Thursday, July 23, 2015

FABULOUS FURRY FEMME FATALES


A while back, myself and a bunch of my super fabulous friends were kicking back talking fashion 
(as we do) and we got to talking about FUR. 
Turns out that pretty much ALL of us have some sort of vintage fluff in our bulging wardrobes and yet we rarely wear it. 
Wearing fur is a tad controversial as there are quite a few people out there who really don't like the thought of draping themselves in the pelt of a dead animal.
I'm not going to get into that debate on here.  
My view is if you don't like it then don't do it. If you do like it then do it.  
Our group reached a consensus that vintage fur is ok. New fur is not.... but it depends on what the fur is and how the animal was killed.

Anyways.................

We were whining about how we never get to take our furs out.
"Well stuff that " I thought " I'll create a night that we CAN wear it without fear of having someone throw red paint on us".
So I created a Facebook event and pretty much invited every vintage 1950s loving dame on my FB list. I made the date of the soiree 11th July because last year it was recorded as the coldest day in 100 years.


This also provided me with the perfect excuse to buy MORE fabric. I was able to get the most devine 1950s leopard print velvet from the gorgeous Joy Taylor in Adelaide & so I set about making a cape, pencil skirt & pill box hat ensemble.
I used Vogue pattern 7505 for the cape & my favourite pencil skirt pattern Burda 8765.
For the hat I just bought one of those hat bases from Lincraft, ripped the hideous bow flower thing off and covered it in the fabric and hot glue gunned the shit out of the inside.




At 5pm we descended on Lefty's Old Time Music Hall. A fitting venue I thought because it is filled with taxidermy animals and it is also a gorgeous venue with nice big leather lounges to pose... I mean SIT on.
An early start time? Yes. So we could get out before all the young douche-bag hipsters and drunken hens parties arrive at around 9pm.  It's such a beautiful venue and it's just a nice place to kick back & listen to some old time country music like Charlie Pride & Hank Williams but I've found that since their opening the place's attitude has become very 'too cool for school'. It feels like unless you have a patchouli oiled beard, a man bun and skinny jeans you really feel like the staff are looking at you 'eww like whatever *hair flick*"

BUT..................  
STILL A VERY COOL PLACE TO GO AND IT HAS FANTASTIC LIVE BANDS PLAYING THERE ALL THE TIME.





It was just lovely to have the ladies fur-up and frock up.  It was great. We took over the top floor where we sprawled across the furniture and basically just chatted about stuff and things for about 4 hours.  Everybody looked so damned glamourous and beautiful. 
It was hard to take good photos because the venue is very dimly lit but after many experiments with flash settings we managed to capture a few keepers.




Thank you to everybody who came along.

I'm sure I'll think of another themed affair soon enough if you couldn't make it.



Stay hairy ladies
xoxoxoxoxo


Wednesday, July 15, 2015

"WOMEN HE'S UNDRESSED" Movie Premiere


Friday night, myself & the dames from Brisbane Vintage Mafia attended the premiere of the documentary "Women He's Undressed" at Palace Centro James St.
As usual, all the ladies looked absolutely stunning and created quite a stir with the other film goers oogling their beautiful frocks, furs & hats.
The documentary was directed by Gillian Armstrong is about the costume designer Orry-Kelly.

Orry-Kelly was a Hollywood legend, his costume designs adored by cinema’s greatest leading ladies – but in his home country of Australia his achievements remained unknown. 
He was the chief costume designer for Warner Bros. Studios from 1932 to 1944.
He worked on more than 300 films during his career.



The movie/documentary was just wonderful. It was very quirky, funny in parts ,part movie and part documentary with some fascinating interviews with people who worked with Orry-Kelly.



After the film there was a Q&A with Gillian Armstrong which was really interesting. 
I loved hearing her stories about behind the scenes of the making of this movie and, without giving too much away, her serendipitous connection she made with Orry-Kelly's family which was very funny and quite amazing.
It was also great to see Nicholas Inglis again after going to his Hollywood costume exhibition at the Brisbane Museum only a few months ago.   
He (naturally) owns a number of Orry-Kelly originals & had them on display. 


Penny, Gilllian Armstrong, Nicholas, Moi and Billie

Orry-Kelly himself seemed like a real character and even though he was extremely well known & admired in Hollywood during the "Golden" years, it appeared that he retained a real Aussie sense of humour and he was a bit of a larakin.
  The footage of all the movies in which he designed costumes (Some Like it Hot, 42nd Street, Casablanca and Auntie Mame just to name a few) had us dramtaically clutching our chests with loud 'oOOOOS and Arrrrrassss of appreciation". So much vintage fashion porn! 





Speaking of porn. I must say that there were a number of times that Billie and I clutched each others arms in flushed excitement at some of the vintage photographs of a young Carey Grant with his "room-mate" Randolph Scott. 
Oh my Oh my. 
I'm afraid my imagination was running wild with images of these two in .... 
well...... different scenarios. 



If you LOVE vintage clothing and movies from the 1930s-1960s you simply MUST go see this film.
Not only is it visually entertaining and fabulous , it is also a really interesting film about a 'famous' Australian that nobody in Australia seems to know about.
 He was Australia's most prolific Oscar winner, having won three Academy Awards for Best Costume Design.

ORRY-KELLY AT WORK



To see more photos from the night go to Weekend Edition: 

AND more at Fashion Weekly magazine:

PHOTO FROM FASHION WEEKLY MAGAZINE