Vintage Valentine: A Brief History

It is once again the run up to that special day when we shower our loved ones with gifts and trinkets and tell our close friends how much we treasure them so in honour of St Valentines Day I've decided to do a three part Vintage Valentines special.
Part one is the History of Valentines Day.


There is an awful lot of mystery surrounding saint Valentine and the history of Valentine's Day.
February has for so long now been celebrated  by people around the world as the month of romance, and St. Valentine's Day, as people know it today, has elements of  Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this special day?
 There are so many tales that tell how Valentines Day started, here are just a few of them.
"Three hundred years after the death of Jesus Christ, the Roman emperors still demanded that everyone believe in the Roman gods. Valentine, a Christian priest, had been thrown in prison for his teachings. On February 14, Valentine was beheaded, not only because he was a Christian, but also because he had performed a miracle. He supposedly cured the jailer's daughter of her blindness. The night before he was executed, he wrote the jailer's daughter a farewell letter, signing it "From Your Valentine." Another legend tells us that this same Valentine, well-loved by all, received notes to his jail cell from children and friends who missed him."
I like this one, it's dramatic and romantic, everything you want from a legendary tale.

" Another Valentine was an Italian bishop who lived at about the same time, AD 200. He was imprisoned because he secretly married couples, contrary to the laws of the Roman emperor. Some legends say he was burned at the stake."

I guess nobody really knows how it all started but it all lead to this...
1900s
In the 1900s racist humor was though of as funny and entertaining instead of disgusting and degrading as it is now.
I guess that's why people used to send cards like this to their Valentines...
 
 Luckily not all Valentines cards were like this. People also used to send more traditional romantic cards to their sweethearts like these...


 But not everyones Valentines were as sweet as these...

Also popular at this time were a sort of reverse valentines card. I suppose they were rather helpful in telling your stalker you weren't interested in their advances.

1940s

Of course recourses in the 1940s were limited both burning and after the war and the "make do and mend" spirit of people wasn't dying out any time soon. These days we can go and buy a new frock or some sexy underclothes for our valentines to appreciate but the ordinary women of the 1940s couldn't.

They would have had to stitch up the tears and rips in their best frock and make do with the recourses they had to plan their valentines night... That is of course if their valentine wasn't off fighting in the war.

Because there were a lot of men and women away a lot of valentine cards were military themed...

I personally love the top one its so adorable!

1950s

By the 1950s the war and hardships of rationing had mostly disappeared and things like materials, make up and men ;) we're easier to get hold of.

Here are some 1950s valentines cards...

 

And my personal favourite...

Aww :)

Along with these cards women would have received a box or chocolates, flowers, a sweetheart ring/brooch or other piece of jewellery or some perfume.

It's incredible how much Valentines day  has changed over the years, how different cards we receive are and the merchandise that is now available for us to spend our money on.

Well I promise not to leave my blog lying dormant for ad long as I did last time, I'll be back soon with another vintage valentine post but in the mean time I'd love to know what interesting valentines facts you know so leave a comment and enlighten me :)

Till next time folks,

Laura Lou x

Update

No don't have a heart attack it's just me laura lou blogging again (which I'm aware I haven't done since September and I'm very sorry and ashamed of myself) I've been so busy with work I've hardly had any social time and the social time I have had hasn't always been worth documenting. However having said that I do have some (not many) posts that need writing up with some lovely snap shots to go with them.

I just wanted to come on before chief as day and wish every single one of you the best Christmas and new year you could ever have.
If you want to keep up with what I'm doing the you can follow me on twitter (twitter name laurencarr17) Instagram (lauralouvintage) on I'm now on dayre which, for those of you who don't know, is sort of like a tiny little blog itself.
I'd love to follow you back and see what you're all getting up to this holiday season.


It's once again been short but sweet readers, I promise in the new year I'll be back to regular posts, enjo the holidays and everything you do in them.

Till next time folks,
Laura lou x

Outfit Post: Mixing Your Seasons

So it's September and the start of the erratic weather in Britain.

One moment it's hot then one moment it's cold! It is till important to dress fro the weather though, but I hear you ask, how can you when you don't know from one moment to the next if it will snow, rain or be as hot as the desert?

The only thing to do is mix and match your winter and summer wardrobes like I have.

Skirt- eBay

Jumper- H&M

Petticoat- eBay

Shoes- Primark

Bag- Primark

Skirts and jumpers are my new favorite thing, if I owned more of them I would wear that combo a lot more often.

 

 

I really liked the colour combination of this outfit, not too bright and not too dull.

It also looks snazzy in black and white ;)

Aren't we romantic?

Till next time Folks,

Laura Lou x

Beningbrough Hall

WARNING!

 There's not an awful lot of vintage in this post in fact there's almost non at all but still enjoy these pictures.

So on Sunday I ended up at Beningbrough Hall near York.

I was meant to go on Saturday and had this cute little Gingham outfit on but it rained so we changed our plans last minuet (at that explains why I look so drab in these photos).

As with most National Trust properties you sadly can't take photos inside, which is a real shame because they had this great WW1 exhibit on, so there's a lot of pictures of flowers and the outside of building coming up.

 The Victorian Laundry

 Bad photo... sorry

 The walled gardens really made me feel like I was in The Secret Garden

 Me looking an absolute mess, I made up for the outfit with some victory rolls though.

I might add that although you can't tell in this picture the sweater I'm wearing is really cute. It's H&M and only £7. It has a cute little button detail up the sleeves too.

That is all :)

 There were butterflies everywhere

 You also couldn't move without these darned hornets getting in your way.

 The back of the house which looks almost identical to the front.

Till next time folks,

Laura Lou x

Dreamboats and Petticoats

There are no dreamboats in this post however there is a petticoat. My very first petticoat!
I've always stayed away from petticoats because 1: I have always liked the natural fall of a swing dress/skirt and 2: I wasn't sure if I'd look stupid in one or not.
It turns out I don't though so I shall be wearing them a lot more often *bank account cries*.

This petticoat wasn't a bank breaker, I went onto my favorite internet shopping sight, yes eBay, and managed to find it for only £10.99 with free p&p!

Here's the outfit I wore it with.

Yes all the photos are in black and white again so I shall tell you the colours.

Red gingham Gypsy top (Primark years ago) and a vintage blue gingham circle skirt.

Also my pin curls turned out particularly well that day, I was rather pleased with myself.

Till next time folks,

Laura Lou x

Beamish Open Air Museum

We took a trip to Beamish open air museum.

No words, just pictures. I'm feeling lazy today.

Here we go....

Till next time folks,

Laura Lou x