Me, myself and I

The poses may be exaggerated, but in these fashions I feel myself. And if that must involve silly posing, I don't really care.
Who would, in a dress like this? 

The unstructured shape, the loose, fluid lines, the freedom of movement, the lightness of fabric, the enticing sheerness, I love everything about it!...  I could be a butterfly, just stretching out of its cocoon and ready to plunge into the beautiful, wild, crazy, wide open unknown.

Speaking of which, a cocoon coat wouldn't be amiss...Ecstatic revery and joke aside, I can't even begin to tell you how liberating it feels to wear a dress in which I don't have to pretend having breasts.

Also, after missing out on other beauties, it's great to come upon such a treasure. This dress wasn't even meant to fit me, it was described as being a lot larger, so imagine my surprise when it arrived and happened to fit perfectly. Also, apart from 2 tiny eraser holes, it's in top condition! And look at that beautiful embroidered detail on the sleeve!

The only thing is that black really doesn't do anything for me, but this style on the other hand allows me to wear various camisoles underneath so I can bring in color and vary it and match my accessories. Sorry about the shoes by the way, I forgot them on from trying the dress on with something else first. Not that they looked that great with that either...

Back to the dress, it was meant for my little Etsy shop, but I really doubt that I'll be able to part with it. I am so very very bad, but it's so very very pretty...

Back to deco

The wonderful world of combs

The earliest combs were made of bone, ivory and wood;
silver, brass and tin were used later on, and in the early to mid-19^th century, tortoise shell and horn became the common materials for comb making.
The advantage of using tortoise shell and horn was that these materials were soft and moldable when heated and they retained their new shape as they hardened.
The feathers of the Chinese Kingfisher were also used at one point in time for designing the combs.

In the late-19^th century, celluloid was developed through the experiments of two brothers, Isaiah and John Hyatt, who used nitro-cellulose and camphor as primary ingredients.
The aim was to find a cheaper alternative to ivory and tortoise shell. Celluloid rapidly grew popular, leading to the formation of a whole new comb industry.

There are numerous examples of celluloid combs - some in museums due to their quality and beauty - other still out there within the reach of the vintage fashion lover.
There is also an Antique Comb Collectors Club funded not very long ago, in 1993, and contributing to further research in the comb's history.

Check out the Etsy examples bellow:

All the above combs are part of the extensive collection of ElrondsEmporium onEtsy

Storiesfromthepast, Etsy

TheLittlestSister, Etsy

MattiesMenagerie, Etsy

Vintageartshome, Etsy

leesasimpson, Etsy

hblanchard25, Etsy

If I was a magpie...

Victorian scarab bracelet, nouveaumotley, etsy

1920's beaded snake, daggerlane, etsy

Edwardian agate brooch, thepickers, etsy

1930s glass necklace and earrings set, marvita13, etsy

Carved ivory pineapple pendant, socaljewelbox, etsy

Blue glass wired necklace, chicvintageboutique, etsy

Hand painted celluloid brooch, iamcameo2, etsy

Carved celluloid necklace, ChezVous, etsy

Art Deco bakelite and rhinestone pin, vintagehippiechic, etsy

1940s Stuart Nye silver earrings, jeanjeanvintage, etsy

Pastel faceted celluloid beads, Elsewind, etsy

Spider of my dream, eh?!

With Halloween on the horizon, I know that some of you are already planing your outfits. Wonderful bloggers Wearing History and The Vintage Baroness have already posted very inspirational Halloween themed articles that you might want to check out.
I'm doing my bit with this auction in progress!
From lkiehl on Ebay, this Whiting & Davis bag is as wonderful as they get. I just love mesh bags, though most of them are way beyond my modest possibilities. Still, a girl can dream! This time around about a slightly macabre but oh so stylish 1920s party...

The stuff my dreams are made of

Summer is gone and I still haven't got one of those hats...or shoes...or dresses...but while grumpily getting myself ready for a whole different season, I can still dream of warmth, happiness and a care-free existence, all of them embodied by those see-through, ethereal hats, delicate, cobweb like fabrics and graceful parasols of the 20s. Come on, spider of my dream, do grow real!

It's been a little while since I put together this mood board, so I need to apologize a thousand times for not remembering all of the photograph sources. The ones I do remember are DearGoldenVintage on Etsy for the gold shoes and possibly 1860-1960 on Ebay for the cranberry dress, but really I am not sure about this one.

Selling on Etsy

While I am not a professional seller (nothing wrong with that, I'd love to be one in fact) and not very experienced either as far as Etsy goes, I have decided to sell a few of my vintage items there.
Some things were handed down to me, others I bought, but for various reasons don't work so well for me. Check out my things, see what you think!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/deliadelia?ref=seller_info

It's not a lot at the moment (I don't know if there will ever be), it's just a way of selling on the vintage that one doesn't necessarily want to keep for oneself. And Etsy seems a better platform for that that Ebay, it's a shame though it isn't quite as popular in the UK!

Gypsyland - part one

So I went for a make over a couple of days ago. I took with me several photos from that era - "gypsy" and non gypsy - and explained the make up artist I wanted a 1920s look with a gypsy flair to it. This is the result.


It looks kind of...not quite there. At the time I thought it was ok, so perhaps it's just me taking bad pics and not really going for the whole look other than make up wise.
I also did grin all the time, so you can't see the shape of the lips - I insisted on the bow shape, which was somewhat achieved although the sides of my mouth weren't concealed.


While the shape of the eyebrows is very nice, it doesn't manage to be a 20's eyebrow, and that is a very important detail for the overall success of the look. Still, a rather nice brow.


And this is the reason I never use under eye concealer! It just makes things worse, settling in all the creases and showing off all the wrinkles.


All make up used was by Benefit. I particularly liked the Dandelion brightening powder, which I know is popular with a range of vintage looks, used as that or just as a blush.
For an actual blush Benetint lip and cheek blush was used, blended in, rather than applied straight on the under eyes section of the cheek in a round shape, as in the vintage fashion.
I liked this one too, in spite of being told afterwards by my lovely husband that my face looked rather too red...
Oh well,to see my own efforts next stay tuned for part two of Gypsyland!

And now sharing another favorite from Romica Puceanu:

1920's to early 30's on Etsy

There was a discussion a little while ago over at fedora lounge about the gateway to vintage fashions. For many, it is the 50s, leading afterwards to a discovery and appreciation of earlier decades, in the never ending quest of finding the perfect look one's heart longs for.

What is going to make me beautiful then? My heart lies with 30s, whether there are the early, mid or late fashions of that decade. It is true though that the more I delve into vintage, the earlier I want to go. Lately it has been the late 1910's through the 20s to the very early 30s that have fired my imagination.

Bellow there are a few examples of what ticks the box for me nowadays.

This 1920s blouse from adelinesattic makes my heart sing:


Another one from her, a brown jersey jacket from the 1920s - I wanted this one badly but it went in the blink of an eye to some other lucky, lucky person:


After weeks of looking at it, this beautiful Hungarian skirt sold (not to me) from PranceAndSwagger


Sold from kickshaw, an early 1930s wool day dress. Look at the fantastic detail!



Father Xmas, guardian angel, tooth fairy or whatever there may be out there, can I have this one pleeeeeeease? From Jewels4pandas


And another one from them:



They also sold this PERFECT (do you hear me?!) coat... it felt as if I was robbed..:)



Another stunner sold a while ago from moonchildvintage:



A fantastic dress available from JojosRetroandVintage:



Sold from annastash, a most beautiful silk crepe dated late 20s to early 30's:



Beautiful beyond words, sold from TimelessVixenVintage:



This purse will knock you off $$$, and it is indeed a knock out! From seriousbeader:



Ok, that's enough, will draw the line here for today, as things have started to get pretty painful. :)