A 50's sweater girl ...

All vintage lovers know that winter clothes are harder to find than pretty coton summer dresses so when I find a nice winter set in my size I cannot miss it!!! The price must be also afforbable of course...
I usually don't wear knit dresses due to my curves but I own some 50's sweater suits... most of the time I only wear the sweaters of these sets because the skirts are not very flattering for large hips!
But I have just bought on Etsy from a really friendly seller Linda an amazing suit, I really fell in love with its color!

Just perfect to match my green eyes!!!!

Match also the color of my house shutters!!!!

I found those cute 50's dice earrings in a flea market in South of France some years ago.

Just a few words about my hair... just natural curls!!!!

I'm wearing this 40's beret for the first time. It was one of my purchases during my parisian trip for Christmas. It's a NOS hat!!! I love berets, easy to wear, elegant and so... FRENCH!!!!

I forgot to speak about these boots that I'm wearing on this picture... I was searching for 40's-50's style boots for winter because I often cannot wear my vintage pairs on winter due to snow or rain. I was really pleased to find these in a local ordinary shoes store before Xmas. There are a lot of nice repro for wedges or scandals but when it comes to winter shoes, it's hard to find, often inspired not really perfect reproduction.

It's often not easy to find the best coat to match an outfit... You can have an amazing New Look suit but if you are wearing common coat it's a pity ! I'm wearing here one of my favorite brooch : 2 green early plastic swallows linked by a chain made of pearls !!!

Do you wear vintage knit dresses ?

What are your favorite colors for your wardrobe ?

HATS from PARIS!!!!

What I love the most in vintage fashion from the 40's-50's is the HATS!!!! I think that if you follow this blog you can see that I really often wear them. What a pity that hats quite disappeared from women fashion in the mid 60's... A hat can transforms any girl with an ordinary outfit into a princess, isn't it?

I own probably more than 100 hats, I found most of them in local flea markets and some from US Antiques Malls. My biggest problem is how to store them saftly, some are huge, some are fragile with feathers, bows or silk flowers. Hats boxes are often expensive because people use them to decorate and don't use them for hats...

I would like to share with you one of my favorite vintage magazine about hats dated back Winter 1952. Let's discover together those beauties with feathers, fur, velvet, beads... I want them all!!! All are HAUTE COUTURE hats so they are bold and quite impossible to find now....

The color of these blue feathers are amazing. 

A perfect evening hat...

All the pictures are so beautiful.

A turban style with a leopard coat, WAOW!!!

A set made of grey persian lamb, so elegant!

I love hats with flowers, it's made a so glamorous style !

An exemple of hats which are so difficult to store saftly...

What an amazing brooch probably from the Vendome Place in Paris!

I love fur on Winter hats ! 

One of the hat I really dream to find one day...

Look at this suit!!!!

A veil can make you look like a so mysterious woman...

Velvet hats are some of my favorites, a nice shiny material.

I'm still searching for a nice lamb wool hat...

I hope you enjoy those pictures! I also want to let you know that I will be soon reach 100 followers (I'm so exited!!!) and I really want to share my love for vintage things with you with a great GIVEAWAY!!! It will be something about 50's fashion magazines, patterns and a cute surprise. So please share this blog!

Do you often wear vintage hats ?

Do you have tips to store them ?

JUKE-BOXES ...

If you ask someone to tell you what object symbolizes the most the 40's-50's I'm pretty sure that Juke-Box have a special place in people imagination!!!

In all those stupid "cliché" posters about the 50's, you will have a Marilyn Monroe, a '59 pink Cadillac and of course a JUKE-BOX!!!!

I'm blonde as Marilyn, I already own a '59 Cadillac and I should own a Juke-Box of course!!!!

FONZIE knocking the juke-box in HAPPY DAYS must also be a vivid memory for most of us...

If your are searching one, it's quite easy to find but when it comes to the 40's or 50's ones in working condition you must have a huge budget... you will have to choose between a car or a juke box when you compare the estimations of these kind of machines!!!

There are so much amazing models...

My favorites are those from the 50's designed like an vintage american car! The 40's ones are nice and colorful but a little bit to kitch for my taste, moreover they most of the time only store ten 78rpm.

We were quite lucky to find one some years ago, but not because we were searching for one, but just because a friend wanted to get rid of one which was stored for years in his garage... it was not in working condition... but what a beauty!!!!

It was a BAL-AMI 200 dating from 1958!!! One of the last machine without Stereo. BAL-AMI is the american brand AMI but the BAL-AMI juke-boxes were assembled in Great Britain just after the war. The selection system are not the same on european models and most american models were green and european ones pink.

I think that if I could have chose a model I could have nominated an AMI from the late 50's...

So we bring back home this amazing machine for a really affordable price hoping to be able to repair it! It took some months to be able to hear its beautiful sound searching parts all around the world and trying to understand a really complex electrical and mechanical system. But what a nice sound, it's worth it!!!

Our juke-box can store hundred 45rpm and read both side of the plates. It's not in mint condition but in nice original condition and works now really well! We have the chance to know the story of this machine because of a metal plaque on the back, it was in a Café in Vitry-le-François so sold new in France in 1958 so most of the main instructions are in french!

I made myself all these stickers, one for each plate. There are only tunes from the 40's, 50's and early 60's inside, mainly doo-wop our favorites music style.

And here is a video of it.... It takes more space than an i-Pod but nothing compared... please take you ticket back to the 50's!!!!

If you are looking for a juke-box I can recommend to buy only main american brands : ROCK-OLA, WURLIZER, AMI and SEEBURG. They are more expensive than european ones but about all the parts for these models are re-made and there are a lot of good forums to help you to repair or restore your machine.

Are you interested with juke-boxes or own one?

Which ones are your favorites?

Dieting....

I noticed that a lot of girls interested with vintage clothes are quite curvy... I think I also like to wear vintage from the 40's-50's because of my curves. I cannot understand people who are following today's fashion without asking themselves if these kind of cuts can fit or not their body... Wearing a low waist jeans with a quite prominent belly is something horrible to watch!!!!!

You must wear clothes that put your body in value and not beautiful clothes that make you look awful!!!

I have always be a quite curvy girl and was quite common girl before wearing vintage and always had a complex about my weight... Choosing to be a vintage look girl made this complex decreased and I cannot go out now without some people stop me on the street to tell me how amazing and elegant I can be!!! A lot of men love curvier girls, isn't it?

It's always funny to see on vintage magazines articles about how to gain weight!!! Dieting was not really popular mainly in Europe just after the war....

The only thing that makes me hate to be a curvy girl is all those small sizes in vintage clothes from the 40's-50's!!!! Most of the clothes I like have something like a 26'' waist (must be the most common size of this era)... I always dream on Ebay or Etsy in front of those tiny circle skirts or beautiful 40's suits...

I manage to find a lot of clothes in my size but most of the time they are less fun... larger sizes were often worn by older ladies in the 40's-50's that's what I think. Moreover there is a big price difference between a 24'' waist dress and a 32''!!!!

I'm also quite fed up with vintage sellers who tag a 28'' waist like a L!!!! For me it's a small M!!! If 28'' waist is large I must be a XXL!!!!!!!

I think that vintage clothes also help me to keep about the same weight the 10 past years!!! I have now built a complete wardrobe of this era: for summer, for winter, for beach, for parties...  enough to make me not want to loose all these treasures because of some overweight!!!! So about once a year I'm dieting. Not the diet with only green vegetables or only proteins to loose about 30kg in 2 weeks, just being more carefull about what I eat. I don't want to loose 10 kg either because my dresses would not fit either.... :-) or using medicals!

So just follow the basic rules:

Here is what I eat during my diet:

- BREAKFAST :
    * some cereals (less than 50g) with milk
    * coffee or tea (with no sugar)
- LUNCH :
    * 100g of meat/fish or 80g of sausages or ham
    * vegetables
    * 120g of pasta or bread or rice or any cereals
    * 1 fruit
    * 1 yaourt or 30g of cheese
- DINNER :

    * vegetables
    * 120g of pasta or bread or rice or any cereals
    * 1 fruit
    * 1 yaourt or 30g of cheese

Follow this for about 2 weeks and you will loose about one clothes size and feel much better! You can choose every fruits, vegetables, cereals or cheese you like and never feel hungry!!! Quite hard to begin but after you will ask yourself "Why did I not start it early? So easy!!!"

Sport can also help you to stay healthy... but I HATE sport and I'm 40 hours full time busy worker so my work is my sport because I'm a Land Surveyor...

So to resume, if you are healthy be proud of your curves and choose the best style for your body!!! You don't need to be skinny like today models to be beautiful and sexy! If your favorite dress begin to be a bit too tight follow my little diet and you will be able to enjoy your full vintage wardrobe!!!!

Did you choose vintage because of your curves?

Have you ever dieting to be able to wear again one of your precious vintage treasures?