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Bathing Beauties!

So, a short while ago, while it was still summer in the UK, I went down to Folkestone to take part in a fantastic Bathing Beauties Parade. We were all supposed to be competing for the title of ‘Miss Club Shepway 2008’, but actually it was all pre-arranged, and we all took home a title. The other girls were mostly burlesque artistes and therefore had way more skills than a lowly poseur like me!


From left to right, the ladies are Dangerous Dolly, yours truly, Precious Isis, Alaska Blue, Miss Golden de Licious, Veronika Valentine, Miss Ivy Paige and Debra Decay. Our fantastic suits were made by Lady Lucie, she is such a doll, and so very talented.

Here’s the moment just after I got crowned “Miss Leas if You Please” and received my tiara and sash!


Our Tiaras were made by Floozey hats, another talented lady. I also had this fantastic fake ice cream made by one Simon Kennedy, who makes super burlesque props (like gigantic tea-cups and cakes), and I got to keep that in addition to my custom swimsuit and my tiara! Woo hoo!

Here are a few more pics from the day.



More are on my Myspace page.

There’s even a video!

I also have received a number of shots back from a shoot I did at a lovely old manor house hotel in darkest Hampshire. There were some lovely locations inside it as you will see!


Hair’s a bit wonky in this one! By Sean Kelly


Voyeur! By John Evans


Also by John!

Oh and one final one! My favourite!

Some more wedding-y updates to follow!

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Right, so I have been being lax!

Time for a mega-sized update!

It’s been a busy few weeks for me, just for a change. I have finally, after wanting to for so many years, started swing dancing. It’s enormous fun. I thought I had no rhythm at all, but I seem to be holding my own in class. It’s also incredibly good exercise. So good, in fact, that I am worried about…ahem…ruining my vintage dresses. Sorry if this is TMI, but does swing dancing ever make one sweaty! I now have a pressing need to buy a pair of proper dancing shoes and a few repro dresses. It’s unfortunate that repros cost more than actual vintage in most cases!

The shoes I have my eye on are these:

by Aris Allen.

And one of the dresses I am thinking of investing in is this:

It has the perfect combo of cotton and very short sleeves, which make it perfect. From Big Beautiful Barbara Brown. Of course one dress is not really enough. I need to go find some vintage-y strappy tops and light skirts. I was so hot last week (and with the weather like this, I’m thinking this week too) that I am seriously considering wearing a playsuit! Well not really, but it’d be so much cooler. Which brings me to some shoot pics. These are the digital versions of the shoot that I did at the beach a few weeks back. I am really quite pleased with them. My purple playsuit also was worn out in public for the first time ever yesterday – I was feeling especially brave and it was SO HOT! (Playsuit is also from BBBB, and my swimsuit is by Ashley Dean.)




I’ll be updating my site soon so please do go check out the rest of the set when I do. They are on my Myspace already. 🙂

Though playsuits are hardly the most practical of garments for us Brits, I do love them. I am particularly coveting this one, again from BBBB (I swear I am not being endorsed by them, chance would be a fine thing!)

Isn’t it just the most adorable thing??

Anyway, the Friday before last, I went to a wedding. Despite living a fair way away from me, the bride and groom considerately (*wink*) had their wedding only 3 miles from my home, making it very easy for me to get there and back. Some photos:

Me and my old friend Ruth. I think we’re singing to Metallica.


Me and the groom, Stewart.


A load of old college chums.


Mm, good posing!

My fabulous dress is from Whirling Turban though despite its gorgeousness, it was hell to spend an entire day sitting and dancing in due to the boning. Bah.

I will end this post here to avoid boring any potential readers too much. I will however continue later as I have so many more pictures to share, including more from the Studland manor hotel shoot I mentioned in my second to last post and the results from the Club Shepway Bathing Beauties parade last weekend. Toodlepip for now!

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Club Shepway Bathing Beauty Parade – July 20th 2008

Taken from Lady Lucie‘s own Myspace Blog. Come down and see me in the Parade!

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Join Club Shepway at the Leas Lift Folkestone on Sunday 20th July to celebrate 100 years of Bathing Beauties, and re-live the dream where the first ever British Beauty Parade took place!

The day’s attractions include funicular cabaret, featuring in-carriage performances from escapologist Evil Uncle Tony, the musical delights of Miss Ivy Page, plus your chance to learn to hand jive in 40 seconds with the Reverend Boogie!

Remember… don’t miss the hotly contested crowning of Miss Club Shepway 2008 at 2pm, with your host, Evil Uncle Tony!

Competing for the title this year will be:

♥Dangerous Dolly

♥Fleur de Guerre

♥Miss Golden de Licious

♥Miss Ivy Paige

♥Veronika Valentine

+ more to be confirmed…

This event is FREE and not for profit! All are welcome, please come and join the fun to celebrate this centenary anniversary in Club Shepway Style.

The project is funded thanks to the Arts Council, and is a Folkestone Fringe event, working in context of the Folkestone Triennial contemporary arts festival – why not make a day of it and visit the public exhibits?… One of which; Mark Dion’s ‘Seagull appreciation unit’ will be located at the Leas Lift for the day!

This event will be held at The Leas Lift, Lower Sandgate Road, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 1PR. The nearest Railway station is Folkestone Central.

More information can be found at:
www.clubshepway.com
www.folkestonefringe.com
www.folkestonetriennial.org.uk
www.leaslift.org.uk

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Fashion and fantasy musings

When browsing through wardrobe_remix on Flickr, looking at all the cool and not-so-cool outfits, I always wish I had something to contribute, but I never do. Partly because I don’t own a digital camera so couldn’t take a picture of myself, but mostly because I really never accessorise! It’s something I think I just don’t “get”. The thing that the most stylish fashionistas seem to have in common, is that their outfit is always accentuated with something (or some things) out of the ordinary. Be it a jazzy belt, a clashing scarf, a pair of tights in a bright shade, it’s always *something*. But I never invest in accessories like belts, scarves, hats. I think I tend to baulk at the prices of such items in shops, I can buy a vintage dress on eBay for less than the price of a belt that’s been cheaply made in the far east…plus I can never find things that go with my look. I realise that half the point is putting things together that don’t go, but then I am into vintage fashion, as opposed to just fashion. Ho hum.

So last week, I was in one of the least glamorous locations known to man, Maidstone. “I spent a year there one week” as the old joke goes! Well, it was a week, and it did indeed feel like a year! It was a ‘Creative Workshop’ with the other copywriters and designers on my team, and I thought it went very well. It was like a strange hybrid between really hard work and a relaxing holiday! I got more sleep than usual, in a very, very comfy bed; and we got sooo much food! I am seriously amazed that I only put on 3lb, and I can lose that in a couple of days. But it was quite hard, and I am pleased to say that I did come up with the required creative goods. 🙂 I also managed to start, and completely finish, Last Argument of Kings, the last book in a trilogy I enjoyed immensely: The First Law, by Joe Abercrombie.

I thought I was ruined after I discovered George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire. I thought nothing could be so entertaining, so gripping, so gory. I actually gave up reading fantasy for a few years as nothing even came close. Nothing at the local library anyway. Well and the fact that Mr Martin has taken approximately 647 years to write the latest instalment. Anyway, I read a lot of great, and not-so-great detective novels in that time. But then I discovered The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and I got re-hooked on nerdy fantasy. So I went to a different library and scoured their SF section, and picked up The Blade Itself, the first in the First Law series. I was hooked from beginning to end. Then, when I went on a (very classy, I might add) holiday to Lanza-grotty with my mum and brother, I bought my bro the first two in the First Law series as a belated birthday present, hoping he’d let me read the second one while we were away! He did, and loved them so much, he bought The Last Argument of Kings the moment we got back and read it before me! What a git! I should add that I also bought him the George R. R. Martin books, and actually got him into reading again. And he likes Joe Abercrombie even more. He’s even been pressing copies on his mates, trying to get them into him!

Anyway, suffice to say it is an absolutely cracking read. It’s a fantastically well-written series, and the characters are so … full of character! They have both good and bad sides, and unlike some books, there were no character chapters that I wanted to (or *gasp* did!) skip through. The battle scenes were particularly epic, and suitably bloody. My only niggle is the ending! I am praying that Mr Abercrombie left so much potential story deliberately, so he can continue it in the future! I want to know about Ferro’s vengeance! I want to know if Logen escapes from that evil Black Dow (I knew he was rotten to the core)! I want to see Jezal catch a break and Bayez get his comeuppance! So fingers crossed, we haven’t seen the last of that world.

*ahem* that is quite enough nerdery for one day, back to being a poser! Yesterday, I went to a ‘group shoot’, namely a large collection of models and photographers, in a lovely old manor house hotel. The rooms and gardens were lovely, and I think (hope!) I will get some fab shots for my portfolio. I have only seen a couple so far, but then it only took place yesterday. I am also awaiting pics from the beach shoot of a fortnight ago and a wedding and fashion shoot I did a week ago. I will be updating when all those are back…no more shoots for a while now.

Enough waffling, have a couple of piccies.


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Another week, another post

See, I wish I could update my blog more regularly, but I fear my life is rather too dull, and I don’t want to put any potential readers to sleep! So what have I been up to?

Not a vast amount it has to be said. I spent Saturday helping out at The Kitchen Shop in Weybridge, which is possibly the best sop in existence. I may be slightly biased, but I am also a huge kitchen/baking/cooking nerd so it really is a heavenly place. It used to be nicknamed “the Aladdin’s Cave” as it is literally packed from floor to ceiling with every kind of kitchen-y gadget you could possibly imagine. I got myself a groovy set of silicone egg poaching shells with my wages. I heart poached eggs, but find them a pain to make. I don’t like them cracked straight into water either, they look like used hankies! Yuk!

I also encountered a lady who obviously has OCD, poor thing. She was buying six shot glasses, and I accidentally dropped one on the floor (it didn’t break). I have never heard someone gasp so loudly with horror…she then demanded a replacement. I was somewhat surprised, and pointed out it was unbroken. Yes, she said, but I have a thing about stuff that has been on the floor, so I can’t use them now. She must spend a lot of money replacing perfectly good things if she can’t cope with a glass that spent approximately one second in contact with a clean carpet! How does she put on her shoes?!

Anyway, I then went out on Saturday night for the first time in ages to say bon voyage to my friend Claus who is off to Australia in two weeks. I can’t help but feel I am missing out here, no less than 8 people I know will soon be emigrating to Australia this year. Or are already there! We ended up in a party in Shoreditch, where every single person there managed to conform to a stereotype of how a person in Shoreditch should look! Each one was wearing different clothes, yet they were all identical. Remarkable!

In other news, I got a few pictures back from Mr Tobias Key. This is shot in the regular (for this day-and-age) digital format:

And these two on a vintage Pentax, with real film!


I’m looking forward to seeing the rest. I need to study the whole lot as I mucked up the posing at first, though there were some really fab ones in there too. I have a shoot on Thursday, this one a bridal theme, then a big group one on the 5th, which should be great. Watch this space for some more updates soon!

Finally, how fabulous is this watch? I’ll tell you – extremely! I must have one!
Betsey Johnson is amazing.

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Car joy

This weekend I had to put my car in for a service and MOT. I only bought it last year, and it’s only 5 years old, with 25,000 miles on the clock, so I wasn’t expecting anything major to come of it. So when the garage phoned me up, and the guy was all hesitant, I started to get worried! He asked me, did I by any chance still have a warranty on my car? Well actually, I hadn’t realised I had – but when I fished out my MOT certificate, I found that I did indeed have a warranty, with 5 days left on it. Oh good, the man said, because you need a new steering rack, which costs £400, plus labour…and you’re covered!

When does that ever happen? Usually it’s 5 days -out- of warranty or something! Still cost me £250 for service, MOT and two tires, grumble grumble. But a damn sight better than £650!

In other news, I now have a website! Miss Fleur de Guerre is online! I’m so over-the-moon about it, it’s really the perfect site for me. I adore the design and it’s easy to use, and easy to update! Now I’m just going to sit quietly and keep my fingers crossed that I’ll be ‘discovered’ haha. Well, you never know, do you?

Check it out, if you haven’t already! And if you fancy linking to my site from yours, here’s the banner! Let me know if you do and I would be more than happy to return the favour. 🙂 It’s at www.fleurdeguerre.com or click the banner to visit!

Finally, there are a few new shots on my Myspace page, which will be added to my site soon, including a couple more from my shoot with Sean Kelly, which I’m delighted with, and some from the master of strange and surrealist photographs, Russell Lewis.




I also shot with Tobias Key again yesterday, so expect some more summery outdoorsy shots soon. Toodlepip for now!

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Brighton hen shenanigans!

So since my last post, I have been down to Brighton for a hen weekend, where the sun shone and we celebrated my friend Jo’s forthcoming nuptials. It was a whole heap of fun, and highlights included riding the Crazy Mouse rollercoaster on the pier (I seriously feared for my life!), sitting by the sea and drinking strawberry cider. It was also my birthday weekend, so that was celebrated in style too!

I wore two main outfits for the occasion. The first is one of my current favourites – a reproduction 1941 skirt, in white, with a hand-knitted early 1940s cardigan in lemon and turquoise. I finished it off with a white snood and white Remix sandals. Here’s a picture!

In the evening, the theme was Pirate fancy dress. Now lacking in anything really piratical (and the money to invest specially) I went for a nautical look instead!

Here’s me, in the middle:

This picture shows rather a lot of the aforementioned cider too! Deeelicious! 😀

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Vargas-ised

Well, since my last post, I had to go and have two of my wisdom teeth removed, which left me feeling seriously rubbish, for well over a week. Following that 10 or so days of mouth pain, limited diet and lack of sleep, I now have a horrid cold and cough.

Well I was cheered to receive some new pictures from a shoot I did a short while back. I’m really chuffed with them as they look so like Vargas pics!


I’ll be back to regular posting before long… just you wait!

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High falutin’shootin’

So I had yet another photoshoot yesterday. The photographer’s name was Chris, and he was one of those people who could talk the hind legs, tail and head off a donkey. I swear he didn’t draw breath the entire time I was there, all 5 hours of it! But it was a great shoot, he’d rigged up a swing from the ceiling, we attached some flowers to it, and I had a merry time swinging about, and also being blown by a wind machine while holding a fantastic old camera.

Here are some pictures from the shoot!



I did my usual sponge roller set with setting lotion, and two victory rolls. My dress is vintage, dating to 1946 or thereabouts, but the little playsuit is by Swoon, an absolute gem of a store on Etsy. Handmade vintage style undies galore!

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Welcome to my new blog!

Hello all!

I just started this today as I’ve been updating my Myspace one more often so I thought it’d be good to have a ‘proper’ one as it were. I am going to use this to show my best, latest modelling photos, whitter on about my every day doings, and even, when I buy a digital camera, put up pictures of my daily outfits. I’m sure no one but me will actually be interested, but it’s a good record!

Anyway, signing off for now!