I'm wild about "tarty textures" and I have a few frocks made from crinkle effect stretch fabric.
I bought this electric blue beauty on eBay a few years ago...
This is pretty much a dream frock for me as it incorporates several of my obsessions.
I love ostentatious 80s frocks that make no excuses for being bold as brass.
Delightfully sluttish textured stretch, ravishing ruffles, perfectly puffy shoulders and an in-yer-face primary colour to boot, it ticks all my boxes!
Vintage 80s dress, Steve Madden boots, layered tights, FROCKTASIA earrings & necklace, a selection of bangles.
Mark & I went to a wee birthday get together at Mike's pad last night. I met Mike when I went out with Leslie a few weeks back. His awesome band Super Full Moon were playing at The Old Queens Head where Erik was doing a gig too. Mike is a super talented singer songwriter and all-round lovely chappy and it was really nice to meet some of his fabulous friends and have a wee jam too :)
You can check out Mike's band on ReverbNation HERE, they are brilliant!
I was a wee bitty woolly headed after last nights festivities it has to be said but my hero and instructor extraordinaire Jon pulled me though it, he's such a star!
So in a few weeks my certification will come though and we can start planning for the next stage of our diving education which will be the Rescue Diver Course. I'm really excited and I can't wait to get cracking with it. Hopefully we'll be able to do some dives at Wraysbury in out wetsuits before long but the current water temperature is still a bit too much like an arctic enema for my liking.
Here I am looking ultra glamorous & feeling like a bag of old and moldy ass...
How am I holding that poor plastic baby? It's probably a good thing that I've never spawned!
Last night I had a horrible nightmare. I was stuck in a scenario that was similar to Stephen King's The Mist but instead of being besieged by giant arthropods and tentacled monsters I was being stalked by bloodthirsty zombie bears...
I must have frowned like a wee grumpoid in my sleep cause when I woke up the normally faint creases in-between my eyebrows had turned into furrows deep enough to plant something in.
Mark often tells me off for scrunching my face up when he's taking photos but I can't help it.
More often than not it's got nothing to do with being displeased, worried or angry. Bright light, reading for a long time & lack of sleep usually does it.
Curse my frowny furrows of non-worry!
Still I mustn't complain, for a face that has been exposed to the elements and endured the emotional roller-coaster that is life for almost forty years, its holding out not too badly.
I was keeping a beady eye out for any pesky zombie bears in the park, you just never know ;)
We actually bumped into a couple of zombies a few week ago when they were filming up there.
I think I'd probably wear something a bit more like this instead, a super long maxi dress would greatly diminish your ability dodge bloodthirsty bears.
The apocalyptic soundtrack would have to be this tune, enjoy ;)
I bought the frock that I'm wearing today in a charity shop on Peckham High Street a couple of weeks before I got married in 1998. I had planned on getting hitched in it but three days before the big day I found another frock in the same shop that felt more right for a December wedding & one that looked better with hubby's kilt and pirate shirt ensemble.
I remember getting my fishnets tangled up in my boot zip when I was trying the dress on in the charity shop and spending what felt like hours in the changing booth trying to untangle them but to no avail. In the end I had to shamefacedly shuffle up to the counter to borrow a pair of scissors & cut myself free.
Something similar happened to me whilst travelling to The Dandy with all my gear last Saturday. I was wearing layered tights and the bleeding nets got tangled up in my camera bag zip, don't ask me how?! No scissors to hand so I ripped the buggers and removed them once I got to The Oxford, thankfully I had a pair of opaques underneath.
I'm not into the formulaic White Wedding, I've been to a few and it's really not my bag.
After a quick thirty minute "Will you?...I do" session at the Southwark register office, we went for a pub crawl with our guests. People could come and go as they pleased, no sit down dinner (with awkward table partners), no tedious speeches, no unwrapping of yet another frigging toaster, just a bunch of our favourite peeps getting together and having a hoot and a half!
My beloved mum who came over to attend our nuptials and "wedding crawl " insisted that I'd have my hair cut before my special day. Me being a complete skintoid even when it comes to spending other peoples money went down to the "blind barbers" and had my hair absolutely butchered, so my wedding hairdo was an interesting Spock-esque bowl cut. I didn't care though, I was getting married to the loveliest man I had ever met and that blew anything else out of the water. If I would have had to get married dressed in a hessian sack & as bald as a coot, I would have still felt like the luckiest girl in the world that day.
Did you have a traditional white wedding or did you go with something completely different?
Do you still have your wedding dress and if so have you ever worn it since your big day?
I know that quite a few of you have chosen not to go down the 'getting hitched' road but do you still have an item of clothing from when you first got together with your partner or X, something that you could never part with?
Today's tune is my favourite by Green Day...it simply had to be, enjoy ;)
Today was another beautiful day here in North London.
Is it safe to say that spring has sprung now?!
I started reading my First Aid book this morning, Mark says it's all pretty straight forward, common sense stuff which means I'll probably have to read the book twice before the information anchors itself in my flibbertigibbet brain. These are all very valuable skills to have and I am really happy to be doing this course. Last time I took a First Aid course was at school about three hundred years ago, so if someone collapsed in front of me today, I'd be hoping that someone else could step in and help but hopefully by Saturday night I'll be more than confident to intervene myself should it ever become necessary.
Remember Lilo, the angel winged Canada goose that stole my heart back in February? Since the first time I spotted her, Mark and I have been making regular trips to the pond to feed her and her friends. In the middle of the pond (or boating lake as the council likes to call it) there's a little island and whenever Lilo wasn't about that's where I gathered she'd be as she obviously can't fly. I'd never actually seen her swim until the other day though. She'd been "missing" for a couple of days and I was starting to worry about her. I went up to the park as per usual, took a spin round the pond but no sign of her however as I was leaving I spotted her bobbing across the water. It's very good to know that the birds have a safe roosting place, away from the local foxes.
Wearing my vintage 70s lurex dress today made me feel all disco and had me searching YouTube for the funkiest tunes from that era.
Granted I almost killed myself getting there carting a huge big case on wheels with my rail strapped onto it and another huge bag on my back. Who said being a vintage market trader would be easy or glamorous, not me anyway that's for sure. It is hard graft but I like it that way.You get a special feeling of smugness after managing to travel from A to B on public transport, laden down like a donkey ..like you've done something pretty special, akin to walking up Ben Nevis in your bare feet for instance ;)
Anyroad I survived and got there early doors too, so that I could give Aiden a quick hand with the bunting.
I took quite a few pics of the day but after I got home I realized that I'd had the camera on some silly setting, so the majority of my pics came out either overexposed or blurry which needless to say was rather annoying but such is life, it doesn't always work out the way you want it to.
Here is my wonderful friend Leslie next to her rail of vintage loveliness and her dapper son Erik that helped out with the leafleting on the day. Leslie is not only the organizer of the Dandy and a fellow vintage seller, she's also a magnificently creative soul. You can check out some of her wonderful wares on etsy HERE.
Another fellow vintage peddler La Maison Pearl was my stall neighbor for the day and gave me some smashing tips on what London fairs are worth doing.
Thay had some cracking stuff on their stall and I was very tempted to bag this wonderful colour explosion of a frock...
This gorgeous chick was trading at the Dandy last month but she was on one of the downstairs stalls so sadly I forgot to mention her in last months post. The Jewellery Garden creates a stunning array of fabulous jewellery with a special emphasis on holistic crystals & gemstones.
I met the lovely Amanda of the The Prettiest Thing last month. She was back with more of her tremendously funky and very useful items. I think this wonderful woman can turn her hand to making anything, just check out her impressive FB albums HERE. I hope Amanda will be there next month cause my Oyster card holder decided to disintegrate this morning and she makes totally brilliant ones.
Bright River sells beautiful cards and prints and is run by a very lovely lady called Claire Shannon and Gorgeous Jewellery sells splendid handmade jewellery and is run by husband and wife team Sue & Mark.
When I was perusing the product pics of Juliet Rose Soaps before the market, I just couldn't wait to smell them in real life. These handmade soaps look good enough to eat and smell absolutely divine. Like myself Juliet is a newbie to the market scene and it was actually her first ever foray into having a stall.
I think she did herself very proud, just look at her fabulous display and the soaps did not disappoint they smell just as good as the look. You can buy a bar in her on-line store right now.
There was more fragrant goodness for the body at yesterdays Dandy too. Brown Angel Fragrances were there with a wonderful array of beautifully packaged homemade natural lotions and potions. They also have an on-line store where you can purchase their lovely goodies.
The three gorgeous girls behind Triptych Designs & Wheels and Butterflies are architectural students with an interest in quirky design. They make fabulously unique jewellery and I loved their amazing display. You can buy their stuff on-line HERE & HERE.
This lovely lady is called Gillian Bull and she was selling a mighty fine collection of vintage bric-a-brac and home wares...
This next chick was another newbie to the Dandy with her funky stall The 3R Crafts. She makes both decorative and useful things with upcycled materials like cork and cans. You can check out her FB page HERE.
Next up are the lovely peeps from Genuie scarves. They were offering up a vast range of stunning hand painted scarves made from 100% Mulberry silk. These fantastic scarves are a colourful treat for the eye and feel amazingly lush against the skin. The Genuie team have an on-line store where you can purchase their beautiful wares.
Dapper chappy Roderick Barker-Benfield is the brains and creative talent behind Rodology handmade jewellery. I'm so gutted my camera was on the wrong setting cause I would have loved to have captured his wonderful work in a sharper picture to do it justice. He's got an on-line store where you can marvel over his fantastic pieces, especially check out the cufflinks. Roderick said that they are his best selling item and I am not surprised, marvelous stuff.
These two lovely ladies were selling vintage compacts, cases and a whole heap of other lovely stuff on their one off stall. A friend of theirs is a dab hand at crocheting so they'd brought along some of her creations too. I was especially impressed with two pairs of mittens that had been knitted with wool that their friend had spun from the molted hair of her angora rabbit. I did take pictures of them but because my camera was on the wrong setting they came out all blurry. Hopefully Leslie got some pics, if she did I'll add them later.
In the smaller picture you can see the lovely Juliet of Juliet Rose Soaps rocking a fabulous frock.
Downstairs we had Shonel of Poetic Solace with her awesomely funky jewellery stall. I only briefly caught up with her as she was setting up and the picture I took was...you guessed it very blurry. So if you want to see Shonel's lovely face you'll have to check out last months Dandy post. She's been keeping herself very busy this month, doing regular markets. If you want to check out her wares she's got a fabulous store on etsy HERE.
I hope I haven't forgotten anybody this time.
As I was on my own, I didn't have that much time to wander around with my camera, it's much nicer when you have a stall buddy at hand. Mark very kindly came around at five to help me with packing up and carting home, which was much appreciated...especially by my back and arms ;)
Today I've been feeling like someone gave me a right old kicking last night. I guess that if I'm planning on doing this on a regular basis there is only one thing for it...get fit!
Frocktasia's next market will be Can't Buy Me Love at The Boogaloo in Archway on Saturday the 27th of this months and then I'll of course be at the next Dandy Lion Market on Saturday the 4th of May.
If you see anything in my for sale or preview albums on the Facebook page that you'd like to purchase directly from me just give me a shout, I ship worldwide.
For next months Dandy I've decided that Frocktasia has to stop procrastinating and pull her proverbial straw to the stack as regards to spreading the word about The Dandy. So the Friday before the market I am scheming a "leaflet bombing" of Camden in full dress-up :)
People need to know about this market and its fabulous sellers!
I'm burying my face in my First Aid book in preparation for my course next Saturday but I'm hoping to get a couple of hours over the next few days to catch up with all my faves in the blogosphere.
If I had to pick an onomatopoetic word to describe this week it would definitely be SWOOSH!
My feet have hardly touched the ground and tomorrow is Frocktasia's second outing at the fabulous Dandy Lion Market. The odds that I'll be wrung out like an old dishrag but very happy on Sunday are very high.
Next week I'll be burying my head in my First Aid book in preparation for the following Saturdays course.
All of a sudden I find myself needing my personal organizer for more than just shopping lists and general doodling. Markets, gigs and birthday parties are now outnumbering the boring stuff like rent, council tax & doctors appointments on my wall calender, it's blooming great!
Speaking of blooming, it was actually quite nice here in North London today and the cherry blossom tree at the end of the road has bravely started to burst its buds.
Fingers crossed it is the precursor of spring and not just another false alarm.
Today's ensemble:
Vintage 70s maxi dress by Richard Shops, 90s crushed velvet boots, crochet & soapstone heart earrings and a plethora of bangles.
I haven't had any time to henna my hair so the mousy brown regrowth is really starting to show but I guess I will just have to live with it for another week. I can always pop on a wig if it starts to peeve me.
The local wig emporium has just expanded and there is a whole new window of wigs to drool over.
If I make a little bit of profit tomorrow I might just treat myself to another one :)
Monia who is one of my mannequin heads will be coming with me to grace my display table tomorrow.
I named her after my best friend in 6th form, who went on to become a priest in the Swedish church.
Monia & I
It will be a wee bit of a struggle for me to get to Kentish Town in the morning as I'll be carting the whole lot myself on the bus cause Mark is working the weekend.
Thankfully he'll be there to give me a hand when it finishes at five.
If you are thinking of popping around and want to have a sneaky peek at the stock that I'm bringing then I've made a special preview folder complete with prices on my FB page. Click HERE to view ;)
I wish you all an amazing weekend.
Have fun, relax, spend time with the ones you love...enjoy!
