Grassington 40s Weekend

Last year was my first attendance at the Grassington 40s weekend.  You can read about my day here

Having such a good time last year, this year I decided to dress up with the red dogwood patterned Isabel dress from Lindy Bop.  I have added a link as the dress is now on sale for £17.00! (I haven't been asked to promote Lindy Bop, I just wanted to share a bargain!)

Here are some of my photographs from the day.

Vintage with a Modern Twist

I love all things vintage.  Vintage clothes, vintage accessories, old pieces of furniture; I love it all.

When it comes to vintage clothing, there are so many options out there.  When you are plus size, it can be hard to source vintage pieces that work with your body; but there are out there if you look!  There are many sites now that also offer vintage inspired pieces with a modern twist so I thought that we could play a game today; which is the real vintage and which is not!

Now, I am going to share the links so that you can buy/look at the dresses if you wish, but first, comment in the comment section which you think are authentic vintage, and which aren't!

Top Left: Floral Dress Modcloth

Top Right: Peach Dress Rokit

Bottom Left: Blue & Gold Dress Rokit

Bottom Right: Red Dress Starlet

I thought that I would share a couple of pictures with a some of my dresses which I have tried to work with a combination of a modern and vintage style.

Finally, a glimpse of a closet that I always dreamed of.

I look forward to seeing your guesses in the comments section!

A Trip to Grassington

Today I wanted to tell you about a 1940s festival weekend that I went to in Grassington last year, one which I am intending to return to this year!

Every year the town of Grassington holds a 1940s weekend.  There are live bands, wartime re-enactments, vintage market stalls and much more.  I went last year with my mum and we had such an amazing time.  I thought that I would share a few photographs that I took on the day here.

Walking about Grassington that day felt like I had truly stepped back into the 1940s.  The pubs were serving war time ration food, live music was playing and people were dancing in the streets; everyone had a smile on their faces and the atmosphere was fantastic.   There was even someone dressed up as Winston Churchill standing in the middle of the square saying his famous speech.

The main thing that struck me about the day is that everyone had made the effort to dress up.  I would have guessed that at least 90% of the people I saw, both locals and tourists were wearing 1940s garb and you really did feel like you were living in that time.

I did not have much time to find an outfit to wear last year and ended up just putting pieces together from my current wardrobe.  This year however I am on the hunt to find a real 1940s style outfit, vintage if at all possible.

Here are some of the vintage clothing items I have been looking at from Rokit:

1. Pink Midi Dress 

2.  Hawaiian Print Dress 

3. 40s/50s style Leather Handbag

4.  Red Motif Dress

5.  Green Midi Dress 

I will be definately buying the vintage handbag as that is perfectly my style.  I love all the different dresses and will be using them as inspiration of what I should be buying when the event rolls nearer.

I think my favourite is the Hawaiian print dress, which is yours?

Style Through the Decades

I get the same bus to work every day.

My journey to work is filled with people watching as the bus passes by people on the street and (discreetly of course!) looking around at my fellow bus passengers; trying to guess who they are and what their day holds from the way they are dressed.

There are two people that always catch my eye.  An old lady, must be at least 85 years old, gets on the bus every Wednesday morning.  Where she goes to, I do not know, but I am always fascinated by the way she dresses.

Her highly polished black court shoes with a tiny heel.  A little hat on her head with a beautiful hat pin. A smart coat (blue for Summer, red for Winter) and a black leather gloves.  She always looks immaculately dressed and like she has stepped right out of a 1950s novel.

I can imagine her in her younger years dressed like this:

Whilst I see the occasional elderly lady dressing this way, more often it is the elderly gentleman who have stuck to the more formal styles of the 1940s and 50s.  Everything from a suit with waist coat or a tie, to the jumper, tie and shirt combination.  There is one elderly gentleman who waits at the same bus stop every day; standing there with his bowler hat, beige coloured army style mac and a suit.  He is obviously far too old to be going to work.  Yet this is how he dresses every day.  I love it.

Back in the 1940s and 50s it was common place to look smart when you went out.  The hair was done, the shoes shined, the good coat on, the dress or the suit immaculate.

Years go by, society changes and styles evolve.  I remember asking my mum when I was 7 or 8 (and she was 46 or 47) why she did not wear jeans or trousers and her scandalized face that she would even think of wearing anything but a dress or a skirt.  For her, at that time, it was not the done thing.  

Whilst I am glad that times have now moved on to the point where my now 76 year old mother isn't adverse to wearing a pair of jeans or smart trouser;, I cannot help but mourn for the bygone era where you dressed up when you were leaving the house or going on a journey.

Each year I see less and less of the elderly women and gentleman with the smart clothing, dressed up to the nines; even if they were just going to the post office.

I look ahead towards the future and wonder what younger generations will think of us.  Will we be  the generation of  tracksuit bottoms?  I hope not.  I have made a pledge to myself that I will always dress smartly when I leave the house, whether I am 37 years old or 87.  We cannot let our grandparents' generation down.  Style is timeless.

Vintage Jewellery Wishlist

Happy New Year to you all!

I cannot believe how quickly the Christmas and New Year break went; it seemed no more of a blink of the eye before I was back to work.

After getting thoroughly spoiled at Christmas, I have had a clear out of many things in my bedroom from unused products and makeup, to jewellery that I no longer wear.  

So what happens after a major clear out?  You have space to buy more and update your tastes.

After buying a vintage 1940s silver brush and mirror set from a recent 40's weekend, I have been lusting after everything vintage and vintage inspired.  This has particularly been taken up with my love for vintage and vintage inspired jewellery.  It is always a quest to find out where to buy vintage jewellery.

Here are some of my current favourites on my wishlist.

Lovett & Co

I love this necklace.  I would wear this with a black dress for a formal event but equally might wear it in a casual style outfit, a patterned t-shirt and jeans for example to change things up a bit.

Rock My Vintage

I currently own this brooch and it is sitting pretty on my black boring work coat, giving it a little sparkle to combat against the black.

Berganza

I absolutely love this brooch pin.  I am really getting into brooches at the moment and this pin could easily double up as a hat pin.  Perfect for these freezing cold months when we have a snuggy hat on our heads.  No reason why they do not deserve glamour too!

 Glitzy Secrets

This Gatsby style bracelet is just gorgeous and I love the intricate detailing.

Katherine Swaine

When it comes to earrings I like to make a statement.  These marcasite swirl earrings certainly do that and are really something special.

So those are my currently vintage inspired favourite pieces, what are you loving at the moment?

I Feel Good

You know sometimes when you spend ages getting ready for a night out, an event or even just a blog post, and the reflection in mirror isn't what you hoped? This challenge is for those times when you look in the mirror, no pre planning involved, and think "I look good today". 

We all have our good days and our bad, but this challenge is to record those good days and to remember that confidence, at any size, is beautiful.

This month I am following on from last month and am sharing my Capturing the Curves photographs with you.  Warning: there are a LOT of pictures in this post!

I recently had a fantastic experience at a photoshoot arranged by the lovely Betty Pamper.  The theme was vintage and having my hair and makeup done, along with meeting all the other ladies along with Betty herself and Becky from Rambings of was a brilliant experience.

For the first time I even enjoyed having my photograph taken and playing around with the different props.  Nicky Rockets made me feel completely at ease and this, combined with a couple of cocktails after the shoot, made a very memorable afternoon.

I was very happy to learn that two of the photographs that we would be given would be “photoshopped” alongside the regular pictures and excited to see the “new and improved” me.  

We got a surprise preview of one of our photographs a couple of weeks ago and all I could see was my wonky eyebrow that I hate so much.  Looking back at these photographs now, I think it may have turned into one of my favourites!  Fickle woman, as is my right ;)

I wouldn't hesitate to do another photo shoot again and would love to do another vintage style one with Betty Pamper, but very very surprisingly, I would say this time, no retouching!

Here are my photographs, which I have already started to use on my profile pictures everywhere.  I will let you make your own decision on whether I look better retouched!

The above are retouched, so slightly better versions of me!

I Feel Good

You know sometimes when you spend ages getting ready for a night out, an event or even just a blog post, and the reflection in mirror isn't what you hoped? This challenge is for those times when you look in the mirror, no pre planning involved, and think "I look good today".

We all have our good days and our bad, but this challenge is to record those good days and to remember that confidence, at any size, is beautiful.

This photo was taken when I attended the Capturing the Curves photo shoot the other week.  I had already got changed into my regular clothes at this point but wanted to take a quick photo to remind myself of the make up and styling until I got the proper photographs through.

I feel very vintage in this photo and for once, I really love it :)

Capturing the Curve - The Selfie Post

Yesterday I attended the photo shoot "Capturing the Curve" organised by the fabulous Betty Pamper.

The inspiration behind the hair and makeup for everyone was vintage Hollywood glamour and to complement this I brought with me a beautiful 50s prom dress from +Simply Be 

I will tell you more about the shoot when I get the photographs through, but for now, just wanted to share a few of the selfies that I took of myself on the day.   As I felt so much that I had stepped out of a film noir movie on the silver screen, I have done a few in black and white too.

I can't wait to get the photographs through from Nicky Rockets who was a fabulous photographer on the day and completely made me feel at ease in front of the camera.

I love this photograph.  If I didn't have any other photograph from the shoot, then one would make it all worth while.  I feel beautiful in it.