A Very Vintage Halloween: A Few Ideas

So it's two days away and I have only just decided what to wear for Halloween. Being one of those people who just doesn't put the effort in with these things, I have been slightly pressured to go to town this year as our work night out is on Thursday 31st! A very spooky do indeed...

So here are a handful of slightly different costume ideas to make you stand out from an array of ripped white T-shirts and tomato red blood splatters. (I have used Pinterest and google image searches mostly here and I apologise if I couldn't source the original blogs/names - but credit to everyone for these amazing ideas)

1920s silent film stars

White/grey facepaint for your skin and a monochrome dress theme. Complete with script cards and you're done! 

Lichtenstein Comic Book Girl

I have a yellow wig in the post - Yep I'm giving this a go! I've decided to cheat a little with a plain white long sleeve shirt to avoid doing too much painting, but I'll be sure to show you the finished product!

Vintage Harlequin

I am gutted I didn't think of this earlier. If you can't find the right playsuit/jumpsuit/dress then go the opposite way with checked tights and a big neck ruffle, it;s really all about the make-up anyway. I love this so much!

Miss Havisham

Over the corpse bride? Turn to literature for your new Halloween Heroine! This will take some commitment, but boy, it'll be worth it!

Labyrinth

Get stuffing your trousers girls! Yes! I mean it! Sarah is too easy, get you're Jareth on. Well, unless you have the perfect 80s puffball sleeved wedding dress of course...

The Birds

Green dress, blonde wig, lots of black birds. 

Easy.

Pin Up Witch

Classic look done beautifully by Fleur De Guerre here. I have taken this from a blog post I found on her blog here. Some great ideas. If Vivien Leigh can work it then so can we.

The Shining Twins

Matching blue dresses with some sickly sweet lace detail, white tights and some buckle shoes. Throw in some coloured contacts and some fake blood if you want to edit it but this look is pretty hard to mistake and if you have the perfectly sized best friend to do it with, you can't go wrong. Just don't smile.

Magritte

Another styled by Fleur on Southern Retro, more surreal than scary but a great easy option for your fella or for yourself too. Bowler hats are simply everywhere these days. 

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If you have any ideas we should know about, PLEASE throw them over to gina@thevintagefair.com! We'd love to hear from you and we'll put them up online! Have a very creepy (and safe) night out! Happy Samhain to all of our pagan followers too.  We'll be putting up an array of vintage halloween pics for more inspiration and just to tickle your curiousity buds too over the next two days :)

Gina xxx

Making Your Rented Room a Vintage Haven

Oh hello everyone! It's been a while and for that I can only apologise. But it's been super busy at LouLou HQ! But I'm back with lots of vintage ramblings for your wardrobe and home. 

Now we've all been there, blue curtains, blue carpet, MFI furniture, white walls. The standard student bedroom has never been the cool kooky haven we envisaged in our daydreams. But what can you do when you're skint and let's say, well, prioritising your funds for other things?! We've got a few ideas for you to style up your bedroom vintage style without running too far into yopur overdraft!

Photos
Now instead of plastering your walls with photos from last Saturday night, how about pegging them up on a long piece of string? They could drape across the entire width of a wall or criss cross down and alcove or across your door. Not all of us have polaroid camera, but lots of us do have Instagram! You can get these printed off fairly cheaply, have a look here. They look so much more decorative.

Tailors Dummy

Now, it took me quite a while to not get scared in the middle of the night, but my tailor's dummy has a different outfit on all the time, and I get to display my favourite vintage dresses and accessories! Usually it's because I can't quite fit into them...! But at around £35-£30 you can get on off eBay and it makes a big statement in a blank room. Look at this example from A Harem of Peacocks.

Bed Linen
A tidying your room cheat I learnt at Uni, is that if your bed is made, it makes the room look ten times neater! You can have that one for free. But if the linen is pretty and vintage inspired, it'll look even better! We love french toile prints, (it's even the wallpaper in our office) and this Ikea set is on eBay for a cheapy cheap £24.95.

Tins and Teacups
Vintage tins and mismatched teacups are simply everywhere at the minute. Nip to your local vintage fair, antiques centre, charity shop or even on ebay and you'll be sure to stumble upon a wide range of them. They do so much more than just look pretty. Teacups make for lovely little dressing table ornaments that can hold your earrings and rings, loose change etc and tins can hide so much mess on your desk! Pop all your stationary in them. Plus, they're dead cheap.

Suitcases and Trunks
You may consider them a little overdone, but vintage suitcases and trunks are fantastic DIY projects for the home. We even did a blog post on all the uses we could think of, take a look here! But if you just need a quick and easy storage solution, stacking a few of these in the corner of your room for files, shoes, or just junk is a great and affordable space saver. Get searching in charity shops, flea markets and car boots.

Door Knobs
If you have a little time on your hands, it's worth rummaging at car boots, markets and hunting online for pretty vintage drawer and door knobs. If your landlord's furniture is a little, um, crap then a new set of screw on door knobs is a lovely little way of putting your own stamp on your room. Plus you can keep the original ones and replace them when you move out. No damage done.

Lampshade Mobile
This idea came to me when I was out on a charity shop spree. I saw a little pile of mini tasseled lampshades, you know the ones, Nannan definitely has a fair few! If you simply attach string to the centre of the lightbulb fitting inside, you can then hang them from the ceiling with a bit of tape or a thumb tack as they;re ever so light. Hang between 3 and 5 at differing heights to create a quirky feature to your room over your bed perhaps. Obviously, there are no lightbulbs in our little idea, but here's a bit of inspiration to give you an idea.

Flower Garlands

Not only did they look superb in your hair at Latitude fest, they look very pretty draped over your bedhead, on your wardrobe, fireplace or round your window. eBay have lots to choose from but Live Laugh Love have a great selection of other vintage inspired decor too. If you struggle to find any, search for wedding garlands as they're often used for these too. You could mix them up with fairy lights too!

Mismatched Walls

Now, before you tell me that your landlord doesn't let you hang things on the wall, I know, it's rubbish. But do ask! If you're super lovely about it, there's no harm in asking. Because who doesn't want a feature wall, such as your chimney breast, full of random bits and pieces! Clocks, taxidermy, photos, postcards, mirrors etc look so cool all bundled together. I love what Lereese from GIRL STOLE VINTAGE has done with one of her walls. I love the orange 70s clock.

(If you really can't use a hammer and nails, use posters, vintage postcards and magazine cuttings. You could even cut our paper picture frames to put them in - use your imagination.)

So there you have it, lots of little, affordable ideas to help get you stylin' it up in your first rented room. We'd love to see who can rise to the challenge! Send us your pics of your kitsch decoration ideas and we'll feature them on our page!

Love

Gina

x

Sweets for my Sweet

With the launch of our kilo sale The Vintage Pick 'N' Mix in student unions this Autumn, we got to thinking about our favourite childhood sweeties! So when David Frederick from Sweet & Nostalgic asked if we'd like to host a little blog post on all things retro candy, we had to say a big yes please! Get ready to learn a thing or two n all...

My favourite vintage & old fashioned sweets

There is something truly magical about vintage sweets, I think it’s their ability to take a person on a trip down memory lane and reminisce upon their childhood memories. Ever since watching Charlie & The Chocolate Factory as a child (the old version) and seeing the old fashioned sweet shop that had character in abundance, I have become fascinated by vintage & retro sweets.

Old fashioned sweets from the 1940’s

Catherine Wheels

For a sweet that is so fantastic, it really does have a gruesome past. As you are probably aware of, Catherine Wheel is an old fashioned term for a cartwheel. But it was also the torture device that was chosen to execute St Catherine of Alexandria. These sweets were based upon the latter. Putting the history of Catherine Wheels to one side, these sweets consist of liquorice strips that are wrapped around a nonpareil liquorice button.

Aniseed Balls

These are small reddish brown sweet that have become very rare in recent years. They share a similar consistency and texture to gobstoppers. Aniseed Balls are flavoured using aniseed oil and have a very distinctive and prominent aniseed flavour. They last a very long time in the mouth before dissolving. In the centre of these sweets you will find a rapeseed, rapeseeds are used as an initial base to place layers of sugar around.

Pontefract Cakes

Originating from a small town in Yorkshire called Pontefract; these are a very small, mourish sweet that consist mainly of liquorice. On every single Pontefract Cake is a small embossed stamp, this is in fact a stylised image of Pontefract castle.

Old fashioned sweets from the 1950’s

Jargonelle Pear Drops

When it comes to sweets, what can be more British than pear drops? These are a British boiled sweet that are made using various pear flavourings and sugar. These sweets were originally half yellow and half pink and shaped to resemble a pear.

Sherbet Fountains

A sweet that many British people associate with their childhoods, Sherbet Fountains are tubes of smooth white sherbet with a black liquorice stick that is used for dipping or sucking. When these sweets were first produced, they were wrapped in paper with the liquorice stick poking out of the top.

Coconut Mushrooms

Probably my personal favourite, the taste of these sweets is instantly recognisable and very distinctive. Coconut Mushrooms consist of a sweet chewy chap that is covered in dessicated coconut sprinkles. What I love about these sweets is the unique, juicy coconut taste.

Old fashioned sweets from the 1960’s

White Mice

This classic sweet consists of solid, creamy white chocolate and boasts a very distinctive and unique taste. In fact, the taste of White Mice is so distinctive, that if you were to eat one blindfolded, you will instantly recognise the taste.

Anglo Bubbly

A true great and the undisputed king of bubble gum, Anglo Bubbly is a fantastic sweet. What I find love about this sweet is the fact it has remained its retro pink colour after all of these years. Anglo Bubbly features a very distinctive pear flavour.

Dolly Mixture

A firm favourite of many, Dolly Mixtures are a pack of multicoloured cylinders, cubes and other shapes with various hints of subtle flavourings. These famous British sweets consist of soft sweets and jellies coated in sugar.

This is a guest post by David at Sweet & Nostalgic, an online sweet shop that specialise in Retro & Old Fashioned Sweets. David is passionate about all things vintage and has written numerous articles for magazines and blogs. 

Vixen Vintage: How to tie a 40s head scarf.

"All the single ladies, all the single ladies!" Can you tell we're excited about V Festival at LouLou HQ? I can honestly say I'e never felt so unprepared, except for how to style my hair. I have a few ideas to keep hair looking stylish, but any vintage loving lady should learn how to tie one of their many square scarves land girl style. So, since I look really very tired and un-made up today I decided to do a cheeky bit of tutorial borrowing from the gorgeous Solanah at Vixen Vintage.

It's a super easy head scarf up do. It's great for bad hair days, covering up pin curls, a typical 40s look and definitely for festivals! So, grab your scarf of choice and check out these simple steps courtesy of Solanah. If you'd like to browse the rest of her blog, and I can highly recommend you do, pop over here: http://www.vixen-vintage.com/

You will need a medium-large cotton square scarf.

Fold said scarf in half to make a triangle.

Drape over your shoulders in a shawl style with the point of the triangle facing down.

Lift both sides of the scarf either side of your head.

Gently tie each side of the scarf on top of your head. Secure with kirby grips if needs be.

The back point of the triangle needs pulling upwards. While you do this, try and push your hair into the space left in the scarf.

Lay the point over the knot you've already tied.

Tie a further knot over the point to secure it.

Tuck in the edges of the scarf so none of your hair escapes.

Ta-dah!  Secure with kirby grips if necessary.

 Do you have any great festival hair ideas? Or any ideas for our blog whatsoever? Send them over to us! gina@thevintagefair.com We love to hear from you xxx

Kimono - Kimoyes

We are still in the midst of festival season and as LouLou's team prepare to pitch our fabulous fair at V Festival next week we are talking about what to take with us in the office. We are all suckers for huge sleeves, whether on a beautiful 70s maxi or on a flippy 60s mini. So it's no surprise we're all after a glamorous kimono to cover up with, the bigger the sleeves and the more tassels the better!

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The 1920s drew inspiration from the far East for lounge wear, the kimono inspired dressing gown was an incredibly elegant addition to any woman's wardrobe. Popular actresses at the time Betty Compson, Marion Davies and Louise Brooks show off their silk robes here both on and off screen.

If you're in the market for something truly authentic then check out this 1920s beauty I found on Etsy for a cool £251. The colours are just amazing though, I could lounge forever in this silk cover up. Sigh.

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Fast forward to the 21st Century and the kimono makes a come back. Nicole Richie has always been a boho queen, with 70s maxis and head dresses being a regular style choice. So it's no wonder she's been spotted rocking a kimono or 10!

There are umpteen wonderful kimonos on the internet. It was hard deciding which ones to suggest you go and buy! See above for an example of the 20s kimonos available online, if that's a little out of your price range (it's certainly out of ours - sob!) the high street has some fab alternatives that will see you through any festival. So here's a start. Three very different takes on the modern kimono cover up.

Traditional peacock print eBay

Vibrant stardust fabric at ASOS

Huge tassels at SheVamps Vintage who are also one of our wonderful traders x

Happy Festivaling

Gian x

Summer Showers

Sadly, the weather is already taking a turn and it's time to start preparing for some really English weather. Boo. We say, GONE are the days of fold away brollies that you are ashamed to bring out, even in a downpour. We say it's time for some glamorous, eye catching, sturdy umbrellas!

I've done the leg work for you and here we have some seriously pretty umbrellas for you to keep dry under though, as well as some fabulous vintage examples.

Match to your pill box hat for serious sophistication. 

Ruffles and flowers make for sunshine on a rainy day. 

Janet Leigh matches her hat, coat and umbrella. Do you?

MONOCHROME

Bombay Duck

John Lewis

LuLu Guinness

TRANSPARENT

LuLu Guinness
Light In The Box
Fulton

FUN-BRELLAS

Brollies Galore
Hello Brolly

LED Light up brolly Think Geek

PRETTY PATTERNS

Jolly Brolly

Rain Drops To
Cath Kidston

Amy, Amy, Amy...

Two years ago Amy Winehouse sadly passed away, leaving behind an incredible musical legacy. Not only was the singer famous for her effortless performances, she was immediately recogniseable both on record and in every magazine and picture. So we're here to take a look back at some of the awesome fashion moments that made Amy so iconic. 

In her element in music, we have to start with her stage style. Quoted as saying she "still dresses as though it's the 50s" Amy channeled a pin-up rockabilly girl with her tiny body hugging dresses in bold, colourful prints.  

A more sophisticated Amy, dressed up to the nines in a modern leather take on the 50s silhouette at the Elle Style Awards and rocking a metallic shift on the right. Both very vintage inspired. 

Here sees Amy chilled out on the street in strappy sandals and a classic Fred Perry polo shirt with the classic flash of pink.  One of the shortest pairs of shorts I've ever seen but she made it her own. Classic dressed down Amy in skinnys and her faithful satin ballet flats. 

In every single photo you can't escape the ever present beehive and thick winged black eyeliner. (She was snapped using a Rimmel Exaggerate liquid eyeliner to get the look. Cheap ' n' cheerful! We like!) They defined her as one of the most iconic pop stars of her time. Ever copied and continuously imitated, but never Amy. 

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She was approached by Fred Perry to create numerous collections and looking below at her last collection you can see she had a heavy involvement with the designing of each piece, all with that Winehouse pink stamp. You'll be hard pressed to find a lot of Amy's designs, but keep looking on eBay, I found the pink dress below here.

 To celebrate her life, between 3rd July and 15th September The Jewish Museum in London have an exhibition called Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait:

The Jewish Museum is staging an original exhibition about Amy Winehouse, co-curated with her brother Alex and sister-in-law Riva. It is an intimate and moving exhibition about a much loved sister.

The family have given the Jewish Museum unprecedented access to Amy’s personal belongings that celebrate her passion for music, fashion, sudoku, Snoopy, London and her family.

Amy was close to her family and had a strong sense of her Jewish roots and heritage. Among the various objects on display, the exhibition will show many unseen photographs of Amy’s family life - Friday night dinners, Alex’s Barmitzvah and vintage photographs of their beloved grandmother Cynthia.

Located in Amy's Camden Town, the Jewish Museum is the perfect place to find out about the woman behind the music and beyond the hype. 

Let us know if you can make the exhibition and what you thought of it. We hope you can!

Lots of love

Gina

x