Our stock on ebay!

Have you seen our latest items on ebay? We have some wonderful genuine items that you can buy straight away..

80s velvet + sequin jacket dress

80s Silk Shirt

80s butterfly print dress

or you can browse all out items and check out what we've put up for bidding

charlotte

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Sally in Birmingham

Last winter I shot Sally Farrant under the arches in Birmingham.

I saw her wearing the outfit and requested she wear it when she met me.
The boots/dress combo is the perfect sixties monochrome outfit. 

charlotte
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We're Selling at Solihull Vintage Fair!

On the 28th of July we will be selling our of vintage clothing at the Vintage Fair in Solihull, then we will be launching online :)

http://www.vintage-fair.co.uk/

We've decided on some special in-person prices to thank you for coming to see us..

Jumpers and Cardigans - £5 

Shirts - £5

Tops - £5

Skirts - £5

Shorts and Trousers - £5

Coats - £10

Dresses - £10

Two-Pieces - £10

Here's a little taste of our jumpers and cardigans to wet you appetite..

Vintage Portrait

Just scanned in a photo that my boyfriend, Ben Breading, took of me last November.
I've given in a re-edit and think that it looks old fashioned, kind of fifties style?

I was wearing a pale pink jumper with a black velvet skirt and polka dot tights

charlotte 

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Alex Prager Photography

As a photographer I really enjoy looking at and becoming inspired by other photographers work. There's nothing better than finding a photographer whos work really speaks to you and for me, Alex Prager is one of those rare photographers.

Alex Prager has been described as 'photography's heir to Hitchcock' and it's not hard to see why. The dream like scenarios she creates are always vivid in colour but seem to have dark undertones which is what is so compelling about her imagery.

The images also demonstrate fashion from the fifties through to the sixties and seventies which is a big bonus for the vintage-lovers like me, furthermore she seems to share my penchant for extremely bad wigs (anyone who's seen my own work will know this..) so her work is fabulous in my books and I can't wait to see more of her looking back in the future. 

http://www.alexprager.com/

charlotte x

Katy's first OOTD

Last weekend Katy went to Liverpool to celebrate her friend Fi's birthday.
She wore a £35 ASOS dress and her shoes were £25 from New Look. 

Last year Katy and I attended a 1940's hair class in Nottingham where we learnt how to create victory rolls, so it's good to see Katy is putting her new found knowledge to use!
You looked beautiful Katy!

enjoying a cheeky cocktail

Gemma Arterton as Betty Page

What do you think of Gemma Arterton's pin-up girl make-over as Betty Page for Love magazine?
We think she looks absolutely stunning, it's hard not to be a tiny bit jealous!

The dancing is a little awkward though :p

watch the video here

charlotte x 

Shop Launch and Goodbyes

Good evening! Just a quick note to let you know that I'll be away in Cornwall for the next seven days, so the blogging will have to wait for a while!

I'll hopefully have lots of things to share with you next week as I'm taking my camera with me, obviously!

In other news, Katy and I had a stock meeting earlier in the week and we will be launching our Shop in person at the Solihull Vintage Fair. 

You can find information about it here. 

http://www.vintage-fair.co.uk/

We're excited about this as we've decided to sell shirts, jumpers and skirts for £5 each so it's definitiely worth attending!

Me in my sixties inspired sunglasses (£2 from primark..shh!) which I've just packed in my case

1/3 of our vintage cat mascots, Katy's cat Charlie

Katy wearing Charlie at our meeting in the week

Charlotte 

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Vintage ads that should be banned

I've cheekily stolen these images and words from from likes.com because they're website kept crashing I thought it would be easier to make a new post! 

They're all pretty shocking but made me giggle. 

1.It's safe to say that if this advertisement was produced in today's society, there would be absolute outrage at the sight of a small baby drinking soda! One cannot help but cringe at the fact that a popular soda brand, 7Up, once used babies as a marketing tool in order to boost their sales. Boasting that you have the youngest customers in the business when your product is something detrimental to peoples' health is seriously not cool...

Oh look, it's a wife who burnt her husband's dinner...But don't worry, he says, "you didn't burn the beer!" This vintage advertisement comes from an era when a woman's 'job' was to simply cook and clean. A wife who couldn't cook up to the standards of her husband was frowned upon, and this advertisement is a clear emphasis of this. Perhaps the husband ought to cook his own dinner next time...

Nope, it's not a misprint! It seems as though back in the 1800s, cocaine was used for its medicinal properties. According to this vintage advertisement, even children were encouraged to use the then-legal substance. Freaky! Can you just imagine giving a small child some cocaine toothache drops to ease their teething problems? We bet it caused a lot more problems than it cured...

It's a thought that would seem almost nonsense in this day and age - someone as respected in the health community as a doctor, smoking? But worst than that, this vintage advertisement encourages smoking, boasting that because more doctors smoke Camel cigarettes, then they must be good for your health! This cigarette company could not have got it more wrong...Our favourite part would have to be the explanation of the T-zone as "throat" and "taste". Oh, these kooky advertisements.

It's enough to get a lot of people's blood boiling, but remember, this advertisement is from an era when things were quite 'backward'. The word 'wife' was synonymous with 'cooking' and 'cleaning', and women who had joined the workforce to pursue a career outside of the home were frowned upon. All we can say is thank goodness the times have changed! It is advertisements such as this one that really makes you realize just how far we've come.

Wow, this vintage advertisement is wrong on so many levels, most notably, the fact that it uses domestic violence against women as a marketing tool. You read it correctly though, if women weren't 'store-testing' for fresher coffee then their husband would have to 'teach them a lesson'...This advertisement would send absolute shock waves through our society if it was produced in today's day and age. It's safe to say that we don't think there will be advertisements like this one ever again.

There are so many things wrong with this advertisement, but where do we begin?! Firstly, women are compared to animals that must be hunted. Secondly, that guy has his foot on the woman's head! Thirdly, the woman was "floored" because she saw this man wearing a certain brand of trousers? This advertisement is enough to make your head spin. Someone should have grabbed a red marker and wrote the words "banned" across this advertisement as soon as it was released!

Just to answer this advertisement's question: Yes, it is illegal to kill anyone, duh! This is another one of those vintage ads that places men on a much higher plane than women. Even reading the text on this ad is enough to make someone puke! "'Kinda cute, ain't it?' says Miss Morissey. 'Now the mail is out early enough so I get to the girl's room in time to hear all of the dirt'". Even portrayals of working women were tarnished with stereotypes and sexism!

Yikes! Someone had better file this one under 'sexualization of children', because the girl in this vintage advertisement looks like a small child! It's refreshing to realize how strict both the public and the media are about sensitive topics such as the representation of children. We always knew that woman and other ethnicities often got the bad end of the deal when it came to advertisements, but we never expected children to also be exploited so much for a company's gain!



Looks like there might be quite a few women who would like to punch this company in the face for their offensive text. "Indoors, women are useful...On a mountain, they are something of a drag". Most of the time, it was probably the wives buying their husband's clothes for him, so we're not exactly sure that this brand considered that when trying to advertise how great their climbing sweaters are. We weren't even aware of the fact that one requires a special 'climbing sweater' as opposed to a normal sweater...



It's nice to know that vitamin companies have changed their advertising techniques dramatically. We also wonder how many women actually chose to do the housework whilst wearing heels? These vintage advertisements pose too many questions, particularly because they're (thankfully) from another era.



What do you get for the guy who has everything? According to this vintage advertisement, Santa loves a pack of cigarettes for Christmas. He even believes that it is a gift that "brings pleasure to every home". Lets just hope that doesn't mean the children and the household pet were smoking them too! Thankfully, times have changed a bit, and Santa is now content with looking after his health and settling for a cookie and a glass of milk each Christmas instead...

Can you even believe your eyes? This advertisement states: "Babies who start drinking soda during that early formative period have a much higher chance of gaining acceptance and "fitting in" during those awkward pre-teen and teen years". The advertisement even tries to persuade people that soda promotes an active lifestyle, boosts personality and gives the body essential sugars. Firstly, no sugars are "essential"! And secondly, have you ever read a bigger load of garbage in your life? Cringe-worthy...



Van Heusen, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves! Advertisements such as this one were common many years ago, when it was widely considered that women were the weaker sex. The number one job of any wife was to please her husband, and to be at his beck and call. Perhaps it's time this advertisement got ripped up into a thousand tiny pieces and placed in a bin, because this is one message that no longer has a place in 21st century society.

This vintage advertisement reinforces a seemingly ancient stereotype; it was important for a woman to look pretty and beautiful, but brains or intelligence were considered a hindrance, or not important. The times have certainly changed, and thankfully, Palmolive are no longer creating advertisements such as this one. Society may have a long way to go, but at least we can look back every now and then and be thankful that we have moved forward in many ways.

charlotte 

x 

Sweet and sour crumble

Another day, another BBQ..I'm not exactly complaining!
This weather is gorgeous and despite the SPF I've still got a nice little rosy glow going on which is lovely.

Sweet and Sour CrumbleWe've had some pears in our fruit bowl that no one's been eating, I really hate wasting food so I decided to make a pear crumble. I think pears are a bit sweet and I'm not exactly a huge fan of them so I decided to use raspberries as a sharp, summery contrast to the seasonal in winter pear. It's a bit of an odd combination for this time of year but it tasted lovely. 

I'm using two dishes because I've lost my bigger one, it's a mystery..
This recipe serves six 

Ingredients

3 Small soft pears, enough slices to cover the bottom of you dish

1 punnet of raspberries

30g of caster sugar
1 tbsp of vanilla extract

Sprinkle of  ground cinnamon

75g of plain flour
25 g of Oats

80g of light brown sugar

25 g of desicated coconut ( I get mine from a local indian supermarket because it's like 70% cheaper than the supermarket)
80g of salted or sunsalted butter.

2 strawberries

Lemon Juice

Enough double cream to whip and serve

Method
 

1. Heat the oven to 180°/Gas 4/160° fan

2. Slice the pears into wedges, about 8 per pear , and lay down roughly into your baking dish. You can then add your raspberries but save five for later ;) Slightly crush the berries in to release their flavour.

3. Sprinkle over the caster sugar. Use two tablespoons of the flour and sprinkle that over the dish too. Then add the vanilla essence and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon. Toss everything together gently with a tablespoon and set the dish aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl. combine the rest of the flour with the 25g of oats, the light brown sugar and the desiccated coconut. 

5. Cut the 80g of butter into small cubes and rub into the dry ingredients until you have crumbs. Don't be alarmed if you have to add a little more butter or flour to get the right consistency. 

6. Coat the top of the dish with the crumble mixture. I like to add extra oats on top of mine so it looks pretty. Bake int the oven on the middle shelf for 30 minutes. 

7. Whilst your crumble is baking, you can make a sour strawberry and raspberry coulis. 
I just put the remaining raspberries in a blender with two strawberries and a little squirt of lemon juice. Set aside until serving. 

8. I love cream on all my desserts, especially when it's thick. Just electrically whisk double cream until it has a thick consistency. If you want to be cheeky, add a tbsp of caster sugar before you whisk. 

9. Remove the dish and serve warm, with the coulis and cream..

I hope you like the mix of flavors in this crumble. I think the sweet and sour flavours in the crumble are emphasized by the sweet whipped cream and the tangy coulis.
I've got a bit left in the fridge and I keep eating little mouthfuls whenever I pass the kitchen!
charlotte 

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Charlotte's vintage pick of the Asos sale..

Sorry there's not so much colour in here, I tend to just wear neutral colours these days..
 Check out the rest of the sale, they've so many reduced items, it's actually hard not to buy anything. 

Geo Print Coat, £80 £40

Coat In Mono Pattern with textured Back £80 £40

Stripe Ovoid Coat £75  £37.50

Lovestruck Dress With Contrast Sleeve
£43 £25

Oh My Love Off the Shoulder Skater Dress

£35 £21

Asos Stone Flower Earrings £10 £5

Asos Triangle Stone Drop Earring £12 £6

Timeless Flower Detail Toe Capped Shoe

£48  £25

Asos Prop Metallic Pointed Platforms

£45 £22.50

Life's a beach

How amazing is this editorial of Elle Singapore?

I like it so much I've decided to include all the pictures I could find. 

Kudos to Joel Lim

http://www.fashiongonerogue.com/joel-lim-snaps-retro-summer-spread-for-elle-singapore-june-issue/

What's your favorite pieces from these images?

I personally love the rainbow umbrella which is so strange for me because I usually don't wear much colour. The black swimsuit in the first image is also beautiful. 

charlotte

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