Monday musings (1)

Monday means a new start. A whole new week. And I will give you some recommandations for what you can do, if you find yourself in a need of a little procrastinating.

Today I will give you three nice tips.

If you live in the Copenhagen area I will definitly suggest that you go fetch your bike or a train a little up north til Gl Holtegaard Museum. At the moment they are showing a good amount of the photographer Robert Doisneaus photos. Among them my fave - dog on wheel, showing a parisian dachs with weels instead of the two back legs and a lot of other great photos of Paris in especially 1940s and 1950s. And if you you cannot go there yourself - you can also enjoy them on the good ol' web.
Read more about the exhition on the museums page.

I recently watched this documentary about Paris in the roaring twenties, and it is amazing! I like the historical facts and the context, but the best thing about is that it is in colours! They have probably also slowed down the film bits, and it makes them look very... real. I have always thought that movie bits that old looked weird and I couldn't really relate to them. But this is a totally different experience and I cannot recommend it enough.

Topvintage is webshop with repro-brands such as Bettie Page, Collectif, Stop Staring and a lot more. I think the service is excellent and there is a lot to choose from. And as a european it is great not having to bother with the taxes as with the american webshops. I have bought a few dresses from Topvintage and I have really been satisfies.

Girls with stripes and bowler hats

Let me introduce you to some very fine ladies - The Charlestonistas!
We are a little troup of charleston dancers having fun together. We have only been together for a short while, but I love it. So far we have made three performances, first time was at the Copenhagen Burlesque party in february, then again at the stage at Nytorv at The day of the dance (29.4) and a few weeks ago at the pre-lindy exchange party.

At the moment we are working on a new routine for another performance.

The watercolour dress I almost DIDN'T buy

A while ago I went to the vintage shop Prag (the one at Nørrebrogade) and tried this dress on.

I had seen it there many times, but I alwaus assume that I cannot fit into the vintage dresses, that I am too large, when I hold them up... (Although I have actually bought three dresses there in the past). I guess I have a really bad judgement of my own size. But this day I really fell for the watercolour flower print (really into flowers these days...) and took it with me into the fitting room.

And then it was too big! I didn't have a belt, so it looked a bit sacky on me. I took a photo and asked Instagram what my followers thought about it - and the reactions were very... ehm, mixed! One just said "don't buy it" others were reasonable and asked if I was sure that I would wear when the the size wasn't really me. Others again were very positive and said I should go for it and i could easily sew it... Fortunately I tried it on with a belt - and VOILA! Sold. It is still a little too big, but that's nice. I have a lot of tight dresses and sometimes it is just nice to wear something pretty AND comfy :)

1980s go 1940s

I am really not into most of the 80s fashion. Really.

But 40s clothes are very hard to find, often very expensive and for... smaller waisted women than me.

I have a (so far) sad story about a pretty 40s dress and me being incredivly stupid, but hopefully there will be a happy ending at last.

I saw this fantastic dress at a Etsy-sellers Instagram one night when I couldn't fall a sleep. Next morning I made a reservation for it and a few days later I bought. I went to London, came home and the dress had not arrived yet. It was a little odd as it was only shipping from Norway, but things can get delayed, so I continued waiting and I wrote to the seller to make sure that she did ship it. Then the easter holidays came and went, still no dress, so I contacted the seller again to see if she new anything. She didn't but she was really nice and went to the post office and asked for it. But eerything should be fine. But it didn't show up and after some time I gave up hope, but I was really frustrated and sad.

Then a few weeks ago I would buy a vintage dress pattern on etsy, and when checking out I discoreved that paypal had gone back to my old adress! !!! I then really realized that my beautyfull 40s dress had probably been sent to my old home, so I imedeately contacted the new owner of the appartment, and yes, a month sgo he received a note from the post office that there was a package for me, and he had tried to wrie to me on Facebook, but as we are not Facebook-friends his message ended up in the Other-files - which I never check.
AAARGHHHHH!

The good thing in this story is, that the package hopefully soon will end back home at the seller. And she promised to ship it again as soon as it arrives.

Well thats a whole other story. What I really wanted to talk about is my two very cheap buys from ebay!

Two dresses made in the 1980s but with a nice 40s feeling.

This dress has a cute cherry print which is a common vintage print. I like that th print is not too large. And then there is a peplum-detail. I like the peplum feature but it is not always suitable to me as it brings too much attention to the waist (or lack of so) I think. The only thing that I dislike about this dress is the lenght. It is obviosly too short and the skirts end just above my knees. I have considered putting the hem down, and I think the fabric will give me about 1 cm more to the lenght, but then again I get too lazy and think it is too much effort. So far I just enjoy the cherry print and that it is quite different from was I normally wear.

 This dress was really a bargain, it only costed me a few pounds! I fell for the flowery and exotic print, very 40s Hawaiian style! It is shirt dress which is my favorite style and what I think suits me best. The fabric is a little shiny and very cute. What I did not see on the ebay pictures was the pleads. Yuk! I hate that kind of pleads, so 70s and 80s, and maybe it is little too long for me. Anyway, when I got it onm I loved it immediately. And I think it is slimming too ;)

These too are my first real 80s-dresses in the attemt to dress vintage style. I think it have turned out rather well!

The perfect glass of bubbles

These are my new champagne glasses. Perfect french glasses from 1930s. I have wanted champagne glasses with cups for ages but in Denmark they are hard to find. I see them occasionally when I go to antique shops, but somehow they are alway wrong. The stem is always too clumsy and short and the bowl has too much crystal or other fancy features. I just wanted them plain and pretty!

Although I have been looking for them on markets for years I never really got desperate - I don't need the glasses for a special event or anything, they are just on my wish list, and it has been been sort of fun to go hunting for them everytime I went to a flea or antique market. And I am aware that these glasses are quite expensive (250 - 500 kr. pr. glass), which means that I want the perfect glasses, not just some champagne glasses.

But a few weeks ago I had a friday off and want to Ravnsborggade (Nørrebro) to hang around the antique shops there. I actually managed to find several champagne glasses with cup in the same shop, and some of them were... nice and at a reasonable price (250 kr. pr. glass). But again - not quite what I wanted. I was a little temped, and the lady in the shop were nice, but six glasses at a price of 1.500 kr. wasn't really for me afterall. It was nice to see that you actually can find some nice glasses afterall and it made me optimistic, so when I went to another shop and the man asked me if I was looking for anything in particular I first replied as always, that I was just taking a look, but then I said that actually I was looking for something but thst I was aware that it was a little hopeless because I had this very particular picture in my head of what these glasses would look like. I explained it to him and he said that he actually had that kind of champagne glasses - and picked up some very short and clumsy Holmegaard glasses which is excactly what I am NOT looking for. So I said no thanks and I would just keep searching and then he went vey rude! Talked to me like I was stupid and said that maybe I was having the image in my head of what they would look like, but that didn't mean that I would be able to find them, and if I did I should be ready to pay up to 500 kr. for them and not 50 as everybodythought.
Ehm, yeah, I am well aware of that, thank you very much.
Idiot. I wont go back to his shop again. After that I told my friend about him, and it turned out that she had been to the same shop to buy my birthday present a few months ago, and his was impolite to her as well.

Anyway! He made me in a bad mood and later that evening I found these beautyfull french glasses from 1930s on Ebay. I paid less than 350 kr. for the four of them, most of the price was for the shipping actually.

And they are perfect!

The green dresses

Last summer I bought two gorgeous green dresses at a flea market (out door at the Carlsberg area) well knowing that they were probably a little too small for me. But they were rather cheap, so I decided to buy them and then maybe sell them on if they were impossible for me to ever wear.

It turned out that they were only slightly too small so being on the optimistic side I kept them. I had just lost almost 10 kg in the autumn, and hey! maybe I could loose some more weight. Well, never happend...

During the autum I kept looking at the two dresses in my wardrobe. They are so beautifull!

Lat friday I tried them on too see if something had changed. It hadn't. But somehow I talked myself into wearing the light one for a dinner party with girlfriends.

Isn't it cute? What a shame that I am about to burst out of it!! I ended up leaving the party way too early, mainly because I was afraid that the dress would explode. I did not feel comftable at all! It is really a shame, because now I am in the classic dilemma : Should I keep the dresses just because I love them, knowing that I will probably never be able to wear them? Or should I pass them on? But what if...?!?

Anyway, I think you should see the pictures of the dresses when I bought them.

 The green colours are not fully displayed here, but I think you get the idea...

 The dark green one that I wanted wear all the time in the autumn...

Inspiring website

I love the simple concept of the new website Swing Dandies - people take photos of people wearing cool swingy outfits at dance festivals and occasions like that such as Härreng , and then they are uploaded at the site.

Cool and inspiring!

This is Pontus Persson, whom by the way, was one the balboa teachers when I attended The Revival 2013 in Malmö.

Loving the dress

I fall in love with a new dress at least a few times a week. At the moment I have set my eyes on two things on Etsy. Unfortunatly both are way too expensive - and too small.

Both are from the shop Vera Vague.

 My boyfriend thinks the colour of this dress is weird, but I think it is really cool and special.

I think this 1940s set is adorable! I have been loonging for at two piece set for a while now, but they always seem too small for me, what a shame.

Saturday flea market

Yesterday (saturday) I felt the urge to go to a flea market, although I am very poor these days. Fortunately for me going to flea market for me isn't all about buying. I love to snoop around looking at the funny, weird stuff, picking up prices, look at people and see what they find interesting.

So I went to Remisen at Østrebro, an indoor market that I like, beause the entrance fee is reasonable (10 kr.), there are usually not over-crowded, and - most important - I like the mix of private and professional sellers, which mean it is a good blend of crap and good stuff!

 

Unfortunately there is not much vintage clothing at the market. Yesterday was the first or second time I saw something there - isn't this dress adorable? I love the flower pattern and green is my favorite colour. I was really displeased with the size: XXS or maybe it was a girls dress. Way too small... Besides that I saw a lot of designer stuff (Marc Jacobs for instance) and ugly blouses... But I have bought several pairs of shoes here a few years ago

 

 You can find crystal glasses, houseware and ugly winter coats at the market. But a thing I like about the market is that the sellers put an effort into their stands to make them look nice and interesting.

    I really loved this stand! The owner, a sweet lady told me about her fetich for tins. I couldn't resist buying one.

 

    She was also a dedicated collector of colourful toys in tree.

I fell for this guy... I have seen these birds before, but I am not sure who the designer is. Can anyone enlight me? Is it the guy with the popular ducks? This one was for sale for 250 kr. and I don't think that is really expensive, but his cigar was broken and I was broke. I would have bought him anyway if I didn't just buy tickets for London this month...

Tv I like - Mob City

I don't watch that much tv, but when I do, I prefer a good drama, and it doesn't make it less interesting if the caracters wear nice clothes to look at, not at all!

A tv drama that has caught my attention lately is Mob City, a tv series made for the channel TNT by Frank Darabont who is also one of the names behind another of my favorite series, The Walking Dead.

Mob City is inspired by the film noirs and situated in LA in the late 1940s where Bugsy Siegel and his men are basically running the city. The troubled police detective and main caracter, Joe Teague is offered a job as bodyguard for the stand up comic, Hecky. Hecky is a kind of sad caracter whos always been dominated by the big guys from the mob, and he is about to get his revenge. He is in possesion of some very compromising photos of some one very important....

But things aren't going the way Hecky planned them to, mainly because Joe Teague recognizes the style of the photographs - his ex wife took them, and to protect her he has to play a double game.

Normally I am not really into mob movies, but I like this one. Maybe because it's more like a film noir with a well dressed femme fatale. It is kind of violent and bloody,but it is also very surprising and I like the plot and the caracters.

 Joe Teague is played by Jon Bernthal who was also one the caracters in The Walking Dead, Shane.

 The beautiful femme fatale, Jasmine Fontaine (Alexa Davalos)

The notorious Bugsy Siegel.

I have watched the 6 episodes of the first season but at present time I am not aware if there will be more episodes. I hope so!

Sunday look

Yesterday I had an off day with hang overs from hell and I didn't leave the house at all. Today I had to attend a meeting in town because I teach a charleston class. And after that I had to meet some girls and prepare some performance we are doing next month before a little social dancing, so I had to dress up a bit today.

 I bought this one-piece at a vintage store at Christianshavn several yers ago, and although it is probably from the 80s I think it has a 40s feeling with the padded shoulders, the flowery pattern and the fact that it is a one-piece. I really like it, but I don't use it that often nowadays. But it was nice to rediscover it in my closet.

I decided to wear my classic pearl earings, a gift from my aunt, and my new black shoes that I bought for balboa-dancing two weeks ago at the hught flea- and antigues market at Forum. They are so comfy the height of the heels are perfect for work wear. The only thing that I don't like about them are the shoe-tips - normally I only wear rounded tips, but these are slightly square... But I think I will survive.

Friday - daytime look

Today my boss yelled at me, when I came to work.
"Natascha, you make the rest of us look under dressed!" Another collegue commented that she expected me to sneak over and whisper "I shall only say this once..." in her ear. I know it's the baret! Normally I don't wear a wool baret indoor, but I have the worst case of Bad Hairday today and the rest of my hats were not suitable for the snow, rain and wind outside, so I decided to wear this green baret all day.

The dress is a cheap Collectif-dress. I love the dogtooth-pattern, and I think I have three dresses and two skirts that look almost the same. As for the brand, I have known it for quite some time. First I was happy to have discovered a brand of repro-dresses that I could afford, but then I realized why it was cheap... The quality wasn't really good and the designs looked weird at me. The waist was cut too hight and the sizes were inconsistent, meaning that I would fit a size 12 dress, but 16 or 18 when it came to shirts and cardigans. So I decided never to buy anythning from them again, but they have this really hugh discounts once in while with 50 % off - so I buy something once in while. And I think the brand has improved a lot since my first dress from them. The quality is better and now I have several favorite dresses from Collectif in my wardrobe.

 With the dress I wore this brooch that I bought from an antigues market no long ago... It was very cheap, 20 kr.

These are my new shoes. I bought them pre-used but they are from Lola Ramona.

Heroines - Lauren Bacall

There are so many beautyfull women in the world and I cannot help looking up them, envy them and be inspired by their style!

One of my absolutely favorites is the actress Laure Bacall. She was born in 1924 and is still alive and make moves now and then. To me she is the perfect femme fatale and she was married to Humphrey Bogart untill his dead in 1957.

God, I wish I looked like her! A real classic...

A new dress would be much easier

I can always buy a new dress. I could buy one every day!! I fall in love with a new dress at least twice a day.

But there are things that I find very hard to find and buy. The first thing is a coat. Coats are usually very expensive, and to me it seem so.... serious and definit to buy one. It has to be warm enough for the scandinavian winter, and it has to last for a long time - and hence that I really have to be certain about it. For the last three years I have worn this ugly ugly coat, but I have to admit - it is really comfy! But this year it has actually been too warm. The weather in Denmark has been quite warm, it almost hasn't been freezing at all during the day. So I have spent hours looking for the perfect coat et Etsy. The coat that is not too expensive, that fit perfect and so on. But I still haven't found it! Last year I promised myself to be prepared for winter and find one in august! I guess that will be my solution again this year.

Anyway! Last night I got a little bit closer to finding another item that I have been looking for for quite som time.

A hand bag!

This might sound silly, but I've only got two bags. One really cheap bag that I use every day and which carries all my stuff for every day life. It normally contains my shoes for dancing (you'll never know when an opportunity shows up), a bottle for water, a shopping bag, my notebook, wallet, quite a few lipsticks, a certain amount of bobby pins, phone, hair brush, cardigan, mirror, all sorts of cables for charging, for sounds when I teach charleston, my headphones, a snack, a book, tissues and so on. I am the kind of girl who carries everything with me!

My other bag is a slightly smaller shoulder bag, very expensive leather bag, that I bought in New York in 2008. I love it. But.

I need a nice and cute hand bag! A bag that can complete my look. A bag for when I only have to carry my phone and credit card. But I cannot find that bag....

Last night I saw it at Instagram! Stutterinmama, who has an Etsy-shop posted it on her profile, and there instantly was a queue for it.

Well, I was number 5... Not good enough, so I have to keep searching for my perfect handbag....

Cute dress for celebrating

Bernie Dexter is a repro-brand by the model and designer Bernie Dexter that I actually know very little of. I have only seen a few of her designs in real life, and although I liked the lively and colourful style, i also thought that the dress lenght were a little too short and that the waist was cut too high. (I prefer my dresses to end mid-calf or at least by the knee, and for the matter of waist, especially when it comes to rich swing skirts.) Judged only by the looks, because - shame on me - I have never tried them on!

But today I saw this cute, perfect for celebrating, Bernie Dexter-dress, and at least the length of the dress seems allright! Normally I don't wear strappy dresses, at least not during winter, but I would definitly consider this dress for a speciel party or new years eve (a little too late....)

At Bernie Dexter the dress is 156 dollars witch is around 850 kr. Pretty ok price, I think, but with taxes and all that from the states sadly it will become too expensive.

I only know of one store in Denmark selling this brand, Mondo Kaos in Nørrebro, but they only have a few of the designs.

If I someday get saved up for this dress I think I will look for it at What Katie Did, the lingerie brand, who offers a larger selection of the Bernie Dexter dresses from their website - and ships from Europe!

Another - unfortunately american - website who provides the BD dresses is Modcloth.

I think frm now on I will keep my eyes open for this brand.

A new year, a new blog...

This is me - and this is my new blog. My name is Natascha and I have to admit it: I am a nostalgic wreck! I simply adore everything - well, not everything, but a lot - that is old, vintage and oldfashioned. Clothing, movies, interieor and music. You name it!

And this is what this blog will be about: My passion for everything old.

Dresses is a thing that I care extra for - but I also have to admit, that I don't wear vintage only, not at all. i have a few reasons for that.

1. It is hard to find vintage dresses for a body like mine as my waist size is a little on the larger size (30-31 inches). The same goes for shoes although I am not exactly Big Foot...

2. As a swing dancer I have learned the hard way that vintage dresses often are too fragile for a night with swing outs.

3. I love dresses and I fall in love too easy. There are just too many damn cute dresses in this world!

There fore there will be a lot of dresses - new and old - and dress talking on this blog among other things that I find interesting or amusing such as music, inspirations, historical tv dramas and lots more.

I am especially fascinated by the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and the 1950s - both when it comes to fashion and history.

I hope you will enjoy it - and don't hesitate to leave a comment on my scribblings.