Dirndl Mania

I've always had a fondness for traditional/ethnic/cultural clothing & over the years I have amassed a large collection of attire from all corners of the world.

Elaborately handcrafted dresses made from exotic African fabrics, rustic South American ponchos, opulently embellished Indian garments, stunning Japanese Kimonos & Chinese cheongsam frocks but there is one garment in particular that make me go weak at the knees…the Dirndl!

The dirndl is a traditional dress primarily worn in Bavaria & Austria.

Its design is based on the historical costume of Alpine peasants but I think nowadays most people probably associate it more with buxom wenches serving frothing steins rather than farming the land.

I recently acquired yet another pretty dirndl to add to my collection,
I now have one for every day of the week.
Here she is...

I've teamed the dirndl with a vintage Eastern European embroidered peasant blouse that I picked up from the car boot sale at the weekend. 

I think they look as if they were made for each other ;)

How mad is it that only the other week I also acquired this amazing Bavarian wool cloak...

I've been on the look out for a cloak like this for ages and was chuffed to bits to unearth this from a mound of clobber at the car boot sale and happier still to get it for a song ;)

Here are my other six dirndl dresses...

A few years ago I found this pretty landhaus waistcoat on a rail in a charity shop, 

it has been a staple in my wardrobe ever since...

Close-up & labels

...and yet more labels ;)

Here I am wearing a dirndl dress at the age of two...

That's all for this time folks!

Hope everyone is fine & dandy :)

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Dampening discord & nurturing nostalgia

In the light of what's been going down here in the urban jungle of late, I've not been in a good mindset for blogging and I'm still feeling a bit off key; the figurative grand piano has taken a great big knock and it's playing woefully out of tune.

So I'm just going to give you some pictures of my mummy instead cause I'm missing her very much at the moment.

It's at times like these I wish I could turn around to the nearest adult and ask them to phone my mummy to come and collect me cause quite frankly...
"Jennie doesn't want to play anymore!" ;)
Here's my beautiful mamma Ewa:

I believe she was 15 years old when this was taken. I wish she'd held onto that frock ;)

These two photos were taken when mum did a spot of modelling for a local photographers studio. She was only 16 years old but looks atleast twenty I think. A year later my  mum gave birth to my oldest brother Pelle.

Tea & fag break on the balcony in August 1965.

I think this was taken on a trip to Poland in the 60s, check out the groovy print on the dress...yeah baby!

This is one of my favourite pics ever, my mum looks amazinlgy stylish & beautiful. I return to this photo for style inspiration again & again.

A knitted ensemble this time teamed with a cute smile. Check out the funky furniture...I'd so have that in my house today.

Here's mummy clad in a fabulous floral blouse with her pigtail plaits, giving yours truly a sink bath ;)

My mum became involved in local politics in the 70s, I guess that's where I get my activist streak from ;)

She smoked for years and years but then one day when she was fourty-odd she binned her stinky sticks and haven't smoked since ;)

Here's a local news clipping from 1976, it reads "Mother of five & ninth name on the town council list Ewa Andersson,29, demands more childcare opportunities & jobs for women, 5 year old Jessica & Jennie who is almost two agree" ;)

Here's the three of us again, several years later at Christmas, all wearing Laura Ashley style fine frockery.

Yesterday's outfit incorporated one of my mum's dresses from the late 70s.

A very elegant 40s inspired frock...

I've teamed it with a pair of vintage heels, Coach bag, 80s sunnies and a pair of crochet & stone heart earrings... all from car boot sales ;)

I love wearing my mum's old clobber, it makes me feel a little bit closer to her ;)

Close-up for you fellow print geeks ;)

Here are some other treasured bits & pieces that used to take pride of place in my mums wardrobe...

She LOVED clog boots back in the late 70s & early 80s.

This top was handmade my a woman that lived up the road from mum when she was a teenager. Mum wore this on the night she got together with my bio-dad.

This was another staple in my mums 70s wardrobe, I remember admiringly looking up at that yellow sleeve when I was the size of a midget ;)

That's all for today folks!

Hope you are all keeping safe in these crazy times.

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Supermarket Sheep

We've had yet another sizzling day here in London.

The only downside with this heat is that I find it extremely hard to stay focussed on work.

 All I want to do is to grab a blanket and a cool bag full of chilled drinks & hit the park.

It gets horrendously hot in the flat during the day and horridly humid at night and as a result we’re going through rocket lollies, squash & ice cubes as if they were going out of fashion.
We had to pop up to groTesco earlier to replenish our stock of these very items...

I like to read the label on everything cause there are so many things that I'd really rather not consume...aspartame & corn syrup being top of that long list!

Hubby and I both loathe big supermarket chains & I really feel like the biggest hypocrite alive when I wander down the isles of groTesco.

I buy most our fruit & veg from either the £1 a bowl man or a family run greengrocer not too far from our house, they sell freshly baked Turkish bread and delicious olives too.

However for every year we've lived in this area the number of these small family run businesses seem to dwindle and yet another 'groTesco local' or one of the other supermarket giants move in.

The variety seemingly shrinking in favour of more of the flipping same.

What are you looking at ;)

Another thing that really gets my goat about these supermarkets is that the prices seem to change every time I go &  in my experience contrary to what the TV adverts proclaim it is more often a hike in price rather than a drop.

  There are so many things that I detest about groTesco but the thing that I hate the most is that I actually shop there.

I'm a self-confessed bread-o-holic but I find that if I bake it myself it's more filling, supermarket bought bread is often full of air & additives.

It still makes me laugh cry when I see how warped food pricing is in this country, especially in the light of the damaging effects that it has on the general public.

It was one of the first things that stunned me when I moved to the UK from Sweden back in 1994, I couldn't for the life of me understand why bad stuff like microwave meals, crisps, soda pop & biscuits were so cheap compared to good food.

I grew up with these things as rare treats and they were not at all part of the daily diet.

I was briefly acquainted with a young mother back in the 90s and was completely appalled with what she was feeding her kids...frozen pizza (that's why bad mums go to Iceland), chips, ready meals, white toast bread, chocolate spread and crisps. 

Never a meal cooked from scratch and never a piece of fresh fruit, horrible & if you ask me, tantamount to flipping child abuse!

The government should in my opinion subsidise fresh fruit & veg and make sure that supermarkets prices are regulated, so that the good stuff is affordable to everybody. 

If the powers that be really don't want a nation of morbidly obese people on mobility scooters in the future then surely this is what needs to happen?!

Busted! There I was thinking I could get away with sneaking a bag of delicious vegetable oil laden potato bits in the basket without hubby noticing ;)

Hubby and I are both vegetarian. 

When people ask me why we're vegetarian, I tell them to go on YouTube and check out the PETA's 'Meet Your Meat' video cause that should bring it all home.

Today's frock is vintage 50s by 'Global' and was an eBay purchase from a few years ago.

So what did we buy at groTesco?

Two bags of carrots for juicing (I've been juicing everyday lately and I'm developing a nice little David Dickinson glow)

Coffee for the cafetiere (we both need a daily fix)

Bottlegreen apple & plum cordial (I've been drinking pints & pints of this stuff)

Ice lollies (you've got to have them, when it's hot)

Mushrooms & garlic nan breads (for tonights curry)

As you can see above, I was caught lurking in the crisp isle...

I know I really shouldn't but we got a bag of potato sticks to share ;)

Close-up for the print & label lovers ;)

That's me all ranted out for one day!

So where do you stand?

Are you a supermarket sweeper or a supermarket weeper?

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Urban foraging and silly posing

It has been a splendiferous summers day here in London.

So we took time out and went for a walkabout in the park & did some impromtu foraging along a nearby nature trail. 

The blackberries are getting ripe now and there's an absolute abundance on the bushes. 

I also wanted to collect some elderberries for making a cold & flu fighting tincture.

I've been very much inspired by my sister as she has been making  loads of jam & cordials lately.

Incidentally she has also recently started a gardening blog called Haveriet, 

it's written in Danish but if you can't read it there's loads of lovely pics to feast your eyes on too.

I was somewhat "overdressed" today wearing a frock with long sleeves. 

Thank goodness it is made from cotton otherwise I think I would have passed out from overheating but it was kind of good to have a little cover to protect my arms from being rasped to bits by the blackberry thorns.

The frock is from British High Street staple store Topshop but it is from the 70s.

I won it on eBay together with a bunch of other vintage attire a few months back but this was its first outing as it has been lying on my mending pile awaiting my attention.

It was nothing major, just a few stitches to the underarms and it was ready to be rocked again ;)

I love the little row of round fabric clad buttons to the front and the cute ditsy floral print.

Some blackberries destined for a crumble (that we have just devoured)...

A little bit of strutting infront of the camera, as one does ;)

I also picked some wildflowers, so much prettier than a garage forecourt bouquet & free too.

Some more snaps of my lovely dress...

I hunted down a few more vintage Top Shop frocks on-line for your perusing pleasure.

Behind every link is a wonderful vintage frock, go on and click, you know you want to ;)

The top one is from the lovely Liz.

Vintage-a-peel 

eBay 

ASOS Marketplace 

Virtual vintage clothing 

Lola's vintage

Here's a close-up of print & label for any fellow fabric & label nerds out there ;)

  That's all for today folks!

Hope you've all had a swell day and that the sun didn't go to your head and make you do silly things like posing behind a tree with one leg sticking up in the air, tehe!

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

P.s. If you haven't read it already then there's a fecking brilliant interview to be enjoyed over on The Fashion Turd blog with the undisputed Queen of Quirk Helga.

Frocking Fetish

This morning I woke up to blazing sunshine and to celebrate I decided to wear my twin 'KATI by Laura Phillips' frock that I won on eBay last week.

In my earlier post I stated that the dress was navy but it is in fact black & this is when I shamefully admit that I sometimes buy things on eBay based only on the title & pictures, in other words I'm too lazy to read the description. 

Never mind, I was actually pleasantly surprised that it was black rather than navy & that also means that I may be able to get a trio in different colours ;)

Here it is...

Vintage 70s dress (eBay), Handmade Balinese earrings (from vivacious Vix), Vintage 80s Pierre Cardin peep-toe flats (charity shop), Vintage 80s belt & floppy straw hat (car boot sale), Bangles galore

Maroon or black, which one do you prefer?

Earlier on in the week I popped onto the VOUGE website & learnt that apparently fetish is going to feature on the trend agenda for A/W 2011.

I don't follow trends but I do seriously love a bit of fetish gear, so I thought that it would be interesting to see how I could incorporate a fetish element into an ensemble without looking too much like a maîtressese.

I bought this 'Midnight Fashions' zippy halter top in Camden many moons ago and I've used it as a waistcoat style top before, it looks wicked over a plain white shirt.

Here I've teamed it with my new 'KATI' frock, giving the dress a distinct minxy beer wench slant.

The other outfit is one I wore the other day...

I bought these funky boys dress pants from the car boot sale and added the bobble-trim myself...

Here are some more outfit pics from the past that illustrate my love for "slick & sleezy" materials ;)

That 'Midnight Fashions' top again. I made the necklace/headdress from a pair of old PVC trousers that had split at the backsie, I'm all for a bit of fetish clobber but I'd rather not go out with my arse falling out of my pants ;)

This is one of my shapeshifter ponchos in PVC & houndstooth fabric. I've got a small collection of PVC boots too, these are very 'Pretty Woman'. On the full frontal pic you can perhaps also just make out the necklace that I made from half an old vinyl record.

The belt was another project that I managed to do using the old PVC trousers & in the pics below I'm sporting yet another pair of my supa'shiny fetish stylee boots, yay, kick-ass!

So what do you lovely people think...

fetish attire for A/W 2011, YAY or NAY?!

Hope you will all have a fabulous weekend what ever naughtiness or niceness you choose get up to ;)

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

A surprise parcel from the undisputed queen of quirk

My other 'KATI' dress was delivered this morning but its arrival was totally eclipsed by the content of another mystery parcel.

For a moment I thought I’d been sleep-eBaying but after peeking at the sender address I realized that it was from the tremendously fabulous Helga.

What a darling she is surprising me with a parcel of goodies all the way from New Zealand, thank you ever so much my lovely!

I fell totally head over heels in love with the two fabulous frocks in the parcel.
In fact so much so, I had to shed all my clothing and pop one immediately.
Here it is, isn't it just flipping AMAZING!

The print, the colour, the cut...just WOW!

It's labelled 'Oriental Crafts' and the print is in my opinion art gallery worthy.

It's a wrap dress, but unlike some of my other wrap dresses the skirt on this one is gorgeously billowing.

As for the colour...a sumptuous terracotta red, simply stunning!

Helga is a complete wiz at getting frocks that fit me like a glove too, what a marvel!

It's been piddling down here most of the day, so I only managed to get pics of one dress outside before the sky ripped open again but I thought I'd rope Barbara in on the frock action too.

So here she is modelling the second fabulous frock...

Another art gallery worthy print, I think you'll agree & the cut is very 70s cocktail party hostess, I love it!

The label on this one reads 'Styled by Exclusive Frocks, Made in Christchurch New Zealand'.

I'll take some proper pics of this & the 'KATI' frock tomorrow...if it has stopped piddling outside by then.

Helga my dear, you’ve got me on a mission now to reciprocate your overwhelming kindness. 

This is not the first time that Helga has lavished me with gifts, here are some pics of other amazing stuff that has made the journey all the way from Christchurch into my vintage wardrobe...

Vintage 70s sky blue leaf patterned maxi (that I hitched up for this pic), The funkiest hot pink vintage cap ever & a very stylish 50s frock in navy blue.

Like I said 'FUNKIEST CAP EVER' & a vintage 70s dreamy pink swirl pattern maxi frock.

I almost wet myself when she sent this awesome Hawaiian vintage bikini. I brought it with me on our hols in Malaysia & Thailand earlier on this year. Mark (my hubby) wrote Helga's name in the sand before taking that sunlounger pic ;)

Goodies galore from the undisputed queen of quirk, anyone who hasn't got Helga on their blogroll hasn't lived yet as far as I'm concerned. 

Along with Desiree, Vix & Sarah she makes up my fantastic four 'Legendary Frockers' as featured in my sidebar.

If there is such a thing as a 'must-have' on a blogroll then surely these fab four ladies fall into that category, so if you haven't as yet...add them...they will make your life sweeter as they have done mine :)

Thanks again Helga, I LOVE my new frocks & the funky bag too.

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx