Celebrity Vintage Spot

Scarlett Johansson wore this dress to the Venice premiere of The Black Dahlia.

If this is not vintage I swear to god I will faint on the spot!!

Black Dahlia is a film set in Los Angeles in the 40's and if this is an indication of what the wardrobe is going to be like then I am going to see it just to dress-watch!

I think it is fabulous and that she looks like an old hollywood movie star!

PS A few weeks ago I rented another of her movies - A Good Woman- fabulous film and suberb wardrobe - watch for the double dress at the big end scene - goes to show you how much the woman wearing the dress makes the look, not the other way around, no matter how fabulous said dress is

Here comes the fall...here comes the fall..la la laa laalaa

Girls it's a long weekend coming up and I am doing a HUGE overhaul and update over at the Shrimpton Couture Website.

All the summer frocks will be lovingly packed up for the season and the fall stock will be coming out in full force.

Now you may not realize this but I have a big collection, no make that a HUGE collection.

Literally racks of vintage

Racks and racks

Some days I go to photo and I just end up sitting there staring, undecided as to what to throw up on the site.

So I am asking you directly - what do you need in your closets this season? What decade is doing it for you? What colors do you want to wear? What shape do you want to see?

I want to hear from you! Tell me your wish lists!!

Celebrity Vintage Spot - At the Emmy's!

Annette Bening in a vintage Ceil Chapman silk satin sheath dress scattered in rhinestones.

Vintage and short at the Emmy's
Hmmmm.....think Miss Bening is her own ruler-maker?

Celebrity Vintage Spot

Here is Nicole Ritchie sporting yet another 70's maxi. What you can't see in this pic is that the entire front has a keyhole slit almost to the waist giving the look a much needed glimpse of skin to offset all that wonderful fabric.

Nicole is styled by Hollywood stylist Rachel Zoe and you can see more and more of Rachel's influence as time goes by and they work together. Rachel is a vintage devotee and often dresses her clients in vintage straight out of her own closets! She does this because it guarantees her clients exclusivity with their outfits - no side by side "who wore it best" in US magazine for her girls. By wearing "old" they tend to often look the "newest".

Irony huh?

But what do you guys think of this look? I tend to buy 70's dresses that are a little less literal interpretations of this time period. That high neckline and total head to toe coverage is straight out of that era. I think a little more skin at the neckline would soften this up and give it a more modern twist. However, as I said the camera angle is not showing the keyhole this dress has so its not a completely fair shot.

I do take issue with the shoes though. Besides that fact that those are the Louboutin's everyone lusted for this season, I personally would have styled this with a strappier open heel. Just for a bit more lightness and maybe a softer color too. These make your eyes go screeching down to the bottom of this ensemble and its hard to get back the lovely floaty feeling one had otherwise.

What do you think? Love it or hate it?

I have a case of Outfit Lust

Fabulous Julie from over at the Damn Good Vintage Blog, sent me this picture of Christina Aguilera today which she found posted at Go Fug Yourself. The usually sharp-tongued girls over at GFY, gave Christina a whole-hearted you look fabulous rating on this outfit.

I SO AGREE

If that red dress is not vintage, then some designer hit the ol' vintage vaults pretty damn hard and used tracing paper rather then a went for "inspiration" on this one. And it works and works well.

I am in Outfit Lust

You can bet that I will be going through my racks this weekend looking to pull off my own version of said ensemble. In various colors and fabrics.

So if over the weekend when I post new items on Shrimpton Couture, those new items look a touch "familar" to you - a sort of hmmm that silhouette looks like a certain red dress, trench combo something I just saw somewhere......., well then it will be our little secret.

Maybe at lunch today though.......you might just want to go find yourself a pair of leopard shoes

Just in case

musings & hermes bags

Today I pulled my most treasured possession out of my rather overloaded closet - my black vintage Hermes bag. It cost a bloody fortune and took years for me to build up the chutzpah to actually acquire it, but once it was mine it but was worth every penny.

If you are a true clothes girl like me, clothes often are a deliberate conscious decision. Selecting a certain jacket, a pair of shoes, the right handbag, can set the tone for what lays ahead in your day. Your attire can become your own personal set of armor, setting the way you will choose to deal with the world from the moment you step out that door. It can set your mood, change your walk, and make everything you do that day follow a certain rhythm. Whether done consciously like all of us little fashionistas do, or unconsciously, it is what it is.

Really, a Hermes bag is no different then any other well done bag. And to the Hermes collectors out there - yes, I know they are hand-made by a single craftsman, each stitch done just so and I know they are wait-listed and so are set apart from the norm, but what I mean is that for the very large majority of the population one bag when compared up against another means very, very little. Hate to break this to you - but TV land aside - the large majority of the world does not know one bag from the other, nor do they care.

Yes really, this is true.

But to the wearer - oh what a difference a bag can make. Carrying a well broken-in Hermes is like a shield. When you place it next to your chair, it reminds you that you have made it far enough along in life (on a monetary scale at least) to be able to justify its acquisition. It's like wearing pretty underwear - it does NOT matter if anyone else knows because YOU do. It's about having it for you, and who cares who else knows.

That is the type of shield I am talking about.

On a particularly challenging week - like the one I have had this week - it is a personal reminder that validity comes from within. Which seems contradictory at first, I know. How can validity come from within through an outward object? Well ....because.... if helping your own validity along means popping for an obnoxiously expensive bag, or a dress or whatever it is that does it for you, well at least that means you know yourself pretty damn well. And isn't that half the battle to self-validation right there?

Maybe that does not make sense and I know all the arguments about why spend that kind of money on a handbag are good arguments - trust me I have had them in my head - credit card in hand at the Neiman Marcus counter. And the more altruistic amongst you are probably thinking them in your heads right now. However - in our lives that seem to scoot by so very, very quickly, is it really wrong to surround ourselves by beautiful things?

If they are acquired simply as an exercise to spend money then you need to take a look at yourself. And if in acquiring them you put your bills or family in a bad position then you are just selfish. But if you work hard and use those things as a reminder of what you are and where you have come from, without attaching overt meaning to them - than does it really matter what they cost?

SHHHHHHH

Maybe I snuck in two new items for fall ....info coming soon

A Personal Note

So I am having this fashion personality change moment and decided to share.

See I am a 70's girl - I love Ossie Clark - Biba, floaty, silly dramatic clothes with sleeves that you have to hold as you reach across the table for fear of dunking them in the nearest saucy dish; necklines that plunge to the belly button - you know the ones that other woman raise their eyebrows at and men try to look everywhere but? Yep I am that girl. See Nicole in that outfit a couple of posts down? That's a typical let's-get-dressed-up-and-go-for- dinner-Cherie-outfit.

This picture of Jean Shrimpton...that is my idea of the perfect walk in the woods outfit. Uhmmm with heels

High ones

Sigh - OK, OK I know, I am high maintenance.

So that is me and it is firmly me but...........lately

I keep seeing Miss Christina in her pencil skirts, looking like a 1940's with a twist movie starlet

And Posh has been sporting the same look this season and *gasp* she actually looks good.

Like really good.

Sort of womanly, but in a Hollywood kind of way- a way that I have somehow gotten the urge to take for a ride and to give it a try.........

So suddenly, I am wearing 1940's pencil skirts and vintage tops that are skinny and fitted. And belts - wide, thick, in your face belts. I am me, but with curves. I am me, but with this sort of hip swingy thing going on cause I am wearing a tight skirt and my steps are smaller. I am me, but who suddenly has an ass and hips and a waist.

And it feels sort of good. Sort-of, kind-of, movie starish. Sort of a rebellion against the big over-sized shapes showing on the runways. It feels kind of put together and under control. Sexy but in a secret, controlled kind of sexy. A "you can look but not touch - unless of course I allow it", sexy kind of way.

Don't get me wrong, I still think the outfit that Jean wears at the top of today's post still works for a good jaunt in the woods, should one need to go jaunt in the woods. Afterall, one never knows when one might happen upon the perfect fallen tree upon which to pose and a Shrimpton Girl should always be prepared for just that type of situation should it arise.

But

For the city streets I think I will do some hip sashaying, girlie-girl pencil skirt fashion for a bit. Try it and see. It feels sort of "right"

But the high heel shoes - those stay. I may change fashion personalities once in a while but the heels...well those ARE me.

NEW STUFF!

Too sleepy to do write up so will just post pretty pics of some of the new items posted today at Shrimpton

Celebrity Vintage Spot

Love her or hate her
Nicole Richie looks fantabulicious in vintage Zandra Rhodes.
She is rocking the long 70's caftan look like a true Shrimpton Girl!

A Coutorture & Shrimpton Giveaway!!

I have partnered with Coutorture to bring you a fun contest to enter where you can win a Gift Certificate from moi!

You will be able to use this on either site and for anything your heart desires,
so enter away and good luck!

xoxoxox

-

An Ode to Pearls

Style.com is a daily stop for me - its a great site to keep up to date with what is happening on the runways and today the main page had one of my most favorite pics of Marilyn, looking smoking hot, running pearls through her teeth in an erotic nibble.

The article is a must read and more importantly a must see as it has a stunning, eclectic collection of photographs portraying some fabulous, strong & eccentric woman. In pearls of course.

Now I know pearls are not exactly the most happening things. They have some to symbolize a certain staidness... restraint ....and a sense of properness. Yet as this article points out, before stonecutting was invented it was actually the pearl that was the gem of choice for stylish women to display their wealth and opulence.

And oh.. how they wore them.....

The most fascinating element of the evolution of the pretty little pearl is how is has gone from an over-the-top expression of sex and in-your-face styling in the early turn of the century, to it's stylistic restraint demonstrated in the 50's and through to today with a tiny blip that harkened back to the Pearl's wilder days caused by the influence of Madonna in her Material girl days

I have a certain fascination for the 1920's and often wish I could time travel back to that period. Woman where a little wild back then. Surprisingly wild. They where surprisingly independent. They were fierce. Look at the photos in the spread of women like Marchesa Luisa Casati, or one of my personal favorites; Theda Bara. Women then, wore their pearls with wild abandonment. They wore them in abundance and in great long, looping coils that draped around the silhouette and glimmered in the light. There is a certain eroticism in the wearing of pearls so freely. It is almost sad to see the progression of the pearl go from those grandiose loops and gradually end up in a tight little two strand coils perched above a twin set.

So, I say go and buy yourself some really long loops of pearls, real or really good fauxs and get a little inspiration from the rule-breakers pictured. Take the reserve right back out of those pearls.

And maybe at some time during the day, whether publicly or privately, have yourself a little Marilyn moment and give them a nibble.

*sigh*

This patio worthy dress is still available at Shrimpton
add a cardigan and tights to transition into fall!
_______________________________________________________

I am getting tons of requests for fall items. And yes, I will start posting more pretties that can transition you into fall and yes I will start to move into some actual fall items. I will even start this very weekend for you.

But let's be clear that I do so reluctantly. I love summer. I am a summer girl. Give me sunshine, give me the ease of 5 minute dressing with a summer dress and a pair of heels. Give me an extra long lunch sitting on a patio with a handsome man in the hot summer sun and I say Fall? Phooey to fall.

Are we so well-trained by the fashion industry that we all are utterly compelled to buy for fall the minute the new fall stock hits the racks? And has anyone else noticed that this creeps up by a day or so every year? Soon we will be buying for fall the first official day of spring.

*sigh*

Don't get me wrong I am not anti-fall, it has it's own set of tactile pleasures; crisp mornings, light weight jackets that can change your look in seconds, tights with open toe shoes, the smell of wool close to your cheek as you are pulled into an embrace that makes you heart beat a little bit faster ......but all those work best when it is actually fall.

So yes, fall appropriate items are going to start to go up this weekend. But I am leaving summer ones up too for the next few weeks. I know you still want a pretty new summer dress at the end of the season - right? One that is fresh and crisp and has not sat on a rack for 6 months and been tried on a gazillion times? One you can get and wear one or 2 more glorious times before you tuck it carefully away, ready to pull out for next spring. I know I do, and I figure there are probably at least a girl or two out there like me. So for you they will be there.

I never did follow rules well and ones made by an ambiguous industry that tries to tell me to follow trends to look like women most of us never will look like is certainly not very high on my list to try to behave and follow their rules for.

Nope, not going to happen.

So its still summer at Shrimpton and in amongst the new fall items there might just pop up a pretty summer dress you have not seen yet.

Afterall, I have a few more patio lunches to do yet - you?

Celebrity Vintage Spot

I am cruising the net last night and came across some older posts of the MTV Movie awards and see the stunning Eva Mendes in that plunging red dress she wore. You know how sometimes you see something and it's not till way later that your brain clicks in and you have an Ahh haa moment?

Well chalk one of those up for me last night. Sure enough, after about 15 minutes of cruising around I found a notation attributing her dress as vintage. But of course I knew that already because I have what is basically the same dress in a print. Now I love red and I love Eva's dress, but one does have to be in a "red" moment to wear it. My pastel version is a teeny tiny bit more discreet.
Yeah yeah..Ok, a dress cut to the navel is hard pressed to be described as discreet, but you know what I mean.

HUGE NEWS

I am very happy to tell you that I have just opened my new lingereie & accessories store

Shrimpton Couture II

Please go visit - there are lots of items still to add and many more shopping categories will be added over the next few weeks as well

I have done a big update at Shrimpton Couture - lots of pretty new dresses!

Celebrity Vintage Spot

August Vogue featured recent Best Actress Tony winner LaChanze in their
"life with andre" section. La Chanze won the golden statue for her stellar performance in The Color Purple.

I was amused to read that they thought it "so cool" that the dress they took to be the most modern looking of the evening, actually ended up being from the great spanish couturier Pertegaz.

Tsk, Tsk, Vogue, you of all people should know the roots of all modern fashion lie in the past and that past was often far, far ahead of its time as illustrated so very well in this little beauty.

A Shrimpton Girl knows vintage is the secret to standing out at any occasion - Huge & kisses LaChanze & a HUGE congratulations!

HOW TO WEAR IT

Let's talk vintage at the office.

Start with a 1960's printed shift dress. This one is a silk glazed cotton that is hand-blocked in basic black and white and has a pretty inverted empire waist line - flatters just about every figure

Add a shoe like these Prada Mary-Janes. I like these because they are work appropriate, but still take advantage of the crazy ass trend we are having for platforms - which, personally I love - the higher the better for me. But platforms at the office? This height will work.

For the bag let's do white - yes you can grab your fave black bag but it is more interesting to mix it up and play against the black & white print of the dress.

A big frame bag from Miu Miu has the right shape and is big enough to lug around all the crap us commuting girls need for the day. Plus it is in your face bold, and I like the impact and statement that makes.

So far it has taken us what 5 minutes to get dressed? Dress on and zipped, shoes slip on and buckle, grab the bag. Now you need sexy shades. Let's do vintage for those and go with Ted Lapidus with gold edges - if these look familiar it's because yes, these are the ones Nicole Ritchie made famous! These will be available on my upcoming accessories site!

The final perfect touch? Tie a classic Hermes scarf around the handle of the bag and add a splash of color by going with an unexpected red print. Having a scarf on your person gives you that perfect pop of color to add interest, and more importantly, you will have the perfect accessory to tie over your locks just in case you just happen to decide to say screw work,
I look just too damn good! And spend the rest of the day tooling around in your convertible!

GOING GOING GONE - A shameless plug

Last chance to bid in three stellar items ending tonight - click the Shrimpton on Ebay link for details
(three NEW items were also listed last night!)


-Top to bottom-

1920's silk panne and lace incredible deco flapper dress

1930's silk panne velvet gown in brilliant coral

1940's pristine snow white Irish Crochet top

These are incredible one-of-a-kind finds that end TONIGHT!

Wearing vintage in a heatwave

JUST DON'T DO IT

Hah, bet that caught you off-guard huh?

Seriously, to wear a 40 or 50 or *gasp* a pristine 70 or 80 year old garment in the heat a lot of us are going through is just plain being mean to that poor garment.

Yes, we want to look cute and yes, I know you look really cute in your 50's frock and YES, I know you look really, really cute and sexy in it.....

..but darling you will sweat - yes I said the ugly word - choose to substitute perspire of you must; either way hot humid weather means little rings under the arms and breasts. And god forbid you are a self-tan addict like moi.

I swear, if I see your carefully tanned ass perspiring prettily away in one of MY 50's frocks I will pick you up myself and carry you into the nearest air conditioned shop. Though the shop will have cute shoes of course. Consider yourself warned.

So if you swear not to have self-tanned in at least 2 days and you swear to run from heat to air conditioning whenever you can, then you may wear vintage if you must, BUT you better follow one rule:

THE RULE - Rinse it out as soon as you take it off. And don't even go there if you just responded that you are wearing a dry clean only garment. No, if you must, go ahead and wear your pretty, sexy cotton frock, but when you get home rinse it out in yummy smelling lavender lingerie wash and let it air dry.

Please
Pretty pretty please

I have had to pass on so many lovely, wonderful garments because of the dreaded underarm markings, that it has literally brought tears to my eyes.

Yes we sweat, yes it gets hot, yes sometimes you just MUST sit out on a patio in the sun and flirt with boys, which hopefully makes you sweat a teeny bit more if you are with the right boy. OK I get that part

But rinse later

Please

Your vintage beauties will thank you - I personally will adore you and all the beautiful woman who passed down their treasured dresses and who loved and where loved in them will silently smile their approval