Sunday, 15 April 2012

Diggin' the desert queen

Holiday frock number nine looks mighty fine teamed with an Indian silk choli top underneath...
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The Frock:
This spectacular vintage 70s maxi frock was another score from my vintage dealer friend a few years ago.
It's labelled 'Penelope Peep' & it's made in England but further research into the maker has proven rather fruitless. 
Every now and again I'll come across a 'Penelope Peep' frock on eBay but usually the seller knows as much as I do about the label, in other words sweet nothing.
 The frock features a sweeping long skirt and an alluring peep-hole detail to the front, YOWZA!
It's tremendously sassy when worn on its own but I prefer to team it with one of my many Indian choli tops for a more relaxed and not quite so minxy style.
The Choli Tops:
I won a whole heap of these on eBay last year in a rainbow array of delicious colours.
Before we went to Egypt I was deciding which ones to take and I even picked out accessories that would match the colours of the ones that I brought, none of this is evident in these pics however because I forgot to do an idiot check before we left for our desert photo sessions and left several things behind.
 I even forgot to don my armful of jingly-jangly bangles on one of the mornings, so all you can see is my Tibetan prayer bangle that rarely leaves my wrist and the blue all-inclusive resort armband...classy!
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Up next my Isis frock ;)
Hope you've all had a fabulous weekend, I can't believe it's over already!
Lot's of love,
Jennie


Saturday, 14 April 2012

Bedouin Dreams

Frock number eight stayed up late to admire the moon & the stars from the rag rug clad floor of the Badawia bar...
The Frock:
This fabulous vintage 70s maxi frock only got shot on the first day cause I forgot to pack it when we went out for our last session.
The first session was on the day when the wind wreaked havoc with ruffles and blew my hat off on several occasions, so we didn't manage to get many nice shots of this particular frock, my hair was all over the place and the wind blew up the skirt giving it an inflated appearance. 
I did wear it a few times during the holiday so other pics were taken of it.
I bought this off eBay late last year and I have worn it loads,
it's one of my favourite frocks at the moment.
It's labelled 'Canda International' & if I'm not entirely mistaken 'Canda' was/is a range sold by the cheap & cheerful high street fashion retailer C&A.
It's made from super comfy brushed polyester which features a stunning floral print.
I really love this dress and I will be wearing it for years to come I'm sure.
The Double Vision:
I apologize for the shameless over usage of mirror image pics in these holiday wardrobe posts but what can I say, I'm really into them at the moment, I'm sure it's just a phase, I'll get over it ;)
The Bedouin Tent Bar:
The last picture was taken at our favourite resort bar which was a partially open top bedouin style tent with colourful rag rugs covering the ground, ornately carved wooden tables, super comfy pouffes & camel stools (the ones you can sit on) scattered around and pretty arabic lanterns hanging from the ceiling. 
In other words my favourite kind of place!
It was rarely busy so you could plonk yourself on the floor in the middle of the bar, lie down on the rugs and stargaze.
They played Egyptian pop, served up a mean cup of refreshing karkadé (hibiscus tea) & the sweet smell of shisha was forever lingering in the evening air...HEAVEN!
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Next up a choli top & vintage maxi frock mashup ;)
Hope you lovely peeps are enjoying the weekend!
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx



¡ Ay Caramba !

Frock number seven puts the rackage on display...
The Frock:
I scored this fabulous 70s frock from my vintage dealer friend a few years ago.
This alluring number is best teamed with a pert pair of ample dumplings but as mine are neither pert nor ample I had to resort to the usage of some serious scaffolding for this one.
The frock features ruffle trimmed wide sleeves & a row of fabric covered buttons underneath the bustline.
There is no label present indicating the maker or brand but there is a label stating that it was made in England.
The Shoes:
If I was going to wear this frock for a night out here in London, I'd probably opt for an elegantly towering heel but I didn't bring any of those to Egypt, not very practical footwear for traipsing around the great outdoors it has to be said. 
I usually pack three or four pairs of shoes when I go away on holiday and this time was no exception.
I brought my glitzy jazz dancing shoes that double up as trainers, great for travelling in, a pair of embroidered flats, my vintage St Michael raffia wedge sandals and the vintage Pierre Cardin metallic sandals featured in the above pics. 
I bought these from a local charity shop some years ago and they look great incorporated in most outfits. 
They are both versatile & supremely comfy, just what you need in a holiday wardrobe.
The Throwing of Shapes:
I like to inject a little bit of theatre and movement into my pictures and that is why I'm often snapped with an arm flung up in the air or a leg aloft.
Truth is I'm just a big sausage of silliness that likes to have fun & play dress-up and I don't think I'll ever tire of it.
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I'm so happy it's the weekend, for a four day week this one certainly dragged its sorry arse...good riddance!
I'm starting to get the "back in Blighty blues" and a sore throat to top things off, och bugger!
Have a nice relaxing weekend peeps, enjoy ;)
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx


Thursday, 12 April 2012

In seach of the Kingdom of Kush

Holiday frocks number five & six make a delightful duo...
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The Frocks:
This pair of vintage frock beauties were both eBay buys. 
The green one I bagged last year and the fuchsia one I bid home in back January.
I was beside myself with glee to find one in a different colourway.
The dresses are labelled 'Richard Shops' which was a British high street staple brand back in the 60s & through to the 90s.
I reckon this pair are from the 70s just like me, who knows maybe they were the "must have" frock of the year I was born?!
Although the print is sublime and the colours have more zest than a barrow load of Jamaican limes, the thing that really makes the dress is the fabulous three tier skirt, I blooming well love it!
The First Session:
We were finding it quite hard to shot these two frocks on the first day cause the wind was playing silly buggers with the tiers of the skirt and exposing the plain white lining underneath.
The Second Session:
On the second morning we went to a different spot that was a bit more shielded from the wind.
I waxed lyrical about how I thought it looked like the surface of another planet but hubby soon brought me back down to earth by proclaiming that it reminded him of a quarry.
The sand was still a bit damp from the slightly nippy desert night and the sun was yet to rise properly so the pics didn't come out as "warm" as the ones from the first shoot did but I still like them...
poetic planet or sorry quarry, no matter ;)
The Truth Will Out:
I brought a lot of clobber with me this time cause I knew that we weren't moving halfway through the holiday as we have done on previous magical mystery tours.
 What can I say, I love having a plethora of frock options at my disposal. 
Although I did spent most of the day either in a bikini or my 3mm Mares wetsuit I did push the boat out at night when we went for dinner and drinks.
The only frock that didn't get an evening outing was the fuchsia pink one of these two.
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Frock seven fell from maxi dress heaven...up next!
Hope you are enjoying my little holiday wardrobe bloggy show and tell ;)
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx


Wednesday, 11 April 2012

All that rain dancing to no avail

Frock four is steeped in somebody elses nostagia but I'm slowly bestowing my own...
The Frock:
This fabulous frock was part of a vintage 60s/70s clothing bundle that I bagged on eBay last year. 
A really nice lady here in London had decided to let the go of the clobber that she'd been stashing away in her loft for decades.
She made me promise that I'd take good care of her old threads and I reassured her that they simply couldn't go to a more vintage loving home. 
The frock is labelled 'INTERLINKS - LONDON'.
It's made from a super comfy cotton which features two contrasting Indian block prints.
The Belts:
Although the dress is labelled 'small', the cut of it is very roomy.
As you can see from the pics I prefer to cinch it in with a belt.
The three belts featured here were all picked up from car boot sales.
-Kenyan leather belt with brass seahorse detail
-Shell & turqouise bead detail tie belt
-Rajasthani tribal mirror & coin detail belt
The Audience:
Besides a cheeky sand fox and a scattering of  birds, the only real "audience" we had was Abdul the local Wadi el Gemal park guard and his trusty dog.
Abdul was really nice and even invited us to come over to his shack for hibiscus tea & shisha but it was seven in the morning so we declined his very kind offer.
He said that he was very pleased to meet a Scottish person in real life and he told us that his favourite movie was 'Braveheart'.
We dropped by his shack a few days later but he wasn't in so we left a note & little bag of sweets.
I think it must get quite lonely for him out there in the desert.
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I will leave you with a little teaser...
Frock number five & six are twins ;)
I wonder if you can guess which ones I'm talking about?!
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx


Tuesday, 10 April 2012

She was the Egyptian camel traders favourite wife

Holiday frock number three is pure vintage gold...
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The Frock:
I came across this frock about a month ago at my usual Sunday morning stomping ground. 
The lush print immediately drew me in and I was thrilled to bits when I clocked that it was by 'Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin'.
If I was thumbing it from Istanbul to India then I'd want to be wearing this frock cause it is amazinly comfy to wear, not to mention tremendously Hippie chic but perhaps most importantly for a shoestring traveller the magnificent print would obscure any minor stainage picked up along the way.
The Shoot(s):
We shot this dress twice cause on the first attempt the wind began to howl (as you can probably make out from my messed up hair) and the spot that we'd picked was pretty exposed. I plonked a hat on but to no avail, a playful gust of wind blew it off my head within minutes.
The second shoot was more successful cause we made sure we were on site and ready to go as soon as the sun peeped over the horizon.
The Trimmings:
Also featured in these pics is my favourite suede waistcoat that I bought from my vintage dealer friend some years ago. The leather belt with a little brass seahorse on it is a handcrafted one from Kenya that I picked up from a local car boot sale. The hat was another car boot sale buy, it's made from paper.
The Camels:
There were wild camels out in the desert, we didn't see any during our photo sessions but we did see quite a few on our way to Luxor. There were also three camels belonging to the resort being traipsed up and down the beach several times a day poor things. 
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Frock four is yet another hippie chic number...hopefully I'll find the time to post again tomorrow :)
Lot's of love,
Jennie