Blogger's Block

We all get lost for inspiration from time to time, whether you are a poet, fashion designer or fashion blogger, no one is safe from the dreaded black cloud.
Our tip for when you are suffering from a creativity block, is to play the “We Heart It Game”, and very soon the cloud will be lifted.

What you have to do is pick three things that are flickering at the back of your mind, and enter them into weheartit.com, the image sharing web space.
In seconds you have access to thousands of beautiful images, logged and tagged by like-minded image hoarders. You can also set-up your own account to file and share your personal collection. Choose from scans of vintage magazines, self initicated fashion shoots and holiday snaps. After a few moments lost in the archives of WeHeartIt.com you are guaranteed to feel inspired.
Here’s what we are thinking about this grey Wednesday morning, and what popped up when we entered them in weheartit.com.

TEA



WILD FLOWERS



CARDIGANS



Why don't you give it a go? http://weheartit.com/

Fash - Films

Is anyone else guilty of watching films solely for the fashion content? Yesterday, I celebrated one of the final gasps of winter, (where hibernation is still expectable), by taking residence on the sofa, and entered the Technicolor world of Bob Fosse’s Cabaret. This film is a vintage fashion fantasy, a stylised version of the 1930s, through a 1970s filter, complete with gritty drag references. Cue flared halterneck all-in-ones, oversized furs, floppy brimmed hats, and Liza Minnelli’s imitable green nail varnish. Life is really is a Cabaret.

A Room of One's Own

Vintage Academe has spent the last eighteen months as fashion's most exquisite vagrant. We have inhabited sun-drenched warehouses in Battersea, sung for our supper at the V&A, liaised in anonymous hotel suites and private members clubs across the city.... After a tiresome but thrilling journey, we are pleased to announce that VA finally has A Room of One's Own.

That room, painted a chic shade of grey, is tucked away in Notting Hill at 125 Ledbury Road. ( Up the road from Matches if you must ask).

We have rails. We have our first bouquet of ‘good luck’ roses, and we have a promise of an opening date – Saturday the 27th of March.

Please keep an eye on the blog this week, as we might be able to open sooner, but at the moment, this is the date to save. Now please excuse us, we have furniture to shop for.

VA at the V&A!

Vintage Academe spent the morning at the V&A, presenting our archive, to an enthusiastic audience of students and collectors, enrolled on the "Vintage to Vogue" fashion history course.
We were delighted that we could share our collection, and listen to what Clare Rose,
fashion history lecturer at the V&A, had to say about the history of the pieces. An Issey Miyake ribbon dress proved popular, and the exquisite cut of an eighties Thierry Mugler, drew an admiring crowd.

Clare Rose said, "It's great to have a vintage brand like Vintage Academe, who cleverly brings vintage fashion into today's fashion world. They have a strong collection, and it has been chosen with a good eye."




For more information go to - http://www.vam.ac.uk/school_stdnts/index.html

Punch drunk by Penn

For reasons we will soon start to reveal on this site - we have only just been able to visit the Irving Penn exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Simply titled 'Portraits', perfectly echoing his puritanical ethos, this is an exhibition of some of the West's cultural titans of the past 7 decades. Candidates for the Fantasy Dinner Party? They are all here... But this is Penn. It's not a mere log of 120 faces - every picture is an intense and revealing study. Shunning elaborate props, sets or gimmicks, he distills to the very essence of the sitter in each image. The youthful Peter Ustinov is cherubic, Schaiparelli - screamingly defiant. For anyone interested in recent Western Culture - this is unmissable - but be prepared to be hit 120 times right between your eyes.

Irving Penn Portraits, The National Gallery until 6th June.

Say Grace

Think of timeless, unerring beauty and think instantly of the inimitable 1950s style icon, Grace Kelly. Imagine a world of old school Hollywood glamour, of black and white movies, of giving up a glittering career at only 26 to fall in love and become the Princess of Monaco ...

And it doesn't stop there! From Yves Saint Laurent to Balenciaga, the actress packed a lot of breathtaking couture outfits into her life. No wonder we can’t wait to see how the celebrated beauty transformed herself from actress to princess when the V&A opens its doors on Grace Kelly: Style Icon on April 17th.

Set to contain over 50 pieces from her spectacular wardrobe, we're anticipating a revival of classic sophistication. And to accompany the exhibition, the first book to look exclusively at Grace’s unique style will be published. We'll definitely be buying a copy of this... Hermes didn't name their most luxurious handbag after Grace for nothing.

Our Friends in the North

On a recent buying trip up north, we met 22 year old, folksinger and vintage shop owner, Lucy Conroy. Lucy set up her own vintage boutique, ‘Lucy and the Caterpillar’, when she was only nineteen, ‘because I had ran out of storage space for my own collection, and thought it might be a good idea to try and sell some of it’, she informed Va, when we stumbled across her busy attic shop, nestled high above the centre of the scenic market town, Hebden Bridge. The unbelievably picturesque town, now a favourite of artists and poets, is most well known for it’s literally residents, past and present, most famously Ted Hughes.


Read on for Lucy's top five, vintage tips for the North.


1. Leeds Vintage Fashion Fair
I bought a monochrome fifties tea dress from this fair, it was made for a ballet dancer who had danced for the queen. I wore it to the Christian Dior fashion show in Paris, I felt so special, all the photographers were whispering, ‘Who is she?’ French Vogue took my picture for the party page; I think they thought it was vintage Chanel.
http://www.leedsvintagefashionfairs.com/


2. Whim Wham Club, Manchester
Clubbing depresses me, people no longer make any effort to look good, and isn’t that the whole point of going out! I went out the other night and at the end of it thought, ‘god that was a waste of make-up!’ That’s why I love the Whim Wham Club, it’s a burlesque and cabaret night, but not a theme night, just very glamorous. You can really dress-up and everyone appreciates the effort you have made. And you are not going to get WKD spilt on your satin dress.
http://www.myspace.com/whimwhamclub


3. Saltsmill
Saltsmill is a old mill, in a little town called Saltaire, near Bradford. The mill was built in the Victorian times. It has been renovated into galleries, antique shops and two beautiful restaurants. It’s an incredible building; they have lots of David Hockney exhibitions. I love the French restaurant on the roof, and the bookshops.
http://www.saltsmill.org.uk/


Image. Saltsmill.


4. The Souk
The Souk is the best antique shop in Haworth, a gorgeous little town in West Yorkshire. The town has lot’s of independent shops, The Souk is near the Bronte Museum.
117 Main Street, Haworth, West Yorkshire, 01535 646538.


5. My Shop
Come to Hebden Bridge for the day and visit me in my shop, I’ll make you a cup of tea and some crumpets!
http://www.myspace.com/caterpillarvintage


Follow her blog describing how she sews a fifties style dress, to match her Vivian Westwood by Melissa shoes –
http://lucyandthecaterpillaradventures.blogspot.com/

Now this deserves an Oscar...

In breathless awe...

Spring

Happy Campers

Dancing until dawn at festivals, vintage shopping and weekend breaks at country estates, are our top three summer pastimes.

So you can imagine our excitement when we discovered Vintage at Goodwood. The vintage fashion/music festival, which debuts this August, at The Goodwood Estate on the Sussex coast.
The festival is organised by Wayne Hemingway, (of Red or Dead fashion fame) and the Goodwood Sussex coast estate owner, Lord March.
Hemingway says 'We have carefully curated a celebratory, that re-unites music, fashion and culture; that is unashamedly about dressing up rather than down’.

Fashion
Va are already planning what to wear, although it sounds as if you could arrive with an empty backpack, and leave with a whole new wardrobe, with plenty of vintage shops, including a carefully designed ‘vintage high street’, housing the Kenwood Emporium and a recreation of Oxfam’s first High Street shop from 1948. The curators have also selected pieces from today’s collections, for the ‘Tomorrow’s Vintage’ exhibition, showcasing what they think will become covetable items of the future.

What To See
Catwalk shows, like Mods v Rockers and ‘The British New Look’, discovering cuts from the forties, run in the same bill as the musicians, who range from Imelda May, Sandy Shaw and The Noisettes. Lily Allen is in attendance, but not on the stage, instead she is using the festival to launch her new vintage label. Be sure to book in afternoon tea with the WI, a place in the roller disco, or visit the 40s-style nightclub and a recreation of the Northern Soul venue Wigan Casino.

Camping
Expect preferential treatment if you turn up in a classic camper. If camping in your vintage finery doesn’t sound too appealing, you can book into one of the festivals ‘posh tents’ which come complete with a butler to prepare your breakfast on-site.

August 13-15 of 2010, Tickets are already on sale with adult day passes for £55 and weekend camping tickets at £150. Go to www.vintageatgoodwood.com

On-line Love

Whilst flicking through a recent copy of Vogue, we came across a recommendation for queensofvintage.com. , an online magazine dedicated to all things vintage -
We are now officially hooked!
Where else would you find an ‘Ode to Lucite’, a feature on ‘The Ten Must-haves for a Boudoir’ or a discussion on Wartime diets.
If that’s not enough the Queen’s team also find time to organise fashion flash mobs, and set up vintage-style hair salons across the country.
Go to - http://www.queensofvintage.com.
And follow on twitter - http://twitter.com/QueensOfVintage
(Image of Jean Harlow from the site.)

Return of the Killer Storms

Yes - another ghastly, wet day ahead... Inspired by this clip, we're saying goodbye to Feb with an afternoon of B-Movie heaven....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e7U3hu4A0I

Lily's Vintage Venture

Lily Allen has done a 'Sienna':momentarily ditching the entertainment industry to set up a fashion brand with her sister.
'I'm in the office every day, sourcing clothes and getting really excited about my new venture.' Enthuses Lily about her new vintage brand. This isn’t Lily’s first foray into the world of fashion. In 2007 she designed a vintage inspired range for New Look, and has recently modeled for Chanel. The premise of the store, which will be called ‘Lucy in Disguise’, is that girls can hire peices from the collection, so get to wear beautiful clothes without the hefty price tag. What more proof did we need of fashion's latest love affair with quality vintage than celebrity endosement - thanks Lily!

From Russia with Love

As one of the world's most powerful supermodels, Natalia Vodianova can wear any designer she wishes. So it is a testiment to her innate style and good taste, that for the 2009, British Fashion Awards, and The Met Ball she chose to showcase her exquisite collection of Fortuny gowns.
Another famous Fortuny fan was Clarisse Coudert - Mrs. Condé Nast, here is a beautful picure of her wearing one of the famous tea gowns, circa 1917.

Celia Birtwell's musings on true elegance.

Reading a recent, and rare, interview with the intensly private Celia Birtwell we came across this gem on style and elegance:

'I like quality. I appreciate a sense of style. But this mania for sporting designer logos on everything we wear or carry - it's terribly vulgar, isn't it? True elegance requires a little modesty, and the need to rely solely on labels and brand names is, if anything, indiciative of a lack of self-confidence.'

Celia Birtwell, we love you.

VA Masterclasses at Topshop

We've just completed the second of the two Masterclasses at Topshop. Our curator Judith Watt came up trumps with her typically entertaining and hands-on style. Quite literally. To our amazement, our founder seemed surprisingly relaxed when Judith invited the audience to lean over the display barrier and feel the 1920s Chanel cocktail dress on display. Perhaps the shock set in later...

Big thanks to all the team at Topshop - you have been a dream to work with and your enthusiasm for VA has been fantastic!

For those who missed the talks, the display will continue throughout Fashion Week, at Topshop, Oxford Circus. But it is just for looking only now, sorry!

VA Private Collection Display at Topshop for LFW

Some of the pieces of our Private Collection on display in Topshop during London Fashion Week.

Display includes 1920s Patou and Chanel; 1930s Shciaparelli, Mainbocher and Pacquin; 1970s Paco Rabanne and Ossie Clark; 1980s Alaia.

Pop down to Topshop this week to see these fantastic pieces of fashion history in the flesh. You might even see Philip Green admiring them - we have it on good authority that he's a big fan!

Topshop, Oxford Circus, Lower Ground Floor.

VA now on Twitter

Stay up to date with all things VA, as we have now joined the cultural revolution that is Twitter.

Follow us at: http://twitter.com/vintageacademe

VA x Topshop Master Class, this weekend . . .

Vintage Academe – Topshop - LFW Event

To celebrate London Fashion Week, Vintage Academe will be curating an installation at Topshop’s Oxford Circus store. The installation will showcase the most important pieces from our collection of 20th century fashion. The display will range from 20s Vionnet and Chanel, through to 90s Alaia and Herve Leger.

“We have long admired Vintage Academe and are delighted to be able to offer it’s unique archive of fashion history to customers. This exhibition offers the perfect balance to the contemporary designers with whom we collaborate on a regular basis.”
-Topshop

The Master Class
On 19th and 20th February, VA founder Clare Nicholls and VA Curator, author and fashion historian Judith Watt will be in-store to give the history behind some of the clothes and the designers who created them. Visitors will be able to try on some of the pieces – with vintage-styling advice from Topshop Style Advisors – and some pieces will be available to buy.

“VA are delighted to be a part of Topshop’s London Fashion Week celebrations. This is the perfect opportunity for VA to open our archive to Topshop’s fashion-savvy customers, and establish ourselves as Europe’s finest luxury vintage retailers.”
-Clare Nicholls, Founder of VA

Stop Press

Links to VA in the news!

http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/100208-topshop-fashion-week-activity.aspx

http://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/blog/?tag=vintage-academe

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1250508/London-Fashion-Week-Valentines-lip-service-plus-latest-Barbies-love-affair-Christian-Louboutin.html

http://insideout.topshop.com/
http://insideout.topshop.com/

http://insideout.topshop.com/
http://insideout.topshop.com/

http://insideout.topshop.com/
http://insideout.topshop.com/

http://insideout.topshop.com/
http://insideout.topshop.com/

Top of The Blogs

VA loves this image from superblogger - jakandjil.




http://jakandjil.com/blog/?p=3757

Because Life is Divine

Giving something up for Lent? Easy. The choice is overwhelming... Instead we've going to do something far more enriching - read Dante's Divine Comedy. The aim is to reach Paradiso with him on Easter Sunday. Beacuse life is divine, and yes, it is still also a comedy...

Talk to the Walls

VA has just returned from a country estate auction, held yesterday in a secret location in the north of England. Although we can’t yet reveal our new purchases, we can report on what we did once we had finished shopping.
Before boarding for Euston we went to Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery, for the newly opened exhibition, ‘Walls are Talking:Wallpaper, Art and Culture’, as recommended by this month's Vogue.The exhibition extensively explores artist-designed wallpaper. Featured artists include Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Julie Verhoeven. It is interesting to see how many artists have utilised this medium, and subverted the domestic associations with wallpaper to convey their messages. A truly underated artform.


(www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk,250 Oxford Road, Manchester,0161 275 7450. Exhibition runs 6th Feb - May 3rd)

Comfort Cinema

It’s raining, it’s February.
There’s only one way to spend today: find your nearest indie cinema, and get a ticket for one for this afternoon's screening of a classic film . No need to share popcorn, and just think it could be sunny by the time the film finishes!



If you can't make out what VA's afternoon film was, here's a clue-

“I could find a real-life place that'd make me feel like Tiffany's, then - then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name!”

VA’s top Indie Cinemas

1.The Cornerhouse
Oxford Street, Manchester (cornerhouse.org, 0161-200 1500)
2. The Duke of York’s
Preston Circus, Brighton (www.picturehouses.co.uk, 0871 704 2056)
3. Chapter Arts
Market road, Cardiff (www.chapter.org, 029 2030 4400)
4.Ritzy Picturehouse
Coldharbour Lane, London (www.picturehouses.co.uk, 0207 733 2229)

Goodbye

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1a5rhY3Spg

Pop Goes The Shop

We are delighted to announce that for London Fashion Week, February 2010, VA will be curating an installation, and holding a week long pop-up shop at Topshop’s Oxford Circus store. The installation will showcase the most important pieces from our collection of 20th century fashion. The display will range from 20’s Vionnet and Chanel, through to 90’s Alaia and Herve Leger.
What more on the 19th and 20th of February, our founder, Clare Nicholls and VA Curator, author and fashion historian, Judith Watt will be in-store to give the history behind some of the clothes and the designers who created them.

Visitors will be able to try on some of the pieces – with vintage-styling advice from Topshop Style Advisors – and some pieces will be available to buy.

London Fashion Week, 18th-23rd Febuary 2010.

A Tale of Two Cities

Today in Selfridges VA witnessed a real life fashion cat fight! The scrap broke out over the last pair of Henry Holland 'House Mock' Over the Knee Tights for Pretty Polly. The clever design has proved so popular, that they are this season's hosiery sell-out.
The pattern brings to mind an incredible 1920s black chiffon and beaded Coco Chanel 'LBD' we have in our private collection- proving that an iconic skyline will always be in fashion.

Cat Power

This spring the catwalk is crawling with feline inspired fashion.
At Azzaro, Vanessa Seward made her furry friend Monsieur Jo, the star of her S/S 10 collection, when she enlisted artist Florence Deygas to sketch her pet, and then embroidered the image in sliver onto a collection of silk white dresses.
Miuccia Prada presented a feline-fest at Mui Mui with plenty of girlish cat prints, and oversized kitty broaches pinned onto lapels.
Finally Alexa Chung was ousted as a ‘cat-lady', when she sported Lulu Guinness’s ‘Kooky Eyed Cat’ clutch bag on the red carpet, the showpiece in Lulu’s current collection of cat inspired accessories.
Here at VA we are dreaming of Schiaparelli’s 1960s cat –eye spectacles, Tatty Devine's cat cut-out bangles and this vintage yellow cat print dress, as seen in Harriet Magazine: a fashion zine we picked up in Magma bookshop. This adorable shoot in Harriet concludes, ‘You will never walk alone with cats on your dress’ - Purrfect.



Link to Harriet Magazine:-
http://www.harrietmagazine.com/

It's Coming . . .

London Fashion Week AW10 Starts on the 18th February, stay tuned for lots of VA LFW updates, comments and some special announcements, changes and pieces we're working on especially for Fashion week.

www.vintageacademe.com
www.vintageacademe.blogspot.com

Top Secret

There is drama and excitment in the VA head quarters this afternoon, as something very exciting has been announced...
Watch this space!

Book Club

This week at VA we are using the miserable weather as an excuse to stay in, and finally address the pile of books still untouched from Christmas presents. Top of the pile is More is More: Tony Duquette, a beautiful book about the iconic American decorator Duquette, famous for his extravagant film-sets and interiors. The star of the book however is his artist wife, Elizabeth ‘Beegle’ Duquette. Beegle was the favourite painter of Hollywood director, Vincent Minnelli. She created murals that appear in a number of his films – the painting of Elizabeth Taylor in The Sandpaper was painted by the artist. Beegle often wore her husband’s creations and was famed for her love of expensive jewellery. All the top fashion designers fought to dress her, and her vast collection was said to be so big, it took a whole day to pack for a trip. Imagine if we could have a peak into that wardrobe!
More is More:Tony Duquette by Hutton Wilkinson(Abrams,£45)

In the Hood

Fashion is rarely practical, so it came as a pleasant surprise this season when Nicolas Ghesquiere sent his models down the Balenciaga catwalk, with hooded leather gillets to shelter them from the spring rain. A word of caution when trying the ‘hoodie’ trend - the look is more sportswear/club-kid than Scottish widow advert, so avoid velvet and stick to a sporty silhouette. Here at VA we have a beautiful 1980s Alaia hooded dress that is perfectly encapsulates the look.

http://shop.vintageacademe.com/products/1980s-alaia-hooded-dress

Earn Your Stripes

During a spot of late night ‘e-tail’, we came across this cheeky thick striped jumper dress by Sonia Rykiel. It bought to mind the incredible Traffic Light dress by Ossie Clark we have recently added to our collection.

Move over the humble breton stripe - the future is streaked in wide bands of the brightest rainbow hues.

Confectionary Couture

This week's Chanel haute couture show signalled a much welcome end to the recent serge of eighties power dressing. Lagerfeld presented a generous scoop of ice-cream coloured, feminine fashion, with not so much as a ‘pagoda shoulder’ in site. For your own exclusive piece of the (cream) pie, check out one of our most recent acquisitions: a 1960’s pink haute couture Chanel suit, no doubt this silk shift dress and jacket was plucked from the Chanel archive, and used as inspiration for this season's collection.

Ring Leader

This afternoon VA dropped by the Notting Hill salon of Lauren Adriana, fine jeweller and fan of Vintage Academe. Over a cup of earl grey, Lauren, 24, filled us in on her recent appointment at Vogue House,
"I presented my current collection to Carol Woolton, Vogue’s Jewellery Editor,” she told us excitedly. Her beautiful collection clearly impressed, gaining the ambitious jeweller a much coveted mention in a future issue of Vogue. Lauren recalls the meeting saying: “We bonded over our mutual appreciation of modernist jewellery,” Lauren lists her influences as Suzanne Belperron and Raymond Templier amongst others. “I think she also liked the fact that I try to create pieces that can be passed down through generations.”
Lauren's new ‘Couture Collection’ is a selection of delicately encrusted pieces that reference the 1950’s, is the antithesis of the disposable jewellery that so many young designers are quick to churn out today. “When it comes to my personal style I don’t go for fast fashion and the newest trend, I prefer to have a few quality pieces, designer or vintage, and I aim to carry this through into my designs.”

To see Lauren’s own style, visit fashion blog:
showmeyourwadrobe.com or follow this link -
http://showmeyourwardrobe.blogspot.com/2010/01/lauren-adriana-jewellery-designer-as.html.

Or for more information, or to book a consultation with the designer, visit her website:
www.laurenadriana.com

or follow Lauren on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/LAjewellery

New Year, New Pieces; Backstage . . .

After a very exciting month of buying in December, yesterday our Creative Director had a fantastic day shooting the new pieces - some will join our permanent collection and some will be for sale - as well as shooting all of those incredible labels, from 1920's Gabrielle Chanel and Jean Patou, to 1950's Balmain and Dior, 1970s Paco Rabanne Couture, all the way up to 80 and 90's Comme Des Garcons, Galliano and Alaia. Stay tuned for more on this, but for now here are some shots from yesterdays fantastic shoot.

(Shown above we have 90's Gaultier Fetish on set, 60's Yves Saint Laurent haute couture lace work waiting to be shot and photographer Pelle Crepin on set)