i might win a dress!

Vintage Glamour with a touch of Modern Elegance

Dress like a classic Hollywood star with Looking Glass (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com). Looking Glass first launched its label in 2006 and are now sucessfuly stocked in over 100 stores throughout the UK and Europe.

Looking Glass, as a brand seems to embody everything we have perhaps been missing in women's clothing for some time. 'The celebration of the female form' and this is exactly what the Looking Glass label is all about.

Looking Glass offer something entirely independent to what we are currently seeing on the High Street. Creative designers, Emilie Barson and Claire Davey, armed with a dedication of design behind them and a strong fashion background, the pair have produced the powerful identity that is Looking Glass. With an eye for detail, they have produced a special collection for you to buy on line, beautifully cut skirts and dresses, nipped in at the waist; pussy bow printed blouses and tailored shirts. Every product is unique, to achieve a glamorous and feminine appeal to any outfit.

This brand has a vintage theme that encapsulates the true feminine form. The vintage styling of Looking Glass translates beautifully with the modern woman's wardrobe and suits every occasion. Looking Glass decided to launch (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com) and create another element to their already fabulous collections. A limited collection has been designed purely for the website. (Looking Glass's main collection and boutique are found on (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com)

Online purchases can be made instantly and you don't even need to leave your house. Be the first to win a Looking Glass Dress by answering this question.

Name the two designers of Looking Glass?

Please email your contact details and answers to (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com), putting into the subject heading Looking Glass my space competition.

Taken from http://antiquedress.blogspot.com/

Vintage at Goodwood

Vintage at Good wood: retro chic comes of age

Vintage has had a rocky ride to respectability. The Noughties saw the word become fashionable and then ubiquitous. Kate Moss paraded her Twenties flapper dresses, Topshop got in on the act, and vintage megastore Beyond Retro in east London became a hipster hangout. From T-shirts to tea sets, it became a watered-down label applied to anything second-hand. Now the pendulum has swung back: vintage is special again.

“Today, 'vintage’ is overground and it’s hard to find a town without a vintage clothes shop,” says Wayne Hemingway, designer and founder of Red or Dead, who has collected vintage since his youth. “But when I was growing up, wearing second-hand signified you were poor.”

To channel his passion, Hemingway, along with his wife Gerardine and their children, has created the UK’s first vintage festival, Vintage at Goodwood. A three-day celebration of fashion, music and culture, this weekend’s inaugural event will feature the largest gathering of vintage clothes stalls the country has ever seen. “Vintage fashion is a win-win. It’s about upcycling [converting old materials into a new product], recycling, thriftiness and great design. I felt this was the right time to celebrate it and show people how good vintage links music, fashion and film.”

Another long-term collector, Carmen Haid, gave vintage a respectable boost last year when she set up Atelier Mayer (atelier-mayer.com), an online emporium selling gems such as Halston from the Seventies and Nina Ricci from the Sixties. “I loved Net-a-Porter, but there was nothing like it for luxury vintage fashion. We have customers all over the world who buy our pieces because they want to look different, but want good service with it.” A shop opened to follow the website in Bayswater, west London, last summer.

Vintage at Goodwood and Atelier Mayer encapsulate the movement’s new image: polished, accessible and done with passion. They show that vintage can be relevant without being overhyped. But how do you class something as vintage?

“Strictly speaking, items have to be more than 25 years old,” says Haid. “We do take things up to the Nineties, but only if it is a fabulous piece.”

Hemingway sees the lines as more blurred: “I think it takes 20 years for something to look good. For me, it’s hard to class something from the Nineties as vintage. I personally wonder how anyone can be celebrating the Eighties again as, to me, it’s too recent, but it’s fresh to anyone under the age of 30. There’s nothing wrong with different generations interpreting vintage in their own way.”

Echoing New York’s established vintage scene, there’s a new breed of shops that offer well-chosen second-hand pieces at affordable prices, and with good shopping experiences. Wolf & Gypsy (wolfandgypsyvintage.co.uk), a new boutique in Brighton, offers an uncluttered selection in an airy, wood-floored shop. “Everything is hand-picked and I want customers to see that,” says Laura Pollard, Wolf & Gypsy’s co-founder. “I display the pieces to show off their character and charm, and the space makes for a pleasant shopping experience. These days, customers don’t want to visit a thrift shop that’s stacked to the ceiling.”

This appeals to the fashionable, time-conscious customer of today – and makes perfect sense. If you’re spending the same on a vintage dress as you would on the high street, you want the same level of comfort and service. These days, we don’t want to get our hands dirty finding bargains. Unearthing a forgotten gem is a hard task, which is why shops will often search on your behalf.

But for those who can’t stomach wearing cast-offs, however good a condition, vintage inspiration is never far away. Designer labels take endless cues from fashion that’s come before: just look at Chloé’s Seventies-esque trousers for autumn, Miu Miu’s Sixties-style minis or Louis Vuitton’s Fifties-look dresses.

Canny high-street brands, including Toast, Anthropologie and Fever, use vintage shapes each season. “We visit vintage shops and flea markets in New York, Los Angeles, Bangkok and Singapore for influences in both print and shape,” says Matt Barker, creative director of Fever (feverdesigns.co.uk). “A Forties dress can be inspirational, for instance, because they were cut on the bias to get the best shape possible. We might combine a Forties cut with a Seventies print, and end up with a dress that’s really interesting. Customers don’t always just want newness.”

Taken from http://antiquedress.blogspot.com/

Absolute Vintage

What is it ?

I visited this place just this week, it's wonderful. Absolute Vintage stocks men & womans clothes from the 1930's to the 1980's, so there is lots to choose from. Inside you will find a huge selection of vintage shoes, & lots of scarves & bags aswell. They also have vintage Chanel here, in display cabinets. They have thoughfully placed lovely old leather seats around the shop, so you can rest your tired feet after a long day of shopping... If you are in london vintage hunting you must pay a visit!

Taken from http://antiquedress.blogspot.com/

D&G Fashion Show

D&G.
"Ode to Suburbia"

A direct ode to the casual lifestyle of 50s Americana suburbia-- polos, gingham, vintage safari/beach vacation prints. This is a great collection

Taken from http://boyzfashion.blogspot.com/

a glimpse of stockings

Nine auctions now up in the shop! Ebay has proven much harder to navigate than I had imagined and now wish I had taken your advice and gone to easy etsy route! Am extremely relieved that that's finished though (and with minimal mistakes I hope?). If you win an item over 50 dollars send me a message letting me know that you read this blog and I'll send along little extra something for you!

This week I answered a few questions for one of my favourite blogging ladies Tara-Lynn! You can read the interview here (part one) and here (part two). Make sure to take a tour of her blog and shop as they are both full of eye candy (shots of her most beauteous family, gorgeous film stills, and cozy handmade knits). Tara-Lynn, you're a wonderful lady and I hope that one day we can share a sofa and a bowl (or two, or three) of popcorn while watching our film favourites.

It's time for me to take a much needed break from this computer and re-adjust my eyes to the 3-D world. I hope you enjoy the listings! (Friends who applied for the internship in LA, I've not forgotten you, I'll be getting back to all of you this week, thanks!)

The Loved One

Hello friends, I am much recovered (though still experiencing more booger production than I care for). Thank you again for all your warm wishes of health! I've made this tumblr to fill with news about the shop so as to avoid bombarding this blog in future. I have the first collection all set to go and a second in the works (something extra special for you brides to be and white dress enthusiasts).

Alas, we are still without small furry companions. The rain has kept us and our kitty lady indoors and we've not had a chance to deliver our adoption forms as a result. By the end of this week though (brain fist shake) I better have kittens or promise of kittens!

On a final note, my partner in LA is on the look-out for an intern (unpaid at present as we're a bit unpaid as well) to help around the office. Duties include drooling (and then steaming drool) on delicious vintage attire, sewing minor repairs and lounging around the laundromat eating oreos and reading year old copies of "O" magazine. If this sounds of interest to you let me know! It would be rather informal and something to hopefully inspire you in your own creative endeavors!

missed connections

Summer hairstyle inspirations! Click the photos for their original sources - thank you kind people of flickr for the endless amounts of inspiration you've shared. I made a little gallery featuring more summer hair-dos to inspire. I've also been keeping a tumblr (late on this bandwagon) account to fill with various photographic inspirations here.

I answered a few questions that were asked in my last post here. Thank you for all your kind comments! Also like to thank the lovely ladies over at BALLAD OF for their kind comments and featuring this blog amongst such a great lot of inspiration. Check out their magazine and contribute to their next issue!

One last thing before I get back to working on getting future Ebay store sorted (will keep you abreast of any news regarding the shop). A few months ago (thanksgiving day to be exact) Landon, Rebecca and I were at Whole Foods in Union Square and a beautiful girl in a brown dress approached us and confessed to reading this blog. Are you still reading this blog beautiful brown dress girl? Cos if you are I'd like to be your friend. Landon was harassing me to approach you for a number (I feel like such a creep as lately Landon has been trying to set me up on dates and nudging me towards young ladies at our local watering hole) but I was too shy. So, if you happen to read this rather belated missed connection leave me a comment and let's have a date!

october edition

most of these chill-inducing pictures courtesy of Vintage Photo. i have found myself once again in a horizontal state, i blame germy transit system and touching my face all the time. i need one of those cone collars so i can't reach my face while in public. i'm determined to make this a productive sickness and will be attempting my first knit hat (to disastrous results no doubt. one time i made my brother a scarf for christmas which he promptly misplaced and knit himself a new one with two stripes more than the first and in much better condition. out-knitted by my own brother and on something as simple as a scarf. hm.) i hope you are all in better health and are enjoying all fall's glories! pumpkin spiced coffee, wooly coats, leather gloves, stockings, and smokey air. mmm. what are your halloween costume plans? my costumes are never very inspired having gone in the past as a "deer cat", cardboard box with metallica written on it (was beavis and butthead but ended up just being the metallica box set by the end of the night), a pippi longstocking pickle and a nothing - you can see halloween dress-up is not a strong point for me, but this year i'm determined! inspire me with your brilliant costumes!

on raising your cat

after an impromptu rooftop photoshoot left a large portion of my wardrobe scattered around the floor i decided to have a bit of photo fun of my own and share some of my favourite fancy attire. now i'm curious to see what dresses of special occasion lurk in your closets, friends? please share!

(p.s. dog on the left has been straightened after reviewing these pictures)

flickr favourites 005

click thumbnail for original.