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?

New Year Freebie!

So, the Vintage Elle Blog team are still having some technical difficulties with posting pictures. :-( We have lots of great posts planned and will hopefully be up and running again asap!

 

For now here is a new year present for you all. These 2 images below are my 2 favourite wallpaper tiles. They line up perfectly to create fabulous vintage backgrounds to the size you want. I use these all the time as wallpaper, for scrapbooking, scaled models, backgrounds for websites and to mount pictures on. You can even change the colours in Photoshop to give you even more versatility.

I'd love to see what fun things you use these for. Comment with a link or email to amy(at)amycartwright(dot)co(dot)uk :-)

 

Christmas Trip to Whitby, The Land of Dracula.



I'm so sorry about my lack of posting over the past few weeks. It's been a really crazy Christmas! Tristan and I just got a new car and we have ended up pretty much driving around the whole of Britain in it to visit family.

I am having some massive problems with uploading photos, so for now here are a few pics from our trip to Whitby, Yorkshire. You wouldn't actually be able to guess how long it's taken me to put this post together!

I had so much fun in Whitby. We went for dinner at the Magpie Cafe, which is meant to have the best fish and chips in the country, and went Vampire hunting in the Whitby Abbey ruins. Unfortunately, lots of the shops were closed, but I still managed to find some Christmas presents and a new 1970s teaset for myself for £4.95. It's gorgeous and a bargain!

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

Vintage Elle - Now selling on Etsy!

So I did have an amazing post lined up today on 1920s fashion, but I became a bit side tracked by setting up Vintage Elle's first Etsy store. It's early days yet and it will take me a while to photograph everything, but at least it is now up and running! At the moment I have listed some limited edition prints of some of my drawings and a couple of original canvas paintings. Exciting stuff! You can find my shop at www.etsy.com/shop/VintageElleStudio.

Here's a sneaky peak of what's on offer. Limited Edition prints of my costume designs for Cinderella. Signed, numbered and dated by myself.

The original artwork for these paintings (Although it will be very difficult for me to let them go!)

 AND I am introducing a new illustration entitled 'Vanity'

I will be uploading many more handmade, vintage inspired wares over the next month, so keep your eye on it. New products also include my new line of upcycled vintage glitter shoes! Once I've got photos. Lets just say that taking photos yourself, of shoes that are on your own feet, is proving pretty tricky. Here's a quick preview.

 

Let me know if there is anything in particular that you'd like to see in my shop.

 

...And rest assured that the really exciting post on 1920s fashion will still happen within the next week!

5 favourites - Mason Jar Crafts

Source

 If you have a Pinterest account I am sure, like me, you are currently obsessed with Mason Jars. They seem to be everywhere at the moment and some of the things people are doing with them are, quite frankly, GENIUS! There's so many brilliant ideas out there. Here are my 5 favourite uses for Mason Jars so far.

1) Cocktail cup! They make cocktails look so yummy and a candy striped straw adds so much cuteness. These would be great to use for a rustic style BBQ.

Source

2) Cookie Mix in a jar. I absolutely love this idea. This would make a fantastic gift for anyone. Everyone loves to have a recipe mix in their cupboard for a lazy, indulgent day. You could make them for anything- cookies, cup cakes, brownies and the list goes on. Just remember to write the instructions on a gift tag so they know what to do!

Source

3) Place settings. I hate it when cutlery gets wrapped up in a napkin. (I don't know why, but I just do). I love this idea. It will definitely add imagination to any dinner table. I would recommend using vintage napkins for the full effect.

Source- Pinterest (no linked website attached, but I would love to know who this photo belongs to!)

4) Flower vase. I love small flower arrangements. The only vases I own are for big flowers and I sometimes use glasses for smaller arrangements. This looks so much more impressive than a pint glass!

Source

5) Sewing kit. This is another lovely gift idea, especially for anyone that is just beginning to learn to sew. Attach a pin cushion to the lid and fill the jar with all the basic equipment they could need (needles, pins, thread, buttons, scissors etc)

 

Mason jars are a bit of a fad at the moment. It's great that they are available everywhere, but not so great is that they can be a bit over priced. If you want to find some I would recommend junk shops and antique markets. I can particularly recommend The Junk Shop in Greenwich. They have a great selection of vintage jars, bottles, boxes and tins. However, if you hunt around the highstreet and price compare you can find some reasonably priced vintage style ones.

 

So that completes my top 5 favourite uses for Mason Jars, although there are so many more. I would love to know what you use yours for.

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)

London Markets in the 60s

Now anyone that knows me will know that I am a sucker for markets and a sucker for the 1960s, so I had to share these photos with you all. :-)