Just Starting Out

It can be intimidating when you try something different like changing your style.

I should know as thats how I felt when I first decided to give up on the hopeless fashions of today and dress the way I admired other women for dressing.

Vintage.

I was worried people wouldn't appreciate the way I had decided to dressed and that I would get odd looks from passers by in the street. But as it turns out people generally like to see someone all dressed up in pin curls and a swing dress and apart from the one off jealous glares off some females it gets a lot of good attention and so will you.

I've written up a helpful little guide to start you on your new style adventure.

When I first started dressing vintage I needed all the help I could get, I didn't ever think I'd be able to successfully pin curl my hair or achieve the prefect eyeliner flick but thanks to the help of makeup/hair tutorials and vintage blogs I did.

Before you do anything you need to decide your era. Are you a 1920s flapper? A 1930s film star? A 1940s

    Land Girl? A 1950s Pin up? Or something completely beyond?

I'm a 1950s girl through and through and always will be, I have tampered with other styles but I always come back to the circle skirts and swing dresses of that era.

Once you have decided your era things become a bit easier, you know what you are looking for in terms of tutorials and what to copy.

Clothes:

Try experimenting with the clothes you have first. Turn them from modern day into vintage with a few adjustment or by adding a few accessories to see what works for you.

Reproduction clothing is great, there are a lot of sites online that sell repo/rockabilly/pinup clothing all depending on what you want. You'll feel beautiful and confident  in what you are wearing instead of worrying if you've paired the right vintage skirt with the right top and so on.

I didn't start wearing true vintage until I was confident in my style. You may be the same or you may feel confident enough to go straight into it. Either way its cool, all that matters is that you feel comfortable and beautiful in what you are wearing.

Makeup:

It can be a tricky thing to perfect but practice makes perfect.

You don't have to spend a fortune on products either, I don't.

In fact I find that most times high street products work just as well (and some times better) as high priced designer ones.

I found that tutorials on youtube and blogs the best way to practice my makeup and technique but once I was confident in what I was doing I started adding my own little bits and bobs into the mix.

                                      Hair:

There are so many different vintage hairstyles it's hard to choose which one to try first.

I want to say

try something simple first but, if you've never done them before, non of them are really that simple.

Don't let that deter you though. As with the makeup practice makes perfect! There are so many tutorials and blog posts available on the internet so make full use of them and get practicing.

Here is a list of links that helped me when I first started out and if you want more go to my links

page. 

Pin Curl tutorial part 1

 Pin Curl tutorial part 2

Victory Roll tutorial

Brows

Hair and Makeup 

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, I'll be as helpful as I can (email on contact page)

Also sorry about the awful formatting, can't seam to fix it :/

         I hope this has been a help to you ladies.

Till next time,

Laura Lou x

The Weekend

So as it turns out I didn't go to Cragside, that trip has been postponed till next Saturday due to the weather but I have a little catch up with a friend... Jessie Grace.
We went for a curry on the famous Ocean Road at the Royal Tandoori, it was absolutely delicious!

And of course there was drink involved...

On Saturday Myself and Pablo went for a Mexican, I thought it appropriate to dress in a 70s all in one suit.

Sadly it's not vintage, it's only about a year old and I found it in my sisters wardrobe and rescued it before it was sold on eBay but It does look rather groovy I think from the front...

and from the back.

The belt you see did not come with it, I had to take it off a Lindy Bop dress. It was almost an exact match colour wise.

I teamed it with a small green jacket to keep out the cold. It didn't work.

Till next time folks,

Laura Lou x

70s chic

It may be gale force winds and raining outside but I don't care!
On Tuesday I decided to defy the weather and dress in this...

  

A think (and rather chilly) Aztec-ish print cardigan, flared jeans (which you can't see) and my favourite floppy brimmed hat (which my boyfriend kindly pointed out wasn't weather appropriate).

With all this bad weather I've hardly been able to dress up so I thought it was time for a bit of casual 70s chic.

A really bad photo close up of the print of my cardigan. Well I say 'my' cardigan but in reality I stole it from my sister.

Till next time Folks,

Laura Lou x

It Christmas!

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Christmas opening at my cousins Garden centre, Richardson's.
They hold it every year, it always gets me terribly excited. Te smell of the roasting chestnuts, the sweet mince pies and the reindeer roaming around their fields! The only reason I was able to rein in my excitement and not explode was because it was a lovely hot sunny day!

 

Bethan and I dressed and ready to go, her in a more casual 1950s style and me all 70s like

 

Christmas and cameo, two of my favorite things

 

A snowglobe in action, so cute.

I loved these, but as I bought myself a little wooden nutcracker I was unable to purchase one. However My grandmother got one and I'll currently hatching a plan to nick it from her.

Me and Charlie boo looking at a Christmas tree... can you tell its posed?

So now thanks to Tracey and George Richardson I am on a Christmas high and will be until January 2013.

Till next time folks,

Laura Lou x

Birmingham Part 3

Our last day in Birmingham was an eventful one. We woke at 6am to pack, have breakfast and check out then we were on the road.
We had to be at Cadbury's World by 9am (lots of early starts) and were out by 12. Sadly all the photo's I took in Cadbury's World were very blurred so I can't show you any :( but as we did go back to the Safari I can show you more pictures of animals... yey!

I wore a military inspired outfit. Vintage 1970s dress with a little primark scarf.

Bethan wore her 'Will Power' T-shirt that she and me bought the previous day except mine is navy blue and gold (and better)

I took this photo after we had lunch in the car and I got slightly bored waiting for everyone to finish. I have more like this but Charlie and Bethan photo bombed them all, this one had a lucky escape.

The Rhinos again, looking slightly sad.

A Giraffe getting all up in my grill.

 

I love this photo.

You saw the head and now you can see the tail. Will I ever get a full picture of a Zebra?

And that concludes my Holiday in Birmingham, I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did.

Till next time folks,

Laura Lou x

I Have A Parcle!

Since Friday last week I have been biting my nails (not literally) waiting for something special to arrive in the post and yesterday it did! I was so overjoyed with it I couldn't wait to share it with you all.
And here is it! A 1970s lilac prom dress with purple ruffles.
Isn't it pretty? I think so, in fact I just love it my older sister on the other hand nearly spat her tea out when I showed her but to be honest her taste is questionable.

 

the dress has no label or tags as I'm pretty sure it was home made so I can't tell you what material it's made of however I can tell you it's very light to wear and feels lovely and quite silky although I'm pretty sure it's nothing at all like silk. in fact it's probably a very cheep man made alternative but hey ho it looks good.

 

I think the dress works particularly well with this 1940s hairstyle I was wearing yesterday (that I am also wearing today), yes?

 

This photo showcases my landing more than my dress but you get the picture.

I got this dress off Ebay for a lovely little price of £2!

Laura Lou x