Vintage Fair

Well, the Vintage Fair was a bit of a letdown really!! I didn't find anything that took my fancy overly. I found a 1920's evening bag with a driver's lisence still in it...but it was £15 and not that nice. No nice hats, no nice shoes, no day dresses which took my fancy and nothing jewlery wise.

Valentino

Just got the most recent edition of Vogue and opened it to find probably my favourite item in the whole magazine this month; a pair of the new Valentino shoes from Spring/Summer collection, 'customised by Phillip Treacy.' They are beautiful. As my friends know, I have a love affair with lace and these just put the cherry on the cake! I love the way they have a smoke effect around the leg too. Perfect!

"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains. "

Holocaust Memorial Day.

Today being the 27th of January makes it Holocaust Memorial Day, the day when the Russian Army went in and free'd the Jew's emprisoned and subjected to humiliation, torture, experiments, starvation, brutality and death under the order and rule of Adolf Hitler. This is a subject I feel particularly strongly about and something I believe should be remembered and payed attention to for the rest of time. I've been interested in the subject since I was little and read the Diary of Anne Frank. When you read it, you feel a sort of connection to her. You grow to love her and feel like you know her...then the diary ends...you know she's gone. When I closed that book, I had the most overwhelming feeling of sadness.

I could go on about this for days, how unjust it was, how I feel for these people and how it makes everything in my own life seem so trivial. I have the highest respect for the survivors, for everyone who was in the concentration camps, everyone who suffered, who was surrounded by death and bodies. I hope today, that people think about the Holocaust, even if it's just for a second. As horrible as it is, it's something we all need to face. I chose a picture from 65 years ago today, the day they were free'd from the Camps;

Francais.

I'm in the process of re-learning French as there's a high possibility I may be going to spend a few days in Paris in Summer for the third time. I love it there. I've been going through all of the exercises in the 'Living French' book my Grandad gave me and just familiarising myself with the vocabularly etc. I'm actually really good a French, just rusty! I can watch Amelie without subtitles anyway...that's probably because I've seen it about ten billion times.

Sort of echo's this era!

Cath Kidston

I didn't even know who she was until Summer when I read an article about her in a Sunday magazine. It had store listings underneath which said we had a store in Liverpool One, So I ventured in and my eyes nearly fell out of my head. I loved it. My Mum bought me a load of her stuff for Christmas including her rose notebook, a stationary/letter writing set and "Tips for a vintage home" :) My next buy is a bag by her. I couln't pick one in time for Christmas...spoiled for choice!

Spring.

I love Spring, especially the floaty clothes and all the lovely grass. Autumn is my favourite season, but it will be a nice break from all of the ice and having to go out dressed up like a snowman. I also prefer it when it's warm to boiling hot. I don't understand it sometimes when people spend forever on the beach. I'm more of a tree and picnic person I think. I shall whip the basket out again I think! I'll just have to invest in a sewing box as all of my fabrics and needles and knitting are currently residing in it. I like the Cath Kidston one, it's really cute!

Oh Howardddd.

I'm so happy that I got my offer for Egyptology at Liverpool University! It sounds cheesey, but I've wanted to do it since I was little and I've always wanted to be like Evie from The Mummy haha! In fact, she's what first interested me in that era and all of the beautiful clothes and how exciting it all was back then. (as did Howard Carter.) When you've wanted to do something since you were 4 years of age, it feels so good to know that it isn't long before this gets to be your life. :)

Jan Svankmajer again.

Brilliant :)

Fabrics for my Circle skirt.

Or.....

Brideshead Revisited.

" If you asked me now who I am, the only answer I could give with any certainty would be my name: Charles Ryder. For the rest: my loves, my hates, down even to my deepest desires, I can no longer say whether these emotions are my own, or stolen from those I once so desperately wished to be. On second thoughts, one emotion remains my own. Alone among the borrowed and the second-hand, as pure as that faith from which I am still in flight: Guilt."

My1947 Kodak

It's the love of my life, 50p, 50p, 50p. Still not got film for it and I got it in October! It's a 1947 e-model brownie Kodak and takes a Kodak '620' film. Ignore my brows, they are in the process of regrowing after plucking accident. :')

Jan Svankmajer's Alice

Lee Mattocks (fashion designer) told me about a stop motion animator, who Tim Burton was inspired by, who used actors as well when I was away in Blackpool. I now adore his version of Alice in Wonderland!! It's a really beautiful and dark film and is actually kinda scary in bits! Brilliant. It's also a bit sick when the rat sets camp up on Alice's head...