of the crockery! And one of my victory rolls was drooping!



 The other very interesting part was the vintage stylist DANI RICHARDSON. She gave an informative presentation of 2 40s hairstyles and daytime make-up and did not leave interesting historic facts regarding rationing out. I also took away a very helpful tip (of course she spotted my dropped roll straight away) - to roll at the hair base around 2 fingers instead rolling the hair from the tips down. I still have not fully worked it out but I am getting there!

Dani and her model

There was also a stall run by JOLLY BROWN, a vintage shop in Hitchin!

Apart from maybe too quiet music there was one major hiccup - even though I love love love the idea of "SWISHING". It was advertised as a vintage swap shop. So one could expect that you actually swap vintage, couldn't you? Well there was not much vintage (no obvious vintage enthusiasts as guests either) and I even spotted a Tescos t-shirt with it's tags on. I would have been gutted, really gutted, if I would have brought anything to swap. So my advise for next time is to actually police more what people put into the swishing pot - or not proclaim it as a vintage swap.

My own outfit I wore

Pretty sure it is a 70s dress but I love it anyway. Found it via ebay (it's one of my fist purchases I got with the money I got from selling bits of my old wardrobe - so it's part of my very own swishing!). Cardigan is my trusted Primark one and the Mary Janes are from Peacocks - but years ago.

And my hair in more detail - no roll dropped yet on these piccies!



 2 more reviews of the event:  http://www.gardencitymuseum.org/blog/swap_shop_fun_and_upcoming_events and http://bunsandbunting.blogspot.com/2011/02/vintage-swap-shop-success.html



Happy belated Valentine's day!

I hope you all had a loved up day!

Mine was full of shopping (for food, not that exciting), baking and cooking. And the always working Mr. Bossy managed to come home at a reasonable time to appreciate cakes and one of his favourite meals.

I love my cakes - so pretty.

Red food colouring is notoriously the worst of all and as I am the proud mother of a highly energetic toddler (a friend dubbed him the cannon ball child) it's really not something I want to give him voluntarily. These cakes look amazingly pink but it's all natural! We love beetroot!

The recipe is my trusted favourite cake recipe - blogged about HERE, just substitute the bananas with grated beetroot (I used 2 pre-cooked beetroots) and added about 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (1-2 because I nearly dropped the bottle and it overflowed...). The dough itself was a vibrant raspberry pink but when baked it looked rather golden with pink speckles. They do taste nice but I personally prefer beetroot in combination with chocolate - yummy. Blogged about HERE.

The icing contains about a ton of sugar so not all healthy cakes - but never mind. The recipe is taken from THIS lovely book:

110g unsalted butter, at room temperature

60ml semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature

500g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I substituted some of the milk with beetroot juice - how much is utterly up to you. I think I used at least a good 20ml and they came out such a vibrant pink - but you cannot taste it.

Whisk all together until smooth and ice the fully cooled cakes with a palette knife. If you have any decoration put it on the minute you iced the cake as it hardens up fairly fast. The red hearts are shop bought and do propably contain artificial colouring - my son had a cake with only one heart on it and I suppose he'll live!

I love baking anyway - but themed baking is even better!

When I woke up yesterday morning this was waiting for me in the lounge.

That was a lovely surprise which I did not expect at all. My child was nearly hyperventilating and could hardly contain himself and then told me all about it that they bought this at the shop! According to Mr. Bossy the great big balloon was Bossy juniors idea. Now who would have thought that!