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Showing posts from 2011

Krampus Christmas

  I've had this vintage Christmas bauble for as long as I can remember, but never knew where it came from. I think I might have sussed it out today though as this morning I saw a strand on vintage Kugel Christmas baubles on This Morning TV and then later on I saw one of these vintage German Krampus cards on the web. The ones shown below are sourced from an informative site Krampus.com.  So a vague memory of the story began to come into consciousness, as I lived in Germany when I was a child, so I must have picked up the decoration then, along with the other Kugel ornaments I have. The Krampus travels along on as the dark companion or anti-matter to St Nikolaus on the 6th December to challenge and take away the naughty children, much like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He also reminds me of the Devil, the Capricorn card in the Tarot with his hairy good looks and chains that bind the sorry souls to earth with their illusionary materialism, which is appropriat

A Handbag Lady Bracknell, vintage of course

" Yes, Lady Bracknell, I was in a hand bag. A somewhat large... black... leather handbag with handles... to it. "   I've just uploaded a few vintage handbags and purses to the shop but nothing quite like the one Jack was found in, from The Importance of Being Ernest. But I do have a couple of gorgeous decorative vintage evening purses from the 1920s and 30s,  both with diamantes the elder of the two encrusted all over and the 1930s purple pleated silk purse has diamantes on the filigree fram and set into the clasp adding a touch of vintage bling!  You'll also find a classic 1950s textured leather Kelly bag, which is a perfect finishing touch for your Mad Men or Pan Am fashion statement. Bringing it further up to the Dynasty power dressing 80s, with an oversized mock croc white vinyl envelope clutch bag, and a tidy very dark navy blue and white patent leather clutch bag and I know it's not vintage but I love it just tthe same is an ASOS bright blu

Pan Am Fashion Powder blue style

I'm loving the new Pan Am TV series and am drooling over the Pan Am fashion and costume, and especially so in last night's episode 6 where Christina Ricci and Margot Robbie were both looking exceeding glam wearing classic powder blue dresses. You can get the Pan Am look too as VintageVampalicious has a very similar 1960s vintage powder blue wool dress with a cowl neck, very similar to the one Margot's character, stewardess Laura was wearing, we also have the obligatory vintage gloves too. get the Pan-Am look The white bag I've pictured is an 80s moc crock vinyl bag, which I have but not listed yet, so if you'd like more info' on it just get in touch with me.

It's the season for log fires, mulled wine & vintage fur

Brrr it's getting chilly, but what perfect weather for getting this season's hottest and furriest trend out of the vintage closet, vintage and antique fur. If you haven't been able to raid your grandma's attic then check out our online shop because I've added a new section just for vintage fur . Click on each image to take you directly to the product.   I've mentioned this vibrant emerald green wolf fur coat before because it's so amazing to feel and also because it was allegedly made for  Sophia Loren's sister ( Maria Scicolone) by an Italian designer, the quality is undeniable on this item and I deny you not to feel like a moviestar bombshell when wearing it. I've never seen wolf fur before and the colour is just stunning too   Here's a classic pillbox hat the style epitomised by Jackie Onassis in the late 50s early 60s, very chic indeed. This hat is brown ermine, I think as it's very soft and fluffy with longer wet-look shin

Love hearts hates moths

Just a quicky post today. Every evening I've been hand sewing another heart to use some of the fabrics I got recently and also to make use of the lavender from the garden. As well as being filled with lavender, I've also put some wormwood inside too, both are herbs that moths hate and avoid, so they are perfect for the wardrobe, or to keep in drawers as well as looking pretty hanging on the door or a chest of drawers. The buttons and lace are very old vintage scraps.

Downton Abbey 'Aristocratic chic is back!'

The hot fashion trend sparked by the popular sho Downton Abbey is for turn of the Century glamour and opulence, as worn by the Crawley family in ITV's popular TV costume drama series. The Mail Online reports that It's not just women who have fallen for old-school glamour, though, men are also feeling inspired. Sales of cravats are up 28 per cent at Debenhams and waistcoats, the must-have for all Downton men have also seen a sales spike of 21 per cent. M&S has seen sales of men’s British fabric tweed blazers rise by more than 750% on some styles and sales of elbow-length gloves sold has soared by 584% as have the sales of sequin capelets - a short cape worn over the shoulder have more than doubled. Marks & Spencer has also noticed the demand for corsets, pearl earrings and cloche hats has also rocketed Debenhams spokesman Carie Barkhuizen said: 'The feminine glamour captured by the Crawley women in Downton Abbey has had a marked effect on what women are lo

Antiques in Dorchester

Went to Dorchester at the weekend to look at the huge antique barns next to Dukes. Lots of interesting sellers and vintage clothes, I enquired about getting a space there and it's quite reasonable, with a little coffee shop too, so maybe next year.   Novel patchworking ideas I'd say this stall would probably be the closest in resembling my stock, I've even got a white 80s back very similar too. This settee suite caught my eye, in a fab purple, so retro 1950s, it's like something from the Jetson's, (bet you can't remember tat show).   All in all a great place to visit, it's open all week and they serve gorgeous coffee too.

More vintage fabrics and silk scarves

  I picked up some lovely fabrics and silk scarves and antique lace this week. Some of the vintage fabric pieces are really quite old and the silk is paper thin and delicate with beautiful muted colours, both with embroidered flower patterns and block printing too. The scarves/hankies pictured above have gorgeous 1930s Deco print designs. Underneath the top Deco handkerchief you can just see a Victorian funereal, mourning scarf which is also in a lovely silk. It is what the chief mourner would have waved during the procession. I'm jusy trying to figue out what to make with them, or whether to sell the pieces as they are.

Dress like a Pastel Princess

Kate Middleton wowed the crowds at a Bafta dinner in aid of British creative talent at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles earlier in the year wearing a beautiful Alexander McQueen lilac chiffon pleated gown, with a sparkly belt. You can get the pastel princess look for your very own red carpet or dinner occasion, by wearing vintage Elizabeth Arden, with a short lilac pink chiffon pleated little cocktail dress, with diamante waistband detail. Or go for the full on floaty romance with this pale powder blue vintage Jean Allen chiffon gown, with a sparkly beaded detail on the bodice.     This Jean Allen dress is labelled as a healthy size 18 with 42" bust, it's wonderful and will flatter the decolletage of a vampalicious princess to no end.  There is a small triangle section in the cleavage which could be taken out to add more 'va-va-voom'. The dresses will be uploaded onto Vampalicious very soon, but if you are interested in purchasing either of them in t

What is this, some kind of torture?

I've been pondering on what this could possibly be, is is a child's, toddler's corset or an antique sanitary belt, or something alltogether different - does anyone know what it is? Either way it's an instrument of discomfort for whomever had the misfortune of wearing it I guess. What do you think?

Vintage black evening & dinner dresses

We are heading into party and dinner date season, here's a few alternatives to the little black dress, how about long black evening dinner dresses.  Pictured below are two from my new stock, original 70s glamour with very flattering shapes and a more recent Frank Usher designer number with beaded detail to the bodice neckline. The left spotty one has a double sided belt, so you can choose to wear it with the pink showing or not and there are a variety of different ways to wear the belt or cummerbund around the middle one.

"It's all about the orange this season" says Gok

Indeed it is, the Autumn of 2011 has gone all pumpkin and colours of the fall with rusts, oranges, mustard yellows and deep reddish browns. It's such a 70s palette that of course makes the original 70s vintage fashions of the day, bang on trend for right now this season. I can almost smell the cinder toffee and mulled wine now. And I have gathered together a fab vintage 50s, 70s and 80s collection which I photographed in my home studio yesterday, ready to upload onto my shop site, Vampalicious very soon.  ( Apologies if my site is still down, my hosting provider are fiddling about with their servers, so hopefully it will be up and running by Monday, so keep checking in please .) Pictured above are three fab' classic 70s looks and a lovely 80s dress with shoulder pads, peplum detail and belt with orange, red and blue accent colours.  From left, this bell-sleeved cropped top with an under bust tie and long lapels is sooo 70s New York, with matching thick bright orange cor

Who's been a busy girl then...

Exciting few days, for me anyway. I have finally gotten round to trading in my old professional camera gear, a lovely Bronica with spare lenses and polaroid back, to exchange for a digital SLR, a Nikon D3000. Amusing to think that the last shots I did using the Bronny was for a few editorial portraits of Tony Blair and Jack Staw. So at last I am back in the game, when it comes to snapping away like a pap'. I shall have fun practicing and playing until I get used to it and manage to tame it into taking a good pic. So far what appears on the screen is very different to what appears on my computer, so I still need to configure them so they're both the same. I have also taken in a load more fabric and stuff from a local lady who is downsizing and (drumroll) I spent far more than I should have at the vintage fashion auction yesterday, eeeek!  So in all I now have an absolute mountain of stock to steam clean, photograph, catalogue and upload onto my shop site. In the meantime,