The Eyes Have It

Summer 1948



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What Price Freedom 1935?

£25!!

A £25 deposit and weekly repayments from 14/5 bought freedom from drudgery through the purchase of a modern house.


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This advert is from the Brighton Herald Souvenir Magazine commemorating King George V silver jubilee. Brighton was growing rapidly in the 30s with at least 10 new housing estates going up in the immediate and surounding areas. Easy access to the new Building Society loans allowed more people to become home owners for the first time.

The benefits of electricity, gas, inside toilets and hot water are neatly encapsulated in the top picture showing a modern young woman with time on her hands to walk the dog, its just a short hop, skip and jump tobridge parties, 2 weeks in Eastbourne, a car in the garage and charity commitees.

Presumably it's hubby's salary that is paying for all this but that's an inconvenience which doesn't need emphasising.

Make the best of English weather

At last I have managed to photograph one of my many blue dresses, I bought this a couple of months ago and have been desperate for a day warm enough to wear it since, last weekend fit the bill nicely.



dress 1930s: York Racecourse Antiques Fair
shoes 1930s: eBay
glasses 1930s: Can't remember
bangle 2010: New Look (also in black)

British women own average 17 pairs of shoes

A survey by Chambord in The Telegraph


AMATEURS! Raynes 77, day to day shoes 34. This is not an 'admission'.

Have you counted?

Summer Frocks 1940-41

Pre-utility wartime frocks for summer.


Economic washing frocks summer 1940. click for full size

Formal and casual frocks summer 1941. click for full size

Horrockses Fashions by Christine Boydell

Summer is here! for a few days anyway, time to cast a clout and get into your cotton frocks. The timely arrival of Christine Boydell's book adds a new layer of enthusiasm to dressing vintage in summer which I sometimes find a little hard work.




Beautifully illustrated, the book looks at design and designers, retailers, manufacturing and the end consumer. there is also a section on the rise of mass market ready to wear, an area that has not been covered in much depth before now.



As I have mentioned before cotton really came into its own in the post war years, there were adverts for both specific companies and general manufacturing processes in many magazines. This spread is from British Picture News 1947.


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Wickedlady Collectables: 60 Second History

Next February (2011) my business will have been on the web for 10 years. What a lot has changed on the internet since then. Amazon sold only books, eBay only existed in America, the High Street was hardly represented. When I made my first website in 1998 there was little e-commerce, it was mostly information that was out there. Paypal didn't exist.



This is what the original pages looked like, the design was based on Rowntree's Black Magic packaging. In 2008 I reversed the colours.



I started out with 150 items, mostly film memorabilia and tins. Now it's mostly
vintage and tins and there are over 1000 items, there are 155 dress patterns alone!

Anyway, last year I thought it was about time I got myself a dedicated URL for my business site, back in 1998 a single domain name cost over £60 per year, so my partner and I shared one name and ran several different sites on it. Today it's £2.99 so I think I can afford it.

So please make a note of the new address and put it in your bookmarks.
http://www.wickedladycollectables.co.uk

It's All in the Detail: Rayne Shoes.

Some close-ups of recent acquisitions.


Part of a collection I bought last year from the late 1950s to mid 60s. The wearer was the wife of the owner of the Mirabelle Restaraunt in Mayfair. Materials include linen, lace, silk satin, leather and suede. Click for full size.


Black velvet Pilgrim pump with massive diamante buckle, mid 60s. Click for full size.


Dark green suede 70s evening shoes with strap of 'emerald' stones, and a staggering 4.5 inch heel. Click for full size.


Contton sandals c1940 with slingback. Click for full size.


Black embroidered net evening shoes from the Mirabelle Collection, with spike heels (they all have). Click for full size.


Cream slubbed silk with satin stitch embroidery and blue glass beads, devoree silk in black and white with cut-out sides, both from the Mirabelle Collection. Click for full size.

Dandelion Time

In England we sing the praises of many flowers throughout the year, snowdrops in February, bluebells in May, roses in June, but I would like eulogise dandelions.

Pretty and good for you. Click for full size.

At the momet the verges are covered in billions of them, in a week they will be clocks, and I will start the never-ending battle to keep them out of my garden. But on the roadsides and in fields, there is noting prettier at this time of year.

VE DAY: Frocks, Hats and Shoes To Celebrate Peace

The longed for peace had finally arrived. May 8th was designated Victory In Europe Day. But due to politics (what else) the announcements and organisation left something to be desired. Many people went to the West End of London to hear Churchill speak and then celebrated in the streets until the early hours, but many more stayed at home, it felt like the war had gone out with a whimper rather than a bang. But wherever the celebration, the wardrobes of British women struggled on as usual.


Bon Marche advert April 1945. Click for bigger picture.

Dickins & Jones advert April 1945. Click for bigger picture.

As you can see from these photos by the end of the war many of the austerity rules had been relaxed.


Chesro advert April 1945. Printed summer frock.


Mary Black advert April 1945. Dress whith a faux jacket.


Walpoles advert April 1945, Long dinner gown with bias flounce.


Reslaw Hats April 1945


Panda shoes April 1945


Russell & Bromley May 1945, Return of white leather for shoes.

Dita and The Margarita

Fabulous new video advert for the original Margarita made with Cointreau,
featuring Miss Dita Von Teese and lots of lovely extras. Click here.

My Favourite Things

I'm sorry to say that I haven't had much time for blogging, I've recently taken delivery of 200 dress patterns and tomorrow I'm going to get 20 boxes of tins. But in the midst of busy times like this I find it suddenly necessary to sort out my archive of fashion photos, clean the cooker and look up bus times to Molescroft. I seem to recall similar necessary diversions when I was (supposedly) revising
for my finals at university.

So it's Eye Candy time, in lieu of content, here are some of my favourite items from the newly sorted and terribly organised photo archives.


Lotus open toe shoes 1946, for the first time since 1940 sandals were being made.


Schiaparelli Pyjamas November 1937


Hardy Amies New Look coat 1949. Photo copyright Museum of London.


frederick Starke silk dress with Mexican pattern 1948.


Totally Hollywood evening dress availale from Marshall & Snelgrove (the other M&S) December 1947, love this dress, it reminds me of Ida Lupino. She must have worn something similar.

New Shoes at Wickedlady Collectables

Lots of new stuff this week including shoes
at Wickedlady Collectables