Coral & Slate – Bespoke Wedding Stationery at the Vintage Wedding Fair

At the Vintage Wedding Fair in Chiswick we ran into a stand all dressed up to the nines in beautiful wedding stationery  – Coral & Slate:

Coral & Slate  – bespoke wedding stationery at the Vintage Wedding Fair

Even someone who thought that they would just go for flowers and fairy lights in terms of decorations at their wedding, will have a second think when they see these lovely table plans, menus, napkin holders…!  You can make everything so special and your own, by including your favourite flowers, wordings and poems – just look at that sweet little poem above to the right!

We love all the personalised details at this sweet little table – a recurring theme throughout with the frame around the text and the same font across the board brings it all together nicely – there is even a personalised candle with the couple’s names on!

You can make the tables very special to each guest by having designed name tags and maybe little booklets with a bit of information about all the guests: “Went to university with Bryan the Groom and is a mean Miniature Golf player!”  Those little notes always open up for interesting conversations between guests who meet for the first time.

Beautiful invitations and RSVP cards from Coral and Slate…

So if you are looking for bespoke wedding stationery then you really must take a closer look at Coral and Slate.  The founder, Kate Sargent, is so passionate about making the wedding absolutely perfect for the couple and she will work closely with you to get your design just right.  If you are not quite sure what Your Design looks like yet, just have a browse around her website: Coral & Slate – and get some fabulous inspiration from the existing templates.

Bespoke wedding stationery is also the perfect detail for anyone who is going for a vintage-style wedding because even just using a font that reminds us of the 50s puts a whole new spin on the look of your wedding!

Rachelle’s Beautiful Bespoke Cakes at the Vintage Wedding Fair

Rachelle’s Wedding Cake Heaven….

So I visited the Vintage Wedding Fair in Chiswick and the first stand that I reached was Rachelle’s Beautiful Bespoke Cakes, that looked more like works of art to me.  Rachelle specialises in making bespoke cakes for weddings, and we can see here that her creations span wedding cakes, cupcakes and macaroons.  She will also design beautiful cookies for you if that is your preference, and you have to check out the sweetest Mini Cakes on her website!

The sweetest collection of cupcakes for those who want to venture away from the traditional wedding cake – or you can always have these on the side!

Rachelle works very closely with you to make sure that you get exactly the designs that you want to for your wedding day and you can find Rachelle’s website here.

Romantic Macaroons for the dessert table…

And below is the brooch inspiration for today:

Vintage silver and marcasite brooch worn with a white and gold scarf

A close up of this lovely vintage brooch

I thought that this look was suitable for the vintage wedding fair, and adding a brooch to a scarf that you have had forever is the perfect way to make it feel brand new again!

A Vintage Cameo Brooch from Sweden

 

Vintage Cameo Brooch worn with a white blouse

We are continuing to overindulge in beautiful brooches this February and the photo above came in to us from the lovely Lady M in Sweden, who has joined our brooch wearing challenge!  You might recognise the cameo from an earlier post: A Romantic Cameo Bringing Us A Love Poem and we have seen it like this on the blog before:

Vintage Cameo Brooch

Our Lady M said that it was a given accessory with her outfit to the Swedish antique art exhibition Antikmässan last week, and added that she loves how beautifully it goes with a crème coloured outfit – and I couldn’t agree more!

It is just wonderful that you guys are getting involved in this, keep sending your fabulous photos of brooch-decorated outfits so that we can spread the love!  Now happy weekend sweetheart, I look forward to seeing you again on Monday!

Arabella Bianco joins our Vintage Brooch Wearing Challenge

 

 Vintage Gold Plated Bird of Paradise Brooch from Arabella Bianco

And so the Vintage Brooch adventure continues, and today we are joined by Arabella Bianco, who is sending us some vintage brooch-inspiration from the golden days of Hollywood:

Hedy Lamarr wearing a beautiful brooch just below the collar of her blouse

Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr’s Hollywood-career spanned the 1930s, 40s and 50s.  She was discovered by Louis B. Mayer – film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) – and Louis and the studio cast her as “the world’s most beautiful woman”.  In the photo above she is wearing a spray brooch, which sits beautifully just below the collar of her blouse.  This is a lovely way of wearing a brooch, as it adds a sweet little detail to a blouse that might not be so exciting to start with!

I wore a cameo brooch in a similar way the other day in the antique shop:

Vintage cameo brooch worn on the collar of a blouse

Joan Crawford wearing a brooch

Above we can see another imaginative way of accessorising an outfit with a brooch; in this instance an LBG worn by Joan Crawford.  She signed a motion picture contract, also with MGM, in 1925, and starred in many successful movies during the Great Depression – often portraying hardworking women who eventually found success and love.  Her career took a few hits after a strong start, but recovered an reached an all time high in 1945, when she won an Academy Award for Best Actress in Mildred Pierce.

We simply love the way the brooch becomes a part of her outfit.  Brooches with a prominent centre stone set in an beautifully designed mount just have such a classic look to them.

Vintage brooches from Arabella Bianco, Grays Antique Centre

… and here is a selection of Arabella Bianco‘s beautiful brooches, so that you can recreate your favourite iconic styles of these Hollywood starlets!

More Vintage Treasures from the Frock Me! Vintage Fashion Fair

Today I would like to take you through three exquisite stands of vintage fashion collections that I had the pleasure of visiting at the Frock Me! Vintage Fashion Fair:

Clifton Vintage Boutique at the Frock Me! Vintage Fashion Fair

We are starting out with Clifton Vintage Boutique “fine cloth is never out of fashion”.  

Beautiful colour palette at Clifton Vintage Boutique

I sometimes find myself inexplicably drawn to certain shops, and in this case I was able to pinpoint why quite quickly: the lovely lady who runs it says that she doesn’t really specialise in any certain eras, but rather buys things that she loves, and I believe that you are bound to get a beautiful collection if you do things that way!  Here the colour scale of white, cream, silver and gold (my very favourites) looked so enticing and alluring, and I just had to have a closer look:

Fabulous gold coloured pieces from Clifton Vintage Boutique 

Extraordinary antique ring from Clifton Vintage Boutique

This ring was just stunning!  I can’t for my life remember when it is from but the design is just spectacular, and I bet that you haven’t seen anything just like before.  Again, one of the most wonderful things about antique jewellery is that the pieces are unique as they are handmade and you won’t run into someone else wearing an exactly replica of your pieces!

The collection of Compact Queen, Deborah Bouain at the Frock Me! Vintage Fashion Fair 

I then met Deborah Bouain, Compact Queen, who has a beautiful collection of vintage accessories – jewellery, handbags, shoes etc – and also provides pieces for our very favourite Downton Abbey.  I wish I had had more time to spend looking through her collection, as there were some stunning pieces, like these two Dior handbags:

How much do we love!?  You can find such amazing bargains at vintage fairs…

Vintage handbags getting some TLC 

Some more beautiful accessories from Compact Queen, Deborah Bouain

And finally we have the lovely vintage jewellery collection from Louise Ferdinando at Ferdinando Jewels:

A lovely set of earrings and a necklace by Joseff

A close up of these beautiful earrings 

This necklace and the matching earrings are just divine, which is not surprising as they are by Joseff of Hollywood – the most renowned designer of on-screen jewellery during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

He supplied 90% of the jewellery in Hollywood movies during the 1930s and 40s, and his designs were worn by Marlene Dietrich (a Diamond and Sapphire Brooch in “Shanghai Express” – 1932), Vivien Leigh (an Amethyst, Diamond and Silver Necklace in “Gone With the Wind” – 1939) and Marilyn Monroe (a Gold and Pearl Earring and Necklace combination in “Some Like It Hot” – 1959), only to name a few. (1)

I am obviously hunting for lovely brooches this February, and Louise Ferdinando had a wonderful selection!

Aurora Borealis earrings from Ferdinando Jewels

Sometimes it can be hard to date a piece of jewellery, so I thought that we could use the earrings above to learn something new, so that we can figure out how old certain pieces are.

You can see that the top part of these gold coloured earrings feature a lovely reflection of a rainbow of colours: pink, blue, purple… In the early 1950s Swarovski were experimenting with coating their crystals with thin layers of metal to create brilliance and reflection, and in 1955 Manfred Swarovski had perfected it and created the beautiful Aurora Borealis stone.  He would work closely with Christian Dior and eventually they presented this rainbow stone to the world, which was named after the Northern Lights, that are also known as Aurora Borealis.

So if you find a piece of jewellery that features this lovely reflective look, then you will know that it dates back to 1955 at its earliest.  (2)

As always, if you see anything that you just love, do send me an email and I will put you in touch with these lovely vintage fashion experts!  info@decadesofelegance.com

Sources

(1) Joseff Jewellery

(2) eBay – Aurora Borealis

Skinny Rich Fairies and Naomi Tate at the Frock Me! Vintage Fair

Divine floor length dresses from Skinny Rich Fairies at the Frock Me! Vintage Fair in Chelsea

And so it is time to report back from this year’s very first Frock Me! Vintage Fair at Chelsea Old Town Hall!  You guys – it was such a wonderful day and I wanted to buy everything, I am not even joking!!  We had afternoon tea and everything, but I will start out by telling you about two designers that I met there: Skinny Rich Fairies and Naomi Tate.

A fabulous mix of vintage and new dresses at Skinny Rich Fairies

I don’t know how much time I spent at Skinny Rich Fairies, as I was drawn to one glorious dress after another.  You can see in the photos above that many of them are so very Game of Thrones – think Khaleesi and Shae’s off the shoulder gowns.  There was a lovely mix of new designs and vintage items:

Sequin dress from Skinny Rich Fairies 

I am still dreaming about this blue and white creation – it would present the most flattering silhouette…

In the same stall they had teamed up with Naomi Tate, who specialises in vintage chokers and cuffs and I am sure that you can imagine how beautifully the dresses went with these extraordinary accessories.  The cuffs would go so well with the grecian dresses, and create a goddess look that would leave even Helen of Troy herself green with envy…

Naomi Tate – Vintage chokers and cuffs at Frock Me! 

I am getting to try on one of the glorious designs from Naomi Tate 

Naomi Tate is a former ballerina and actress, and the cuffs and chokers that she designs – using antique and vintage beads, crystals etc – breathe an air of elegance and grace that inevitably draws your thoughts to dramatic scenes at the theatre.

Antique beads and jewellery are given new life in Naomi Tate’s designs, like this beautiful cuff 

On her website Naomi suggests wearing the designs with everything from jeans to formal wear, and I can definitely see how that would work.  The cuff that I am trying on the photos above features 17th century beads and it would add such a stunning touch to any boho chic wedding dress.  Do pop by Naomi’s shop on Portobello Road dear, and you will see for yourself!

Vintage gold coloured brooch with pearl and rhinestones from Decades of Elegance

And don’t think that I have forgotten about the Brooch Challenge!  Here is the brooch that I wore on the day – I am very much into the white, cream and ivory colours at the moment, as I just can’t do black day in and day out during the winter!  So I wanted to match my light coloured outfit with something romantic and sweet, and ended up going for the gold brooch with a pearl and rhinestones that you might remember from before.

Vintage gold coloured brooch with pearl and rhinestones from Decades of Elegance

Day 2 of the Brooch Wearing Challenge – Vintage Chanel Brooch

Our first contribution to February’s Brooch Wearing Challenge has arrived in the Decades of Elegance inbox!

A vintage Chanel brooch worn with a white shirt and red lips – and we adore!

It comes to us in the shape of a glorious vintage Chanel brooch, and is modelled by the lovely Lady N who you might remember from the blog post: The 1920s sparkling bracelet that started it all…

Red lips are just the most fabulous way of adding a touch of class to your look

I just love the style: for blondies red lips are ALWAYS a good idea!  And coupled with the Chanel brooch it looks even more fabulous, as this is how the starlets would accessorise their outfits back in the golden days of Hollywood.  The pink blouse, red lips and the brooch below made me immediately think of Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, such a classic style that would take you from a day in the office to a cocktail party in the evening!

Vintage Chanel brooch and a pink blouse – doesn’t this immediately make you think of Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?

I am starting to get some wonderful inspiration for a party next week..!  But I can’t decide whether I love her white or the pink outfit more – which one is your favourite dear?

Day 1 of the Brooch Wearing Challenge – Scottish Vintage Brooch

So February is here and we are all bringing out our favourite brooches and coming up with new ways of making them work with our outfits.  They have been out of fashion for quite some time, but believe me – once you start wearing them you will notice how versatile they are.  I will tell you in a later post how I reinvented a knitted hat the other day that was far too big for me, by using a lovely brooch!  That’s another story though – this is what I am wearing for the first day of the Challenge:

I am wearing this Scottish vintage brooch with a beautiful green stone for the first day of the Brooch Wearing Challenge!

Here you can see the whole outfit – a dress from All Saints where the draped collar was perfect for fastening the brooch.  This is the famous Ring Room at Richard Ogden by the way!  

So for my first day of wearing a brooch in the shop, I have chosen this little beauty, that you might recognise from previous posts:

Green Scottish Vintage Brooch from Decades of Elegance

It it most like a Scottish design and has a beautiful paste stone with a foiled back, which the clever designers tend to add to give the stone more colour and sparkle.  I have also worn it as a hairpiece before, it is just important to secure it properly so that it doesn’t fall off!

Hairdo with a Green Scottish Vintage Brooch from Decades of Elegance

And so many of you have gotten in touch, sharing your thoughts on wearing brooches and telling me how inspired you are to wear your own that have been tucked away in a drawer for years, so I am really looking forward to getting your photos!  Please send them to info@decadesofelegance.com

Happy Brooch Wearing February y’all!