"Vintage virgins"

Hiya everyone

Hope everyone had a happy Easter break. This blog comes to you a little later than I had intended to. I had the pleasure of taking the kids away to join my friend, lovely friend, Kaew and her gorgeous daughter Natasha at Umina in the Central Coast over the Easter break. Easter Saturday was pretty much a write off with the pouring rain staying around all day. We did the only thing any self-respecting fashionista would do - go shopping. So Erina Fair we went for a yummy lunch at Sage cafe and then shopped til the stores were shut. Fish, calamari and chips in Patonga... always worth the one and a half hour drive for. Yummm.

Anyway, here I am back home, sitting in front of the laptop with Adele's beautiful album, 21 blasting out from my headphones thinking about the vintage fair. On the weekend just before Easter, my best friend, Brie and her 17 year old daughter, Chardonnay joined my 13 year old daughter, Dominique and I at the 10th Sydney Vintage and Textiles Fair at Canterbury Racecourse. It was the first time for the two young "vintage virgins" and it proved to be an eye-opening experience. Clothes of every fabric and style from every era. Following the popularity of the pay TV series Mad Men and the trend being picked up by international fashion designers, the 50s style dresses are still very much in demand. We saw a fashion show of some of the best vintage wear from different eras and a rockabilly swing dance. The girls had a few laughs trying on few different types of outfits. Some they love some they just well, in their words, would never be caught dead in.

Here are some to give you an idea:

If you remember, I mentioned in my last blog that one of our objectives was to try and find the perfect dress for 17 year old Chardonnay's formal. Chardonnay is a gorgeous girl with a lovely ample bosom, a small waist and lovely long legs that seem to go on forever. However, the first half dozen dresses she picked up were tiny. It was not uncommon for dresses especially from the 30s, 40s and 50s to be on the smaller side. Somehow many ladies in those days were a little more svelte than our modern counterparts. But it wasn't long before she found two dresses which she was very taken with. We visited Coutura Vintage Fashion, my favourite vintage store. This one was a gorgeous strapless a-line frock with beautiful flocking on the bottom of the dress worn with a petticoat and a romantic shoulder wrap. She had many admiring glances and gasps from women from every corner of the store. The other was a totally different look - a black fitted bodice sequin dress all the way to the ground. They both looked gorgeous but which one to wear to the formal? The belle of the ball or sophisticated femme fatale? You be the judge and tell us what you think:

I spoke to my favourite vintage seller, Lena Slater of Coutura Vintage Fashion. I have bought many a wonderful vintage frocks from Lena over the last 5 or 6 years. Three of which I wore in my last blog post, Vintage mint-age. Over the last 30 years, Lena has been collecting classic pieces from the Georgian period to the modern era from the 30s to the 60s. She's been selling her insanely gorgeous dresses at vintage fairs for the last 10 years and still gets a kick out of watching someone try on her beautiful dresses especially young people who are new to vintage. To watch them transform and learn to love and appreciate vintage and continue the history of these classic clothes.

Lena's beautiful vintage pieces will be available online very soon. Her website, www.couturavintage.com is currently under construction but be sure to check it out in a couple of months. In addition to the vintage fair at Canterbury, Lena also sell at the Paddington vintage fair every second Saturday of the month. Lena's sister, Janet sells her vintage wear right next to her at every fair. Janet has her own vintage store, Classic & Chic, Shop 1 "The Penders", 20 Station Street, Bowral.

The above are pictures of Circa Vintage Hats. Owner, Jacinta Christian started Circa four years ago running her little business from home. She always felt that fascinators were a passing trend but hats will always have a place at the races and formal events. Jacinta wanted to know what women look for when looking for that perfect hat to go with their outfits and so she took to sitting at David Jones and Myer and eavesdropped shoppers while they shopped to find out what they really want in a hat. She found that women were willing to spend almost the same amount as their dresses sometimes to find the perfect matching quality hat. Jacinta brings in these amazing hats mainly from New York, France and Chicago including the wonderful flapper era to the gangster era of Al Cappone. All original and one of a kind in excellent condition.

We were there til closing time and still Chardonnay was undecided. We ended up taking the contact numbers of these two stores and going home to "sleep on it".

Brie and I ended up not doing too much damage this time around. Brie bought a lovely corset in emerald green brocade. Unfortunately she went home and found that it was tighter than she remembered and was unable to breath properly while wearing it. The solution? She passed the top to me. Her loss, my gain.

I bought a gorgeous sexy 80s black silk burnt velvet dress in the style of a chinese cheong sum. I went home and tried it over a flesh coloured slip and I think it looks absolutely fabulous. The fit was perfect.

Well, ,out two little "vintage virgins" went home exhausted after a day feasting the eye with so much colour, history and styles. It was certainly very different to the Supre, Dotti, Jay Jays and Sportsgirl chain store variety that's they're used to. I don't think they are die-hard vintage fans yet (unlike their mums) as vintage can be an acquired taste but they have indicated that they are very keen to go to the next one when it comes to town again. I think we do have two little vintage converts.

TTFN.

Cheers,

Tina