1940s 'Roxanne' Starlet Swimsuit

While England's autumnal weather sent you scurrying for your hats and jackets, I was lounging by a pool on the other side of the world, in Far North Queensland, Australia! The sunny climate provided the perfect excuse to parade about in this gorgeous 1940s swimsuit.

I'm not quite sure that I successfully channelled the 1940s starlet, but wearing this swimsuit was a revelation: I suddenly had a waist! a bust! a flat stomach! Modern swimsuit manufacturers are doing us a disservice by skimping on fabric and using unforgiving, unflattering lycra. This swimsuit is made from a heavy, thick blend of acetate and cotton. Diagonal panels of fabric radiate from one side of the waist, and a cute 'modesty panel' skims down the hips and across the top of the thighs. Boobs are kept perky with boning and shelf support in the bust area.

I'll confess that it didn't feel quite so comfortable to wear when it got wet. The fabric became waterlogged and the swimsuit felt like it was sagging - although a surreptitious glance at my reflection confirmed it still clung in all the right places.

Found at: Blackout II, Endell Street, Covent Garden
Price: £50.00
Usability Factor: 5/5

Accessorise with: 1940s sunglasses.

In the interests of documenting vintage swimsuits (and confirming my history as a swimsuit model), here's two 'vintage' swimsuits from 1986, and 1991.

Red Hot 1940s Dress

I took this little red 1940s dress for a spin at All Star Lanes bowling alley, where we looked flash despite being a bit dated – ASB is a ‘50s themed establishment playing ‘80s music (nope, we didn’t get it either!). I teamed it with a pair of pearlescent Mary Janes, which of course I was required to relinquish at the counter in exchange for some chunky black lace-ups. Hence, I’m sans shoes in these pictures.

To really do this dress justice, I went for a full vintage look by putting into practice the lessons I learned recently at Lipstick & Curls' hair and makeup class. Remarkably, my bold red lipstick stayed in place all evening (but then, I wasn’t kissing any chaps!).

The dress is a made from a deep red, raised pattern fabric. It has a little collar, sleeves that turn up at the ends, and gold button detailing on the bust. I like to wear it with the stud done up at the throat so that you only catch a glimpse of cleavage – cheeky!

Found at: Crouch End charity shop
Price: £12.00 (plus £10.00 to have some of the seams re-sewn)
Wearability factor: 9/10
Accessorise with: Flat Mary Janes so you can dance all night; a 1940s hairstyle courtesy of hot sticks; the new Maybelline 'Fatal Red' lipstick.

Vintage China Bouquet Brooches/Pins

Feeling guilty about buying fresh flowers (unsustainable growing practices / low wages for workers / use of pesticides)?

Fret no more! Ease your conscience by raiding the dusty shelves of your local charity shop for these bright little bouquets that bloom all year round. Delicately crafted in china, hand-painted and glazed, I've found pieces from Coalport, Crown and Aynsley in abundance, from as little as £1.00.

Try Etsy if you want to pin one to your lapel quick smart, and don't mind paying over-the-odds.

Found at: Save the Children, Shrewsbury & a charity shop in Crouch End.
Price: £1.00 - £5.00 each
Usability Factor: 5/5
Accessorise with: A vintage silk scarf and bright cherry lips from Lauren Luke's 'My Fierce Violets' palette.

1950s Apricot Prom Dress

I wafted into dinner at chef Nuno Mendes' home in this beautiful apricot prom confection on the weekend.

Nuno is trialling menus for his new Bethnal Green restaurant which is due to open later this year - for now, guests can sample a taster menu of about 15 courses, all of which Nuno prepares in front of you in his open-plan converted warehouse.

This dress is magical. With its contrasting sturdy/floaty fabrics it almost shouldn't work, yet somehow does. I love the thick linen bodice and the dainty hand-stitched beads which adorn it. The peachy, soft silk skirt which swirls out from pleats at the waist almost catches me by surprise every time I move.

It's an incredibly feminine dress; the fragile silk and delicate beading require one to move about with grace and poise, lest any part of it catch on something and crumble!
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Found at: Blackout II, Endell Street Covent Garden, London.
Price: £50.00
Usability Factor: 2/5 (alas, it is now too fragile for frequent wear)
Accessorise with: Seamed 40s stockings and little red pumps.
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1940s Velvet Wiggle Skirt

I wore this lushly printed, velvet vintage skirt to a cheeky lingerie/sex shop salon event last night. The gals from Lipstick and Curls, Natasha and Amanda, stepped straight out of a 1950s advertisement for (saucy) kitchen products, replete in matching red gingham aprons, and gave tips for crafting pin-up worthy curls, painting sultry winged eyes, and hunting down the perfect siren-red lipstick: and it will be a hunt, ladies ... the best reds are elusive, hiding online or in the States.

The surroundings of Bordello were perfect for an evening of vintage glamour. The window of the shop is dominated by an imposing French iron bed (similar to my own!), and lacy undergarments are strewn throughout the shop, intermingled with delicate hand-painted crockery, '40s and '50s hats and assorted naughty goodies.

I left feeling light-headed, although that could have been the result of a number of factors: the generously flowing champagne; the tightness of my vintage skirt (motto: life is too short to wear comfortable clothing); the fantasy playing over in my head about how marvellous I would look at my next lindy hop class; or the excessive amounts of hairspray Natasha lavished on our lungs.

Skirt found at: Charity shop in Willesden Green
Usability Factor: 5/5 (if you're prepared to be short of breath all night or lose 2kg)
Accessorise with: Vintage lipstick holder, Art Deco haircomb, and a 'do by the girls at Lipstick and Curls of course (they're available for private appointments).




Quirky fact: Natasha is an amazing dancer - Lindy Hop, Balboa, etc - and runs classes at her Quick! Quick! Club near Leicester Square.

Vintage 1950s prom dress

I have a confession to make: in order to get my hands on this gorgeous dress, I committed a cardinal sin and broke my vow to never purchase items in 'proper' vintage shops. But I couldn't resist its creamy sheen and gorgeous stitched detailing. So far, it's had two outings: dinner at an Underground restaurant, where we were papped for Ms Marmite Lover's blog, and The Blonde and the Beast Last Tuesday Society's masked ball. Underneath, a layer of tulle puffs the skirt out and makes me feel like one of those miniature plastic ballerinas twirling on a circle of glass inside the lid of a girl's jewellery box.

Found at: Blackout II, Endell Street, Covent Garden

Usability Factor: 5/5

Accessorise with: Big pearl drop earrings, peachy-coloured Venetian mask for evening.

Hoard of Gold Brooches

Take a peek at these little treasures - you'd be forgiven for thinking I'd uncovered them in a pretty little chest at the bottom of the sea, instead of an aging charity shop on a busy road in deepest darkest Hereford. That they cost £3.00 all up makes the find even more satisfying! I'm not sure what era they date from (1970s, earlier?) but they're very heavy so sadly won't be worn with some of my more delicate silk tops.

Found at: Charity Shop, Commercial Road, Hereford
Usability Factor: 5/5
Accessorise with: A mannish blazer to take away that girly sheen.

Vintage Vixen Profile: Chloe Sevigny

*sigh*...I even want her bike

I am in love with Chloe Sevigny. Or maybe it’s lust: lust for those jaunty ‘80s wayfarers she wore well before the stylists caught up; lust for the ‘50s high waisted shorts that, on her long milky legs, proclaim ‘siren’ instead of ‘sucker [for fashion]’; lust for that centre-parted blonde hair that shouldn’t work but seems to go with every outfit…

Chloe is the ultimate Vintage Vixen of our time: she was doing it long before the concept of ‘vintage’ became so diluted by the fashion industry that we accept Primark’s appropriation of the term for a 70s-inspired-£15-polyester-maxi-dress run up last week in a sweatshop in Manchester. Indeed, Chloe was doing it long before the word ‘vintage’ was common parlance at all.

For girls like myself who’ve always worn second hand stuff, it’s always looked, well, second-hand really. It’s Chloe’s insouciance that enables her to rock a tea dress with socks and sandals at Coachella (when the rest of us would just look like middle-aged German tourists on a coach tour of the pyramids). That, and her natural ability to marry quirky pieces to new stuff in one outfit and somehow make it look innocent and sassy all at the same time.

1940s Snakeskin wrist purse

This sweet and sassy little purse was another Vintage Acquistion from France. It's so tiny that it holds only my lipgloss, keys, trusty ventolin inhaler, and oyster card...but that's all a(n asthmatic) girl needs for a night out in London!

In this instance, I collected my French VA in person - bracing myself against the heaving hordes during Lille's annual La Grande Braderie . If you love junk, this 48 hour event in September should be diarised in your blackberry, with your hotel already booked if you want to attend in '09. The French go crazy, taking over kilometres of city streets to lay out granny's old tea set alongside scratched vinyl records. The rest of Europe go even crazier, with 2 million people descending on the tiny city to snap up a bargain and outdo each other in the quest to set a record for moules frites consumption. I eurostared it over with nothing more than a change of underwear and a canvas shopping trolley, and filled it to the brim.

Found at: La Grande Braderie, Lille, France
Usability Factor: 5/5
Accessorise with: A floaty amoosi dress made with reclaimed fabric, a 1940s manicure, and a vintage dance card to keep track of all those boys lining up to twirl you round the dancefloor.

Detail

19th Century French Iron, Brass & Wood Veneer Bed

My biggest vintage purchase yet, this one is courtesy of ebay and was shipped over from the continent at the weekend! Cast iron French beds have been fashionable for years, so I was originally looking for something a little different - an Art Deco bed that was completely wood veneer to be precise. But with the best examples of these beds well out of my price range, this late 19th Century French bed is a happy compromise, stylishly combining the best of both worlds!

I love the cute little iron castors: luckily they're old and rusty enough to ensure that any lively night-time activity isn't going to propel the bed across the floorboards. It's only a small double, but I'll happily squeeze myself in at night if it means I awake in the morning feeling tres chic.

Found on: ebay (courtesy of Louis XV Antiques)
Usability factor: 5/5
Accessorise with: Anything that brings it into the 21st Century, such as sultry black bed linen (I'll shamelessly admit that mine is by Kylie Minogue), an artfully draped Peter Alexander Vintage Rose Gown, and the soon-to-be-single Brad Pitt perhaps?

1950s 'Brexton' Picnic Set

Vintage Acquisition of the Day: 1950s picnic set, complete with asbestos lined thermos and original sugar cubes (plus a four-person set of side-plates, coffee cups and saucers, cutlery, tea-towel, food boxes, salt 'n' pepper shaker and glass storage jars).

This one had my name written all over it - I just couldn't resist (and a £30.00 spend on a single item is still not my most expensive outlay in a charity shop!).

It's completely unusable, and not just because of the life-threatening drink canister - no, despite its pristine condition, I just can't imagine myself lugging a suitcase-sized box of china crockery up Ally Pally.

Found in: Crouch End Charity Shop

Usability factor: 3/5

Accessorise with: 1950s glove-making pattern; Bush portable radio (I have my eye on an original on ebay), strawberries and a British summer.