Southbank Vintage Car Boot Sale

Last weekend I was at the Classic Car Boot Sale on the South Bank. I'd gone to the very first one last year (more below!), but this time it got extended to a week-end long event, due to popular demand. Talk about popular! The queue was much longer than last year, but the weather was lovely, so we queued in the sun with a cold refreshing beer (sadly the Southbank Center bar stall wouldn't let us carry a pitcher of Pimm's away...). We were treated to entertainment (in the form of an Everly Brothers-style duo of vintage suit-clad boys playing acoustic renditions of Johnny Be Goode, and impromptu 'dance rehearsal' performances) while we planned and schemed about the most effective way to go around seeing everything.

Any attempt to be logical and responsible in our trawling of the market was promptly abandoned when stall after stall caught our eye and we zoned in on vintage pieces with wonderment. Everywhere we looked, fashion, homeware and classic cars, all at a reasonable price! Most items were mid-century, although I did get my hands on a Regency reproduction coat (which, sadly, didn't fit), and with a little rummaging it was possible to find older pieces.

Dress - 1950s vintage (Peggy Lane, thrifted in Amsterdam)

Cardigan - Vivienne Westwood

Shoes - Primark

Bag - Thrifted (Absolute Vintage)

After a few hours, my friends decided that they 'had lost their rummaging spirit' and simply couldn't take any more of it, so we made a beeline for the food shacks (Ok, so I stopped once. That 50s ball gown just HAD to be tried on. I got stuck in it.) and had the best sautéed  mushrooms on toast ever made.

Somewhere along the way I appear to have decided on a theme for the day's shopping, and ended up with a full 'explorer' outfit - think Indiana Jones, female version. I'll do another post about that vintage haul!


-----------

Last year's Classic Car Boot Sale:

Dress - 1940s vintage (Absolute Vintage)

Hat - bought on site!

So soft!

Sadly, he wouldn't buy it.

Sexy leather trousers

And a few film shots, courtesy of Elisabetta:

 Last year, I walked away with a vintage deerstalker (see pictures), a Victorian black silk apron, and the most beautiful 60s satin gown I have ever seen.

The award for Find of the Day, though, goes to my boyfriend who managed to get his hands on a perfectly tailored, hand-finished original 1930s tailcoat.

Outfits from Outer Space #3: Halloween

Better late than never, right?

Leaving you to ponder this for too long is potentially dangerous, so here's a distracting compilation of all my Halloween 2013 costumes.

1. Pop Art

This was put together very last-minute for MCM Comic Con, inspired by Roy Lichtenstein's art. Mostly it just involved orange face paint and a LOT of eyeliner. Drawing on those dots took fucking forever.

A very confused Castiel discovers pop art.

2. 50s movie character

After reading this inspiring blogpost, I decided to go greyscale for Halloween and aimed for a 50s-inspired look.

Top - Collectif

Skirt - Coast

Behind the scenes:

Originally, we were meant to go as a greyscale couple, but he flipped out when I brought out the eyeliner and wouldn't let me paint the rest of his face..

3. Last-minute Cruella De Vil

I got invited to a Disney pub crawl in Shoreditch, and was too lazy to go home and change, so I concocted this with what little clothes I had at my boyfriend's... Fun fact: I've owned this faux fur jacket since I was 6 years old and my cousin's bridesmaid. It's served me well.

People kept complimenting me on my 'white face makeup'... I wasn't wearing any. Sob.

4. Creepy nondescript Tim Burton character

Inspired by Emma Pickles' makeup tutorial, I wore this for Voodoo Rock Night. 

Corset - Primark

Skirt - Topshop

Armwarmers - Claire's

Annoyingly, it turned out to be one of those cases where everything looked better during the makeup test than on the actual night.

My eyebrows just wouldn't disappear!

5. ...And a minion

...What did YOU dress up as on Halloween?

Fifties Friday: More bumper bangs, or what really goes down at slumber parties

 

What can I say, I'm obsessed! 

Nightgown - H&M

I did my friend's hair too

 

The stuff that fuels sleepovers... for real

Bumper Bangs and Giant Crepes

I bought a hair rat! I bought a hair rat! I bought a hair rat!

Guess what? I bought a hair rat the other day. I've been meaning to get one for ages - I have a small one, made out of my own hair, but it isn't suited to crazy gravity-defying updos. Thus on to Sally's I hopped, and while I was at it I picked up a new rat-tail comb, pin curl clips and even a curling wand.

Now, as my ex-boyfriends will know, I dress up on bittersweet occasions. Defensive mechanism, or what have you. One of my closest friends is moving to the other side of the planet, I reckoned her leaving party was an occasion warranting going to town...

Cowboy swing dress - Love Life (original 50s fabric)

 Bandana - Claire's

Shoes - Nine West

Bag - Blitz vintage

 Make-up:

Gel liner - MAC

 Lipstick - Marvelips by Soap&Glory

This was my very first time doing bumper bangs and I felt like Snow White... If you need a good tutorial, Cherry Dollface's is excellent. Worked well for me, if I may say so myself~ One correction, maybe: for frizzy hair, I recommend treating your bangs with a smoothing serum rather than a texturising spray. Best of the best? John Frieda's Glossing Mist. I mean, hey, it works on me, and NOTHING works on me, for I am the FrizzMonster...

We ate giant crepes!  

Hello, blinding table in the background

The Vintage Family Album

An amazing photo album resurfaced at a family reunion last weekend...

My grandmother, age 20 (1946). This is seriously amazing, for at least 3 reasons.
1) She hasn't changed a bit.
2) I look a lot like her.
3)HAIR!

My great-aunt in the late 30s and 40s. The bathing suit shot on the right is so cool!

Fur and victory rolls...

1941

1958. Travelling in style!

Amazingly 80s... *cough*hats*cough*... The hottie on the far left is my mother.

So adorably 60s <3 I absolutely adore the short flower dress on the right.

A very 50s wedding...

This I find just incredible. It's my great uncle in his Tunisian army uniform,
presumably - judging by the photo style - in the late 30s.

Winter 1961.

Hilariously 70s... This is like a caricature of all the fashion faux-pas that characterised the era.
I promise I will never let the concerned parties live it down.

A 60s wedding...

...and more 60s partying goodness

French cafe terrace... I would love one of those bags in white. Or pale green.