What a great looking show! The fabrics are gorgeous and I adore the backdrop! Not too sure about the enormous hair, but it certainly frames the clothing.
I want that sweater!
Another great reason to live in Seattle! Costume shop Vintage Costumers specialising in authentic vintage styles to hire. Here’s a sampler, I think I’ll post some more later, there’s so many great things to hire!
7011 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115
Monday to Friday 11am - 7pm
Saturdays & Sundays 11am - 6pm
She may usually be a disaster, but Paris Hilton certainly does have her moments…
A lot of SwingFashionista.com readers have written in mentioning this book, so I thought I’d post it up, just in case any of you lovely ladies hadn’t heard about it. It’s called Vintage Hairstyling: Retro Styles with Step-by-Step Techniques, and it’s by Lauren Rennells. I wish I’d had this when I first started out! Here’s the blurb:
There was something very special and beautiful about women in the early- to mid-20th century. The way they dressed was elegant and the way they wore their hair was feminine. This book shows how to create so many of those hairstyles by taking hairstyles from the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and 60s and breaking them down into simple, easy-to-follow instructions. It uses brand new photographs and detailed directions. Not only a manual, it is also fun to read. The Finished Styles chapter of the book contains coffee table book quality images of models with their finished hairstyles. Sprinkled in introductions and throughout the book are interesting facts about the history of hairstyling, origins of styles, and information about starlets and performers who made the styles popular. This 200-page full-color book has 6 main chapters. The book begins with the basics of styling and works its way back to advanced techniques. It also provides information on makeup, nails, and accessories for a finished look.
You can pick it up for $36.95 on Amazon.com:
Click here to buy ‘Vintage Hairstyling: Retro Styles with Step-by-Step Techniques’ on Amazon.com
Click here to buy ‘Vintage Hairstyling: Retro Styles with Step-by-Step Techniques’ on Amazon.com
Vintage Hairstyling: Retro Styles with Step by Step Techniques is a guide showing how to create hairstyles from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s using simple, easy-to-follow instructions. I have revised and revamped the book of worldwide popularity to be even more informative and fun. This 2nd Edition takes hairstyles and breaks them down so that the directions are clear. It uses over 750 brand new photographs and illustrations and detailed directions in a 200-page full-color book.
The book begins with the basic elements and works its way back to advanced techniques. It concludes with information on makeup, nails, and accessories to finish the look. No matter your skill level or hair type, Vintage Hairstyling has something for everyone.
A Review of the book from Debutante Clothing:
From cover to cover, the book is full of beautiful photography of vintage hair styling tools such as pink dryers and jars of Lustre-Creme. But this book is not a fluffy, pretty art book full of hair related pictures. The book is more instructional without being boring.
The beginning of the book walks you step by step through the necessary tools you will need and basic curl techniques in order to create a true vintage hairstyle. Then, Rennells leads you into the techniques for combing out the curls. Finally, you get into the actual styling.
I’m a very visual person. I have to see someone do something in order to determine if I am doing it correctly. The step by step directions with accompanying images are the next best thing to having Lauren right next to you. The steps are clear and concise.
I myself am thinking about getting the book. Perhaps it could be a Christmas or Birthday present?!!
Categories: Books, Hair, How ToHalloween Deco Flapper Bridge Tallies
I was messing around with my Google Reader the other day (if you don’t use it, you absolutely should) and I stumbled upon The Flapper Girl which is an outstanding photoblog. Click on the link or the photos and spend some time browsing her site. In the mean time, here are a few of my favorite pictures she’s posted.
I don’t watch Gossip Girls, but I keep finding reason that I should! Seriously, check out those dresses. And what where they doing dressed up? I would guess prom, but from what I’ve seen that they wear to school, they could have just gotten back from grocery shopping.
Categories: Celebrities, Clothing
This beautiful shoot entitled Paris Je T’aime from the 2007 Vogue September issue was photographed by Steven Meisel, and styled by Grace Coddington. The models are Coco Rocha, Guinevere Van Seenus, Caroline Trentini, Sasha Pivovarova, Gemma Ward and Agyness Deyn.
Grace Coddington is in fact Vogue’s Creative Director, and is in charge of most of the fashion shoots. If you’re interested in her (and the almighty Anna Wintour) and Vogue in general, then you might want to check out the new documentary, The September Issue:
I haven’t seen it yet, but reviews are good, and it sounds like Grace Coddington is as much the star as Anna Wintour herself. In the New York Times, the director R.J. Cutler said, “[Anna] is cool, [Grace] is warm and languid,” he said. “Anna is all about ‘next,’ and Grace is most interested in a historical perspective on art and fashion.” Sounds like our kind of lady!
Here’s a fun article on the subject over at Gawker: How Grace Coddington Stole The September Issue From Anna Wintour
Drop a comment if you’ve seen the documentary!
Categories: In Magazines
Joolz is an Australian handmade jewelery company, and their ‘Third Time’s The Charm’ collection has a vintage twist. I’m not in love with all the pieces, but the photo shoot is gorgeous (well done to stylist Monica Buch), and I love the idea of jewelery made from vintage playing cards and antique umbrella silk. From the website:
“An anthology of accessories for style success in bold black and white, with a dash of cream and a splash of red. Theres a Charleston good-time girls’ influence, with tomorrow’s twist. Gleaming pearls are teamed with glossy obsidian and onyx, or contrasted prettily with hand-crafted vintage playing card butterflies that appear to have fluttered down to perch perfectly on the neck & wrist in a display of delicate symmetry. Beautiful black recycled umbrella silk teamed with pearls becomes a stylish bowtie choker, and the Lady Luck necklace of vintage dice is perfect with obsidian cubes. Eye-catching elegance is the key, allowing the wearer to be effortless in making her style statement.”
Source: Fashionising.com
Categories: On Catwalks
By photographer Michael Thompson. For the book Femme Fatale: Famous Beauties Then and Now.
Categories: Books, Celebrities, In Magazines
Based on a true story, and one that isn’t largely known. Angelina Jolie stars as Christine Collins, a single mother working in 1928 Los Angeles when her son goes missing. A boy is returned to her months later by the police, but she is shocked when she realizes that the boy isn’t her son. Joined by a crusading pastor (John Malkovich), Christine battles for justice against the corrupt L.A.P.D. while she continues to search for her child. Eventually her fight against the cops lands her in a mental hospital, where she is surrounded by others with a similar plight. Directed by Clint Eastwood.
To read more about the true story: The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders.
1920s makeup consists of dark, smoky eyes; bright cheeks and luscious, bright red lips. Stars like Theda Bara and Clara Bow made paper-white skin, blood red lips and insanely made-up eyes into must-haves for every fashionable woman who ever rolled a stocking below the knee.
Day Look (no sound):
Evening look (no sound):
Brought to you by Helena Rubinstein.
A quick read on fashion and makeup during the 1920’s:
Before the ’20’s, women wore cosmetics, but nice women hid their rouge pots and powder puffs away from fathers and husbands, who heartily disapproved. Discretion was imperative. But when the ’20’s hit, young women went for makeup in a big way.
Makeup was in its rawest form, because the market was just beginning to grow. Early mascara was a cake of wax that was melted and applied in a gluey mass to the lashes with an orange stick. The trend in lipstick was the reddest red—no other color options were available—and smudgeproof lipstick was mandatory for would-be vamps who wanted to neck without leaving a trail.
Eyebrows were painfully thin; in a fad, women plucked out the entire eyebrow and penciled it back on higher than it had been in the first place. Eye makeup consisted of kohl, which might be made of ingredients as strange as soot, lead and goose grease. Kohl went all the way around the eyes, turning the whole orbital area into a deep-stained smudge reminiscent of vampires. For a dramatic touch, some ‘vamps’ drew a line of kohl from the corner of the eye outward, simulating a slightly Asiatic look that was deemed sexy and bad. (Even today, imported kohl may contain lead: substitute black eyeliner instead). Powder (usually rice powder) was vital to the Flapper look: skin looked white to the point of near-death; one author called it, “the pallor usually associated with innate vice”. Themes in makeup as in dresses were based on the Orient.
The lips were the most important part of the face for any woman who wanted to make an impression with her 1920s makeup. Bright red was the only color and smudge-proof lipstick was in. Cherry-flavored lipstick was also popular. Applied to the upper lip, lipstick rose above the actual lip line in a “cupid’s bow.” The bottom lip was slightly overstated. The width was minimized by stopping short of the natural crease in the lips.
Along with other ‘unfeminine’ behaviors, Flappers didn’t hide their makeup any more than they did their legs; lipstick was applied at the dinner table and powder compacts made public appearances at parties and speakeasies. Portable makeup containers—compacts and lipstick tubes made of precious metals and encrusted with jewels—became ideal accessories when cosmetics left the boudoir for the banquette.
Article care of Free Beauty.
Categories: How ToIf you have long hair, here’s a nice way to pin it up into a 1920’s style:
By Iris.
A few words about hair in during the 20s:
The Flapper era began with the look called “comme le garcon” (or, “like the boy”), straightening and shortening skirts and dresses, slimming figures and—most shocking of all—cutting the hair of the nation’s fashionable young women. Short hair was a big deal: nice girls kept their hair long, as a metaphor for maidenhood. For a woman to chop her hair short was to practically admit she was no longer a virgin. But women went more than a step further than a boyish haircut and tendency to party; they began smoking in public—something no “lady” did. They outfit themselves with silk robes embroidered with vintage inspired floral motifs. They discarded the restrictive girdles and corsets and bound their breasts flat to achieve an even more “masculine” appearance in their costumes. And they wore lots and lots of makeup.
The bobbed haircut made the nineteen twenties Flapper movement what it was, and sent many young women to their rooms in disgrace “until it grows back!”. The Bob hairstyle was a blunt cut worn halfway between cheekbone and chin. Bangs could be worn cut straight across or swept to one side. Like the made up face, hair didn’t look “natural”; it was slicked down, glistening with brilliantine. The Shingle, which followed the Bob, cut the hair at the nape in a V-shape, exposing the neck. Shingles were accompanied by marcelled finger waves or spit curls at the temples. The most drastic version of the Flapper hairdo was the Eton crop, cut very short and close to the head, with a curl plastered tightly above either ear.
Excerpts from Free Beauty.
Categories: How To
By one of my favourite photographers, British fashion photographer Koto Bolofo. He has actually released a book of photographs of Venus Williams, which you can buy here at Amazon.
