Retro Retrospective

Miuccia Prada has been setting trends since the early 90s so when she sent mid century influenced designs down the runway this year, the whole fashion world went a little retro mad. The result was one fashion editorial after another referencing the 50s in particular - some better than others - and here are selections from three that I particularly liked but haven't got around to posting earlier.

Lara Stone looked breathtaking - and a little Veronica Lake like - in the September issue of US Vogue, photographed by Mert & Marcus. This spread makes me want to go out and buy a cable knit sweater.

The September issue of Aussie Vogue was all retro fantastic too, with this very pretty cover shoot by Nicole Bentley with Catherine McNeil modelling by the side of my beloved Sydney harbour. I love the use of genuine vintage jewellery in the balcony shot + that's a vintage frock Catherine is wearing in the photo on the lawn too.

I've long been lusting after an antique pink phone at the Sydney Antiques Centre not dissimilar to the phone used in this Vogue Nippon shoot by Solve Sundsbo. The luggage, the chairs and oh, the clothes, aren't bad too. I especially love the ribbon tie peep toes in the last photo.

Enjoy!

Christmas Cheer

Wouldn't this gorgeous 1950s frock from SweetMoonlightShop make the perfect outfit for a warm Aussie Christmas?

And wouldn't I just love for my life, for the rest of my 9 DAYS OFF WORK, to resemble this vintage coke commercial? Okay, maybe minus the coke, because after all I can't drink it and if I could I'd have to spend hours running up and down the beach to burn off the calories. I will be running over my holidays, but hopefully at dusk after spending the daylight hours chilling on a beach towel with a thick novel.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!

Frock of the Week: The FLOTUS in Vintage

The US First Lady Michelle Obama has set vintage lover's hearts a flutter by stepping out in - shock, horror - a vintage Norman Norell for a Christmas concert in Washington. I love the flattering square neckline and the full tulle skirt and I love also that Michelle continues to support American designers, past or present.

Norman Norell worked with another great American designer Hattie Carnegie until 1940 when he stared his own label Traina Norell, which eventually became Norman Norell in 1960.

I've posted about a couple of other celebs in vintage Norell before: Marisa Tomei in Traina Norell and Kristin Davis in a Norman Norell at one of the SATC 2 functions. Kristin's golden sheath dress is one of Norell's most celebrated styles, but according to the Vintage Fashion Guild he was also known for the waist less chemise, pussy-bows, precision tailoring and the use of the finest fabrics.

I love keeping up with Michelle's style over at Mrs O and I hope that this isn't a one and only occurrence. For the fun of it, lets pick which great American designer Obama should wear next. Oleg Cassini, James Galanos, vintage Oscar de la Renta?

PS Apparently Michelle bought her dress from New York Vintage. Lots of pretty pictures over there!

A Model I Missed

It seems when I compiled my great models of the 1950s post I missed one. Tom Palumbo, the photographer subject of my last post (whom I just discovered passed away in 2008), was for a time married to the timelessly lovely Anne St Marie. Her look reminds me a little bit of Linda Evangelista's, her poise of Angelica Huston.
Palumbo's Flickr stream has a set devoted to his photographs of Anne and they are really breathtaking. Some of the images are so contemporary in their composition that they could belong to any decade.

I've tried to puzzle out a little bit more about Anne St Marie, but there's barely any information regarding her. She was Palumbo's muse and mother to his son, but apparently she had a love affair with fashion photographer turned movie director Jerry Schatzberg too. Schatzberg has said that Anne was also one of his favourite models - its not hard to see why - and that taped conversations he made with her, when she was undergoing a breakdown (there is some murmurings of issues with drugs and alcohol) were the inspiration behind his film Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970) starring Faye Dunaway.

I've never seen the film but it sounds intriguing; a once famous model recalls her glittering career as her world begins to shatter. Apparently it is one of Faye's best performances. Inspiration, of course, by no means implies reality (I really enjoyed The Social Network, but I'm sure great liberties were taken with the truth, whatever that may be), so I'd love to hear more about this beautiful lady, if anyone knows.

Some pretty for the weekend ...

Tom Palumbo was a leading fashion photographer in the 1950s and 1960s, working largely for Harper's Bazaar and Vogue. To me these were the golden years of fashion photography, and here are just a few pretty and summery examples of why.
You can check out Palumbo's Flickr stream for more examples of his beautiful work.

Still fixated, still gorgeous ...

I love when I discover a new store on Etsy with lovely frocks for me to drool over. In this case Sweet Moonlight Shop, which has 50s Mexican dresses (so hot right now), mod minis, 40s and 50s wiggle dresses and circle skirts galore, most particularly caught my eye because of their fantastic collection of vintage Hawaiian and Tiki frocks. Check out the Kamehameha (1, 2 & 3) and Alfred Shaheen (4, 5 & 6) dresses they've got on offer at the moment, and which I would snap up in a second if money fell from the sky into my lap and the husband suddenly transported me to Oahu or back to Fiji ...

Okay, okay, back down to earth from fantasy land. I've also got to include this no brand name Hawaiian stunner because of my love of bright covers. It's like psychedelia meets snazzy beach BBQ. Now there can't be anything wrong with that.

Apricot Crush

I spied this lovely retro styled fashion shoot (gosh they are everywhere these days) over at Fashion Gone Rogue. From the Turkish edition of Marie Claire I've got no idea which international designer is responsible for this detailed and devilishly pretty apricot dress, but I fell for it immediately. Can anyone help me out here?
Love the earrings too, and the luxe room, but in terms of beauty trends I'll be glad when the no eyebrow look goes out of style. Surely Mother Nature gave us eyebrows for a reason?

Photographer is Tamer Yilmaz.