Vintage Cocktails

Well, our first big event is over ... what a blast! The next one is tentatively scheduled for Sunday 19 September but in the meantime we are taking vintage fashion, having fun, looking fab, and nurturing the environment out in the community. On Friday 18 June we have booked The Brass Monkey Glasshouse from 5.30 to 7.30 pm for vintage cocktails. Dress up in your favourite vintage or retro attire, or maybe simply showcase one iconic vintage item as the centrepiece of your style, or maybe come along in a completely new home grown replica of style from the past. Put your vintage inspired glad rags on, join us for a glass of bubbly and nibbles, be entertained and watch out for winning prizes. $25 pp. RSVPs are required. maureenmcdaniell2@hotmail.com or phone on 0408941481. This time I WILL have time to shop for a fabulous outfit before our event!

Made on the Left Creative Talent

Now I know the people I have met through Vintage Vixens and Vamps are very creative .... inviting others to be creative with their wardrobes, being creative in modifying clothes, recreating new clothes from old, all sorts of creative. And the gals at Made on the Left are also very creative. A not for profit collective they run a designer market every quarter and their first one for 2010 will be held on 18 and 19 July at The Saint in Innaloo. So if you are one of those creative people making your own goods, and would like the opportunity to trade with them in July, follow the link http://www.madeontheleft.com/markets5.html and complete an application. The Saint is their new venue ..... holds bigger oodles of promise.

Get into the Groove

For those of you who aren't quite yet up to swishing, who are just tentatively dipping their toes into revamping their wardrobed with Vintage and recycled, and for those of you who are right into the whole thing, we want you to turn up on Sunday 23 May with one good quality piece of preloved but no longer coveted clothing to hand over. It will be used ... in our swishing event ... in our community events coming up ... in our next big event .. nothing is going to waste. And in return you go into the draw for a $100 shopping voucher with Winifred and Bance. $100 will nearly get the likes of my gorgeous faux fur I intend to wear everywhere, or, it will get you one great outfit. So what have you got to lose? Before you dash out the front door on Sunday grab that 'oldie but a goodie' and hand over when you walk in our front door.

Vintage Comes to Town!

One week to go and time to reveal our fabulous list of stalls participating. I personally give a great big thanks and welcome to ...

Winifred and Bance, Inglewood. Delilah was very accomodating with the Sunday Times photo shoot and yep we were disappointed that she wasn't mentioned in the final cut.

She Seldom Blushes, Fremantle. Fern has been wonderfully positive since the day I met her and helped out with the Community Paper photo shoot.

Broken Doll, Fremantle. Annette has been a trooper, also helping out with the Community Newspaper photo shoot.

Miss Betties, named after a chook but hey. Deb has been supportive from the beginning, I think this will be a big day out for her.

Smith and Bird, Mandurah. Lara, I knew from the Perth Markets, she's been fantastic with support, ideas and just bumping into each other.

Benswick Vintage. I made contact with Sarah and Connor after seeing their work at the Red Feathers Fashion Parade. It will be exciting to see more of it next Sunday!

Hey Joe Retro, anyone living around Fremantle would know Helen's shop on South St.

Kate Laurendi's Cupcakes, she tee'd up this time with friend Danica, get in quick they don't last long.

Two Timing, East Fremantle. Liz got all excited when she finally decided to join us.

Tumbleweed and Beleza, Marina and Claire have helped out with promotion, looking forward to meeting them.

Martha and Lilly, looking forward to the handbangs from Cindy and Kris.

Dark Nouveau Jewellery, Helen has been great at spreading the word among our alternative community.

Tania and Katherine's Vintage Clothing, interesting combination this one.

Lisa McDiarmid Jewellery, looking forward to her vinyl and cassette creations.

Sewanista, Malaga. Sandra has been wonderful with ideas, her connection with TCFWA and contacts. Watch out for her vintage buttons.

Anita Gadenne, upcycled and refashioned.

Red Feathers and a Hula Skirt, Melville. Mel and Kerrie have spread the word, spiced up our flyer and will be very active on the day. Watch out for Kerrie's fabrics and patterns.

Batty Bags, Just Hanging Around and N Gear. Had several interesting phone calls with Rose and Jan, look forward to seeing their ensemble.

Pom Pom Vintage, will be great to meet Nicolette.

Birdie Loves Pie, women's and men's vintage gear from Jeremy.

Leah Tarlo, retro gear she's been collecting for years.

Rebecca Gianetti, retro gear she's finally letting go of.

The Bean Runner, Fair Trade Coffee for a fair day's trading I think.

Morph Me, Genna and her daughter will be available to advise us all on those individual image tips.

Vintage Vixens and Vamps, local, national and international delights from Maureen and Georgina.

Next week is the culmination of 3 full months of creating this event from scratch. We have met some wonderful people along the way, wrestled with too many ideas and started to put together what comes next. My apologies for not capturing all the wonderful things about your stalls, my head is a little overloaded with putting together my own stall for this weeks Craft and Quilt Expo as well as completing as much as possible for our own event. I noticed the latest comment on our event is something about it being so exciting. I totally agree. We may not have got it all perfect but the momentum and enthusiasm is there, and as a Vintage Vixen I am looking forward to introducing other vixens into the stylish and sumptuous world of vintage and retro fashion so that they too may feel as fabulous as our vamps and ... what's the name for vamp men? Speaking of which we had a question during the course of our preparation asking if it was worthwhile for lads to come along? I can now confidently and enthusiastically say yes! So come along everyone, enjoy the day, have fun with Swishing, feast your eyes on the fashion parade, and walk out with a new wardrobe. And don't forget, if you come along with one quality item to hand over you go into the draw for $100 gift voucher with Winifred and Bance.

Defining and Redefining concepts of the 'Ethereal'

 So I have always thought I owned the realm of the "ethereal", since the concept for me revolved mostly around the movie "The Dark Crystal" which I watched countless times when I was 8 years old. I always wanted to be Kiera...that gorgeous little blonde gelfling who wore those amazingly raw art nouveau'esque clothes and who had wings....(I also had a crush on Jen...)!

Another key movie that influenced me at an early age was a movie called "The Last Unicorn"...I wanted to also be the ethereal blonde (again!) unicorn who had been transformed into a human.....

 This film used to make me cry....the girl who had be changed into a human was growing weak and had to be changed back into a unicorn even though the magician who transformed her fell in love with her...!

I spent so much time drawing unicorns and flying horses and fantasy creatures. My mum even made me my own Kiera dress, and I think I remember complaining it wasn't 'raggy' enough....

This city where I live is pretty small, and before the time of the internet, who knew if anyone else was inspired by these young concepts of the ethereal?

I have always considered the concept of the ethereal as meaning 'otherworldly', or heavenly...which I quite love, but I also found these other definitions:

1 a : of or relating to the regions beyond the earth b :Celestial, heavenly c : Unworldly, spiritual
2 a : lacking material substance : Immaterial, intangible b : marked by unusual delicacy or refinement "this smallest, most ethereal, and daintiest of birds" — William Beebe c : suggesting the heavens or heaven 

3 : relating to, containing, or resembling a chemical ether

When I looked on etsy, my first impulse was to type in the word ethereal and see what popped up....I was, and am, fascinated by the wonderful interpretations and re-interpretations of this word and what it means to different people. And I love that it's not been restricted to only white garments !!!!

I will be following these thoughts with some of my favourite 'ethereal' picks from Etsy, so stay tuned !

(Below are some pictures of me and a friend when we played 'dress ups' about 3 years ago !! )

Best Swish in Town

Our Swishing mini event within the bigger VVV event on Sunday 23 May starts at 2.30 pm. 'Swishing' or more commonly known as clothesswapping is traditionally regarded as a fun and frugal way to refresh your wardrobe and at the same time make a small contribution to the life of our environment. We, at Vintage Vixens and Vamps, see it has a much bigger place, and for that reason are putting a lot of our acquisitions over the last few months and on the day into the 'pool' - just to make it that little bit more tempting and invite you all to get involved. Our VVV Swishing is just the first. Whilst our next big event will probably coincide with the Perth Fashion Festival in September we are looking forward to having some fun at the local level in between. Body shape based presentation and swish events .... Boho and American Chic swish events .... Swishing and Accessory events ... they are all in the pipeline as well as Vintage Cocktail Hours, Vintage Dinners and whatever else comes to our creative minds. For gals of all ages, I invite you to Swishhhh and play with adorning the beauty within. Swishing .... 5 quality used items no longer coveted .... $15 ..... swapped on the day with lovelies from all the other gals and the added temptation of additional indulgences from Vintage Vixens and Vamps!

RawHemline - art work past and present

I have been creating my own clothing for close to 17 years now, and this is the first year in which I have sold it publicly (previously all my work was either for myself or my friends).

If you look on my blog posts you can see me in my wedding dress created 4 years ago with my mother! This is a fairly definitive example of my creative style, but there are still many more facets. 

I will be posting pictures of my work from the past 7 years so that you can get a feel for where I've come from and where I'm heading.

This blog will be updated regularly so that you know what's happening and when.

Thanks so much :)

holly

Swishing Anyone?

Three weeks from today our exciting event will have started! We have three separate mini events during the afternoon the second of which is Swishing! For those of you not in the know, Swishing is the sassy name for a clotheswap. Hopefully many of you will have seen the recent television special highlighting how women can save thousands of dollars in their wardrobe purchases and the benefits of clotheswapping. How does it work? First of all you have a clear out of your wardrobe and put aside those gorgeous pieces you no longer wear. You then bring five of them along to Vintage Vixens and Vamps on Sunday 23 May, pay $15 to book them in and you get five buttons in return. All swishing items need to be booked in by 2.00 pm ready for the event at 2.30 pm. At 2.30 the swishing racks will be wheeled into the Atrium for you to source up to five items to spice up your wardrobe. Swishing items can include shirts, tops, coats, skirts, dresses, jumpers, cardigans, shoes, bags, jewellery …. fashion items that are in good condition and deserve the chance to create that feel good factor on someone else. Items that are not to the standard required and/or left over after the event will be included in items for sale in the VVV stall, part proceeds of which go to a charitable destination. So clear that wardrobe out, inject your individual element of intrigue and do your bit for the environment .... look fab with frugal!