Homemade Baileys

Super quick and easy to make, perfect for New Years, theres no excuse not to make some.



2 tspn instant coffee
4 tspn boiling water
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup whisky
1 large can condensed milk

In a pan mix the coffee in the boiling water and ensure it is all dissolved, then add the sugar and whisky. Stir until all the sugar is incorporated. Add the can of milk and pour into a warm bottle, allow to cool before sealing. Shake bottle before serving. This will last a couple of months at least. (haha)
If you don't like coffee try cocoa powder instead.

What are you waiting for?

Charles of the Ritz

Founded in 1916 when Charles Jundt took over the beauty salon at the Ritz Hotel in New York. By 1919 he was making his own cosmetics and from 1926 they were given the name Charles of the Ritz.

The 30s, 40s and 50s were the heyday of the company, during the 60s mergers and acquisitions took their toll, as with many industries at this time. Later years were less glamorous as the brand became associated with lower end stores.

One of the company's biggest marketing ploys was Made to Order  face powder which was blended specially for each customer. For more information on this see this great beauty website. These pages from 'About Town and Shopping Opportunities' are what today we would call an advertorial.


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Margarita

This hugely popular cocktail has misty origins like many other popular mixed drinks. It was either named for Margarita Henkel by Mexican bar tender Don Carlos Orozco in 1941, or a few years earlier Carlos "Danny" Herrera mixed it for former Zeigfeld Girl Marjorie King.
Similarly the ratio of the ingredients has changed over the years.



Try this mix for starters

2 measures Tequila blanco
1 measure Cointreau
1/2-1 measure lime juice depending on how sour you like it.

Alternatives: lemon instead of lime juice and salt on the rim of your cocktail/margarita glass.
Shake over crushed ice, and decorate with lime and lemon.

Small Christmas wreath made from a 1970s lurex skirt and garden wire.

Norman Hartnell Dresses the Stars 1938

Norman Hartnell discusses his design process in this Home Chat article from 1938.


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Ann Todd dressed as a Greek Column in the film 'Ships with Wings' 1942, this film featured the work of several couturiers but which designer created which gown wasn't established. However, I have since discovered that each couturier dressed a single actress throughout the film. Norman Hartnell dressed Ann Todd



I previously blogged about Ships With Wings here

1940s Hollywood Stars in Colour #6

Number six in a series of colour photographs

Viginia Mayo in a fabulous fur

Party Feet

Shoes I'll be wearing this Christmas. (don't know about the rest of the outfit yet - thats not so important)

Already worn for the Cointreau Prive Party in London, these 1970s Rayne sandals with black Swarovski crystals - Very comfortable despite being higher than I can normally manage. I've also got a pair of these without the crystals, but frankly, once you've worn crystal encrusted shoes you can't go back.


For Christmas with the family (as I won't have to do very much) Early 60s nylon net slingbacks by Rayne.


Boxing Day with friends, perfect shoes for standing around drinking in. Late 60s Rayne gold silk courts with a HUGE clip on the front. I've seen these in silver and turquoise too.



What are you going to wear?

For the man who has everything - 1954 style.

Men are alwas the most difficult people to buy meaningful Christmas presents
for especially if they aren't into fashion or have a particular hobby.

This is how Mrs 1954 got around the problem. Perfect no?


Yes, I really would like my lounge to be on castors...please Mr R.

Christian Dior Perfumes Christmas 1952

I picked up a fascinating magazine last week called 'Around Town and Shopping Opportunities'
It haslots of fabulous english couture and what today we would call advertorials. Published December 1952 it is Volume 1 Number 1  and as far as I can tell there was never a number 2.

So to start with here is the Dior advertorial.


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Its a very high class magazine and I wondered if it might have been aimed at the foreign royals and dignitaries that were about to descend on London for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. There are guides to shopping streets and sights to see as well as Surrey golf courses and the inevitable fashion shopping.
More to come soon.

Crazy for Navy

Navy has always been by favourite colour, and the larger part of my vintage wardrobe is in various shades of blue. But at the moment is seems to be quite hard to get navy clothes or fabric, so I jumped at this navy & white viscose when I saw it on ebay.  Alas when I got it, it seems to be a viscose poly mix which I'm not so keen on.



BUT it has become my all time favourite frock which I made from this pattern.



I have been wanting to make ruched sleeves for a long time and the extra fullness on the front of the skirt is achieved by 2 groups of knife pleates with gathering between. I'm going to make this again in navy wool crepe with long sleeves. I made a copy of the pattern so you can buy the original here.

The shoes and bag are Rayne (of course) a recent purchase c1950 and the seller included the almost matching gloves, looks very garden party or summer weddding to me.

Norman Parkinson 1946 - Jewels

During the war colour photography suffered very badly from poor printing inks and paper stocks. Most colour adverts were drawn rather than photographed. But by 1945 improvements in the higher class magazines became noticable.

These two photos by Norman Parkinson were printed in Vogue March 1946 as full pages.


Norman Hartnell Gown, purple sheath half sleek, half swathed.


Rhavis dinner dress, described as moss green with 2 deep red roses

London: Christmas shopping and a show

But not quite the show you might expect....

The lights...


The shops....

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Surreptitious Onigiri breakfast in our hotel....


The show....

Dita's Be Cointreauversial show at Cointreau Prive.

It was fantastic, great club, great vibe.

Many thanks to Cointreau for looking after us. For more info go here. I had a Cointreaupolitan, a Margadita and 2 of these orange ones. Delish.

The frock....

Red Velvet 2 piece - charity shop
Rayne 70s Black rhinestone sandals - ebay
Dune bag  - ebay
Jewellery - already owned
MAC eyelashes - by Ivan at MAC in Covent Garden.
total cost £27


The MAC Lash - actually the most expensive part of the outfit - but Soooo worth it. I'm too long sighted to put my own eyelashes on successfully so getting an attractive young man to do it for me seemed like a great idea.