I first came across Violetville and their Ebay store back in 2008, and was immediately impressed by the calibre and quality of the pieces they have on offer. All the things that are rarities, even in the best vintage stores here in Australia. Frothy prom dresses, immaculately tailored 1940’s suits, beautifully embroidered 1930’s evening gowns and highly covetable YSL. I have a small heart attack every time I visit their store from the sheer fabulousness of it all!
I’ve featured my Violetteville crushes here before. Pieces I just fell in love with and had to share. But today’s outfit is something extra special…a 1930’s Honeymoon gown courtesy of Miss Tina herself at Violeville.
So what is all this about winning a gift voucher to the Violetville store? All you need to do is to add youself to the all new Violetville mailing list and you’ll be entered to win a $50 USD gift voucher to spend in the store!Click here to enter and then just leave me a comment on this post.
Entires close on the 18th Feburary and the winner will be choosen by a random number generator.
You don’t have to do any fancy tricks for this one – just become a part of the stunning world of Violetville!
** This contest is now closed. You are welcome to add yourself to the mailing list, but this no longer consitutes an entry**
Of course I had such a lovely time in this gown I couldn’t resist putting together a little montage for you….
I’ve been asked the question recently about where to buy vintage in Singapore? I haven’t had the opportunity to do a totally exhaustive investigation, but when I get the chance to spend a week or two doing nothing but visit Singapore’s vintage scene, you’ll be the first to know!
In the meantime I thought I’d let you know about two favorites that I actually have had a chance to visit.
I came across Dust Bunny when hunting online for some examples of good quality vintage bags. I was so impressed with their range and variety as well aas the calibre of what they had. I was thrilled last week to receive an email telling me that they have just revamped not only their online store but their real world store too, and now have over 700 sq feet full of vintage dresses, hats, shoes, bags and jewelry! That is a lot of vintage! Not only do they have so much stock that you’ll need to spend the day there and take a packed lunch,but they even offer inhouse alterations and customisations. So no more buying something that just ends up living in your project pile for a year. If you’re looking for great iconic 1970’s, a bit of Philip Lim or Alexander Wang, then this is the place to be.
They can be found at :
Blk 112 #01-203 Bukit Purmei Road, Singapore 090112
As I wandered through Haji Lane (a must do expereince for tourists in Singapore I’m told), I came across a delightful little store where a ginger cat wandered around my feet and another snoozed on the window sill. It was calm, light and airy; something not often associated with vintage stores, but in the case of Dulcet Fig they have the perfect mix of old and new. Everything is well displayed and can be clearly seen, so no digging around is necessary. They carry both their own Dulcet Fig label as well as a selection of vintage. The vintage pieces consist mainly of cute little 1970’s frocks and a good range of accessories.
Dulcet Fig can be found at 41 Haji Lane, Singapore
If you have any favorite vintage stores in Singapore you’d like to recomend, then please leave me a comment. But they must actually carry vintage to make it onto my list, not just second hand or vintage inspired. If I get a good enough list together then perhaps there may be another investigative trip on the horizon sometime soon!
What are your experiences with vitnage in Singapore? Can you find what you want or if you’re a real vintage lover like me, do you simply look online for everything you need?
There are a number of books out there on vintage clothing; the buying, collecting and books full of eye candy. I have most of them. But the latest book on vintage to grace my shelf is a special one for a number of reasons.
Love Vintage is the first offering from Australia’s authority on vintage clothing, Nicole Jenkins. With over thirty years experience as a collector,vintage seller, costumer and fashion historian; Nicole shares a wealth of knowledge in her book that is unmatched. Beginning with a look at the revolutionary fashions of the 1920’s and the historical influences utilized in their design, we are guided through a rich and fascinating journey.
Nicole Jenkins in her store Circa Vintage Clothing
The book looks at key designers from each era, their signature pieces and influence on others around them. But this isn’t a purely academic study, rather one of the most useful tools in a vintage fashion collectors arsenal. It does not simply deal with the iconic silhouettes we all know and love, but takes you through the intricate details of the designs of each decade; going so far as to help you identify the differences between shoulder pad designs of each decade.
It is a visual feast of fabrics, patterns and colours; highlighting the common shades and fabrics used in each era as well as some of the keys to identifying pieces for their true age. I particularly love the use of the colour advertising plates from fashion magazines of the 1930’s, but it does leave me a bit wistful that I can’t just pop out to the store and pick up these pieces.
It isn’t a book exclusively of high fashion or high end designers, but takes us from beautiful Balenciaga through to 1950’s cotton atomic print house dresses ( a personal favorite). It is stunning and useful, in matter of fact stunningly useful! The book has something for everyone who is even remotely interested in vintage fashion. If you are looking to begin a serious collection it has all the names, labels and styles to look out for. It has tips on mending and cleaning, and even better it has illustrations!
Although I’m tempted to show you inside the book, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. If you only buy one book to help you in your vintage fashion collecting, this is the one you should have. It is so good I want to hug it!
I spoke with Nicole about Love Vintage and about our passion for vintage fashion…
Just click the link to listen here or to download the podcast
Do you ever have those dreams, those perfect dreams where you find yourself in a charity shop full of vintage couture that is all for sale for $1? Well I do. But for one woman, this dream pales in comparison to her reality. Meet Charlotte Smith, custodian of the Darnell Collection and author of the new book Dreaming of Dior. Charlotte inherited a collection of over 3000 pieces of vintage couture from her godmother a number of years ago. Not only was this a treasure trove of fashion, but of history, of women and of life. During her lifetime of collecting, Charlotte’s godmother Doris had painstakingly cataloged the stories of each garment as told to her by the original owners and their families. Dreaming of Dior shares that story with you, inspiring you to create your own suitably attired narrative.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Charlotte and seeing pieces from the collection of various occasions; it is truly heart stopping. So before you sit down to savour this delicious gem (not greedily devour it as I did in my eagerness – I’m a notorious speed reader), take a little time to relax and enjoy a moment of fantasy as I talked with Charlotte about her dreams of Dior.
This is the very first Super Kawaii Mama Podcast – so feel free to listen, download and take it to enjoy on your weekend road trip. Just click the link to listen.
If I can go by the number of emails I receive on this topic, it is A LOT!
It seems that even with all the technology, fancy fabrics, multitude of designs and brands names at our disposal, we still can’t find the perfect pair of knickers. Well I’m tired of a drawer full of underwear I never wear, tired of them creeping where they don’t belong, leaving nasty red marks on my body, and VPL’s. All those ones that promise no VPL’s only work for me because they disappear to where they aren’t meant too! Seriously, it can’t be that hard right?
Over the last few months, I’ve been on a quest to find the perfect pair of everyday underwear. I’m not looking for fancy, I’m not looking for overtly sexy, and I’m certainly not looking for something that will break the bank. What I had in mind was something that hugged and supported my body nicely, and didn’t leave me tugging at them. Something I could just throw in the machine and know that wouldn’t kill them, and something that had a great retro vibe.
I do own a few pairs of some very fancy, high waisted vintage styled numbers; and while they are beautiful, their prices tags weren’t. Yes, worth it for what they were, but certainly not something you’d fork out for ten pairs of just for every day. I had a picture in my mind of pants that looked great with my vintage long line bras. Something that covered my butt properly, and were cute enough to wander around in while getting dressed.
Then Bonds came out with a cracking ad campaign featuring Sarah Murdoch looking all 50’s glam. It wasn’t just her look that made my heart skip a beat, but what she was wearing! Was it my holy grail of undies? It was the Bonds Cottontail –revamped. Ohh, maybe this was it!
I raced out and promptly got myself a pair to try, and here are the pro’s and cons I came up with.
Pro’s: Good fabric composition, nice stretch, fabric memory, more “body” space. Con’s: Not really high waisted enough for a full retro feel. The big wide branded elastic waist band – well, I’m not a fan. I like a nice flat stretchy waist band, and I understand the trend, but putting this on women’s pants gave them a strong masculine vibe that was contrary to the whole retro, girly styling I was looking to achieve.
Okay, so they weren’t a total winner, so I decided to revert to the originals. I’d never worn Cottontails before, as they seemed to be marketed to a very different demographic, but what the hell – it was a quest right?
So I got my white cottontails home, irrationally excited by the prospect of trying out a pair of undies that have been Nana’s favorites for years. I held them up, marveling at their size – what the hell would the neighbours think seeing these on the washing line?? But you know what, I put them on and my doubts melted away. I was instantly transformed into a 1950’s saucy housewife type; a Betty Draper getting ready for a day with the kids. There was nothing in the least revealing about them, but it was the way they looked like a pair of retro shorts that made it work. The cut was high enough to reach my belly button (no hipsters for me), and the legs actually fitted under my butt, giving it a nice perkiness. (Stop me if this is too much information). In fact I was so pleased with the overall styling, that that evening, while watching T.V with the Mr., I decided to hang out in my underwear and sheer robe to see what kind of reaction they got. Let’s just say – A Big Thumbs Up!
So, all is going well, but being the perfectionist I am, I wanted to test how they would wear after a wash or two. The original Cottontails are just that, Cotton. So the fabric memory wasn’t the best, and while they still fitted, they didn’t have quite the snap back I was looking for to keep a nice smooth silhouette. But would that stop me in my tracks? No, I hopped onto the Bonds website and filled in a customer feedback form. I don’t know about you, but when I send those things off I always imagine them ending up in a virtual trash bin and only an auto response ever being sent. But kudos to Bonds, not only did they answer my email, they organized a phone conference with their development team to get my feedback!
The team was brilliant, filling me in on all the details of the whole Cottontails range. I had no idea there were so many to choose from. So we chatted about what it was I was searching for, the pro’s and con’s of those I had tried; and they decided to send me out samples of the whole range to trial. I have to hand it to them, that is dedication to customer satisfaction and I was infinitely impressed.
Here is what I’ve learnt. Cottontails were designed in 1955 and their design has not been altered since. There are variations in stores with different finishes, lace trim and extra lycra, but essentially the pattern remains the same. Bonds has kept with tradition (unlike so many other companies) and provided a product that is unchanged from the design that Nana wore as a little girl. And while the technology may be shy of what I have come to expect from modern lingerie, you couldn’t get a more authentic piece of vintage underwear on regular supply if you tried!
So taking into consideration that Cottontails are made to fit a certain size range (I was in the smallest size) and reach a much older demographic than myself, I had to understand what was happening with each pair. The pedantic scientist in me even made charts for comparison! The results are this: For me there was one clear winner in the group. It fitted my body shape, size and stood up to all the washing, the wear and tear and still looked Retro Sexy at the end of one months wear. TheCottontail with Extra Lycra comes out on top. It has a nice wide banded leg that fits under your butt in a way that means it will not disappear inconveniently. The waist is high for extra retro points, and it comes in basic colours with no fancy trim so it is easy to wash without fear of fading, tearing or losing some delicate piece.
Yes, I’ll still be forking out the big money for the special occasion pieces, but for a day to day, vintage underwear look I think I’ve found the best solution currently on the market.
That is until Bonds and I collaborate on the Candice DeVille Cottontail range! (have your people call my people)*wink*
Update: You can find the range of Cottontails with Lycra at Big W stores. Sizes 14 – 26, in Black, White and a light beige for $10.32. I went and checked personally today as it seems their marketing department is not interested in getting back to me. If I find a US or UK supplier, I’ll let you know!
N.B: This post was in no way sponsored by Bonds. They were kind enough to help me in my quest and give me full permission to reproduce their images here. Please do not use any of these images without their express permission.
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