The End

You may have noticed that things have been very quiet at Digs Frocks and Books for a while and to be honest this has been because I've been working up the courage to say goodbye.

I started out Digs Frocks and Books as a way to get into the habit of writing regularly and the short bursts required to keep a blog going suited me well as I juggled full-time work and a chronic pain condition too. It also allowed me to spend lots of wonderful time researching fashions of the past and connecting with people all across the world of similar interests and I'm so thankful for that. I've met some wonderful people along the way.

Four years down the line and I'm still juggling full-time work and my illness as well as everything else my life has to offer: family, husband, friends, exercise, reading & housework. And instead of spending time on Digs Frocks and Books I've been creative writing instead and I've been really, really enjoying it. I've got about a third of a novel under my belt and another novella too and although I'm unsure whether any of it is any good at all, I'm thoroughly enjoying the process of actually doing it.

In other words it is time to commit to new things.

I'll be keeping the blog archive up as I don't want to lose four years worth of research and writing and you never know, one day I may want to come back to it.

In the meantime there are so many other wonderful vintage blogs out there well worth checking out, some of which are highlighted on my blog roll. And I'll still be talking about vintage and my other passions (literature, feminism) on my Twitter feed. I confess to social media fatigue sometimes but my job as a publicist kind of demands that I keep my finger on the pulse. Maybe one day soon I'll embrace Pinterest and Instagram too. I'm so behind the times, right?

In the words of Scarlett O'Hara 'after all, tomorrow is another day.'
See you on the flip side lovelies.

Two for the Road

Yesterday I watched Two for the Road with Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney. Being a life-long Audrey fan I'm not quite sure why I've never watched it before, but I think it must have been because of other fans telling me that it wasn't one of her best. It does suffer from a bit of self-conscious grooviness that afflicts some films from the latter half of the sixties, and I wasn't entirely convinced by Hepburn and Finney's love/hate affair/marriage, but the film does have some genuinely funny and poignant moments, the Henry Mancini score is simply beautiful, and visually it is gorgeous. Set mainly in the South of France it has scenery, cool cars and high fashion galore.

Since becoming a star I believe this was Audrey's first vehicle where Givenchy was not responsible for her costumes. Instead off-the-peg designs from Paco Rabanne, Mary Quant, Andre Courreges and Tuffin and Foale were used to dress Audrey's character as she grew from young travelling choir girl to wealthy housewife. The result is some seriously cutting edge outfits. Check out the black vinyl suit. Or the two evening dresses by Paco Rabanne: the psychedelic shift and that mirrorball-esque silver dress with matching earrings. My favourites from the film though are the swimsuits Audrey wears in the beach and pool scenes (love that pastel one) and the simple jeans and sweater sets she wears in the falling in love scenes. A pair of high-waisted jeans with a sweater and slip-on shoes never goes out of style for weekend wear.

Check out the trailer for the film here. Audrey was 38 when it was made and was as beautiful and stylish as ever.

A little blog holiday ...

It has been four years since I started my little blog Digs Frocks and Books and in that time I've never gone more than about a fortnight without posting. Along the way I've learned a whole lot about fashion history - designers, fabrics, styles, photographers, models - and I've connected with fashion lovers (and book lovers) all over the world.

In the interests, however, of pursuing other projects and finding more time (life is so full these days: work, freelance work, reading, friends, husband, family, exercise, house work [yuk!] my lonely unfinished novel) I've decided to take a break from the blog for a month. This is a trial separation only and all the content will remain online. After the break I will most likely be back but if I decide to make the break more permanent it will be because my creative energies will be busy elsewhere. Truly it will be the blogging community I'll miss the most.

Meanwhile happy (Easter) holidays. I'm heading up the coast to spend the Easter weekend with my parents. Vogue tells me I should be wearing belted cardigans over long dresses for autumn and it seems Claudette Colbert agrees. Come to think of it her look from It Happened One Night has never really gone out of style, right?

Grace Kelly Style Exhibition

Last weekend the husband and I drove all the way down to Lorne on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria for my cousin's wedding. On the way back we were lucky enough to make it to the opening day of the Grace Kelly Style Exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery, only hours behind Princess Charlene.
Whether or not you like Grace Kelly as an actress, or you care for royalty or not, you can't deny that Kelly influenced 20th Century Style. When your very name becomes an adjective for a certain type of simple and relaxed glamour - if you hear someone say that a look is very 'Grace Kelly' you immediately know what they are they are talking about - you probably do deserve an exhibition all of your own.
Courtesy of the V&A in London the Bendigo Art Gallery is currently displaying four rooms full of Grace's clothes, hats, gloves, handbags (hello the Hermes Kelly bag) as well as tonnes of photographs and clips from her films. A movie star for a short time before quitting the business, Grace made only eleven feature films in her career but was at the height of her Oscar winning popularity when she met and married Prince Rainier, regent of the tiny municipality of Monaco. The year that High Society was released and she wed her Prince in the 'Wedding of the Century' saw her celebrity reach its peak. Every element of her wedding trousseau was pored over, and many of those dresses and suits are on display in Bendigo, as well as costumes from Rear Window (Edith Head), The Swan (Helen Rose) and High Society (also Helen Rose). There is a replica of Grace's famous wedding dress (perhaps only rivalled by Princess Diana's wedding dress for icon status) - the most expensive dress ever designed by Hollywood costumier Helen Rose - as well as many stunning couture gowns Grace wore once she became a Princess. These had me mesmerised: there is Madame Gres (such as the green suit above), Balenciaga, Givenchy and tonnes of Dior and Marc Bohan. Marc Bohan was a huge favourite of hers; the silver dress in the state photograph above is a Bohan and is on display at the exhibition.

After finishing up at the Art Gallery we took a stroll around the sites of Bendigo, checking out the impressive architecture of the gold rush town. Here's me on top of the town's water tower.

And it was a little chilly for me in Lorne (although not so much for the New Zealanders who made up the bulk of the guests and bridal party) so for the wedding day I chose a dress I'd worn before, to the lovely Pia Andersen's 30th Birthday Party. In this case I paired it with my new Chloe suede pumps that remind me of Neapolitan ice cream and a sweet lime green 1960s purse picked up at the Vintage Fashion Emporium.

Smashing, positively dashing ...

Famed photographer, diarist and costumier Cecil Beaton had already been lauded for his costumes for the London and New York theatrical productions of My Fair Lady (starring Julie Andrews) when he was commissioned to create costumes for the film version. From the December 1963 issue of US Vogue comes this gorgeous preview of those very costumes, photographed by Cecil himself and starring the new Eliza Doolittle, fashion plate Audrey Hepburn. Says Vogue ...

the delicious dilemma we have here is simply this: When Audrey Hepburn, on the brink of the plummiest part of the decade, cast those great enrapturing eyes on the clothes Cecil Beaton designed for everyone else in the cast, she suddenly knew that 'Liza is one of those heroines with almost Nothing to Wear ... Shaw invented her long before he wrote Pygmalion, as a "rapscalliony flower girl in an apron and three orange and red ostrich feathers." Tatters and violets, that's what Eliza starts with. But Audrey Hepburn, before taking to those real garn rags, had one glorious whirl with the gilded-lily dazzle clothes designed for the swells and chiquerinos of the Acscot Chorus and Convent Garden.

The final result, of course, was an Oscar winning bounty of timeless beauty. And thankfully for us Audrey so loved that frilled dress with the organdie boa in the final image that Cecil created one for Eliza in mauve that she wore in the scene in Mrs Higgins' garden. Set in 1914, My Fair Lady covers the same period (and merges the same crowds) as Downton Abbey.

Don't you just love the shades of black, white and grey in the famous Ascot scene from the film? And the hats, oh my, the hats. Vogue says that with his hats Cecil Beaton 'blows life into the statue.'

Marilyn Monroe

Further to my last post here is a selection of favourite shots of Marilyn taken in 1962. She was slim, luminous and chic in that last year of her life (let's not debate here what her actual state-of-mind may have been). 1962 was the year that she was hired, fired and then hired again on the film Somethings Got to Give (images 1 & 7) and that she left New York and memories of Arthur Miller behind to buy her own house in Brentwood, LA. That year she sang happy birthday for the US President, vowed to push Elizabeth Taylor from the cover of all the tabloids, posed for Bert Stern for the famous last sitting (image 6) and began working on an autobiography with photographer George Barris (images 2, 3, 4 & 5)
Last night I went out with a few girlfriends to see My Week With Marilyn and I thought Michelle Williams was amazingly good. I haven't seen Meryl in The Iron Lady yet, but surely her performance is deserved of an Oscar? Just like Marilyn, I couldn't take my eyes off her.

Promo Trail!

Michelle Williams - who just won a Golden Globe for her performance in My Week with Marilyn - has been hitting the campaign trail with aplomb. Pulling out elegant look after look, here she is in Jason Wu, Chanel, Miu Miu and then Jason Wu again. Some people find her style a bit too cutesy or whimsical, but I love the fact that she has a style 'persona' but it still happy to experiment too. And I LOVE her hair.
I read the books that the film are based on during a plane trip the other day. The first book The Prince, The Showgirl and Me was a fun and gossipy read about life on a film set in the 1950s. It appealed to the old movie buff in me. My Week with Marilyn (the author's supposed 'lost week' where he had an almost affair with Marilyn Monroe) was only so so, but I could see the filmic potential in it. I'm looking forward to finally seeing the finished product.

And what of the rest of the Golden Globes? I love to look at pretty dresses any day, any time, but these big events of late tend to be a bit ho hum. It's not very often that you see a truly dramatic dress. So, for me, my pick from this year is Evan Rachel Woods in Gucci Premiere. Not necessarily something I would wear but ERW looks smashing in it. And what's not to love about a plunging neckline, sequins and feathers, all in the same dress.

Some new pretty for the weekend ...

I am loving these photos of actress Carey Mulligan in the latest issue of W Magazine, all in service of promoting her new movie Shame. Carey has such an expressive face and I love the clothing selection and the retro styling, which seems to suit Carey's off-duty style too. I'm still crushing hard on those hot rod print dresses from Prada.
Carey's been in Sydney for the last few months shooting The Great Gatsby. You can throw rocks at me if you like but I'm not a big Baz Luhrmann fan. It's safe to say that I'm nervous. Having said that his wife Catherine Martin gives great costume; check out the blog A Wild Tea Party for a sneak peek at some of the duds on the forthcoming flick.

The promotion begins ...

Michelle Williams has just hit the promotional trail for My Week With Marilyn and the buzz is already building around her performance. She wore a gorgeous Nina Ricci black gown to the Hollywood Film Awards the other night (she won Best Actress) and at the New York premiere of the film she looked ravishing in baby blue Dior.
I believe the film opens in Australia over the Christmas period and I'll definitely be checking it out. I've always had a soft spot for Michelle because Jen Lindley was my favourite character on Dawson's Creek plus she has always reminded me of my dear friend Megan. They both have the same reserved beauty.
Oh, and as demonstrated here, Michelle has great style too.

Red-Carpet Prints

Sarah Jessica Parker has been on the campaign trail for her new film I Don't Know How She Does It proving that despite saying 'I don't think about fashion all day long' in US Vogue recently (and I hope no-one does really, except the people that actually create it ... although wasn't SJP one of them for a while?), she is still one of the best dressed actresses out there. Both these print dresses are Prabal Gurung.

And backing up SJP's assertion that prints are so hot right now (and always will be in my opinion) Keira Knightley was spectacular in Mary Katranzou at a photo-call.

She also looked spectacular in Valentino Couture for the premiere of her new film Dangerous Method which looks very intriguing by the way. David Cronenberg directs, Viggo Mortensen plays Freud, Michael Fassbender plays his protege Carol Jung and Keira is the patient Carl has an affair with. Check out the trailer.