Ann’s 50- & 60-tals Bijouterier

Is there anything more romantic than a collection of vintage pearl necklaces?! 

I just realised that I had one shop left to write about from Vintagemässan in Stockholm earlier on this year!  Ann’s 50s and 60s Costume Jewellery – in Swedish known as: Ann’s 50 & 60-tals Bijouterier.

Some of the glorious necklaces worn by the ladies in the 50s and 60s

The vintage fair in Stockholm was incredibly popular and busy, and at one point I found myself floating along the tide of people through the venue, more or less unable to choose where I wanted to go!  Well, luckily I came to a halt by a table decorated with all these beautiful vintage costume jewellery pieces – from beaded necklaces to pearls of all colours and sizes with matching earrings and bracelets:

A blue vintage dream of a necklace

This blue beauty immediately took me back to my Finnish grandmother’s atelier when I was a child, with all her hats, beads, trinkets and stones – as the walls in the room were this very colour!

Gold and reds.. such a beautiful match – what would you wear them with?

As for the Swedish ladies in the 50s – they all followed the international trends of wearing figure hugging dresses with tiny waists and full skirts, and they would accessorise this with pearl or beed necklaces like the ones above, and also wear high heels and stockings.  Women drew inspiration from Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and Brigitte Bardot, whereas the gents were greatly influenced by Elvis Presley and Jimmy Dean.

Some more beautiful pieces of vintage costume jewellery from Ann’s 50 & 60tals bijouterier

Some happy yellows to brighten your day!

Often the ladies would wear outfits with colour coordinated accessories, and the jewellery definitely was neither subtle nor  minimalist!

Such an array of colours and styles!

So if you anyone of you wants to get in touch with Ann, do write me an email on info@decadesofelegance.com and I will make sure to pass it on.

Now go and put on something gorgeous to meet the day!  I for sure got inspired while writing this post, so will have to wear a lovely dress and some matching jewellery today!!!

Wakelin & Linfield Antiques at LAPADA 2014

So LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair took place the other week, and filled Berkeley Square with the most exquisite pieces of antique furniture and jewellery.  I first visited Michael Wakelin & Helen Linfield’s fine antique furniture for town and country, where these very unusual Chinese paintings of fish were adorning their wall:

Most unusual Chinese paintings

We found out that it is highly unusual to find these rice paper pictures with fish as the subject – usually you will see them with all other types of animals, so it was quite a treat for us to be able to admire these ones.  I did however love the following paintings very much, and wouldn’t mind having a few in my house one day:

Wakelin & Linfield Chinese Paintings

I also fell in love with the 19th century Italian oak table below, which had such a remarkable top!  The description for it read:

A fine 19th century high renaissance styled oak table with a fine trompe l’oeil Pietra Dura specimen marble top  

Italy c 1850  £19,500

Since Trompe l’œil as well as Pietra Dura are both new expressions to us, I thought that we could take a closer look:

 19th century oak table with a fine trompe l’oeil marble top – Italy ca 1850, £19,500

I would love to have this beautiful table in a large hallway, with a lovely flower arrangement in top!

You can see in the photos above that the pattern on the table promotes a 3D effect.  This is the result of the art technique Trompe l’œil (French for deceive the eye), which creates the optical illusion that the object is three dimensional.

The Trompe l’œil art form has its roots in antiquity and legend has it that the painter Zeuxis in ancient Greece painted such realistic grapes that birds descended upon them for a nibble!  His fellow artist Parrhasius was so impressed and inspired by his work, that he invited Zeuxis over to judge one of his paintings a few weeks later.  He showed Zeuxis into his study and urged him to take a look at the painting, which was residing behind a curtain.  Zeuxis was so eager to see the painting that he immediately tried to move the curtains aside, only to find out that the curtains were in fact the painting – making Parrhasius the winner!

This beautiful 19th century high renaissance styled oak table featuring fine trompe l’oeil as well as Pietra Dura

Pietra Dura on the other hand is a term for the inlay technique of creating images by using cut and fitted, highly polished colored stones.  Marbles were used a lot, like on our table here – but different coloured stones along with semiprecious and even precious stones were also often used.  This decorative art form has its roots in Rome in the 16th century, and it eventually reached its full maturity in Florence.

 Late 18th century occasional table – England c. 1780 £4950

I also have a thing for really elegant tables, and this one was just so beautiful that I had to show it to you – the description reading:

An exceptionally fine model of a late 18th century occasional table (formerly a work table – bag now missing) the oval top, shelf and frieze in burr yew and cross banded in zebrawood.  The elegantly drawn legs with ebony inlay and carved ebony roundels to the feet.  England c. 1780 £4950

I just love the zebrawood details… 

Another closeup of this stunning table

So if you want to see more from the Wakelin & Linfield collection you can find them just 4 miles from Petworth, just make sure that you make an appointment before you visit.  You can find more information on their Wakelin & Linfield website.

Esher Hall Antiques & Fine Art Fair, 10-12 October 2014

Happy Friday dearest!  I know that some of you guys live out in Surrey and so I wanted to let you know about a lovely antiques fair which is on next weekend, 10-12 October at Esher Hall.  The reason why I am extra excited about the fair is that Richard Ogden, where I am currently working, will be exhibiting there for the first time – and they will be bringing some glorious pieces along:

Esher Hall Antiques & Fine Art Fair, 10-12 October

The fair was launched in 2008, and features around 30 specialist exhibitors who will bring us the finest town and country furniture, jewellery, silver, paintings, oriental carpets, glass, mirrors, and lots of other decorative works of art!

Vintage aquamarine and diamond brooch Harvey & Gore

I was delighted to see that one of my favourite pieces from the Harvey & Gore collection that we showcase here at Richard Ogden is featuring on the front page of the exhibition brochure!  It is an exquisite 75 carat (!) aquamarine and diamond clip brooch, where the aquamarine displays an exceptional colour.  The brilliant cut diamonds and graduating tapered baguette diamonds are also doing their best to woo us with their incredible sparkle and fire and the back of the brooch reveals an intricate platinum mounted honeycomb structure, which acts like a grid to hold the diamonds.  The origin is almost certainly 1950s America.  We swoon!

So I do hope to see you at the fair, I for one can’t wait to see what else it holds!  And the admission is £5 or you can print your own free ticket from their website here: The Esher Hall Antiques Fair.  I do hope to see you there!

Esher Hall Antiques & Fine Art Fair

Esher Hall, Sandown Park Racecourse
Esher
Surrey, KT10 9AJ

Sixties Inspiration

You guys!!!  I have been watching Mad Men a lot lately (and yes I know, I am about 7 years behind, but I am here now!) and getting so inspired by the amazing fashion on the set!  As I was rummaging through my wardrobe, trying to find something fun to wear to the antique shop yesterday, I came across a favourite from Vintage Shrewd (and PLEASE do bear with me as the below is such a typical blogger selfie-shot!)

In my beloved 1960s shift dress from Vintage Shrewd!

Isn’t it just wonderful how they incorporate the fashion of the time so well into all these series?  Downton Abbey obviously being a favourite with the stunning Roaring Twenties in style – and in Mad Men the sixties with its structured dresses, fabulous hats, gloves, hairdos and shoes shoes shoes!

I just LOVE the high collars that were so prominent in the 60s – the only problem is that can’t successfully model any antique necklaces at work!  

The first part of the sixties resembled the fifties in style, with conservative and ladylike designs.  I love the transitional time between the 50s and the 60s, as designs gave ladies of all sizes and shapes something flattering to wear, be it a shift dress à la Jackie Kennedy or a figure hugging wasp waist-dress in the spirit of Marilyn Monroe!  I will have to research this era a little bit more to give you a full post on the style so for now I will also just show you the jacket that I decided to wear with my dress:

A-line jacket, very much inspired by the sixties

I picked this jacket up in Cape Town earlier this year, and absolutely just love the collar with that big, brass button!  I wanted to share this look with you because it made me feel so incredibly well-dressed and proper!  I ended up going out for a drink in the evening and put on a pair of vintage looking heels and also my grandmother’s clutch from the sixties, which just perfected the look.

I don’t usually wear vintage top to toe, as I like mixing things up a bit to create my own style and look, but this was definitely more vintage than what I usually do – topping it off with the subtle bouffant hairstyle and feline flick eyeliner..!  I think that I will be promoting more of these ‘done up’ styles from now on, as it really put a silver lining on my day.  I would love to hear about your favourite style, or how you make an outfit feel a bit more special?