Come Together at The Dandy

Last Saturday saw another fabulous day at The Dandy Lion market.

Thankfully Mark wasn't working so he could come with me this time.

I was faffing so much in the morning trying to decide what shoes to wear that I forgot to bring my "bag of bargains" and a cracking bag it was too. I'll bring it to the next Can't Buy Me Love outing :)

Anyway it wasn't as if we were short of stock...

I was absolutely thrilled to find that my stall neighbour was Tangled Wigs...

It is a well known fact that I am a bit of a wig-o-holic and meeting Samantha who runs Tangled Wigs was a real treat. She's such a lovely woman and I was truly inspired to hear her story of how this business venture came about. We were talking about doing a wig & vintage colab in the near future and needless to say I'm very excited about that.

 Leslie had managed to get another fabulous mix of traders in this month. I am so in awe with all these creative and super gifted individuals I almost feel like I'm cheating rocking up with my frocks.

I guess my gift is unearthing vintage gems but it's not really on par with David Harker's artistic talent or the brilliant creativity of  Bespoke Binny...

There is nothing better that an African print fabric in my book, they are just so amazing!

Speaking of amazing check out photographer Marco Dall'Omo and his Simply Complicated stall or how about the brilliant Alfie Gallagher and his wonderful collection of illustrations & graphic art, also available to buy from his etsy shop.

 Leslie was wearing an amazing 70s frock & here she is in front of her rail of Wunderbar Vintage loveliness and chair full of one-of-a-kind scatter cushions that can also be bought on etsy... 

The funky Catillest Design is run by the very talented Cat Neligan who is "a web designer by day and an illustrator by night". On her stall she was offering up an awesome array of  cool Tees, prints, tote bags and zines.

Then we had regular Dandyites Sue & Mark with their Gorgeous Jewellery stall. Sue and Mark will be trading at the Muswell Hill Market next Saturday & I will be popping up to see them if anybody is interested in chumming along? This month they were trying something a little bit different by adding a few vintage bags, gloves and shoes to their stall besides their awesome array of  vintage and handmade jewellery. 

Here's  Erik on leafleting duty outside The Oxford, well done that man :)

Irfhan Mirza is the creative genius behind Dead Gent Clothing who makes funky hand finished pocket Tees and tanks.

Sharing the downstairs stall with Irfhan was Love Vintage run by a groovy chick & fellow collector of beautiful vintage things. When she told me that this was her first market outing I was very surprised cause her display was stunning, she's obviously a natural.

I was very happy to see the lovely Luisa Cotardo returning with her beautiful & romantic words & roses stall...

Another returning trader was The 3R Crafts with her lovely smile & awesome upcycled wares...

I was also chuffed to bits to see the return of gorgeous fellow Swede Camilla and her funky Mind The Book stall :)

My other stall neighbour was Narcissus Design who specialize in handmade unique antiqued and patina mirrors. Last but by no means least we had a lovely lady with a one-off stall selling some of her collected vintage gems.

This was my favourite mirror by Narcissus Design, it can be bought from their etsy store...

I hope I haven't missed anybody out this time but if I have give me a virtual poke in the ribs and I shall edit the post accordingly ;)

The next Dandy will be on Saturday the 1st of June and if you are interested in keeping abreast with future trader line-ups you can do so on The Dandy Lion FB page.

Big thanks to Leslie for making it all happen, to Aiden & Erik for making the place look smashing and enticing the peeps through the doors, to all my fabulous fellow traders and to the awesome browsers, chatters and buyers that rocked up on the day.

Next month sees the two year anniversary of this fabulous market and I think that Leslie may just have a few tricks up her sleeve for that one so watch this space ;)

Hope you all had a cracking weekend?!

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx

Mooching around with my mouche

The weather has been glorious these past few days and there has been a veritable explosion of greenery in the park. To think that just a few short weeks ago, we were holed up in our little central heated burrow fearing that the spring would never come. This year spring is like a fashionably late & much anticipated party guest, when she arrived she did so with more flamboyancy than you can shake a stick at. 

No jacket and peep-toe sandals, it really is spring folks...HUZZAH!

Today I'm wearing one of my self made genie jumpsuits and a mouche.

I was inspired to fashion an 18th century style mouche from a bindi patch after reading an interesting history of beauty marks.

I do have a very faint mole there anyway that I usually fill in with liquid eyeliner to make it more prominent but this one is huge and had the cashier at Lidl do a double take.

The jumpsuit is made from vintage fabric that I bought from a car boot sale some years ago. Whilst on the subject of vintage fabric jumpsuits, have you seen Vix's latest curtain couture offering? Totally amazing-zing, that woman knows what she's doing!

Frocktasia vintage fabric genie jumpsuit, Principles crochet waistcoat bought from car boot sale, 80s Pierre Cardin peep-toe sandals from charity shop, still going strong after at least five summers and several holidays abroad, Indiskan scarf which was a present from my mum, sunnies & necklace from car boot sales.

In other news :)

I "made" a summer chair for our balcony. Mark salvaged this armchair from the streets of London a few years ago. I never liked it cause it had those horrendous foam pads on top of an ugly lattice of plastic strapping but for ages I just threw a blanket over it and used it as my offload chair in the bedroom. The other day I stubbed my toe on it whilst hoovering and in a fit of rage I exiled it to the balcony intent on getting rid of the darn thing but before I contacted the council to come and collect it, a creative wave washed over me.

I cut off the lattice of plastic strapping, binned the foam pads and made a "chair sock" from a  heavy-duty canvas fabric. I threaded the sock over the metal frame, hand-sewed the bottom bit shut and screwed the metal frame back onto the wooden bit.

Hey presto, our new balcony chair...

 One more sleep and then it's Dandy Time, yay!

I'll be up early tomorrow morning running around like a blue-arsed fly no doubt. Thankfully Mark will be on hand to help me as he is not working this weekend, so getting there shouldn't present too much of a problem this time around. It will be a grand ol' day I can feel it in me waters, so many fabulous sellers this month, I can't wait to have a wee nosey around their stalls :)

To finish off a might fine tune by Annie Lennox with some heart-shaped mouche action going on, enjoy :)

Have a cracking weekend peeps.
Loads of love,
Jennie
xXx

Rail full of the joys of spring

I'm very excited about this Saturday's Dandy and I've been working away on my rail all week. While we were up in Scotland I decided that I would theme my rail from now on to make it more cohesive rather than just offering up a random motley mix of vintage & retro threads. I've been very much inspired by the spell of gorgeous weather and the veritable explosion of greenery in the park. I'm bringing a plethora of flirty cotton dresses made for springtime strolls in the sun, chic retro frocks that are perfect for garden parties and BBQs and a whole bunch of festival worthy frocks & separates for those who want to sort out their festival wardrobe early.

Here are all the garments (bar the gents) that will be featured on Frocktasia's full of the joys of spring rail at The Dandy Lion Market on Saturday :)

 Close-ups of details, prints and labels...

If you're in the Kentish Town area on Saturday please pop in and have a wee natter and a rummage. There's a fabulous line-up of traders this month, most of which have a feature folder on The Dandy Lion FB page, so  you can check them out there if you so wish. There's even going to be a stall selling wigs, how cool is that?!

Happy days!

Here are a few pics that Leslie snapped at last months Dandy featuring me, my little stall  and some of my fabulous fellow traders :)

I'll leave you with a fabulous tune by SOUL II SOUL, enjoy :)

May the sun shine on your path and happiness fill your heart!

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx

Wipe the slate clean

Welcome to the third and last installment of the Highland photo sessions.

First off a vintage 70s lurex extravaganza labelled Richard Shops that I bought on ebay last year.

The reason to why I decided to bring this frock was because the colour reminds me of slate and Ballachulish is an old slate quarry village. The shore is absolutely covered with the stuff and I just thought it would go well with the dress. I'm actually quite pleased with how these pictures turned out. I love how the surface of the loch is like a softly rippled mirror for the sky, the combination of grey slate and the rust coloured seaweed, it really appeals to me.

It was absolutely freezing cause it had been raining all day and the sun only decided to make an appearance in the early evening. The wind was still strong and I was having real problems with my wig.

 I got so frustrated with having to spit synthetic hair out of my mouth every few seconds so I tore it off in a huff, scaring the pants off an elderly dog walker in the process.

The last frock we shot isn't actually a frock at all but a theatrical skirt and top set.  I bought it a couple of years ago from a freelance costume designer who was clearing out her clutter at a car boot sale. I couldn't believe my luck that day I can tell you, it is absolutely stunning and tremendously well made.

Incidentally this was the ensemble that we tried to shot in the glen, the one that filled up like a tall ship sail.

Mark had warned me but I was adamant to give it a go anyway. I don't like to be beaten but on this occasion the whipping Scottish gale force winds whooped my ass.

 Here I am struggling to keep the skirt down and looking rather miffed ;)

Photo sessions in The Highlands are fun to do but they do present challenges that's for sure. When we did our session last September the weather was very good but then we had  to contend with the midgies and this time we were just a little bit unlucky with the weather...third time lucky?! Who knows? 

That's all folks!

I hope you've enjoyed these posts as much as I enjoyed creating them.

To sing us out the stunning Icelandic band Sigur Ros, enjoy :)

Loads of love,
Jennie
xXx

Priscilla Queen of the Glen

The second and last frock that we shoot in the glen was this extraordinarily stunning shimmering bronze taffeta creation labelled Priscilla of Boston.

 I'm guessing that it is from the same sort of fashion era as the QUAD frock I blogged about yesterday.

This frock makes me feel as if I've just sprung from the pages of a Jane Austen novel.

Fabulously bust enhancing empire line cut with delicate cream lace detailing to the neckline, adorable ruffle trimmed puff sleeves and a generously swishy skirt with ruffle trim hemline. The fabric glints and sparkles in the sun, fabulous! 

I bought this spectacular frock from a vintage dealer some years ago and have been hankering to photograph it in an equally spectacular setting ever since.

I was toying with the idea of taking it down to King's Bench Walk and doing a guerilla photo session but there are always so many people milling about in that area. Another nice spot in London for a photo session with a historical flavour would be the Pergola in Hampstead Heath. Neither of these places hold a candle to the stunning backdrop that the glen provides though and even if we did had a little bit of an audience on this occasion it's not as if people were walking in front of the camera as is often the case when trying to snap a few pics in London.

In the next post I'll show you the frocks that we shot by the Loch Leven shore. 

It was tremendously windy that day so only a few pics came out alright.

Thank you ever so much for the fab comments you left on the last post, you peeps ROCK!

I'll leave you with an amazing song by Wyldeck, enjoy ;)

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx