Breaking News: Vintage Elle THE SHOP!

Psst... word on the street is that Vintage Elle is powering ahead next week and giving their lucky fans a first glimpse of their fabulous new shop stock tomorrow. Eek!

Sorry that our online shop opening is a little bit behind schedule, but I have been really busy lately styling a Jane Austen shoot as part of the BBC's Pride and Prejudice 200 year anniversay celebrations. Exciting times! (I'll be revealing lots of images of that over Easter.) However, now we are full steam ahead with our shop. We have been stocking up and have lots of gorgeous, quality vintage items to show you. I can't wait to get the pictures online. I hope you love all the pretty dresses as much as I do <3

I'll be uploading it all to our Facebook page first, so make sure you 'like' us at https://www.facebook.com/VintageElle. When we reach 150 Facebook fans I will be hosting a giveaway to get one of our items for absolutely FREE so make sure you keep an eye out for that.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all the lovely Vintage Elle fans <3 How will you be wearing your vintage green?

Dorothy's Ruby Slippers!

Here at the Vintage Elle Studio we are kind of obsessed with the Ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz (and when I say obsessed I mean majorly obsessed!) They are probably the most famous shoes that have ever exsisted. That is why, when creating our latest collection of sparkly shoes they were the first thing we thought of.

 

As they were such a major part of the Wizard of Oz several pairs of Ruby Slippers were made. 5 pairs are known to exist but there possibly were even more. In the original book 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy's shoes were originally silver. Legend has it that the film producers wanted to take full advantage of the new technicolor technology and decided to make them red... and thank goodness they did! I really don't feel that Dorothy clicking her boring silver heels saying, "there's no place like home" would have had quite the same effect.

 

Aren't they pretty!

It is well known that during the Hollywood Golden Age, Film studios were really careless with their props and costumes. Staff often took advantage of this and took many souveniers home to build up their own collections. In 1970 a costumer called Kent Warner was rummaging around in the MGM basement finding bits of costume to auction off. He came across the stash of Ruby Slippers, which had just been forgotten about. He auctioned them off, keeping the best pair for himself. Lady Gaga even owns a pair now...

...And Debbie Reynolds owns the pointy toed witch version.

It is now believed that Judy Garland only actually wore one of the pairs and they can be found on display at the National Museum of American History. One of the copies is currently on display at the Hollywood Costume Exhibition at the V&A in London and I can't wait to get to see them! Out of all the fabulous costumes that have ever been designed, they were chosen to go on the official book cover! (My boyfriend just gaeme this book as an early Christmas present and I definitely recommend it)

I for one absolutely love this style of shoe. They are so elegant and ladylike, without having a crippling 4 inch heel. This is why we were so inspired to add our own pair to the Vintage Elle upcycled shoe collection. If you take a visit to our Etsy store you could own your very own pair of Ruby Slippers for a lot less than the originals which last sold for $666,000. How exciting! https://www.etsy.com/listing/118121324/ruby-slippers-size-5-handmade

WInter Trend Fur Muff

When I put together an outfit I always like to draw inspiration from the past. It's something I have always done ever since I was a wee child. Every winter I used to imagine that I was a Victorian Christmas Caroller wearing a cloak, a bonnet and a muff. Basically, I imagined that I looked a little bit like this-

Now it may be 20 years later but it's safe to say that my fashion inspiration hasn't really changed. Here's the outfit I picked today to do some Christmas shopping in Greenwich. I bought this muff (faux fur of course!) in Heal's last Christmas for £15 and it really has been the best purchase ever. I am pretty much wearing it every day at the moment as it keeps my hands so warm and toasty. There's a little ribbon inside so if you need to use your hands for anything you can just put the ribbon round your wrist and your hands are completely free. Very handy. Trust me that if you try one you will NEVER go back to using boring old gloves again. Here's to hoping that muffs start trending again in 2013!

I finished my outfit off with a pair of my Glitter Shoes. I make these shoes myself. They are so sparkly and perfect for the party season. If your interested in them, I will be selling on Etsy soon. Follow this blog and I will post details as soon as I can.

And what outfit would be complete without a gorgeous handbag. Here I am wearing my Mulberry Lily in Oak.

Photography © Tristan Trend (aka my lovely boyfriend)

My First T-Shirt Design

This was my first ever T-Shirt design.

I designed it and entered it into my first ever competition.

And it was a runner up!

The competition was to design a T-Shirt for the company Artecollage in association with Talenthouse. Here is a link to the competition. Although I am disappointed not to win 1st prize and the money, I am thrilled to be one of the 5 runner ups. As an artist I have always been a bit nervous about what others may think about my work. It is such a huge confidence booster to have my design picked out of 80 entrants, especially when most of them were incredible. This will give me a fantastic start to 2013, when I plan to focus on my art a lot more than I have in recent years. I feel so inspired now and can't wait to design some more graphics!

Here are all the winning designs from Artecollge's blog post on the competition-

...And here is my original drawing for the design. I first drew this picture of Mary Pickford, the iconic silent movie star, by hand with pencil on white paper. I then scanned it in and coloured it using photoshop. I then played around with the contrast and brightness until I was happy. 

I first became interested in her because of Katie Melua's song 'Mary Pickford'. It's such a simple, pretty song which quickly established itself as one of my favourites. I definitely recommend listening to it.

"Mary Pickford used to eat roses

Thought that they’d make her

Beautiful and they did

One supposes"

I hope you like my design and well done to everyone else that entered!

MASSIVE Style Crush on Debbie Harry!

Debbie Harry is quite possibly the coolest woman to have ever graced this planet. She has the ultimate rock chick style down, better than anyone has ever managed to pull it off before. She always looks like she has just rocked out of bed, yet somehow manages to look incredibly glamorous and sexy. For years I used to rock my way round Camden Town hoping that I was showing off my Debbie Harry Chic look. Of course i never managed to pull it off. When I tried to give myself bed hair, I just looked like I'd been dragged through a bush (and not in a good way!)

Her style mainly consisted of big t shirts, little t shirts, leggings, vibrant bodycon dresses, funky eye makeup and of course her trademark platinum blonde hair.

Check out these photos and swoon!

 

 

Blake Lively - Style Crush

If i had the opportunity to change my life and become anyone else in the world, I would choose to be Blake Lively. She really does seem to have it all. A pretty face, amazing blonde hair, very long legs and been romantically involved with Leonardo DiCaprio, Penn Badgley and Ryan Reynolds. Not only that but she seems like a genuinely nice and smiley person and landed a dream role as Serena Van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl. As lives go hers is pretty awesome.

If that wasn't enough it seems that when she was born she was definitley blessed by the style fairy's wand. She always looks classic and sophisticated yet somehow always managing to maintain a cheerful edginess with everything she wears. She is not afraid of bright colours; frequently glowing and standing out against the rest on the red carpet. She always looks smart but in the relaxed way that only Blake can pull off.

Here are some examples of her gorgeous style. My favourite is the yellow and black print Marchesa dress.

And if all that's not enough... here she is sitting front row next to Anna Wintour!