Not from the Dirty Thirties

This seventies frock echoes a much earlier fashion era, with its elegant floor-skimming length, adorable ruffle sleeves and shoulder button trim detailing, I'm thinking the thirties.

These pictures are from a Swedish dress making magazine dated 1934.

Here are two thirties dress pattern pics, found on pinterest.

I know that reproduction vintage fashion can sometimes be an apple of discord for real vintage aficionados but the only thing I have a problem with is when sellers (on-line in particular) are not straight up about how old a garment actually is and even remove labels in an attempt to disguise the fact that what they are selling is a dress from a High Street store bought last year, that sucks!

I've had this frock for years but I only recently rediscovered it hiding in a storage bag up in the loft. There aren't that many mystery bags left up there now, I'm slowly getting on top of  the hoard.

 Yay & there was much rejoicing! 

Vintage 70s does 30s maxi frock, Handmade Sami art necklace, 80s Pierre Cardin sandals, soapstone earrings & umbrella.

I did get a couple of bemused looks as I was feeding the birds by the boating lake earlier but personally I think this frock is just fine to wear for a stroll around the park, teamed with my cropped denim jacket it looks almost casual ;)

Yesterday Mark and I went to check out Muswell Hill Market as our lovely friends Sue and Mark were trading there.

Mark , Sue, Mark & loadsa gorgeous jewellery :)

Sue makes her own funky jewellery and Mark has a very  keen eye for beautiful vintage costume jewellery with a particular penchant for fabulous vintage brooches.

At the last Can't Buy Me Love market Jet mentioned that I may want to consider doing a stall at the Muswell Hill Market at some point and after seeing it yesterday I think Frocktasia will hopefully be there next month with a rail full of fabulous frocks and other gorgeous goodies, so watch this space peeps.

This venue scores high on one very important point,  it is virtually door to door on the W7 bus route, so even if Mark is working on the day I can very easily make it there on my tod.

Ideally I'd love to do at least one market a week.

I hope you've all had a fabulous & funderful weekend folks!

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx

There's not much Shroom in here!

The beautiful Rhododendron bush in the park has started its annual floral display and needless to say I was keen to get some pics taken with this stunning backdrop.

I even dug out a very special frock for the occasion  ;)

I call this my 'psilosybin doodling dress' cause the print looks as if it was drawn by someone who was casually doodling away whilst on Shrooms.

I bought it on eBay many moons ago and I love it but unfortunately the top part is a wee bit of a snug fit, that's why I like to team it with my suede waistcoat cause it keeps the buttons from straining. Like the other psychedelic print maxi that I showed you back in March it's a frock I'll never part with.

It is labelled 'Courtaulds Dicel' the latter being the brand name of the fabric rather than the maker I believe. When I googled the name I found Curtise wearing a spectacular frock of the same label, lovely lady!

Anyone else out there with a 'Courtaulds' frock hiding away in their vintage wardrobe?

 There is something really rather special about a frock with a hood, I feel a little bit mystical wearing it ;)

Vintage 60s psychedelic hooded maxi, 60s suede waistcoat, 70s boots, Handmade African earrings & necklace. 

Here's a close-up of that gloriously trippy psilosybin doodle print...

I wish you all a groovy weekend!

Here's Jefferson Airplane to play us out, enjoy :)

Loads of love,
Jennie
xXx

Psychedelic salad days

This is my favourite time of year, everywhere something is bursting into bloom.

Little fluffy bundles of joy are melting the hearts of children and butch builders alike up at the boating lake. The park lawns that were a waterlogged mess a few weeks back have regained their zest and are now like a lush green carpet perfect for walking barefoot on. Flowers fill the air with delightful scents and the suns warming rays are lifting city confined souls everywhere. I feel wave upon wave of positivity washing over me as life regenerates once more.

Vintage 70s psychedelic jumpsuit, retro woven suede belt, Moschino denim jacket, Handmade African necklace and bangles, Hush Puppies sandals, retro sunnies, soap-stone heart & macrame earrings.

I bought the jumpsuit that I am wearing today from the Battersea Boot Sale. 

Being a print nerd I succumbed to its psychedelic charms.

My lovely mum bought me this fabulous handmade African necklace from Tradera (eBay in Sweden)...

Psychedelic prints have a good energy about them, they are the print equivalent of a sunny day in my opinion.

I'm really excited of how everything has just Tigger bounced into life again over the past few weeks. 

Right now I feel like I need to sweep my body clean with lots of green goodness to rid myself of the toxins that have built up over the long winter months. I'm dusting off our juicer and getting psyched up to take on the park in my running shoes, all good stuff!

 I promise I won't bore you with endless pictures of our salads, maybe just for a few more days ;)

I hope you are all feeling energized and happy peeps :)

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx 

Feels like summer

When Mark left at quarter past five this morning I grabbed the duvet and went to sit on the balcony to watch the sunrise. Next doors lilacs are just coming into bloom so the early morning air was delightfully fragrant. I lay down on the duvet closed my eyes and listened to the birds twittering away. Three hours later I was awoken by the blazing sun that had by now risen well above the rooftops. I made a cafetiere of coffee and enjoyed it sitting in the glorious morning sunshine. 

Ganesh Tee, Tie-dyed cut-offs made from a pair of hubbies old jeans &  70s slip-on sandals.

Today felt like the first day of summer :)

I'm not sure what's happening with my hand in this picture, it looks as if it is momentarily venturing into a parallel reality, either that or it's been afflicted with tourettes?!

The ever smiling postie delivered my EFR card this morning. I am now officially qualified to save your life, bandage you up if you fall off a ladder and do a whole heap of other useful stuff ;)

Mark and I decided to go over to our "summer diet" today, so there will be salads aplenty over the coming months. I have also stocked up on Tahini so that Mark can start making his amazing bean dips again, yum!

 Today's salad: spinach, kale, rocket, watercress, chicory, parsley, chopped baby tomato & pinto bean mix relish served with fresh Turkish bread from the shop around the corner.

I'm getting very excited about summer...how about you?

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx

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