| | Photographs by Evan Smith
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My Carmen Miranda Tribute Routine was put together last summer with the help of my wonderful friend Thomas who made my headdress! & the inspiration of Laura who gave me the idea. However I've never been entirely happy with the costume, the underwear was never quite right and the night before one show in December I actualy remade the whole set - well I've gone and redone the whole costume again!
I managed after scouting for material for many months found this bright floral patterened material and just knew I had to update my costume with it! - In total the skirt took and hour and a half and the top took close to two hours to make but I'm incredibly happy with it all.
Having a little more time on my hands than usual recently I managed to get my micro mini cher pasties made for this act as well as the new floral explosion underwear! each flower was hand glittered and then glue gunned on theres also a liberal amount of fringing for a good 'shake' to the chorus of the song I use for this routine.
Hand glittered, cut and hot glued together! all on a see through plastic pastie base I made. They look exactly how I wanted them to look and for a full preview make sure you come along this Saturday 4th August to see me 'The special guest' of the evening and many many other wonderful performers at The Burlesque Company!
Retro Cat
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Vintage Art Deco Powder Puff
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The other day while out scouring charity shops with my lovely friend Emily I got a couple of bargains! A little Sieamise cat for £1.25, an Art Deco style powder jar - The detail on the lid is beautiful I'll try get a good picture the flash kept blowing out the detail.
I also found this wonderful vintage girdle for £1 which some ladies pointed out to me as it had the original tags still on - They said that I reminded them of one of those 'Burlesque' Girls! obviously made my day.
A few images of my new to me - vintage girdle! - it's bright white which isn't really for me so I was thinking of dying it but currently need a bit of help on doing such a thing - Think I'll have to take it to a habadashery store and ask for a little advice.
I not only bought the bargains above but this c1960's dance costume with lace cape - it was only £4 that I just had to buy it! my inner dancer had to have it!
| | Aspire were also having a flash sale - sadly not in store but I did go in to try this on! & I later purchased it on line 50% off couldn't really pass that up so this should be with me by next week .... hopefully in time for a little sunshine? one can dream!
I also got a lovely little surprise from Mr. Taxman ... happy Monday darlings I got a tax refund which means I'll be treating my mister to a nice little meal and the new Batman movie next week! & if I happen to have a little money left over I'm thinking about putting it towards a new Vivien of Holloway dress! eeeeek
Happy Monday Vampettes! x
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| | I purchased the most beautiful pair of cream Ostrich feather fans from Lucia one of the burly ladies behind Trois DeVille which sadly are no more!
These little pretties have joined Eva & Mae my black feather fans - I'd been lucky enough to purchase my first set of fans from Erotica in 2010 when Dita performer her Opium Den for the first time in Europe. They didn't cost me the earth but they looked beautiful, moved well and actually compared to some other performer I know mine have never broken! So I haven't done too badly if you ask me.
However they've always been a little bit too small so when Lucia asked me if I'd be interested in purchasing these brand new fans I jumped at the offer and got them just in time to debut a new fan dance routine at The Looking Glass Birmingham.
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A huge thank you to Mark too for some wonderful images all of which can be found in the gallery on here for my Champagne Pop & Fan Dance!
This was the most fun I've had on stage in a very long time - the fans were incredible and not only that my wonderful boyfriend & friends came along to support me. It's always amazing to have people you know there to watch you do something you love! not only that the lovely lady behind Gingermegs Vintage came along looking stunning in a navy and red wiggle dress number!
One hell of a night I can't wait to get back on stage and do this all over again.
I’ve been incredibly behind on updating my blog due to other projects and such which can be seen in the latest updates!
However here’s a little sneak peek at my latest purchases over the last few months of non blogging
Kiss Me Deadly Plum Suspender Belt
After KMD posted that there Plum longline suspender belt was back in stock [via twitter] they had me! I clicked the link and before I knew it I'd clicked the size - dropped down boxed the quantity and pressed 'check out' a couple of days later a surprise came in the post.
As ever with KMD my package was beautifully wrapped and the colour was even better than on the website.
Sadly the suspender clips didn't impress me as much as the ones that are on the Vargas Dress I own from KMD but still I adore it - I'm now lusting after the Teal longline vargas suspender belt - beautiful!
If anyone fancies buying me it a medium will do just fine ... much love Vampy!
wicker bag
In my previous post about 'The Wedding of the Century' I took a bag I borrowed to the wedding - a wicker vintage bag with rope handle I fell head over my Vivienne's for but sadly it wasn't mine! - Although I've been looking for a replacment of my own I haven't found one yet but came across this little cheap wicker bag for £3 which I'm planning on staining with dark wood stain.
It a lovely little cheap number that'll do for now!
Little summery outfit I wore charity shopping a few weeks ago:
Flamingo Dress
Baby Pink Vintage Cardigan
Cheap Little Wicker Bag
and not that you can see but pen toe cream shoes with black bows.
Over the Jubilee weekend [quite a while ago now] I went to a little vintage fair near work and picked up the snake skin vintage case above and the vintage bobby pins from Gingermegs Vintage Emporium!
| I purchased this dress in a moment of weakness - I'd just sent a dress back that I'd bought online which turned up and ended up being the wrong dress - disheartened and feeling a bit sad I looked through my bookmarks and found the link to this beautiful dress that was on SALE!
It fits like an absoloute dream, the colours look great together - even though I was a little dubious about the baby pink but the 30's style looks wonderful!
Packaging
Pink & Black deco dress
I also found these two little bargains £9 each! Bird print dresses very summery not that were getting much sunshine!
I modified them both slightly since I bought them making the back of the Flamingo dress an open back & with the little blue number I added a pleat in the front and a section of magenta in the open section [so you don't see my corset]
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Flamingo cradigan bought from ASDA believe it or not. It came in black too but sadly had sold out but for £8 I had to buy it and free delivey straight to my door.
To the right is my outfit for the day to go with my new cardigan - White strapless top, Blue cotton swing skirt I made, vintage blue belt and Cath Kidson headscarf.
| | Last but noy least on the outfit update -
Maroon pencil skirt
Navy patterend three quater sleeve jumper
Navy Vintage Belt
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| | My outfit photo for the wedding of the Burly Century!
Two of my favorite people and definatly my favorite couple Ditzy Diamond and Decadent Gent became Mr&Mrs Diamond-Gent on the 16th June and I could not have been more thrilled to have been a part of there special day.
I wore my Emily & Fin Swing Dress
Maroon & Orange roses
Vintage Wicker bag with rope handle [borrowed from Laura]
Vivienne Westwood bronze heart cream shoes
Red Cardigan
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The whole day was so well planned and thoughout I have never been to such a beautiful, crafty and friendly wedding. The atmosphere was incredible - The Bridesmaids all wore little robot clips colour co-ordinated with their shoes and the Groomsmen wore little Darleks instead of flowers on their lapels.
Ditzy was the most beautiful bride ever! in a champagne coloured wiggle dress and leopard print killer heels she was drop dead gorgeous! I was really taken aback and DG's hand tied bow tie really set him apart from the rest.
| At the cermeony salt cellers were handed out as a quirky way of letting guests know the running times of the day - all hand made and hand crafted by the gorgeous couple. Along with them we recieved bubbles to blow instead of throwing confetti after the ceremony.
Twinkle Pink and I
| The extremly happy couple Ditzy Diamond & DG - officialy Mr & Mrs Diamond Gent!
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The reception was AMAZING! from the retro sweetie bar for desert, to the amazing never ending buffet and of course the gorgeous hand crafted paper cranes that flooded the venue! Ditzy really had made millions and they looked incredible! - The cake with the super heroes on top made me incredibly envious. We were all very very lucky to have ridden on a retro double decker red bus from the service to the reception where we were met with cocktails and a fab little quiz made by the bridesmaids to get us all talking!
There is just so much that was amazing about this wedding ever time I write something I think of something else but it's easy to say it was a beautiful day despite the weather, I couldn't think of a couple more perfectly suited for them and this wedding was them all over!
Exciting news here at Vamp HQ – of course by now you should have seen the new home page with my brand spanking new logo/illustration courtesy of Nick Beedle!
We’ve been working together for the past couple of months collaborating ideas to come up with the final piece which I am smitten with.
I wanted something a little glamorous, a lot Vamp with a dash of cheek and he got it all in one!
Buisiness Cards
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Tote Bag
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I recently had it put on to my new business cards, stickers and my favourite of the lot I’ve had the design put on to tote bags! Which I must say look great – the sample came through last week and I’ve been using my tote bag since I got it! It’s absolutely wonderful!
I'm also looking to have it put on to tee's as the design is just bloody brilliant and would look fantastic on tee's!
So goes without saying who wants one?
This was a little personal project I'd been keeping under wraps for the past few months. My dear friend Rachel Spivey; talented photographer, super mother, gorgeous poodle owner and overall glamorous flame haired vixen! Gave me the superb opportunity and greatest honour of currating an exhibition that celebrated her work over the last couple of years.
I can’t like it was a hard task narrowing thousands of images down to just twenty finals! Ten of which are behind the scenes of burlesque and ten live action shots. Looking through all the images it took e on a wonderful journey of just how much Burlesque means to me and how amazing it feels to be on stage – looking at the performers I could see the joy on their faces and got the buzz which you can only feel by getting up and giving it a go yourself. Rachel has this wonderful skill of catching performers during the most private of moments backstage taking time out, thinking about an act or getting read as well as on stage, she manages to get that cheeky wink or smile that other photographers would have missed.
Show Guide with curation by myself helped by the wonderful Craig Spivey
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I myself was lucky enough to meet Rachel in March 2011 when I modelled at Pencils & Pin Ups in Leamington Spa at Rachel’s beautiful studio – any vintage lover and pin up lover would be envious of her collection [books nick naks and such] – since then we’ve kept in touch and I’ve followed her work via the power of the internet [www.raquelrouge.com]. Not only that but Rachel also took one of my favourite images I use here on my site and for some of my business cards.
Rachel’s exhibition runs until tomorrow so please hot foot it over to take a peek it’s been running for two weeks and has been a lot of fun and a huge pleasure to have been a part of. There are also wonderful pieces of Rachel’s work to buy & Credit Card payments are accepted.
Photographs individually priced to buy in frames.
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Photographs unframed avilable to buy
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