The Chap Shop & Manifesto

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The Chap is a retro gentlemen’s magazine, and if the name doesn’t given you an idea of their style, then their manifesto will:

1. THOU SHALT ALWAYS WEAR TWEED. No other fabric says so defiantly: I am a man of panache, savoir-faire and devil-may-care, and I will not be served Continental lager beer under any circumstances.

2 THOU SHALT NEVER NOT SMOKE. Health and Safety “executives” and jobsworth medical practitioners keep trying to convince us that smoking is bad for the lungs/heart/skin/eyebrows, but we all know that smoking a bent apple billiard full of rich Cavendish tobacco raises one’s general sense of well-being to levels unimaginable by the aforementioned spoilsports.

3 THOU SHALT ALWAYS BE COURTEOUS TO THE LADIES. A gentleman is never truly seated on an omnibus or railway carriage: he is merely keeping the seat warm for when a lady might need it. Those who take offence at being offered a seat are not really Ladies.

4 THOU SHALT NEVER, EVER, WEAR PANTALOONS DE NIMES. When you have progressed beyond fondling girls in the back seats of cinemas, you can stop wearing jeans. Wear fabrics appropriate to your age, and, who knows, you might even get a quick fumble in your box at the opera.

5 THOU SHALT ALWAYS DOFF ONE’S HAT. Alright, so you own a couple of trilbies. Good for you – but it’s hardly going to change the world. Once you start actually lifting them off your head when greeting, departing or simply saluting passers-by, then the revolution will really begin.

6 THOU SHALT NEVER FASTEN THE LOWEST BUTTON ON THY WESKIT. Look, we don’t make the rules, we simply try to keep them going. This one dates back to Edward VII, sufficient reason in itself to observe it.

7 THOU SHALT ALWAYS SPEAK PROPERLY. It’s quite simple really. Instead of saying “Yo, wassup?”, say “How do you do?”

8 THOU SHALT NEVER WEAR PLIMSOLLS WHEN NOT DOING SPORT. Nor even when doing sport. Which you shouldn’t be doing anyway. Except cricket.

9 THOU SHALT ALWAYS WORSHIP AT THE TROUSER PRESS. At the end of each day, your trousers should be placed in one of Mr. Corby’s magical contraptions, and by the next morning your creases will be so sharp that they will start a riot on the high street.

10 THOU SHALT ALWAYS CULTIVATE INTERESTING FACIAL HAIR. By interesting we mean moustaches, not beards.

Hahaha, wonderful! The shop on the website is also full of wonderful ‘old boys’ things:

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L’Wren Scott Retrospective

L’Wren Scott is one of my favorite labels. Lots of figure-hugging pencil skirts, autumn color palettes and vintage details. I also feel like this label is a little more down-to-earth. I don’t just lust after all these dresses, I really would wear them, and these are looks I could realistically create, unlike the looks that some fashion houses put on the catwalk. Here’s my top picks of the last three years, in my opinion getting better and better with each season…

Fall 2008:

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Spring 2008:

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Fall 2009:

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Spring 2009:

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Spring 2010:

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The book every swing girl should own

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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

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Vintage Hair Styling

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?!!

Makeup for Lindy Hopping

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Being a vintage gal is a pretty demanding kind of thing. Curling and styling your hair, the anything-but-natural makeup, hunting out rare vintage styles and sometimes wearing clothes that are 80 years old, not to mention the ordeals of garters, stockings, high heels, corsets, jewelery, hats – there’s a lot involved!

Now imagine, that on top of all that, you weren’t only going to style your hair, do your makeup, and wear uber-feminine vintage style clothing, but you were going to do all that whilst swing dancing… for four hours straight… sweating and spinning and twisting and getting tossed around, sometimes upside down, by your partners – it’s a whole different affair!

When it comes to makeup, it can be really hard to find anything that stays, but here are two products I use. I guess, even if you’re not a Lindy Hopper, then at least you know these products have passed the ultimate durability test!

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Firstly, my dance partner Juan would kill me if I got lipstick on his shirt, and I’m not a fan of re-applying lipstick every ten minutes (or lipstick on my teeth, for that matter), so I use Cover Girl Outlast All Day Lipcolor, in “Ever Red-dy” (#507). It seriously doesn’t come off – you need a special remover to get it off at the end of the night. I like this one because the color is a real fire-engine red, and it doesn’t flake off like some other so-called “everlast” brands. I’ve stopped trying to find it in stores (it’s usually the first color to go), so now I just buy it online on Amazon:

Cover Girl Outlast All Day Lipcolor on Amazon.com

I kiss my boyfriend, eat a meal, drink and dance all night long, and it stays on. I just pray they don’t discontinue it!!

Secondly, we have MAC Liquidlast Liner – yep, waterproof black liquid liner. Again, this stuff SERIOUSLY stays, you’ll need a special remover to get it off, although I find my moisturizer on a cottonbud works too. I think anything oil-based would get it off. But sweat doesn’t budge it, and you don’t have to worry about rubbing your eyes either. You can get it anywhere they sell MAC, I got mine at Sephora.