Ebay pick of the week

Vintage Chanel Runway bag (available at ebay store Vintage Le Monde).

Fashion finds of the week

So, as you can probably tell, I'm back at work and haven't had a lot of time to devote to my blog, it's been hard, frustrating and heartbreaking being back at work, but it's also made me realise that I am really not suited to such a sterile, monotonous beurocratic working environment and, made me all the more determined to focus on my business aspirations and future plans. Anyway, I DID of course find and make time to find a few little gems in the shops (both on line and in the high street).

So, here they are:

Vintage 50s dress (available from Ebay Store 'Dane Vintage').

Vintage beaded flapper dress (available from Ebay Store 'Omdiddyom').

Vintage 40s 'Pink Poodle' dress (available from Ebay store 'Mill Street Vintage').

Forever New Couture dress (available at 'Forever New' boutiques)

Mooloola maxi dress (available at City Beach Surf)

1950s Style Tips That Can Still be Used Today

Move over Gok Wan, one 1950s housewife has all the style advice you need

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:47 AM on 3rd February 2011

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Surely a book entitled How To Be A Well Dressed Wife has no place in the lives of modern women?
Written in 1959 and reprinted this year by celebrated U.S. fashion designer Anne Fogarty — who died in 1980, aged 61 — the iconic book, harks back to an era of hats, gloves and girdles.
But the book, which has just been reprinted by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, is, surprisingly, a real gem. Much of Fogarty’s warm and witty advice for looking effortlessly chic is as ­appropriate now as it was then — whether you’re married or not.

Effortlessly chic: Channel Fifties glamour like the women in Mad Men

DISCIPLINE

If I had to boil down my thinking about wife-dressing into one word, that word would be discipline — of the mind, the body, and the emotions.
A bachelor girl can be a ­chameleon, changing her look to suit a new whim, a new job or a new beau. But settling down means it’s time to ­crystallise your ­position, your taste and your style.
Discipline is the secret of good grooming, well-cared for clothes, and an organised household. It helps you decide which style is right for you — and what does not suit.

 

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Discipline stops you from buying an unbecoming coat because it’s a bargain. And it prevents you from deluding ­yourself that your shoes are fine when you’re too lazy to get them re-heeled.

NEVER BE WITHOUT SELLOTAPE - AND OTHER TIPS

• If an over-friendly sheep-dog has cuddled you and left a trail of hair on your black dress — or a small child has crushed biscuits on your shoulder, take a deep breath and reach for the nearest roll of sticky tape (it’s well worth keeping a roll in your car and tote bag for the following purpose).
• Wrap some tape, sticky side out, several times around your knuckles until you have a tape knuckle-duster that you can run over your clothes to pick up any loose detritis. This also works well on suede shoes, belts and handbags.
• If a shirt button keeps popping open, twist a small rubber band around under the button. The band will be unnoticeable to others, but the rubber will adhere to the shirt fabric — stopping ­embarrassing gapes.
• To give your leather shoes an emergency shine, find a secluded corner, slip off one shoe and briskly buff the other with the sole of your ­stockinged foot. It brings up a ­wonderful gloss and it works well on husband’s shoes, too!

But please don’t confuse discipline with hardness or calculation. Look around you and you’ll see the most delightfully casual women are those who know exactly what they’re doing and why. It can take more time and care to be the windblown child of nature than a picture of neat perfection.
Whatever image you wish to convey, self-discipline will help you devote the time and trouble to it. Here are some of my pet ­theories — as wife and mother — on the subject or dressing well and good grooming:

COMPRESS YOUR WARDROBE

Be relentless. If it’s out of style, makes you itch or squirm with ­discomfort, or doesn’t suit your colouring — get rid of it, fast!
Unless you have a cedar-lined attic or more cupboard space than I’ve ever seen in the biggest household, be ruthless. Don’t hang on to things that may some day come back into style, have sentimental value, or that ‘will do’ for rainy days or household chores.
Collect your discards and give them to friends, family or charity. Quality items can be sold to a ­second-hand designer shop.
Fashion is for today. Don’t look back — and don’t look further ahead than the current season. Don’t buy end-of-season bargains to wear the ­following year — they’ll look out of step 12 months on.
Only once you’ve cleared the dross and fool’s gold away, can the real nuggets in your wardrobe shine.
An uncluttered wardrobe gives you a working knowledge of what you have, and makes selection easy. It’s better to have fewer clothes, all wearable and each accessorised in your mind so that when you put something on you know at once which shoes you’re going to wear.
Complete costume-planning is possible only with an intimate awareness of all your clothes.

Less is more: Don't over do the perfume

PERFUME

Scent is subtlety, not a sledge-hammer. Women who say their perfume leaves a man panting are quite right: they’re choking him to death. The minute he can find some fresh air he’ll escape.
A delicate manner of using ­perfume is to put some on a dab of cotton inside your brassiere, a small amount sprayed along your ­shoulder and up each side of your neck, and a quick squeeze for your hair.

OLD SHOES MUST GO

Old shoes are good only for ­hanging on the back of a bridal car or giving to the children for dress-up play.
Nothing spoils an outfit more than time-worn shoes or those obviously out of style.
I always have more shoes than dresses, with different colour pairs giving new life to various ensembles. I am hard on my shoes and by the end of their fashion usefulness they’re about ready for the ­dustbin. Those that are ­wearable but no longer suitable are sent off with discarded clothes.
As for expense, my feeling about shoes is the same I have about other clothes. If you feel guilty about spending lots on shoes, spend less on each pair but ­replenish more frequently.
Fashion is a living, ­changing part of life.

EXCESS ACCESSORIES

Another case of the Confusion of Profusion is too many scarves, belts, gloves and handbags, and by ‘too many’ I mean relics of former years that keep getting in the way of the accessories currently in use.
Admittedly, most accessories can be worn indefinitely because classic styles change very little.
If an accessory hasn’t been worn for a year, if it’s shabby, if the colour is faded or doesn’t go with anything you have or if you simply can’t stand to wear it — that’s right, out it goes.

Keep clutter-free: Over filling your jewellery box could lead to breakages

THE SKELETAL JEWEL BOX

Real or fake — the best jewel box is the one that is sparsely filled.
Not being able to see the wood for the trees is the chief woe of the overstuffed jewel cask. You’ll never be able to find what you want. The chain of a bracelet will be snarled in some earrings. In your haste, you may break something valuable.

BOUDOIR WEAR

Whether you prefer pyjamas or a nightie, a well-dressed wife should pay as much attention to the style and fit of her nightwear as she does to her other clothes.
The master bedroom is not a ­college dormitory — it’s a private retreat set apart from the outside world and you should dress accordingly.
Think pretty when making your nightwear selections, and please, no safety pins or missing buttons. Fastidiousness is essential when it comes to sleepwear.
For morning you need a warm, ­tailored dressing gown, slim in cut and ankle-length. This length is best because short dressing gowns can expose the unattractive sight of a rumpled nightie or pyjama ­bottoms — or bare white legs — ­protruding underneath.
Perhaps I’m a little oversensitive to the need for glamour in every phase of a wardrobe, but at the speed with which we all live, it’s nice sometimes to drag your foot in a furry mule and slow things down a bit.

A SCARF IS A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND

Scarves are my pet accessory, because they can be worn with such singularity — and don’t have to be expensive to look bewitching.
I rarely go out — or stay home for that matter — without one of some size, shape, or fabric around my neck or tucked in my jacket.
Your scarf wardrobe can be built steadily because scarves are ­timeless. Chiffons, satin, stripes, checks, prints, long, short, or enormous swathes for evening — wonderful effects can be had for next to nothing.

GIRLS THAT WEAR GLASSES

I wear glasses for reading, and I think of them as being part of my personality rather than my ­fashion wardrobe.
I do not believe glasses should match what you’re wearing, as it only draws attention to them. The shape and colour should blend with your facial tones and hair ­colouring. Warm tortoiseshell and gold are flattering to most people.
Normally I wear simple black frames which work well with my brown eyes and dark brows. Flashy, jewel-bedecked frames are a fashion evil.
Take care with sunglasses, too. Unless under doctor’s orders, a woman wearing sunglasses indoors or at night looks like ­nothing more than a satire of a Hollywood ­glamour queen — grade B.
WHEN YOU CAN'T FIND A THING TO WEAR
If your clothes and accessories are pared down and organised, finding something suitable to wear for any occasion should be less of a problem.
From my own experience, a low ebb of energy can also lead to a sudden feeling of despair when I open the wardrobe door. When this happens, I try to forget about what
I’m going to wear for a few minutes and lie down with my feet elevated.
Five minutes ‘on the flat’ is the best restorative I know of, along with a square of chocolate or a sweet drink for a quick pick-me-up to start the vital juices flowing and make decisions that much easier.

(Article and images courtesy of dailymail.co.uk)

Top 10 Fashion Industry Scandals

Forget sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll, anyone who has ever read The House of Gucci knows that when it comes to scandalous behavior, it’s the fashion world that can often be the most shocking. Here are 10 of the industry’s most salacious scandals.

Gucci: In the early 1980s, one of Aldo Gucci's sons made financial documents public, ones that nearly sent his father to jail for tax fraud. In 1995, Maurizio Gucci was murdered, and in 1998, his ex-wife Patrizia was arrested for ordering the hit. There is so much scandal that surrounds the house of Gucci – not mentioning the tension between The Gucci Group and Tom Ford! – that buzz about a movie surfaced a few years ago, much to the dismay of Gucci, of course.
Naomi Campbell: The ultimate diva with the shortest fuse, Campbell was sued back in 2000 for allegedly beating an assistant. In 2003, she was sued for throwing a phone at another assistant. In 2006 – will she ever learn? – she was hit with a felony charge for throwing a phone at her housekeeper’s head. Most recently, in 2008, the supermodel was arrested inside Heathrow Airport on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, after one of her bags had been lost.

Versace: Plagued not only by the tragic death of Gianni Versace, the Versace family has dealt with countless personal battles, including Donatella Versace’s well-known, long battle with cocaine addiction.
Dolce and Gabbana: The designers were charged with tax evasion in 2009. The case is still ongoing, after they received an  indictment at the end of 2010.

Miley Cyrus: Prior to uproar about her dancing on a stripper pole, and before photographs were leaked of her doing illegal drugs, we got wind that Cyrus might be heading in the Britney Spears direction when she appeared half-naked in images shot by Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair in 2008.

Terry Richardson: Famed for his envelope-pushing photographs, allegations of his sexual misconduct have raised more than a few eyebrows – especially when it was revealed that many fashion influencers were aware of his inappropriate behavior with some of his models, and still turned a blind eye.
American Apparel: Whether it’s lawsuits against founder Dov Charney, bankruptcy woes, or outrage over controversial advertising campaigns and unspoken hiring policies, American Apparel has been a non-stop scandal machine, and shows no sign of stopping – unless they really do go bankrupt and close shop!

Kate Moss: After the Daily Mirror ran a front-page image of the supermodel snorting several lines of a white powder (presumably cocaine), the model’s career was believed to be over. She was dropped by H&M, Chanel, and Burberry. However, she held onto Dior, and soon landed a number of major glossy covers. She also found a slew of supporters in the industry, including Alexander McQueen, who wore a “We love you Kate” shirt when taking his final runway walk. Now, six years later and with several successful Topshop collections under her belt, Moss is bigger than ever.

Winona Ryder: Talk about a love for fashion. It's been a decade, and it’s still hard to forget Ryder was arrested for shoplifting over $5,000 worth of merchandise from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills back in 2001.
Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake: Who can forget the malfunction seen around the world during the 2004 Superbowl half-time show when Timberlake "accidentally" exposed Jackson's breast while performing?

(images and article courtesy of thefashionspot.com)

Shoes fit for an art collection

Apart from the late Lee Alexander McQueen's 'Armadillo' shoes, it's really quite rare that you find a pair of shoes that you would prefer to look at and admire, and would feel too guilty to wear, available in various colourways, these Gianmarco Lorenzi shoes fit right into that category, take a look: