21st September 2008 | Uncategorised

Tagged!

I was tagged in this meme by the lovely Andrea, aka a cat of impossible colour, so here goes!

What are the last three things you purchased?
1) This fabulous ensemble from Revamp Vintage:

which I cannot wait to receive!
2) A pair of Ivory 40s style trousers from Shona, the lady from my last but one blog entry (pictures in the last one!)
3) A pair of really dreadfully unsexy nude knickers to go under the aforementioned trousers!

What are the last three songs you downloaded?
I never download songs, only whole albums, so here are the last ones I downloaded:
1) Master of Puppets – Metallica
2) The Black Album – Metallica
3) Appetite For Destruction – Guns N’ Roses
Bet you weren’t expecting that! I was a huge heavy metal fan in my teens and am replacing the music I loved, but only had on cassette!

What are the last three places you visited?
1) Lanzarote
2) Cyprus
3) Er…East Grinstead for a big 40s swing dance event last night? haha

What are your three favorite movies?
1) The Princess Bride
2) O Brother Where Art Thou
3) Zoolander

What are your three favorite possessions?
1) My home
2) This dress:

Which was deadstock when I bought it, but has now been worn and washed several times. Don’t hate me for washing it, it’s cotton and so well made, and it is just meant to be loved and shown off a lot!
3) My new camera, which I am still learning how to use!

What three things can you not live without?
As Andrea said: I’m interpreting ‘things’ to mean material things … otherwise it would also be friends, family and my cats!
1) The internet – I am a geek and not ashamed! (I realise the internet isn’t material, but it is a ‘thing’!)
2) Books
3) Tea 😉

What would be your three wishes?
1) To fall in love with a wonderful man who loves me equally and unconditionally
2) To have enough money to travel widely and still live comfortably. (This is so perfect I am stealing it from Andrea!)
3) To be happy and healthy despite life’s ups and downs

What three things haven’t you done yet?
1) Mastered swing dancing
2) Met the aforementioned man 😉
3) Been on film or the stage!

What are your three favorite dishes?
1) Sushi of any kind
2) My very fattening and very tasty veggie lasagne
3) My mum’s Christmas dinner

Which three celebrities would you most like to hang out with?
1) Johnny Depp (swoon!)
2) Keira Knightley. I’m not actually a fan of hers, but in every interview I have seen she appears to be very down to earth and fun.
3) Kate Moss. Again I am not a fan, but I would love to know what goes on when she goes out partying!

Name three things that freak you out.
1) Despite what I have said earlier, having been single and living on my own for a year, the idea of dating someone actually petrifies me.
2) The thought that one day my parents won’t be around any more.
3) Big hairy men. I mean spiders. Big, hairy spiders.

Name three unusual things you are good at.
This is a hard one. I don’t really have unusual skills!
1) I’m getting good at swing dancing, which in itself isn’t unusual, but I’ve only been doing it about 3 months so I think I have some degree of natural talent! Or maybe I’ve just done it before…..*spooky music*
2) I have the uncanny ability to scare the hell out of single men (spot a theme here?) whilst attracting incredulous comments from other people along the lines of “But surely men are lining up to date you?” NO!
3) I think I am pretty good at 40s hairstyles, something which, if not unusual is at least uncommon!

Which three things are you coveting?
1) A new pair of Remix Wedges. Probably these:

2) Another dress from Revamp:

3) A tortie girl kitten:

This beautiful little girl has been needing a home on my local cat rescue website for months, and I can’t believe no one has taken her! I would snap her up if I could, but it’s not fair when you work full time and have two kitties that go outside as she’d be stuck inside on her own all day for weeks, until I could ensure they all got along and let her out. 🙁

Name three bloggers you are tagging.
I’m going to be rubbish and not tag anyone as most of the lovely ladies whose blogs I read have already done it!

18th September 2008 | Uncategorised

More tea!

After spending 27 years of my life and never having had Afternoon Tea, I have managed to notch up two in one month! This time it was for my lovely friend and mother-to-be Sophie Jonas’s birthday. I’ve not known Sophie a hugely long time, she is a designer, and we met in December when I was modelling some of her creations in a fashion show. After that, she asked me to be a Brunch Belle at her monthly Burlesque Brunch, which involved me swanning around in not much at all, entertaining guests who were tucking into a full English before some real burlesque starlets put on a show. It was enormous fun, and I hope it continues after she’s had her baby and recovered!

Here are some examples of Sophie’s creations! Possibly NSFW…depends on where you work! They’re all in my Fashion Shows folder on Myspace.

Anyway, her partner Andy wanted us to come to tea as a birthday surprise for Sophie, and a lovely day was had by all. After tea we had a wander down to the Thames festival and came over all touristy! I have never done some of the touristy things in London, even though I’ve lived nearby all my life. We also stumbled on the set of Dorian Gray! Here are a couple of pics, you can see the rest on my Flickr.

1. ♥, 2. ♥, 3. ♥, 4. ♥, 5. ♥, 6. ♥, 7. ♥, 8. ♥, 9. ♥

Fleur xx

12th September 2008 | Uncategorised

Fashion shows galore!

I just looked at my blog and realised it’s been over a week since I updated! I could have sworn it was just a few days ago … oh dear. Is this a sign of getting old? Hehe

So, last weekend, I took part in a fashion show at the I Knit Day at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London.It was a pleasure to meet the lady who wrote A Stitch In Time back in the 1970s, Jane Waller, and to see Susan Crawford again, who is responsible for republishing it. And oh, the garments! They were just divine! Susan’s husband was taking official photographs, which will no doubt be posted up soon, but I found these on KayB Knits blog, so here’s a taster. Thanks so much to her for letting me use them.

Not the best shot of me, but fab of the other two ladies! The lady is the middle is the wonderful Theodora of the Shellac Sisters, and the girl on the right is Susan’s daughter Charlotte.

Can you believe Theo knitted that fantastic dress herself? Man, I need to learn to knit … not least because I get a free copy of the book for being a model in it! ☺

Stay tuned for more photos of droolworthy vintage knits!

I get a lot of people asking me where I get my 40s style trousers. Being a tall girl (5’11”), I unfortunately can’t turn to the usual source of reproduction vintage pants and overalls, Vivien of Holloway, because even her longer length versions are too short for me. So I buy mine from a very lovely lady called Shona, who hails from NZ, but who can usually be found selling her designs at rock n roll events throughout the UK. Though she doesn’t do custom sizing per se, what she does do is hem them to the right length for you (in my case sometimes actually adding fabric on the bottom!) and she can also adjust the waistline for you. I can’t recommend her and her clothes highly enough. Here’s a pic (I have posted this on here before so apologies if you’ve seen it already!) of my in my favourite green pair:

She’s got tons of fantastic colours in at the moment, so if anyone is looking for a new pair of pants (or two!) please do get in touch with her – shona.van.beers@gmail.com or 07985040299.

Tonight I am off to the What Katie Did ‘Glimpse Of Stocking’ Lingerie Show, to mark the launch of their AW08 collection. It’s bound to be super glam and I am wearing my awesome new blouse from Big Beautiful Barbara Brown for the first time. I can’t wait!

Have a good weekend, all!

3rd September 2008 | Uncategorised

Site update!

I can’t actually believe how slack I have been on the site updating malarky. I’ve now given myself a kick and done a new gallery featuring all the pictures from the beach shoot that I did a while back. I posted some of the results of the shoot in this blog, but if you want to see the rest, hop on over!

As far as shoot news goes, unfortunately an extremely exciting upcoming shoot has been postponed, so I won’t have any new photos for a few weeks.
I am, however, going to be sashaying down a catwalk at the I Knit Day in London on Saturday, which will be fun, I hope. Any knitting fanatics going to be there, let me know! I’ll be wearing knitwear from the soon-to-be-republished A Stitch In Time by Jane Waller, a fantastic book containing hundreds of authentic knitting patterns from the 20s, 30s and 40s.

I leave you with some pictures of the eternally beautiful Norma Jeane Mortenson, before she was transformed into Marilyn. I think these are some of the most beautiful photos of her.

1. Norma Jeane 1, 2. Norma Jeane 2, 3. Norma Jeane 3, 4. Norma Jeane 4

28th August 2008 | Uncategorised

Move over Rita!

I have a new idol. And, in fact, a huge girl crush. On the stunningly beautiful and downright awesome Virginia O’Brien, whose nicknames included “Miss Deadpan” and “Frozen Face” due to her unique and unusual singing style. Now I won’t regale you with any more facts, because everything I know about her has been gleaned off that Wikipedia page – I literally discovered her this afternoon. But I plan on doing some more research! All I will say is that she is really not as famous as she should be. She was just so gorgeous and oh, her outfits!

Check out this terrible screen-grab I did earlier.

Now, I fully intend to copy her exact hairdo tonight! It’s very Vivien Leigh, and I have tried it before, but not hard enough!

I spent some time this evening watching videos on Youtube. This one is particularly awesome!

I found a nice screengrab showing her top and hair:

The sleeves! The shoulder pads! Fabulous. (The same photostream also contains a treasure trove of other screenshots! Check out Lucille Ball here!)

Anyway, here are a few more fab videos. T

This one is where the first shot is from:

This one is funny, plus more great hair!

Finally, embedding is disabled on this one, but it shows that she wasn’t always Miss Deadpan!

A couple more before I retire!

26th August 2008 | Uncategorised

Two very different visual treats

Hands up, who reads comics? I know I do. I have written in this blog before about being a not-so-secret nerd. I’ve even been to San Diego Comic-Con, twice! I haven’t been since 2006 though, boo. Last time, I met Jonathan Ross and Dita von Teese! (Prepare yourself for old and unflattering pictures!

(I’m not showing the Dita one any bigger…I look hideous!)

But, I digress. The reason for me going (although I was into comics anyway) was that my ex-OH and now good friend is comic artist Jamie McKelvie. Now I may be a bit biased, but he is truly a top-notch artist, who has produced some stunning work over the last couple of years. He’s probably best known for being the co-creator of Phonogram, a series based on the idea of “music is magic”. Or “Hellblazer meets High Fidelity”, if you prefer. The new series will be coming out in the near future. It will look like this:

You should check it out! Not least because I have demanded to be drawn into a crowd scene. 😉

Here’s the mini-comic that debuted at SDCC.

Something else worth checking out is Suburban Glamour, which is an urban fairytale that anyone who has been an ‘alternative’ teenager in a small town will identify with. It’s full of beautiful art like this:

So anyway, none of this has anything to do with vintage, so I thought I would share a couple of pictures of my oh-so-glamorous grandparents, from the 1940s.

Both were taken when my grandad was called to Buckingham Palace to receive medals for his services in WWII.

Wasn’t she so gorgeous! I want those shoes too. This was taken in 1945, when my grandad was finally released from POW camp, where he spend two and a half long years.

This was in 1949. The cute kid is my mum! She told me she can still remember her velvet-collared coat because she thought it was the best thing since sliced bread! I would agree! 😀

So, there are my two very different visual treats. 🙂

25th August 2008 | Uncategorised

A most civilised afternoon. And weddings, part 2!

Last Sunday, for my best friend Gemma’s birthday, she, I and her sister Sonia went off up to London to take Afternoon Tea at Fortnum and Mason. I have only ever been past this iconic London department store, and have never been inside, let alone bought anything. I have to say that Gemma did want to have Tea at the Ritz, but it was fully booked. But having heard wonderful things about it, we decided F & M was a suitable replacement. And it was!

We begun with gorgeous little pots of Fortnum’s famous tea, in my case, Earl Grey.

It was so delicious, I topped it up with water so many times it went all thin and tasteless towards the end. And I got a headache from all the Bergamot. I didn’t care!

This was swiftly followed by a (very dishy!) waiter, bearing a tiered plate filled with delicious cakes, scones and nibbles. I forgot to take a picture before we began demolishing ours … so here’s a picture of the table next to ours’! 😀

I picked a fresh raspberry tartlet and a profiterole. Both were divine!

All in all, it was a fantastic day out, and though one tea cost as much as my weekly food bill, I hope to go again some time! Some pictures of my beautiful friend, her sister, and of course, me!

Om, and indeed, nom.

Last weekend also saw the nuptials of another of my very good friends, Stacey. She looked beautiful and the reception place was wonderfully stylish. I needn’t say more really, as the pictures speak for themselves. The theme was birds, sunflowers and gingham! Enjoy!

The bride and groom

Stacey’s amazing hand-made cake toppers

Finally, I made a little friend. He matched my Whirling Turban dress beautifully! hehehe

20th August 2008 | Uncategorised

And on a book!

While at my friend Stacey’s wedding on Saturday, I discovered that I’m going to be appearing on a forthcoming book! It was sheer luck that a proof copy of said book happened to land on the desk of a girl that I happen to know, who works at a publishers!

Here’s the cover:

The original photo is by Allan Jenkins:

My dress in this shot is by my favourite repro brand Big Beautiful Barbara Brown.

Here’s the book at Amazon!

It’s not out until January 2009, and I am unfortunately not credited as the photo was from a stock library. But it’s cool to think that everyone who reads the book will be picturing the heroine as me! I’m chuffed to bits.

20th August 2008 | Uncategorised

Miss August at Dungaree Dolly!

I’m absolutely delighted to have been picked to be Miss August over at Dungaree Dolly’s fantastic site! I absolutely adore Dolly’s creations, each purse, bag and accessory that she creates is cuter than the last.

She had this to say about me!

“Hi ladies! I am sure we all can agree on how darn cute this little baby is! Meet Miss August – Fleur ! This british beauty has been with me since the very start and she always seemed to make an effort to make me smile! She even lent me her beauty secrets to set the perfect 1940’s hair! Miss Fleur – you are a period perfect dream come true and you are even more glamorous than Veronica Lake!!! “

Well I can hardly claim that last bit to be true, but it’s a true honour anyway! Check me out on her Dolly Girls page, and make sure you check out her fabulous designs while you’re there. I defy you to resist!

Thank you Dolly! 😀

18th August 2008 | Uncategorised

Weddings part 1

This summer has been a whirlwind of wedding and hen parties. I feel like I am now sufficiently experienced to be able to start up my own business as a freelance professional wedding guest. I promise to turn up impeccably dressed and coiffed, bearing a tasteful card and will abstain from excessive drinking. I will also dance a fair amount, ensuring others get up on the floor. Any takers? 😉

Three weeks ago, saw the wedding of my very good friend Jo. She asked me if I would do her hair for the occasion, and despite having never done hair on anyone else, I am always up for a challenge so I agreed. I went up the night before and set it all, hoping and praying it would turn out nicely. And it did! Or at least, I thought so.

I also recently bought my very first ‘proper’ camera, and used Jo’s wedding as an excuse to practice taking photos, and generally learning how to use it.

Some shots of the lovely bride and groom:

Jo and Steve

Steve

Jo and I

For the occasion, I wore one of my favourite dresses, which I think is from the late 40s or so, and was deadstock when I bought it. It didn’t have a proper label, only a paper size one which dissolved in the wash. It’s actually a house-dress which wraps around, but let’s face it, vintage house-dresses are nicer than most modern party dresses! I set my hair using my usual sponge rollers, but put a big faux bang in the front, using a rat. I think it turned out well, too!

Jo gave me a beautiful pair of vintage earrings as a thank-you – you can see them in the above photo!

They had a lovely cupcake-wedding cake, all beautifully decorated by Steve’s mum and sisters. Deelicious!

Om nom.

A more perfect couple there never was! Except, perhaps, for Stacey and Simon! Here are Stacey and Simon at Jo’s wedding:

Simon told me that was his “wedding photo face”. They got married on Saturday, and you will be glad to hear he didn’t pull it in his own wedding photos! I will write a whole separate blog about them shortly. 🙂

Straight to the TopVintage

Jumping for Joy