A new hobby...a new challenge.

I've started sewing.  I'm not very good at it, I must admit, but one needs a challenge every now and then.  I'm currently part way through this pattern.

A very simple skirt and cape pattern, or so I thought.

 I have a couple of bits of the skirt to unpick and resew as it came out larger than expected  (No, I didn't make a muslin.  Yes, I know that is silly) but all in all it is starting to take shape.  Hopefully I will start putting the cape together in the next week or so.

It's a very tiny red and black check.  The fabric came from a car boot sale.
Just enough for the skirt.  Cape will be black with this fabric as accents.

Slightly too big, so am going to unpick and start again.
I hate unpicking so this is a valuable lesson.

A blouse I am making to match from a pattern with no instructions.
Yep, I tend to go all out when I'm trying to learn something.

I thought I'd also share my latest sewing pattern purchase.  Feast your eyes on this baby from 1934.

Yes, it even has the original receipt in the envelope.

It says it is a beginner pattern, and I'm certainly that so lets hope I can manage it!

I'm thinking view C in a nice pale green slubby wool.



In other news: I've been a busy girl lately - racking up potential blog posts and not having the time to post them so hopefully this week I'll get a chance to update you all.

I've changed my hair colour, indulged in some delicious French food and attended a hair styling session.  I've been to the theatre and also owe you some hair setting posts.  Gotta get back on the horse.

Ready, get SET go!

Yep, another bad pun – I do love a bad pun.

I’ve had a lot of questions about setting lotion lately – both online and in real life - so I thought a quick post on what it is and what it does might be useful. Back to basics for a lot of you I’m sure but that never hurt anyone.

So. Let's begin at the beginning...

What is it?

Well, somewhat obviously, setting lotion is product that is applied to hair in order to set styles. i.e. to make them neater and last longer. It comes in many forms – liquids which do or do not need dilution, crèmes such as boots curl crème, foaming products and even gels. Some people even make their own. Some are best applied to wet hair and some to dry – some can be used on both. Finding the right setting lotion for your hair can be a little like finding your Holy Grail foundation, but once you have found it you won’t ever want to change.

Where can I get some?

Proctor and Gamble discontinued setting lotion manufacture recently and so now, if you are restricted to visiting high street chemists you can usually only find those chemists own brand products. I know both Boots and Superdrug have a version. A much wider variety can be found in ethnic hair shops so if you are lucky enough to have access to one, that would be a better option. Finally,. Of course, the internet. Where would we be without it....?

What kind should I buy?

1) Liquids which need dilution: 

The most widely used setting lotion, or at least the most frequently mentioned amongst the vintage sorority, is Lottabody. This comes as a thick liquid which you dilute according to your hair type (instructions on bottle) and can then use to set your hair. This style of lotion is probably the most flexible in that it can be used to set either wet or dry hair. On wet hair you just apply it and then put in your wavers or curlers, whilst on dry hair you can use a comb, your fingers or a small spray bottle to apply it to each individual hair section just prior to curling. You can even use it with a heated set, but make sure you have time for your hair to dry before going out as this stuff will dampen your hair.

Whilst these products do, invariably, increase ones curl there are some drawbacks – lots of liquid style setting lotions are very strong and can make the hair, pre-brush out, quite crunchy. This can make a set both hard to brush out and more likely to frizz as well as being more damaging on the hair. This can also be a problem when setting waves as the teeth of ones wave come leave noticeable marks in a crunchy set. They can also be messy to apply as if you use fingers or a comb little splashes get everywhere and often the mix is too thick to come out of a spray bottle in anything other than a single stream, resulting in the hair not being uniformly covered.

I would say however that these lotions are the ideal starting point for someone trying out the process for the first time.

Brands: Lottabody, Bristows, chemist and supermarket own brands

2) Crèmes and thicker liquids:

In general, I find these are good products for very dry or very thick hair which holds a curl well. The two I have tried and which are “Black n Sassy” and Boots Curl Creme.

The “Black n Sassy” is thickish liquid with a pungent sweet shop / sherbert smell. You apply it to directly to towel dried hair, massage and then comb and set. I actually love the smell of this and it is really conditioning but on my fine hair i only really find it useful for fingerwaves as it leaves my curls droopy. I think it would be great for coarser hair types.

The Boots Curl Creme comes in a pot you can just dip into. I’ve tried this on my hair wet and it had no noticeable effect but it is good for quickly resetting hair on the second or third day and also works very well for setting hair which takes a curl too easily (Yes, that does exist) due to its weight and moisturising properties weighing down hair prone to frizz. Brands: Boots Curl Creme, Black and Sassy 

 

 

3) Mousses and foaming lotions:

My personal all time favourite setting lotion is Motions Foamy set, which comes in both a normal and extra strength version. I find this works beautifully to set my hair without crispiness or drying. This is a liquid in a pump dispenser which, when dispensed forms a foam which can easily be applied either section by section for styles which need a firm hold, or all over the hair for a “bung it up and get to bed” night. The foaming style eliminates mess. Not having to dilute it eliminates wastage. Overall my favourite product. 

Brands: motions foamy set, Soft & Beautiful Botanicals Sculpting Foam, Lottabody Foam Wrap (I must try this one) 

4) Gels

My least favourite option here. I just don’t like gel. It works well for setting fingerwaves but I find most dry hard rather than leaving the hair set but natural looking – which is usually the look you will be after. One exception is fingerwaving shorter afro hair – I’ve heard great things about gel products for this. Just need to find someone to try it out on! 
5) Hair spray 

Hairspray can be an alternative to setting lotion when you are using heat styling methods. A spritz of a brushable hairspray, like Ellnett, on the hair before putting in your hotsticks can really boost their curling power. I’d not advise trying this with a very strong spray however as your curls can be hard to brush out.

6) Home made methods

Yes, if you really fancy it you can make your own setting lotion. Anything from simple sugar or beer and water solutions or a more complicated recipe for making a linseed lotion .




So – there you go. A little summary of my opinions and experience of different setting lotions. I’d love to hear what your favourite lotion is and how you use it.

Mooning over you..

Just a quick update today to let you know about my latest discovery.  Yes, I’m a bit late to this party I admit but....Shellac nail polish is a miracle.

I’m not the most organised individual at the best of times and I am at pains to admit that I hate painting my nails – it’s a bloomin’ palaver that, quite frankly, I could live without. Still, a “polished” vintage look (that which I aspire to and always fall short of) needs a good manicure and so, three weeks ago, I took the plunge and decided to get shellac done.

It had been a long time coming but I was trepidatious, back in my younger days I’d flirted with council estate chic – stripey highlighted hair, sportswear and long acrylic nails with airbrush designs – and I remember well how thick, ugly and unmanageable acrylic nails are.  I don’t like that chubby nail look, on my long skinny fingers it makes me look like I have a fungal infection.  It doesn’t even look good on our Dita, though this is an old pic so I'm sure she has discovered shellac too by now!

So I put out feelers, and, after asking the wise vintage girls of Facebook, shellac seemed to be the best option.

My local salon, the always rammed Ria Beauty in Dalston offered this and so I quickly booked in for a manicure and shellac.

The process is fairly simple.  Your nails are shaped, very lightly buffed(the benefit of shellac is the nail surface is undamaged as opposed to any other treatments where it must be filed to create a keyed surface for the gel or acrylic to bond to) and then a base coat applied, then two coats of colour,then a top coat; each coat dried under a UV lamp between applications.  You come out of this with gloriously shiny,100% dry nails – no chance of smudging and they are considerably stronger yet still thinner than acrylic.  All good in my book.

The only problem I had was explaining to the girl painting my nails that I wanted the half moons left blank, I’m not sure they really understood what was needed and my 45 minute appointment became a two hour one as she painstakingly painted her first half moon manicure.  Still, it turned out beautifully and everyone there ended up taking photos of my hands afterwards so I am hoping to have started a little trend in my Eat end backwater *wink*

I've had the manicure on for three weeks now and not a chip,it is still shiny.  The only issue is that it is starting to grow out, as I have unusually fast growing hair and nails, but I’m not too worried. I’ll just paint some normal varnish over the top!

This is definitely something I plan to keep doing.  I’ll be heading back next weekend for a new do,perhaps a dark red this time – they have a lovely Rouge Noir-esque colour called “Fedora” that I’d like to try.  I’m even considering buying the equipment myself to save costs, though at £20 a month my local salon is hardly expensive.

So, here you go – what do you think?

Immediately after the appointment

One week later

Three weeks later

Bananas a la Mod.

I don’t know about you but it feels like the words "Mad Men" have dominated retro fashion parlance for the last thousand  years at least.  The series began in 2007 and since its very first showing it has been influencing fashion, first with late 50s wiggle dresses and now with its modish 60s vibe.

It is practically impossible to scour the 50s sections of eBay without the descriptor “Mad Men” or “Joan from Mad Men” coming up on every other item – hell – I’ve been guilty of it myself when selling a particularly figure hugging purple wool career dress.  Once I stuck those words on the title, bids doubled, and I felt just a little dirty - double win.

Still, I’m starting to feel it is all a bit tired (though to tell the truth, I’ve felt that from the start...)  Perhaps it is just that all these Mad Men inspired looks are so, well, flat looking.  There is more to the look than a little bouffant to your hair, a tight dress and cats eye liner, after all.  I’m tired of seeing too short skirts and crispy artificial fibres on items meant to evoke the era.

Anyway – to the point in had.  Banana Republic once again have issued an official Mad Men Collection – which Janie Bryant – the shows costumier has collaborated on. this time based around the Beatnik / Mod-ish cool of youngblood Megan Draper.  Their 2011 was a riot of errors – low slung trousers for men and above the knee skirts for women, so I can only hope they have made some improvements on the design front this time around.  

the 2011 collection...good lord.

It does look promising I must admit but then, having the delectable Coco Rocha fronting the campaign is never going to hurt – the girl gives good 60s.

I'm tempted to say that this time the skirts are too long, if anything.  The three dresses above look great in the 60s styled shoot but the standard photos below they look less than inspiring.  

What are your thoughts on this latest range - a la Mod or Modern tat?

Do or die...

One of the perks of this blogging lark is that, every now and then, one gets invited to something amazing.  These invites are pretty few and far between, unlike some of my vintage blogging peers I'm not adept at events writing or popular enough to attract a large number of freebies, let alone those that are suitable to write about here.  Lately, I've mainly been bombarded with messages regarding the promotion of some rather unsightly gentleman's sports shoes which I've been most studiously avoiding.  So, when an offer to attend Secret Cinema's latest offering, Casablanca, dropped through my virtual mailbox, I jumped at the chance to attend.

Secret Cinema are known for running the best in immersive cinema experiences.  Their past history including sold out runs of Bugsy Malone and Prometheus and Casablanca was all I expected and more.

Once I had confirmed my attendance I was issued with a new identity and a set of papers and instructed to arrive at an East London location to be met under the bridge by our contact and that we would have to show them "the sign of the snake" in order to gain admittance to Rick's Bar.  My fella and I spent the next 24 hours getting into character.  For me this meant planning a suitably over the top 1940s outfit and for him it mainly involved practicing a Hungarian accent and drawing a snake on my leg.

It's a snake, honest

I cannot work out what the letters on this are meant to say...M, A, backwards F?

Why is there a circle on the carpet?  Anyway - look at my lovely brooch

Hello Baby Gene

I love this 40s coat, it is a wartime utility number , sheepskin painted in leopard

Overdrawn 40s lip sneer

Growwwwl

We were one of the first to arrive, having chosen the earliest entry time for the event and, after meeting the very glamorous Jeni Yesterday outside we joined the queue for entry.  It took rather a long time to get in as most of the queue were given a frisking by the police (sadly not me...oh well) and we were all subject to questioning before being allowed in.  It was a great way to build up the tension and it was definitely worth it, as, once inside the velue the contrast between the harsh back alley and the interior really blew me away.  Sadly it was very dark in there an almost impossible to photograph.  you'll just have to go and visit yourself I'm afraid.

The event was hosted at The Troxy, a sumptuous art deco theatre in Stepney.  It couldn't have been more perfect.  The entire place was transformed into a large and lavish bar, with the wonderful Benoit Viellefon and his orchestra providing suitably period tunes on the stage up front and a restaurant and a few little entertainments at the rear.  Actors wandered around trying to swap information and a playing out a few set pieces to keep us all amused while waiting for the film to start.

Sadly the food and cocktails were out of my price range but we managed to get a good table and settled down with a bottle of red (at a shocking £20 for the house wine) and some plastic glasses to get ready for things to come.

After a few hours of drink and good chatter and having my picture taken with a snake round my neck the film came on and it seemed to go down a storm with the audience.  Sadly I cannot bear Ingrid Bergman and so I went outside for an extended cigarette break before rejoining the gang - now boosted by the ever lovely Fleur de Guerre and her chap - for some dancing and general fun.  My fella had even managed to snag us our exit visas after some negotiations with the resistance.  Clever boy.

I good time was had by all, from what I could see, and I certainly left the place on a high.  Or a drunk.  All I know is things got suitable raucous on the way out.

I can strongly recommend this event for a good night out, whether you like the film or no, and I've also heard great things about their other events - they have a Shawshank Redemption production running right now too which is getting rave reviews.  I'd love to go *wink wink*

It isn't a cheap night, at £25 a ticket the price of the food and drink on top seems pretty steep, but this must have cost a fortune to put on so it seems fair enough I guess.  The cast of entertainers alone must rack up quite a bill.  My only criticisms would be the plastic glasses when they gave out real glasses for cocktails and that they hadn't taught the actors proper partner dancing.  Other than that everything was perfect.

All told, I had a thoroughly good time and I can highly recommend the evening. Just make sure you go in willing to play along, this isn't a night for sitting back and observing - you need to be up for getting involved.   Get yourself a ticket, get out your glad rags and learn the Marseillaise.

It could all so easily have gone a bit 'Allo 'Allo,  Now, there's an idea for as theme night?!

A flying visit...

Just a line or two to say I haven't forgotten this place and am continuing with the hair project - I've just been so terribly busy lately. Work is getting hectic - definitely a good thing - and I've signed up for a months worth of 3 x a week bootcamp training, evenings from 7-8pm.  By the time I get home at 8:30 and have had a bath it is just too late to set my hair and have it dry by morning.  It's a bit of a bind but health over hair any day.

This week I've also got a play to go to (the Judas Kiss) and a couple of other events so I'll be inundating you with posts about those over the next week or so.

Right - back to work?  OK...

Queer Vintage – Gladys Bentley – a “sporting life”

Well, I’m not sure how this is going to go, because I’m not good at writing blog series and what with the hairdos series from hell I’m currently embroiled in I think I might be biting off more than I can chew.  Still, following  I was thinking it might be fun to indulge myself (and you of course) with a few posts on queer history. 

I was going to write this piece up into one long article but, given the sheer volume of material and the average “concentration span”  I have decided to split it into deliciously camp bitesize chunks, and oh boy, is the subject of today’s post a chunk I’d like to have bitten. 

Glady Bentley – the original bulldagger of blues – was born in 1907 in Philadelphia but, having discovered a taste for masculine dress and the power of performing early on, she moved to New York before she hit the age of twenty and began working the Harlem lesbian bars, most notably The Clam House – a popular gay speakeasy. 

Bentley invariably performed in drag, taking full advantage of the freedom of this underground scene to express her masculinity rather than having to hide.  In as a wild time, clubs were populated with lovers of what was known as the “sporting life”– rife with sex, drugs and liquor.  Usually favouring a white tuxedo and top hat the 300lb Gladys cut quite the dash as she played on her noted masculinity with deep growling vocals.  Her performances were renowned for their bawdy humour with Bentley adept at making class commentary, mocking racial boundaries and flirting with the ladies of the audience all at the same time.  Her act was so shocking that the clubs she performed in were raided, on more than one occasion, on the grounds of obscenity.  Sounds like a fun scene to me and it certainly drew in a large and dissolute crowd.

Gladys even claimed to have married her white lover, much to the delight of gossip columnists!

Sadly the Great Depression devastated the theatre scene and pushed her back to her family, now in California, in 1937.  However, her irrepressible personality led her back to the stage and it was not long before she made a name for herself there , making a few theatre appearances before the authorities caught on and banned her from appearing on stage in trousers.  Refusing to give in Bentley carried on performing but only on the gay scene.

Sadly, (at least for me) Gladys renounced her lesbianism in an interview with Ebony in 1952 entitled “I am a woman again” where she states that her former tendencies were “a deviation.”  She claimed to have found God, married a man and have finally found her femininity through a course of hormone treatment.  These claims appear somewhat spurious however, when we consider the times – this was the height of McCarthyism, the world was a much less tolerant place for a black, lesbian in the early 50s than it had been in the 20s and 30s.  Furthermore her “husband” later vehemently denied any marriage had taken place.

Whatever the real story, you can't deny Bentley had a great voice - there isn't a lot out there for me to link to, sadly as none of her bawdier songs were recorded.  Record companies were understandably reticent.  Still, have a listen to the attached and see what you think.  

I hope to continue the blues vein over the next few weeks with some info on Lucille Bogan, Mabel Hampton and Bessie Smith.  I've said it, now I have to do it...

inexpertly rehashed from:

http://bitchmagazine.org/post/adventures-in-feministory-gladys-bentley

http://www.glbtq.com/arts/bentley_g.html

http://www.queermusicheritage.us/bentley1.html

http://www.venusmagazine.org/gladys.html