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Planning The Perfect Vintage Wedding

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Vintage is always gonna be a big favorite theme for a wedding because it offers just soooo many possibilities. With plenty of decades to choose from, you can add that vintage and retro feel to every aspect of your big fancy day. With so many suppliers out there, it’s easier than ever to create the vintage wedding of your dreams. Some super good ideas to get that perfect look?….

Looking back – Deciding which decade you want to inspire your big day is an important first step. Maybe there’s a period of time that you’ve always been inspired by or forever adored. Look at movies and fashion from that time period to help get your ideas a go-go! Or, look at your grandparents wedding photographs, I adore the idea of using that as true inspiration. You may decide to recreate the look they had on their big day, which adds even more, sentiment to the occasion, gorgeous! Each decade will have a very particular look and feel so always go for the one that attracts you instantly. Popular time periods many brides choose are 1920’s or 1950’s as they are so distinctive.

How vintage do you want to go? – Consider how profoundly you want to include your vintage theme. It’s totally a personal thang, and there’s no right or wrong way of incorporating it. You may wanna have a more modern day with a few select vintage decor pieces, or maybe you want it to spread across every aspect of the event. Look at how other couples have included vintage time periods into their wedding for some ace inspiration.

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Invitations – This is the very first glimpse your guests will get as to what you have in store for the day. So, they need to look pretty special. Vintage wedding invites come in such a huge array of sizes, colours and designs to choose from. Do lots of research into old-fashioned lettering and images or, use old tickets or postcards for inspiration. Whichever design you go for, the vintage theme can continue throughout your wedding stationery. So choose something that you love and won’t get bored of. 

The Dress – Vintage wedding dresses can often be difficult to find in a spotless condition and in your size. Thankfully the internet is full of boutiques and online suppliers of both vintage and reproduction dresses. Think about the fashion of the period you have chosen as this will help you decide on an suitable length and style, the dress is totaaly A BIG DEAL for your day! For instance, 1920’s dresses were heavily beaded, shorter and loosely fitted. Whereas a beautiful 1950’s dress can be more feminine and frothy….so many contrasting options to look gorgeous in!

Decorative touches – Create a vintage mood by using appropriate decor at your venue. Old suitcases, books and chandeliers are beautiful touches, as are old lace tablecloths and  china teapots. Keep checking in on charity shops and online for unique pieces that will transport your guests back into another time, these little elements make it become perfect.

That’s just a few teeny tips to get you started on your day of magic and LOVE! Research is the start and it’s so much fun, and it makes the day feel authentic so do plenty of it! Also, get creative and don’t be afraid of mixing the old with the new to really give the day your own personality! Hurrah for love! 

 

 

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Scream Queen Dream

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So, Scream Queens on E4, isn’t really aimed at me, surely I’m out way of their target age range, but, have you SEEN it? Oooof! I watched the first episode thinking it would just be a cute bit of easy breezy telly on a winters night, and, by gosh, waaah, I was hooked, it’s a dream to watch, it’s like candy floss for the eyes; a swanky pastel fash fest! Now, I ain’t seen styling as superb as this since Sex and The city, and that’s sayin’ somethin! It totally blows me away every episode, such saccharine sweet goodness in every look. It’s kitsch, it’s tongue in cheek, it’s hilariously written and it’s so overly styled it’s like watching a preened My Little Pony winning a show jump; SUBLIME. The set too, is impeccable, I gasp when I watch it. I adore trash TV like this, great escapism from my sofa with my kitty on my lap and hearts in my eyeballs. The look of this show is utterly faultless. I have one MAJOR bone to pick with it though, it massively mocks the issues of girls and eating disorders, which is ridiculously irresponsible, seriously NOT GOOD. The characters are seen eating cotton wool balls for lunch and appear sat at a dinner table eating thin air with knives and forks, frequent references are also made to dieting and making yourself sick. It’s more than crazy that they include this in a show which has an enormous young following. I mean, I totally get that this show is satirical, it parodies the genre, the style and the intelligence of shallow college girls, but the eating disorder thing, that’s satire gone crazy. Maybe girls these days respond more to the fear of ridicule than anything else so the writers feel the inclusion of stuff like this is a good way to educate girls on eating and body issues, I can’t figure it out. But the rest of the show is just SO damn good I can only hope they have a good intention behind their reason to mock eating issues. I’m stumped. But, still, pretty show, very, very pretty.

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Cate Blanchett Is Dressed for Seduction as Carol

carolThere are some films where the fashion feels like a full-on character in it’s own right. Sex and The City, Great Gatsby, Atonement, they’re some of the biggies which all have fashion in them creating this other pull, this other thing which holds your gaze and stands up as a major part of the viewing experience. Carol, the new film directed by Todd Haynes, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara is a film set to join those ranks. A subtle but enthralling love story -based on the book ‘The Price of Salt’ by Patricia Highsmith- Carol, is set in New York city in 1952 and follows the sincere romance between two women. The costumes, designed by Sandy Powell, are EXSQUISTE! Blanchett as Carol is pretty much effervescent, with her high glamour, elegance and sophistication, compared to the more discreetly and casually dressed Therese, played by Mara. Carol is the impeccable type of woman you would see in a magazine while Therese is the working class girl on the street. This styling plays a huge part in Carol’s seduction of Therese, her look, her poise and presence are an aspiration, she is transfixing, and that, well, it’s massively down to her fashion. With her simple elongated silhouette, the smooth tones and perfectly placed accessories, the costume here screams of neatness and constraint, much like the character herself; poised and possibly a little suppressed. To get the look as perfect as it is designer Powell used a lot of era specific underwear to exaggerate Blanchett’s shape; padding on the hips and the classic 50’s pointed bras! With authentic vintage bags and shoes made by Ferragamo to be exact copies of old shoes, the clothing here is just as alluring as the women and the story. Absolutely sublime.

Carol-3carol-movie-poster-cate-blanchett-rooney-mara-5Carol is in UK theatres from 27th November 2015

 

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My Tips For Getting A Designer Look For Less

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…well, maybe not just yet. But there is one thing that’s already feeling like Christmas, and that is my bank account. As much as I love buying presents for other people, it means there’s little money left to spend on myself. And that just won’t do. I’d like to say that I’m a girl who dresses head to toe in designer labels. But I’m not quite rich enough for that. But, obviously I do like to take inspiration from the latest trends, so I’ve picked up plenty of tips on how to get the look for less. So here’s how I do it, even in times of less than plenty…

-Check Magazines and Blogs – I have been known to read a fashion magazine or two. And I’ll be the first to admit that they can be helpful when you want cheaper versions of your favourite pieces. Lots of magazines have a section where they recommend a high street brand that has an almost exact copy of a designer piece. Sometimes it’s somewhere super cheap like Primark. Or it might be a little more expensive, like Monsoon or my current FAVE; Zara. But, of course, not everyone reads print magazines anymore. Blogs and other sites are just as useful when you’re trying to follow a trend for less.

-Look for Discounts – Up to 70% off, on sale, cheapest item free: these words are all like music to my ears. Who doesn’t love a bargain, especially when you manage to snag a designer piece? And there’s never any shortage of discounts for me to get my teeth into, from January sales to stores closing down. They’re all good – except maybe the mess that is the newly introduced Black Friday. I’ll stay away from that one. There are other ways you can save money with a discount too, you just gotta spend some time looking online for vouchers, but it can be totally worth it if you know you’re gonna buy something. Lots of shops offer one-off rewards for signing up for their newsletter, buying a store card or making a purchase. There’s loads of way to get discounts, you just have to work a little to find them!

-Use the Right Search Terms – If there’s one thing this generation knows how to do better than any other, it’s use Google. I’ve found that searching for the right thing when I want a designer look is essential. Usually, that means finding out if what you want has a name. And it very often does. Of course it does, because everyone’s wearing it. Those winter boots with the rubber bottom and leather top? Duck boots. Heels with an elasticated top? Glove shoes. You’ll find it easier to find cheaper versions of what you’re looking for if you know what terms to use.

-Buy Vintage – You know that vintage is my thing. One of the reasons it’s so great is because trends tend to come back around. Half of the things that are in fashion now were in twenty, thirty or, fifty, sixty years ago. Go rooting around your nearest vintage shop and you’ll find lots of items that look like they could have been made today.

You don’t have to break the bank to get a designer look. It’s really is easy to get it for less when you’re running low on fashion funds. Hurrah!

 

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Meeting Manolo Blahnik; My High Heel Hero

 

blondieanchors_manoloblahnik-copyIt’s true. Some girls don’t wear high heels very often. Some girls prefer to have flat and comfortable feet. Can you believe it? I am not that girl, I mean, heck yeah I run around in my tatty Converse on an average day but, I’m a girl who likes her heels, and walking around a city all day with height is something I am known to do. Call me cray-cray, but I’ll suffer a little if it means I can get my sass on and feel like I’m strutting. I like that feeling. The strut. Not the ache and rub. But I’ll endure. I enjoy wearing heels, I genuinely do.

So when the V&A announced ‘An Evening with Manolo Blahnik’ I hot-footed it down to that place pronto, to meet in person, the ‘Holy Man of Heels’! After my gorgeous evening here with Cindy Crawford, I know these V&A events are ace; relaxed and informal and a great insight into iconic people. Packed in the small lecture theatre on a Friday night, the audience was, again, mostly women but we were all united, all adorers of this man’s magical SHOES! Swoooon.

Blahnik is a cute guy, a 72 year old Spanish man who gestures so much with his hands that the microphone he was holding was only intermittently near his mouth, so there was a genuine humour to the chat. He was talking with Italian Editor of W Magazine, Gianluca Longo. Watching the two men speak together with moving microphones, neither in their mother tongue was unintentionally and endearingly comical. Blahnik is a funny guy, he reminded me of my German Grandmother with his sweet humour; ‘After the war it was hard, we couldn’t get copies of Vogue’ he said as the room giggled, he too found the funny in his comment.

Blahnik chatted about his inspirations – many from historical references – Italian classicism, museums, ‘I love what the beauty in them tells me’, and old silent movies. His work is exceptionally well-known because of movies and TV. Sex and The city is the biggie which made us all fall even harder in love with his work. His shoes are iconic in status and I adore them. I love them differently to how I love my other favorites; Louboutin’s. Blahnik’s shoes feel more feminine,more theatrical, more enchanting and magical. But I love Louboutin’s equally for their unashamed sexuality and sharpness. I want to own shoes from both designers. OBVS.

Asked why he became a Shoe Designer, he seemed to feel he always had a natural obsession with shoes. He remembers his Mother going out in heels. I guess we all see our Mother’s shoes from close-up when we are young and it triggers a fascination. I personally remember drawing a smiley face into a hole in my Mum’s tights when she was standing doing the washing up. What we look at when we are young goes towards defining what appeals throughout our lives, I guess. Seeing women wear high heels from a youngsters viewpoint, from a low down angle, it would make sense to grow up loving women’s shoes.

‘My idea of fun was watching women in heels, they become something else in them’ Yes. Yes we do. And in yours Manolo, it’s even more wonderful.

 

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