Secretary Chic

Afternoon all. 

It snowed. It was cold and godammit it is still freaking cold! So the housemate and I went for brunch on our day off and braved the weather for tea for two. I never realised quite how much I loved coats until this winter, I adore this burgundy-ish 60s coat. It has a real fur collar and though a little bit big for me, it is my favourite of my sudden collection of vintage coats! Plus it was a steal at £12. 

I'd love to start wearing more blouses under tunics and shift dresses for a 60s/70s look, but I struggle to pull the look off with such an um...well with such a large bosom! But this is the direction I'd like to take my winter wardrobe if possible. 

I have my eye on another pair of Dead Men's Spex too...if you haven't checked his site out google him NOW. 

Dress: Primark

Pussy bow blouse: Charity shop

Shoes: Office sale

Glasses: Dead Mens' Spex

Coat: Charity shop

Bag: Freshmans Vintage 

LOVE

G

X

Fur and Glitter

It's been too long guys, I know I know. Hopefully over Christmas I will be able to get back on the horse with my own blog, but if you want to see any of my Vintage Fair blog posts (which I do daily) then head over here to have a look see. The latest post is a very exciting giveaway!

I'm wearing:

 A black 1950s fur capelet,

 A sequin shift dress from a charity shop

 Pearl earrings from my Nannan

My hair stayed put all day! Well,m it started to unravel a tad, but I was pretty pleased with it. People always ask how to do rolls...greasy hair, back comb, hairspray and hair grips! Oh and practice.

It's the very last Vintage Fair of the season tomorrow in Nottingham. See you there?

Gina x

Polka Dots and Feathers

Good evening daaaahhhhlings. The Vintage Fair requires a bit of dressing up and since our fair in Bristol was the biggest one to date, I figured I'd make an effort. It's always a little bit odd getting this dressed up at 8am, but I'm slowly getting used to it! The red lipstick is a Revlon liquid lipstick that really does stay put for hours and hours, so it's fab for fair days. We were in Cardiff the next day and I can't say I looked quite as made up, and it was so busy I never got round to taking any snaps anyway.

 Dress: 80s repro

Tights: Primark

Shoes: ASOS

Belt: Vintage

Head piece: Chapeau Claudette @ Topshop

Love
x

It's Always Summer Somewhere

This is my band's new single, Summer Somewhere. It would mean the world to me if you would give it a spin. Have a look at some of the gorgeous snaps taken by Georgina Martin who deserved her 2 hour nap that very early morning in the Peak District. We were there by 7am and the weather was incredible. The clouds had descended into the valley over the village of Hathersage so the backgrounds to this video add a certain eerie atmosphere. I am so lucky living on the edge of Derbyshire.

The box is from an antiques fair in Sheffield, I paid £13 for it. And now it holds Summer. Big task that. I'm wearing a dress from Peacocks that was £7 in the sale and clock earrings from Topshop. Vintage belt. Sodden leopard print shoes. 

Love.
x

Hey Sholay VS New Cape

Now I've been shopping quite a bit recently. God knows why as I'm fairly skint, but that's the nature of obsession I suppose. This wool cape is gorgeous, I bought it from a charity shop who "do vintage" so it was a little more expensive than your usual charity purchase, but I'm OK with it. I'd rather spend £XX in St Luke's than in Topshop. I think it's probabaly late 60s early 70s but please, correct me if I'm wrong.

 Cape: St Luke's

Bag: Totally forgotten.

Shoes: Office

Dress: Tesco (I know right?)

I wore this outfit last night to go to the Hey Sholay "Wishbone" ale launch at The Harlequin pub in Sheffield. Nifty idea that, making an ale for your album launch. In fact, the boys are off on tour soon and you should definitely go see them live. Not only are they bursting with energy, charisma and good songs, they're also dead fit. Cash back.

Pre-order their album here.

xxx

Sunny Beach With BGFL: Part 2

We had left it with me singing Valerie in a bar hadn't we? Ah yes, then I couldn't continue for fear of losing my dignity all over again.

The days are blending into one another, so I'll go with this day.

We went to Nesse Bar which is a village down the coast from Sunny Beach for a change of scenery. Now, the place is slightly more picturesque, there are some trees and some birds and one or two buildings that were built before the 20th Century. Like this one.

But unless you're after a fake Moschino purse, a crochet table cloth or a novelty magnet I'm afraid you're out of luck. We decided to grab some breakfast at one of the more pretty restaurants that overlooked the sea, like most the places on offer, it was surely going to be fairly awful. So Kate and I plumped for a continental breakfast because, as Kate pointed out, "Not much can go wrong with that" oh but it did, didn't it?

Now I don't know about you, but curried Cornflakes aren't the norm for me, no no no. But how well timed was Kate's comment? I was laughing for quite some time. Once we added in the banana and milk it sort of faded, so I went for it anyway. The view was spectacular, mind.

I'm wearing:

Shirt - Charity shop

Belt: Vintage

Shorts: Mums from 80s

That night it was time for the one and only Basshunter. Oh yes. 20 lev for a ticket later and we are ready to party at Club Viking, the only place, AND I QUOTE "The only place where it's OK to get naked on the bar." Oh lord, time to buy more 6lev vodka to pre drink like we are 18. 

I tell you what, I love getting ready with my girls. It's one of the best parts of going out for a big night out so I'm pretty pleased I was able to do it 3 nights in a week with my BGFL. Have some snaps. Oh and I'm wearing the same Hearts & Bows dress that I blogged about here.

 I still can't believe we did this holiday. We met a gorgeous barmaid called Eva who dumped two guys dressed as french maids on us, they did my head in. And as you see below, I was rather unimpressed with their outfits and tans. And perfectly coiffed hair. And no chest hair. WHERE DID YOUR TESTOSTERONE GO? OR YOUR 50 LEV?!!!!

Anyway, onwards to Club Viking where we met the boys off of Part 1 and danced (fully clothed) near the bar. Not on it. Basshunter is now blonde, slightly tubs and appeared to be singing along to a backing track. 

A quick shout out to Rimmel and their Scandaleyes mascara - I think my lashes look lengthy as! A boy bought me a rose and I blushed and went all girly. For Gods' sake.

There isn't much else to tell you if I'm honest, well nothing I can. We had a failed night out the next day, OK correction, I had a failed night out. I wore my glasses. A bar man said "why the hell are you wearing those?" and I got all funny. Personally I think I look cracking and perfectly classy.

In summary. I came home with a nasty tummy bug and one week later I have only just begun to recover. I love my BGFL but Christ, I do not love Sunny Beach. No no no. Never again. 

The Big 200 - Rocking A Pink Frock

Huzzah! Since October last year Pretty Used Things has been up and about on the internet in one form or another and this is my 200th post. My goodness, I didn't realise I had so much to say, but it all keeps coming and slowly but surely more of you keep reading. A very big thank-you to all of you.

 I went to The Tropical Butterfly House with the girls on our day off and decided to make the most of the warm-ish weather and wear my new 80s does 40s shirt dress. It's a charity shop purchase rocking in at £8. The front of the dress has a pretty white floral applique pattern, which you can see on the bottom photo with my dear Annie. There's a blooper..but..oh go on then. (What is that face?!)

Dress: Charity Shop

Bag: Charity Shop

Shoes: ASOS

Scarf: Fles Market

Earrings: Present from Nannan

Tights: Primark

It's a really sweet little day trip, well, afternoon trip. Especially if you're as bonkers about animals as we are! Have some snaps.

These two were such attention seekers! But so bloody cute. 

All finished off with a brew in The Nichols Building where the Summer Sale is about to begin! Bargains galore.

Happy 200 posts to me :) x

Turban-tastic

And a very happy Sunday to you all.

I'm currently in the studio with the lovely David J. Roch for whom I've been doing backing vocals for some time now. He's doing his 2nd album at 2Fly studios in Sheffield and I've been here ooh 12 minutes? And yes. I'm blogging not singing!

Here is an outfit post from the other day featuring one of my favourite hats, though it seems I'm in the minority with loving it! Plus I thought I'd use a free collage thing that I found online. Does anybody have any other recommendations for things like this?

 Turban: Charity Shop

Necklace: Topshop

Top: Charity Shop

Skirt: Limited Collection at M&S

The Sheffield Vintage Fair

Ladies and Gents,

I've just run my first half marathon! But more on that later. First of all, let me share my Cyndi Lauper style get up that I wore for yesterday's Vintage Fair at Sheffield Town Hall.

It was a gloriously sunny day in Sheffield yesterday and I got to spend the majority of it sat at the welcome desk smiling and stamping hands - don't get me wrong, I loved it! But I'm very happy to be seeing some sun today - finally! For past fairs I've always dressed up, it's the best way to draw a little attention and get people talking about the fair and what's on offer and today was no exception!

Dress: Vintage

Shoes: Office

Belt: Nannan's

Sunglasses: ASOS

These little birdies for a couple of quid at the last vintage fair I worked at, I've not worn them before so felt it was about time they had a little outing! They certainly covered up my below average rushed central victory rolll! I tried to get three going but it just looked like I'd left the house with my rollers in.

This is a very special necklace. My good friend Becky ((Her site is here) is a very talented illustrator and has access to exciting equipment, so I now have my nickname Maldina (Gina Maldina from Screaming Maldini) in a perspex necklace for all to see. Very happy with it. 

SO gang. Get yourself to a fair soon! The next one in Sheffield is July 14th but you can see upcoming fairs on their website HERE. 

Lorra love xxx