the fabulous marilyn monroe

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Marilyn Monroe was born in LA on June 1, 1926 and tragically died in LA on August 5 1962, aged only 36.

Her true name was Norma Jeane Mortensen and her childhood was troubled. Her Mother was eventually placed in an institution for the mentally ill and she spent much of her childhood years in foster care, where she was allegedly abused.

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This led to her dropping out of high school at 15 and getting married for the first time at the age of only 16 in the summer of 1942.

By the time her husband returned from the Army in 1946, Marilyn had a successful modelling career and had created her stage name, Marilyn Monroe. Her marriage could not withstand her career and she both signed her first movie contract and her first divorce papers later that year. 

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Marilyn's acting career, however, did not take off properly until the 1950's. Niagara (1953) attracted a lot of attention, after Marilyn portrayed a woman trying to kill her husband, with the help of her lover. 

In 1954, she married baseball star Joe Demaggio - but divorced him only 9 months later, stating career clashes. In 1956, she married Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman) - then divorced for the third time, in 1961. She also famously dated Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.

During many of her early 50's films, Marilyn played frivolous, comedic roles - something she quickly tired of and wished to be taken more seriously as an actress. She moved to New York in 1956 and embarked on more serious roles; before taking part in comedies again during the late 50's. 

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It was a good move - she won a Golden Globe for her part in Some Like it Hot (1959).

In 1961, she filmed her last ever completed movie, The Misfits, which did not do well at the Box Office. She went on to start filming Something's Got to Give in 1962... but was released from her contract, due to missing too many days of shooting. By this point, Marilyn had a reputation for being fabulous, effervescent and always, always late.

In May 1962, it was rumored that Marilyn was having an affair with John F. Kennedy, after she sang  the iconic Happy Birthday Mr President at his birthday party.

On 5 August, 1962, Marilyn was found dead in her LA home, with a bottle of sleeping pills. Though the official cause of death was cited as an overdose, there has been much speculation as to whether she was murdered due to her rumored involvement with JFK. 

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Marilyn's burial was as glamorous as the persona she had created - she was buried in a Pucci dress, in a heavy bronze casket lined with oyster colored silk, known as a Cadillac Casket. Her second husband, Joe Dimaggio, had red roses delivered to her grave for 20 years.

Now, 50 years later, Marilyn is not only remembered for her films, but for her sharp wit, playful nature and the sheer epitome of glamour that she was. 

Marilyn Monroe week

Hello Vintage Dames and Dudes!

We should be saying Happy Monday - but we know we are rather tardy types; as hard as we try not to be!!

However, this is an important week on the blog though and we wanted to get it started with a playlist from this week's theme - the iconic Marilyn Monroe, who really needs little introduction. 

We'll be updating again later with more wonderful Marilyn-themed posts.

60s mod movement

We're having a party this week on the blog, celebrating dance eras through the decades. We've talked 70's Disco and 90's Rave.... today it's the turn of the swingin' 60's!

The Mod movement is seen by some as one of the most powerful fashion influences in the 21st Century. For the first time, girls were dressing like young women, instead of wearing more petite versions of what they Mother's wore.

The word 'Mod' was an abbreviation for Modernist, which emerged during the 50's and usually referred to Jazz fans. There was a wild Bohemian culture in London at the time, with Beatnik coffee houses entertaining art students until the small hours of the morning.

vintage go go boots // shop

Young people wanted to be on the cutting edge of fashion. They started to embrace anything that went against the tradition of their parents and the sweet, pure popiness of the 50's. Mini skirts, thigh high boots, streamline clothing and bold colours.

60s mod dress // shop

Famous designers of the Mod era included Mary Quant for the girls (the mini skirt) and Ben Sherman for the boys.

Suddenly, it was acceptable for heterosexual men to take an interest in fashion and boy, did they love anything Italian and French. The Kinks even wrote their hit 'Dedicated Follower of Fashion' about the Mod movement.

mod 60's bag // shop

Women often had short haircuts, wore heavy eyeliner and pale lips. Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy were huge style influences of the time.

Both boys and girls would listen to bands like The Who, Yardbirds and Small Faces, alongside modern Jazz and early RnB. Whilst The Beatles looked Mod in their early days, they weren't popular with the Mod crowd until it after the look became commercialised. 

bright 60's micro dress // shop

Scooters became popular because public transport stopped around 11pm and young Mods wanted to stay out later. Italian brands like Vespa and Lambretta were like 1960's iPhones!

Swanky dance moves included The Swim (think Pulp Fiction), The Locomotion, The Mashed Potato, The Twist and The Shimmy. It was no longer about learning steps with a partner, but more about learning brief, faddish routines with friends.

geometric mod earrings // shop

Go Go Dancers were coined during the 60's, when women were employed to dance on podiums, usually in long boots, and entertain the crowds. Carol Doda was the most famous 1960's Go Go Dancer; dancing at the Condor Club in the Beatnik North Beach neighbourhood of San Francisco. It's pretty rare to see Go Go Dancers in clubs now, unless you go to a gay bar, where the tradition lives on!

monochrome scarf // shop

During the early to mid 60's, true Mod was at its peak. After 1966, Mod started to become commercialised, with 'Mod' clothing being mass produced by large companies. 

Like many youth-led movements, such as the Flapper Girls of the 20's, the followers grew up, got married, had children and made way for a new generation of style and music. Psychedelia and rock started to take over and the original Mod bands began to change their style as, they too, grew older. 

60s pea coat // shop

In the UK, Mod experienced a revival in the 90's with the Britpop scene, through bands such as Pulp and Blur. Though the original Mod movement may be over, it's really not difficult to see why the sharp lines and futuristic silhouettes of the time are still sought-after today!

And ok, let's admit it... we've all done The Swim or The Twist on a night out... haven't we?

70s disco fashion

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Recovered from yesterday's rave yet, Vintage Dames and Dudes?

Put down your whistle and slip on your platforms: it's 70's Disco fashion time!

70's disco dress // shop

Disco reigned until the late 70s and became popular in New York and Philadelphia before spreading through other cities, such as San Francisco and Miami, as well as Europe. 

Disco music included artists like Donna Summer, The Bee Gees, Jackson 5, Gloria Gaynor and of course - The Village People!

vintage platform disco shoes // shop

Fashion-wise, we're talking pure hedonistic fun - loud, trippy colours, spandex, high-waists, sequins, metallics, glitter, hotpants, jumpsuits, gold lame, bell bottoms, chunky shoes and bling jewelry.

70's gold necklace // shop

Nightclubs were popular and of course, required a dresscode. The laid-back vibes of the 60s had passed and as technology and fashion became increasingly accessible, the focus was on style status. If you wanted to Disco, you had to look the part.

disco jumpsuit // shop

Like the Rave fashion of the 90s, Disco fashion was a costume for the clubs. It was clothing that came out at night time. A casual girl who wore a peasant dress during the day would transform into a Glamazon Queen once the sun went down, sporting a white spandex jumpsuit and sky-scraping platforms. 

disco halter // shop

The term 'disco' came from the French 'discotheque', which meant 'disc only' - i.e. no live music. Disco began as a subculture and became a sign of the times. Unfortunately, racism and homophobia were still rife after the 'free love' sexual revolution of the hippies in the 60's. Black and gay communities found a place in Disco. After the release of Saturday Night Fever, Disco achieved popularity across the races, genders and sexual-preferences.

pink disco dress // shop

Female sexuality was beginning to be embraced more openly than in previous decades. Donna Summer released Love To Love You Baby, which contained simulated orgasm sounds. It was never intended for release, but nightclubbers of the Disco scene loved it. The promiscuity of the 60's continued into the 70's, women wore micro skirts, skintight clothing and began to embrace sexuality in a way that only men had done before. Nightclubs became hunting grounds: it wasn't just about dancing, it was about preening, strutting and parading - from both genders.

70's red jumpsuit // shop

Disco started to filter out in the late 70's, in favour of Dance and Electronic music, Rock and Punk. Despite a move away from the scene, Disco has remained an iconic period to this day, with plenty of nightclubs offering Disco nights or even Disco rooms. 

vintage disco ball // shop

90s rave fashion

Blow your rave whistles, Vintage Dames and Dudes!

Yes, the 90's are officially vintage. 

rave light bra // shop

Well, anything up to 1993, that is.

We're in a partying kind of mood this week and there's no better place to start than the fantastic bold neons of the 90's.

smiley hoodie // source 

The term 'rave' was actually coined in the 50's to describe wild Bohemian parties of the era. It was also used throughout the 60's, due to the emergence of psychedelia and drug use. 

vintage rave leggings // shop

In the late 80's, with the exploration of electronic music, Acid House music came onto the scene. Drugs and partying were still synonymous with each other and there was something of a psychedelic-electronic revival in the form of yellow smiley faces, bright neon colours, tie dye and various clubbing accessories such as dummies/pacifiers on long ribbons, white gloves, whistles, glowsticks and bum bags... ( or fanny packs in the US; which will make our UK friends laugh)... 

vintage rave windbreaker // shop

Rave dancing was free-moving, due to the type of repetitive, electronic beat and the high drug use. It was, in short, about throwing your arms in the air and not really caring whose sweaty face you hit with your elbows - hence bum bags / fanny packs, which clipped around the waist and kept all the clubbing essentials out of harm's way!

neon bumbag / fanny pack // shop

White gloves and glowsticks were used to create 'trailers' - lines of white that dragged in the air under the strobe lights in the dark. Especially when ravers did moves like Big Box, Little Box. Don't know what we're talking about? Look here.

vintage neon mesh top // shop

Ecstasy was one of the most popular rave drugs and it had the unfortunate side effect of making teeth chatter... so dummies were used to calm the mouth... (nice). 

Raves themselves were often huge events, drawing in crowds of 30,000 people or more. Criminal Justice Legislation in the early 90's pushed them underground, to warehouses, fields and large houses in the middle of the country.

neon green rave earrings // shop

Due to the legislation, Police Officers were permitted to stop anyone who looked as if they were going to a rave and were also able to shut down large open air raves on the grounds of noise pollution and drug abuse. 

nu wave tee // shop

Alas, the rave movement was, for the most part, given an early curfew - but vintage-inspired Nu Rave neons seem to have a revival every summer to this day!

Carolina Beach Style

It's Rock n Roll Sunday with the Dames

Today we are celebrating the beach sounds and styling of Carolina Beach Music.  Beach music is still heard and appreciated to this day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and had it's own styling to go along with it.  

The ladies would wear crop pants and crop tops, garden party tea length floral dresses, head bands and flat or low heeled leather bottomed shoes a bit of early geometric mod lines tossed in here and there.  

Pink Silk Clam Diggers // Shop

1960's Floral Day Dress // Shop

1960's Yellow Houndstooth Crop Top // Shop

The gentlemen usually wore clam diggers or slacks of a light shade and checked or stripped button down cotton shirts with loafers. 

Vintage Men's Plaid Shorts // Shop

Short Sleeve Men's Button Down Shirt // Shop

The flat smoothed leather bottomed shoes were great for the celebrated dance of the time The Carolina Shag.  

Vintage Yellow Mod Shoes // Shop

1960's Loafers // Shop

West Germany Costume Jewelry

Hello Vintage Dames and Dudes!

Continuing our week of celebrating costume jewelry, we thought we'd talk a little about some of the fabulous creations that came out of one country in particular: West Germany.

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Costume jewelry from West Germany is particularly desired by vintage enthusiasts. Firstly, because they created fantastic quality pieces; secondly because the presence of the name helps to date the jewelry - something that can be tricky with other signatures - and finally, because pieces from that time period are becoming scarcer in the modern world.

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In 1949, Germany split into East and West Germany and remained that way until 1990; when they merged to form Germany again. 

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In terms of dating - pieces marked 'Germany' are pre-1949 or post 1990.

Those made in 1949 are marked:

• Western Zone Germany
• American Zone Germany
• W. Germany
• Made in West/ern Germany
• German Democratic Republic (for Eastern Germany)

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Most costume jewelry from Germany was made between the 1920's and 50's.

In terms of style, jewelry produced in West Germany was often bold and bright. Plastic was extremely popular and cluster earrings are quite quintessential to Western Germany.

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alright Dames... those hep cats and kittens sure do sound smooth... tell us more!

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Well, let's start by explaining what swing music is all about. It actually started in the mid-twenties, as an evolution of Jazz. The roots are African and European. It started to become popular in the mid-30's and really hit off around 1945. 

Rockabilly and rock n' roll were influenced by swing music - especially the lively dancing. If you missed it, you can get a taste with the playlist and video on our earlier post.

swing dancers

Now, let's talk fashion!

The hedonistic 20's and early 30's were over... the Second World War began in 1939 and this meant that fabric and metal were scarce - in some parts of the world, even rationed. Simple designs came into fashion. 

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Jewelry manufacturers stopped using pot metal and switched to silver and gold, as well as celluloid during the 40's. 

Silk and nylon were restricted, as was leather. This mean that stockings were hard to come by and canvas shoes were popular. It also saw the rise of wooden and cork heels.

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Though fabric was rationed, designers began using a small amount of extra fabric to build shoulder pads in women's clothing. This had a two-fold effect - it was a proud, no-nonsense, patriotic look, as well as a way of creating more interest on an outfit when jewelry was slowing in production.

Blue and red were very popular colors - very likely because of their resemblance to the American flag during the time of the war. Khaki shades were used copiously by the military and so dye in that color was not readily available to the masses.

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Since more women were entering the workforce, with many of the country's men away at War, pants became acceptable, for practical reasons.

American designers had previously looked to Paris for inspiration. During the War, American designers became more original and created the casual look that much of America is known for today.

Co-ordinates were a bit part of this. The idea was to make it possible to make as many outfits as possible out of just a few items of clothing.

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Underwear separates were also becoming popular. Bloomers, in particular, were a necessity for girls who liked to swing dance!

The simple, clutter-free, yet elegant and feminine fashions of the mid 30's - 40's lent themselves perfectly to the energetic moves of swing lovers. Little, or no, jewelry; dresses that flattered the body with a simple silhouette; fabric that allowed free movement; shoes with ankle straps for sturdy strutting.

We'll spend the rest of the week looking at more swing related fashion and history, as well as chatting to a rather nice bunch of English boys who are definitely having fun keeping swing music alive and kicking!

the fabulous Coco Chanel

“There have been several Duchesses of Westminster but there is only one Chanel!” ~Coco Chanel 

(said upon rejecting the Duke of Westminster's proposal...)

Coco Chanel // source

In the 1920’s Coco Chanel established herself as a fashion force by introducing the world to 

some of the most prominent ideas to change modern styling in women’s clothing.  She was a strong, confident woman who took charge of her life and the cards that were dealt her, while molding herself into a classy and elegant woman of style and taste.

1924-1926 Evening Dress

Chanel’s beginnings were humble and far from the opulence that we now associate her with.  She was born into poverty and by the time she was twelve years old had been abandoned along with her sisters, by their father, at a convent in central France.  This would be were she first picked up needle and thread and learned the craft that would make her a Fashion Icon.  

1927 Art Deco Coat

From the convent she found herself working as a seamstress by day and a café singer at night, where she would meet men of luxury and wealth that would help her elevate herself through socioeconomic boundaries.

1927-1928 Silk Evening Ensemble

As a licensed milliner she opened a shop in 1910 at 21 rue Cambon in Paris, she created the little boater, a type of trimmed hat that would remain popular for fifty years and was perfect for outdoorsy and sporty wealthy women.  

1929 Silk and Wool Ensemble

Women of means and leisure of this time period lived in very restrictive clothing, Chanel adapted clothing from her lovers to enjoy outdoor sporting activities and this would be come the inspiration for her future designs. Casual elegance meant goodbye to corsets and restrictive clothing, she would go on to adopt the use of a material that, until 1916, was only used for men’s undergarments.  Jersey became a hit with fashionably active women and the Chanel Suit became a staple in the elegant society woman’s wardrobe.

1927 Silk Evening Dress

By the 1920’s Chanel’s boyish fashions and her own personal short bobbed hairdo spawned a look for the next generation.  It was unrestrictive, unique, and appealed to the wild rebellious spirit of the liberated young women of this era.  Chanel would guide and help define the iconic flapper style.  

1926 Silk Evening Dress

In 1924 along side the Wertheimer brothers Chanel Parfums came into existence with the introduction of the classic Chanel No. 5.  1926 was the birth of the “little black dress” that is a must in any woman’s closet.  She elevated the color black from funerary wear to become the sophisticated standard in evening attire that we love to this day.  By 1929 she had introduced the world to women’s everyday trousers giving women the same unrestricted freedom of movement that until this time was a luxury only men were afforded.

1927-28 Silk Evening Dress

During the 30’s and 40’s Chanel would fall out of fashion due to her politics and personal life during a war torn Europe, but she would rise again in the 50’s and would remain at the top of the couture world until her death in 1971.  Today the house of Chanel remains a strong and desired couture line collected and coveted by women the world over.  

// all images sourced from the Met Museum