REVIVAL repro-vintage in Kingly Court.

Now I have already nailed my colours to the mast concerning repro clothing. I have seen some very catty comments from purists over the years. In my book purists are wonderful when they are the kind of person who shares their enthusiasm and knowledge, but when they are snide they are just another brand of prat. I am delighted to find original items when the are affordable, fit and are in decent condition but this can't always be the case especially bearing in mind modern figures. Rowena (pictured below) hails from the jive scene and has started selling a selection of well known repro brands. Many of these can be ordered on line already from reputable on-line shops however if you cannot wait it is handy to be able to run in, try on and run out with a dress you have had your eye on. 

What caught my eye was that the shop, Revival, is not limiting itself to a certain era. For example there are some lovely beaded 20's dresses (Candlelight Club and Prohibition regulars please note!). The other element is that she is selling shoes. Now I have awkward shaped feet, 80% of the time shoes won't fit me so ordering these on-line is not possible for me, I think selling repro-shoes is a very good idea. She also stocks cute silk and button hair/corsages and is hoping to stock more things from small makers. Adornment for the brain is available in the form of a small range of beautifully bound books by the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The shop's range will be extending to include mens wear. She is currently stocking: 

Stop Staring
Trashy Diva
Tara Starlet
Vecona Vintage
Nicole Katherine
Re-Mix Vintage Footwear
Aris Allen Swing Dance Shoes

This now means you could completely kit yourself out in the Carnaby street area: hair by Betty or the Powderpuff girls, make up from the latter, undies from Sugarlesque, frock from Revival and a hat from Atelier Millinery. Details here: http://www.revival-retro.com/

Rowena in the shop on it's opening day.

Detail of beaded 20's style dress.

Some of the dresses on sale.

Long 30's style evening frock.

Now these shoes I really want

Hair decorations/corsages.

Books, pearls and shoes...all it needs is a glass of champagne and some chocolate!

Irregular Choice... these shoes are made for, erm... walking.

I’ve been off the radar for a while, largely because due to pollution amongst other things I was forced to hide in a darkened room with my inhaler doing a passable impression of a gothic consumptive (plus paracetemol and day time tv).  I’m now back in the land of the living as much as I will ever be and my thoughts have turned to shoes.

I suspect we all have our foot maladies, personally I don’t like feet, think toes are ugly and the idea of reflexology brings me out in hives. I do like shoes however, mainly because they cover feet and make them look attractive. I don’t like the sandally strappy type of footwear. Nor am I keen on the wedge type shoes loved by many stylish ladies. Perhaps a Remix wedge shoe in red or green would be ok, but white or pale blue and pink simply remind me of nurses’ shoes or cleaners’ feet. Also I feel wedges only look good on long slender legs.

My major problem is that I have those wide pointy feet, you know the type that poke out of the bottom of Norman tunics in parish churches. Some shoe people are good for this foot shape: Clarks do the job, New Look’s and Next’s wide fit can be comfy (although this season’s designs are not my cup of Oolong).  In fact recently shoes have done little for me, the tranny/wag heel doesn’t suit and is excruciating to wear.  As for all these chunky, strappy monstrosities I don’t want to look like the mutant child of Spartacus and Barbarella. Flip Flops are not fit for anything, even if they are fit flops. Those Vivien Westwood plastics look appealing but I am waiting for someone to tell me how they feel, I recall plastics first time round and even when flat they produced horrendous suppurating blisters.

My hopes at the moment rest upon Irregular Choice, who have a branch in Carnaby Street and also sell through Schuh on the high street. Many of you will be familiar with them, but if not they put the fun back into shoe design. In addition they sometimes have space in the front for wide tootsies: this is partially because they champion the round toe shape. Where they really come into their own is sheer quirkiness and interesting embellishments, trimmings and colours. These shoes are statements and some I suspect will only come into their won when combined with plain colours and simple clothes. Many have a vintage feel, some are downright daft. But the quality and price are not bad. I bought a pair of their Union Jack Courts for my mother who is a conservative dresser but she loves wearing them. Shoes are perhaps where more minimal women really can go to town style wise, especially as they are not as reliant on body shape or age for their effect. Currently I have my eye on the shoes below. The basic shape has a nice vintage feel but the toe is covered with tiny plastic little bunny buttons, impractical, whimsical and perhaps a bit silly but I do wear a lot of black and they would look nice with the black opaque tights  I wear all year. I’ve put up some pictures of other shoes from the current range that I fancy, they are all available from the website and cost between £60 - £90.  I prefer the shop in Carnaby Street (I really have to try shoes on) which has cheery young staff who dance to Abba, I also like the canvassy bag decorated with robots and the clever shoe boxes you get. Has anyone out there got any shoe recommendations to share? Let me know! xx

Bunny shoes!

These have a rather nice 30's / 40's feel.

Lovely lucite style carved heel.

The image on the front is an applique pink pussy.

Pretty detailing on these brogues.

Atelier Millinery- New Shop!

Exterior of Atelier Millinery

Hats are curious things. They have been deeply unfashionable for men and women since the mid 1960’s. Now they are relegated to the role of bridal tribal flying saucers or little sticky outey feather fascinators which often seem to have something of the muppet puppet about them. Of course at the high end of fashion they have never departed from the catwalk and have always had a small but passionate fan base; the late Isabella Blow comes to mind.

Wearing a hat versus not wearing a hat is the difference between looking adequate and looking your best. (Martha Sliter)

Hat detractors point to the awkwardness of carrying them around and the difficulty of finding somewhere to put them. It is a chicken and egg situation, when hats disappeared so did hat stands and hooks. If hats were popular again these would reappear, they never went away in truly stylish bars and restaurants. As for the awkwardness, these claims come from the same fashion forward people who drag massive stupid bags around and totter on gladiator heels. I am passionate about hats and in the winter make an effort to wear one, even if it is only a beret. If our inner-city yout can slope about in over-priced baseball caps quite happily all year round it is hard to understand the reluctance elsewhere to don headgear.

If a woman rebels against high heeled shoes, she should take care to do it in a very smart hat. (George Bernard Shaw)

In my opinion hats have wonderful advantages, although they need to suit your face and character they do not rely on diets or the vagaries of fashion and its innate body fascism. Few things will make you look as good, or as different as simply putting on a good hat. Stored they last for decades, they also keep your head dry, warm and hide bad hair. Of course in vintage circles hats have never gone out of fashion but there is a paucity of places to buy them, especially new or bespoke. I have mentioned Lynette in Islington for vintage titfers and Orizu for repro but a new resource for those interested in millinery has appeared in London. Additionally it is conveniently located in Kingly Court, near Carnaby Street and very close to my favourite hair artiste, Miss Betty and a plethora of other vintage minded shops.

Lots of lovely hats.

Atelier Millinery is on the first floor of Kingly Court. Within you can find hats ready to buy (for both gents and ladies), trimmings and hat making materials and also attend classes. You can also commission a hat, particularly useful when all the department store have on offer are rows of mad looking fascinators or dowdy straws in colours you don't want.

Trimmings.

The shop is small and reminds me of a sewing box, large antique display cases hold a variety of trimmings, ribbons and veiling, some of which are vintage (such as ostrich feathers in a range of shades) and/or sourced from abroad. This is particularly useful as new trimmings often don’t match old hats, and vintage hats often need to be repaired or pepped up. Of note to forties buffs are the poppies and pansies made of antique ribbon. A make do and mend staple when old Edwardian dresses were often denuded of their trimmings to produce hat decorations during the war. Atelier offer classes in making these flowers which make equally charming brooches and hair decorations.

Ribbon pansies.

Ribbons and hat pins.

It is difficult to learn millinery in London in a hobbyist sense, the main part-time classes at Morley run in the day time, otherwise it is case of working for a milliner. For dilletantes there is little opportunity to mess around with straw and felt. Atelier run courses in hat making including straw panamas, cloche hats and most appealing to me, 1950’s skull caps. If you consider you get tutoring, materials and a home made hat for the cost they are reasonable, the price list is available here.

You can flirt with a fan in your hand. You can flirt holding a cigarette, too. But a woman can really flirt with a hat. (Dolores Foster)

From the vintage point of view the range has plenty of possibilities; I saw a charming small hat in a silvery gold fabric with a fluff of feathers. A million miles away from cheap high street fascinators, it reeked of thirties Jean Harlow in a silky bias dress and Hollywood glamour. I was also taken by a turquoise hand blocked straw decorated with a vintage cherry trimming which had a kooky feel and would compliment a thirties or forties day outfit perfectly (see picture below). The gentlemen were also well served with a selection of panamas and caps. And as for the Dandies out there remember this could be an opportunity to order that mustard and burgundy fedora you’ve been yearning for.

Like any other hand crafted or bespoke item the hats are not particularly cheap but they are good value. Hats are pricey items, but remember they can be re-trimmed and they really are one of those things where cheapness is actually noticeable. Atelier’s hats are comparatively inexpensive. For the vintage-minded Atelier Millinery could be a useful resource, run in a co-operative way by people enthusiastic about their product and therefore deserveing of custom. I suspect they will do well with the Summer wedding/Race going crowd who can get their Treacy quality hats at a snip. However I would encourage vintage types, steampunkesses and others to have a look. It can be a nightmare to match hats to vintage clothes but a well placed hat band and trimming can make all the difference and there are very few places with informed staff who can advise you. If you don’t believe me just try Debenhams!

Comments make my day so please do! x

The rush of power to the head is not as becoming as a new hat. (Helen Van Slyke)

Bob Bob Ricard "Let them eat caviar..."

Exterior of Bob Bob Ricard.

London has a vibrant restaurant team, yet this vibrancy seldom seems to extend to the feel of the places where we dine. The default is bleached wood, bleached walls and tastefully bleached abstracts on the walls. When this is not the case there is, even with the most dramatic interiors a restraint, a tendency to take the historic route. I feel this is a result of the parsimony of the chattering classes tempered by the fear that a flamboyant interior will detract from the food, or in the cliche often employed by food writers, the food will not be 'able to speak for itself'. Personally I feel an important element of dining out is occasion; that you are not eating in any space that apes your home or that of your friends. Which is why I am becoming steadily more irritated by the tendency of restaurants to ape a Notting Hill/Islington genus of domestic aesthetics. Restaurants are public places, and a chef with confidence can cope with the most demented interior. Anything is preferable to bland.

Interior of Bob Bob Ricard.

Bland is especially undesirable when you are dolled up to the nines, what you want is an environment worth the pin-curls and pain. Bob Bob Ricard in Soho where I ate last week is one of those establishments that has the courage of its convictions and is most distinctly not 'griege' in any way. You could certainly take your smartest thirties suit and smartest chap out to it. The interior is glamorous but not conventional. The place has, on one side a pleasingly thirties feel, with deco designs on the windows and surfaces burnished in shades of varnished browns. The kind of place a Shanghai Express Dietrich could slink into with its hints of classy Pullman dining car velvetiness. The seating booths, in dark blue/green leather upholstered leather also has the intimacy that was a trademark of restaurants and supper clubs of that era. It also makes it a decent location for assignations or dates. At the same time the use of gold and the seventies brutalist/cubist style chandeliers give the place more than a hint of high class Moscow Hotel bar and I was unsurprised to detect a Russian influence in the menu. Even more so as the titular Bob Bob is Russian.



Bob Bob Ricard offers ‘all day’ dining which has produced an eclectic menu containing as it has to, food suitable for brunch, lunch, afternoon and late night meals. We were moving on to a private view and knew we would be drinking possibly until late so we ate early in the evening ,and for us, lightly. Amongst the dishes we sampled the stand outs included Torquil's starter of a venison steak tartare. Less oleaginous than the traditional beef steak version it was well seasoned and had a pleasing gamey edge. I also liked the presentation, the raw quail egg to top the tartare sat in it's shell and the interior of a quails egg posesses of the most beautiful colours on God's earth. We opted for Russian dishes as our main courses. A chicken Kiev was efficiently prepared and filling. I had pelmeni, small dumplings that disconcertingly always resemble either contraceptive caps or door handles. But they are meaty tasty little things and I like all things dumpling. Talking of little things I had the little lemon pot dessert which turned out to be an engaging combination of tart lemon dessert, with fresh raspberries and a long pastry straw which was very handy for accessing the lemon goo (encased in one of those funny little kilner jars that restaurateurs love so much. There have been criticisms that the restaurant is too eclectic, but we managed formal traditional three course meals with no problems. Recently people have become obsessed with being led and guided through their food, but if you want several small dishes, I see no reason why a restaurant should be criticised for a tapas like approach.

Pelmeni.

Personally I felt whilst there that Bob Bob Ricard had a few things to offer that are currently under the radar of London diners, possibly due to its location in one of the more obscure side roads in the Carnaby Street end of Soho.

Ground floor bar.

One was its attractive bar. There are no grand hotel bars in this immediate area to go to for a good cocktail in sophisticated surroundings. Most drinking holes in the area are either full of braying media types in the week or stag/hen nights at the weekend. Prices for cocktails were reasonable and we felt this would be a very good place to kick off your Soho night with a few martinis. I heard the comforting rattle of a shaker several times and the cocktails did look good. The basement bar/restaurant area is currently being renovated but should open in September. Even in disarray it had a more louche speakeasy feel than the ground floor. In addition, and I feel the need to capitalise this, the floor is designed and inlaid to resemble a BACKGAMMON BOARD. It may well be a contender for best floor in a London restaurant land, an honour currently held by the Wolseley (no great shocker as the same designer is behind both establishments and the man’s a genius).

The downstairs area (re-opening in September) please note floor.

The other thing I could not help but notice was CAKE or rather a small group of young women having a late and somewhat boozy afternoon tea. The afternoon tea looked charming, I was really taken with the witty cakes on the upper tier which were miniatures of traditional classics; a tiny square of battenburg, a miniature slice of victoria sponge and what must be a contender for the smallest rhum baba in the world.

So what did I think of the place? Well I review primarily from the point of view of the vintage-retro interested Soho diner. And from this point of view sheerly in response to its full-on glamour it gets a thumbs up, I do feel that it is the perfect place to lounge around and chomp our way through caviar, eggs benedict and english cheeses. We plan to go back and carry out the patented 'White Lady' cocktail test at the bar and will report back but the overall impression was of a bartender who knew what he was doing. Whilst saying that it is not a cheap restaurant it does have occasional tastings and special offers and this one caught my eye:

‘Let Them Eat Caviar’ at Bob Bob Ricard
In line with Bob’s commitment to make Bob Bob Ricard the number one choice for caviar in London, he presents The Caviar Lunch at just £19.75 every day throughout the month of August. Lunch consists of 10gr Caviar With Sour Cream And Blinis; Meat Pelmeni or Truffle & Potato Vareniki and a shot of Russian Standard Vodka served at minus 18C and must be ordered before 5pm.
Bob Bob Ricard already has a reputation for the best -priced fine wine and champagne list in the UK and is committed to extending unprecedented value to all of the luxury items on its menu. For comparison, the 10gr tin of caviar alone would cost £24 to buy retail at Harrods or Fortnum & Mason.
Ultimately I liked the place, the bar, the afternoon tea and the propensity to graze on smaller dishes are things I appreciate. I have my quibbles, one is that they are not getting the glamorous female clientele they could for afternoon teas and cocktails. The music didn’t appeal (but then again it seldom does). The service was good if a bit nervous, the one mistake with the order was rectified immediately. It will be interesting to see how it develops and what effect the re-opening of the basement floor will have. I’ll certainly be popping in with some ladies to try that afternoon tea…
A fuller more comprehensive review can be found at The Retrometropolitan blog, please have a look. Feedback is always welcome.

Being 'Bettied'..vintage hair with flair.

I have never, ever, hankered after natural, healthy, unstructured hair. I grew up in the age of the Partridge Family, tabards, space-hoppers and David Cassidy. Therefore I actively dislike the 'Virgin Suicide' style. I am bored by the concept of blande, beige, dun, muddy coloured hair flopping down one's shoulders. It is the styling of my grandmother's generation that appeals, the curls, the up-do's, the rolls and flicks. The first thing I did upon becoming 13, and in my eyes a 'teenager', was to buy a bottle of jet black L'Oreal Recital and eliminate the dull brown locks I was cursed with. My father said I resembled a witch; I was delighted.

In a world of Kate Moss wannabees, Cheryl Cole add-ons and vast swathes of blonde highlights it is very difficult to find a hairdresser that gets, what you want them to get. For a couple of years now my locks have been tended by Miss Betty whose salon is in Kingly Court. I found her by word of mouth. I was complaining that I had to order hairdressers to cut my fringe, and that when they did, they would soften it, to make me look 'younger' grrrr. So determined was I that I marched into Betty's with hair half way down my back and demanded a chin length bob. Which I got, excellently cut and with no prevarication. I went back last Saturday to get my (now fiery red) locks touched up and my hair styled. I have bravely posted the before and after pictures below:

RED LEGS PRE-BETTY...

BETTY WORKS HER MAGIC...

The Salon itself is a pleasure, no sterile reaches of white ceramics and mirrors, so you don't feel like you are being coiffed in an abbatoire. Rather Miss Betty's parlour is highly feminine, all red velvet and black chandeliers. The pictures on the walls of glamorous screen legends and rockabilly hussies are better than rows of asinine pictures of gormless looking models. What stands out the most is that you do not feel isolated from other users of the salon, on Saturdays it is busy but you feel that you can chat with others, or not, as you wish. It also makes a difference that whilst you wait you actually get to listen to good music. I repeat GOOD music, it's a bug bear of mine, the classic modern hairdresser's obsession with Beyonce, Jamiroquai, Girls Aloud and Robbie Williams arrrrggghh! I end up wanting to grab the clippers from the hairdresser and run out with a shaved head just to get away from the noise.

Interior of Miss Betty's

Betty's main interest lies in styling rockabilly/fifties hair and previously having had a salon in Toulouse she is well known in that subculture. I also like the fact, and I don't think this is because English is her second language, that she is clear and straightforward and will tell you when she thinks something will or won't suit you. No flim-flam. I'm not, perhaps, her classic customer but she knows how vintage glamour works. You come out of the salon with seriously glamorous grown up hair. After leaving her salon I went off to meet Torquil Arbuthnot and Katie Chutzpah http://katiechutzpah.blogspot.com/ in Mayfair. In New Bond Street I heard someone say as I passed 'she's probably here for London Fashion Week'..entirely down to Betty's styling.

Another view of the interior of the beauty parlour.

An element of the salon that I enjoy is the fact that Betty shares it with her partner, retro/rocker barber Mr Ducktail. In fact his barbershop 'Something Hells' takes up the front part of the establishment. His expertise attracts a steady stream of gentlemen (and the occasional lady) who wants the perfect quiff or DA. This means there are usually a few nice looking young men hanging around, never a bad thing. In fact there was a very special young man in the salon on Saturday, Betty's 10 week old bulldog puppy Elvis; the cutest thing ever.

Interior of Something Hells, Mr Ducktail's barber shop.

One of Betty's up do's (taken at the Chap Olympics), it stayed up for days...

Now that's what I call a fringe!

Retro-hair is not for everyone, you do get looked at (surely the point?) and when not around experts like Betty you end up battling with rollers, stuck with more pins that a zombie doll and drenched in Elnett. However stylists like Betty make life a lot easier, and you know where to go for that knock-out hairstyle when you need it. I have sent several friends to her and they have always looked fantastic. So if you are in London and want killer hair you know where to go. No excuses!

Miss Betty's Beauty Parlour.

Tel: 0207 287 0241

Home page: http://www.myspace.com/something_hell

Interview with Betty: http://www.queensofvintage.com/ooh-la-la-vintage-hairstylist-miss-betty-shares-her-style-secrets