Dinner and a Movie

Or how to be extremely anachronistic in your retro look, and still somehow make it work.

I recently went on a crazy vintage shopping spree (more on this later), and decided to buy half the planet's worth of vintage and retro items. Last night was cinema night (Star Trek, anyone?), the perfect opportunity to show off my new finds. Problem: I wanted to showcase them all at the same time, but they're from different decades. So, I set myself 3 rules:

#1: Match the colours.

#2: Build your outfit around a theme.

#3: Just smile and nod.

I was dying to try my new kimono-print 70s does 50s dress. Luckily I also bought 50s-style flower earrings in a matching pink colour. So far so good. But then I went with a 40s-style cardigan and some 70s-style black wedges. You know, to add to the whole post-war-geisha look.

Finally, to add insult to injury, I decided to top it all off with an Edwardian updo. What could possibly go wrong?

Dress - Starlet Vintage

Cardigan - Promod

Earrings - Collectif

Please ignore the silly face~

The Belle Epoque updo was a lot of fun to style. I tried to follow this tutorial, but my hair turned out to be slightly too short, so I went proper Edwardian and padded it with hair from my hairbrush. Nobody knew!

Unaffordable Fashion Flashback

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Haute-Couture flashback of the year... Dior Spring/Summer 2007!!!

The whole collection is absolutely wonderful, it's really worth a google at least!

Recreating Roman Hairstyles

...and other Ancient hair wonders

The Wonderful World of Janet Stephens

Meet Janet Stephens. By day, she's a hairdresser. By night? She's a badass hair archaeologist. Trying to recreate Roman hairstyles from bust statues of the time, she realised that these sculptures made a conscious effort to depict hair as accurately as possible, from the direction of curls to the annoying-hair-that-won't-grow just above the ears. Being all Sherlock Holmes-y, she deducted that

a) Unlike previously believed, they weren't wigs. Scholars in stuffy offices know nothing about hair. But she does. (dun dun dunnn)

b) When trying to recreate those elaborate braided buns, she found that hairpins were completely useless and couldn't hold the style together (dun dun dunnnn)

... and then she realised that hairstyles were actually sewn together, and that we've been mistranslating instructions for the past few centuries.

Realising that this was an original idea, she wrote a paper about it. But more importantly, she has a youtube channel and makes tutorials for us to enjoy!

Roman Hairstyles

Unfortunately, my hair isn't long enough for most of these (long-haired friends beware, I will be coming at you with a bone needle soon). BUT there are a couple I would love to try:

The Cleopatra

The Sabina

Other ancient wonders

Janet Stephens also recreates historically accurate hairstyles from other periods. For example:

The wonderfully decadent Papillote Curls

^ I absolutely adore this one. In fact I might try it tonight...

Elaborate Renaissance style

So, there you have it. Awesome antique hairstyles. So excited about trying them out! In fact, I'm making a bone needle as we speak. I'm carving it with flint.