How To Do Retro Hairstyles

Always wanted to know how to do look like a glamorous forties Hollywood diva or how to create a sixties ‘Amy’ beehive? This book shows you how to do all the hairstyles of the thirties, forties, fifties and sixties.

With clear, step-by-step instructions, the book explains how to use tongs and different kinds of rollers and how to master the pin curl. The book focusses on fantastic 40’s and 50’s hairdos – victory rolls, waves and pompadours, the fake fringe (bangs) – and shows more than twenty hairstyles called like “The Vixen”, “The Casino Wife” and “For The Boys.” If that wasn’t enough, there’s also tips on accessorising with scarves, flowers and hats.

Some fabulous images from the book:

Vintage Hairstyling: Retro Styles With Modern Techniques by Lauren Rennells

Summer’s here…

After the cold depressing weather of the past months we had the first warm days of the year……woohoo! The standard ‘problem’ I’m having around this time of the year is….what to wear to work? I’m soo sick of jeans and my usual black tights seem too wintery. Bare legs isn’t an option at my job. But I think I’ve finally got a perfect solution (other than the usual boring business attire). It’s very simple: take a maxi dress, a pair of heels and a tiny blazer or jacket, belt optional)….done! And the good thing about maxi dresses is that they’re in every store at the moment (scored a perfect maxi dress at H&M) and vintage maxi dresses aren’t that hard to find. Some inspiration: 

Maxi dress by Zara

New dress by ‘Ossie Clark’

More Ossie….drool. From the AW2009 collection.

Great shape, but wacko print….feathers….peppers…empty balloons??

Chloé, Ready to Wear SS2010. I sooo want this dress…..

Dreamy superromantic dress by Laura Ashley in the 70’s.

I’m getting more and more jealous of Lily Allen’s wardrobe. This dress is simply divine.

Vintage treasure

Another perfect vintage dress by Thea Porter.

Kate’s fourth fragrance: Vintage

Besides modeling, creating collections for Topshop and doing a lot of karaoke, Kate also has time to launch her fourth fragrance: “Vintage”. And ofcourse we want to know how the advertisement campaign will look:

About the name of the fragrance Kate has said: “I am fascinated by vintage pieces because they not only have a remarkable beauty but also an innate sense of history. I love the fact that each object has its own story to tell. And yet vintage items can be reinvented with a modern twist to make them very fresh and relevant today. That’s why vintage looks have inspired my personal style, my work as a fashion designer and, now, my fragrance.”

Personally, when I think of vintage clothing, the first thing I do after buying it is putting it in a washing machine with lots of perfumed softener! My clothes need to smell fresh and clean and not like a musty basement. But we can smell Kate’s interpretation of vintage this September, when it will be in stores. Apparently Kate’s vintage items smell fruity and floral (white freesia, mandarin and pink pepper).

In footage aired at the scent’s launch, Moss described her love of vintage styling, but added, ‘I love anything old… except old men!’

Pictures from nymag.com

Must have fashion books

 If Oprah can have a book club, so can I!

I usually look at the people on the street to get new inspiration about how to dress. But because of the cold winter everybody’s wearing coats, scarves and hats in black, grey, navy and brown. So in the winter I look at other “sources”: movies, music, blogs, magazines and books.

 These are my favorite fashion books of the past couple of years.

 

 

 In Vogue: The Illustrated History of the World’s Most Famous Fashion Magazine is the perfect book when you’re interested in the history of (American) fashion photography. The book takes a look at the (over) 100 year history of Vogue Magazine. It’s illustrated with hunderds of images from past Vogue editions and features the work of the top fashion photographers, like Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton and Steven Klein.

Personally I like the stories about the Editors in Chief and their influance on the magazine: Diana Vreeland (breaking all rules in the sixties and patting on make-up and cutting models’ hair herself), Grace Mirabella (more realistic approach in the seventies, using a black model on the cover for the first time) and Anna Wintour (she put jeans on the cover for the first time in the eighties, introduced the supermodels in the nineties and used celebrities as models).

In Vogue: The Illustrated History of the World’s Most Famous Fashion Magazine by Alberto Oliva and Notberto Angeletti.  Hardcover: 440 pages. Publisher: Rizzoli (September 22, 2006). Language: English. ISBN-10: 0847828646. ISBN-13: 978-0847828647.

 It’s Vintage, darling! contains everything you always wanted to know about vintage clothing. No pics, but lots and lots of practical information about “how to be a clothes connoisseur”: how to indicate quality, getting great fit, how to deal with flaws, where to shop, etc. The bible for vintage shopping! Contains contributions by Celia Birtwell, Lulu Guiness, Jemma Kidd and Pearl Lowe.

It’s Vintage, Darling! by Christa Weil. Hardcover: 416 pages. Publisher: Hodder And Stoughton Ltd. (September 30, 2006). Language: English. ISBN-10: 0340922753. ISBN-13: 978-0340922750.

 

 

Kate’s lovely. Her clothes are even better. Angela Buttolph collected all the photo’s with Kate wearing her best outfits: from her start as a 14 year old model, untill her recent eighties rock chick look. The book doesn’t just show her style, but also contains contributions by people like Marc Jacobs, Bella Freud, Katie Grand and Mario Sorrenti. 

Kate Moss Style by Angela Buttolp, hardcover: 208 pages, publisher: Century (November 11, 2008), language: English, ISBN-10: 184605429X, ISBN-13 978-18460542.

 

The Cheat Date Guide to Style shows you how to develop your own personal style. Are you a Prickly New York Art Dealer, a Fifties Pin-up, Glam Rocker, a Wino, Two Tone Boy or the Old Fashioned Governess? Lots of pics, interviews with style icons (Vivienne Westwood, Chloé Sevigny, Miss Piggy) and wild ideas. One tip, don’t judge this book by it’s (ugly) cover……….

 The Cheap Date Guide to Style by Kira Jolliffe and Bay Garnett, hardcover: 128 pages, publisher: Bantam Press (1 Mar 2007), Language: English, ISBN-10: 0593056949, ISBN-13: 978-0593056943.

 

 

And finally a book that makes me depressed: all these perfect clothes that I will never own/wear……. This book is about the British fashion brand Biba. It was the sixties/seventies version of todays Topshop.  Presented as an entire history of the company, the book showcases over 150 newly commissioned photographs of its costumes and focuses on one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of the label.  This book is beautifully presented with its decadent art deco & art nouveau imagery and eloquently captures Biba’s “rock and roll promise to live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse“.

For more info: www.bibaexperience.com

Biba: The Biba Experience by Alwyn W. Turner, hardcover: 240 pages, publisher: Antique Collectors’ Club Ltd (7 Sep 2004), language: English, ISBN-10: 1851494669 ISBN-13: 978-1851494668.