Vintage Bangle Beauties

Vintage bangles are back with a big bang. All the stars and top models are wearing them, all in a row. Certainly bangles have been strong favourites of several divas and they can be such fun....

There have been many divas who wore bangles to their benefit and for greater fashion aplomb.

Frida Kahlo

Diana Vreeland liked to wear identical cuff bracelets on both arms.

Madonna in the '80s

Check out some fantastic bangles here and see which you like best.

Giveaway Art

When I saw 'Sofia' I fell in love with her cute face, big eyes and very obvious innocenct look of wonder. I looked up the artist is and found this young woman from Tel Aviv who has a shop called Tush Tush on Etsy and who freshly graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Art & Design this year!

Tali says, "I am a freelance illustrator, I illustrate for magazines and children's books. I love working in many techniques, I love to take pictures and I love to dance."

Vintage Lady

"I really like drawing from old pictures that I come across, and to make pictures of people I think are interesting and draw them."

When I was born

"I take my inspiration from a variety of illustrators and artists like Maria Kalman, Kveta Pacovska, Edward Gorey and many others."

Tali is collaborating with FairyFiligree by offering a wonderful giveaway to readers and followers! How about taking Sofia home? Tali is offering a print of an original art piece entitled 'Sofia', to the winner of this giveaway.

The size of the Sofia print is 4.5 x 3.4 inches. The technique is in soft pastel drawing, scanned and printed on high quality canvas.

Here is what you have to do to be eligible for this giveaway...

1. You must comment. Leaving a comment after this post is required to make you eligible for this giveaway and here is what I would like you to do....

2. Skim through Tali's Etsy shop here and comment back on which painting you like best and why.

3. Add the painting you like best to your favourites on Etsy.

Leave your comments with your name and blog URL if you have one. I need to have some way of contacting you if you win, so if you leave me your blog URL, I will contact you through that. If you don't have a blog, copy your comment in on an email and send to fairyfiligree@gmail.com. But your email must be backed by a comment after this post.

Have fun! The giveaway closes on June 30.

A trip to Fairyland

Singapore Girl

This is the first drawing I saw by a young Italian artist called Valentina. The detail and the softness are impressive as is the colour which is strong yet not at all gaudy. Beautiful indeed. Then I found something else that tantalised me to include this artist on my blog of vintage fashion and art...this small watercolour was definitely showing an interesting detail of vintage costume... very vintage in fact!

Sleeping under the Roses

Although Valentina likes to create art that is inclined towards a young audience, I was tempted to do a post about her art, because of its delicate quality and its fairytale touch. We may be grown ups but we all like to daydream and waft off into fairyland every so often. Valentina says,

"My name on Etsy is Caid, but in reality y real name is Valentina. I was born in Savigliano, Italy on May 15, 1987. I studied art at Alba and then followed with studies in graphic art at Urbino. I now live in Bologna where I am specialising in illustrations for publications, studying at the Accademia di Belle Arti. My dream is to se emy illustrations published in a children's book and perhaps to one day become an author myself."

50 Today

'Woman Reading' by Jules Dalou (1838-1902)

Fairyfiligree now offically has 50 followers as of today. Wow! What a feat. Those of you whose blogs' followers run in the hundreds will probably wonder what's so special about having 50 followers. But you will also probably remember the thrill of adding up those numbers and knowing that 50 people enjoy what you write, the pictures you pick out, the topics you tackle and possibly share the enjoyment of the same things which you enjoy yourself.

Ever since I started blogging in November 2009, I became aware of this intangible network of ideas that is out there and only waiting to be channelled and absorbed. A sisterhood on the net, sharing, sharing all the time. Different interests surely but also so many similarities.

Just about Men

 1898

I read a great many blogs and recently I started to notice that most of the bloggers, mostly ladies, never ever really bother to write about men's vintage. Now considering that the early  feminists were inspired to wear freer, comfier clothing thanks to what they saw the men wearing, it stands to reason that we really should look a bit closer. And vintage men's fashion does tend to find its way back into what we wear today with contemporary fashion designers being inspired by what men wore back in the very old days. It's namely about greater freedom of movement, greater flexibility in day to day activities, but also about some very amusing outfits.

White Bow

Full Outfit

Bowl Me Over

Foursome

At the Beach

Bit more modest... or just colder?

Little Victorian Fellow

Whatever he's wearing you probably have a favourite man out there who will wear just about anything and you'd still love him like crazy.

Here's to everybody's best dressed guy - And don't forget it's Father's Day in a few days' time....

Somebody's Daddy

Lace oh.... pretty old lace!

Damsons in a Chinese Bowl

I first came across the work of Heather Hacking in London way back in 2007 when her paintings were exhibited at Sotheby's Institute of Art where I was attending an intensive course seminar on antique jewellery. I walked away with a postcard of her work with this image you are seeing here above. to this day I regret not having bought one of her paintings right there on the spot but it was late in the day and there was nobody attending the exhibition.

On searching for her webpage I discovered more about this freelance  illustrator and designer. This prompted me to get in touch with her eventually as this blog developed. Here is something from Heather - a comment on her work and inspiration....

"I paint mainly in watercolours and in all subjects: landscapes, seascapes in Britain, Europe and America. Occasionally, I use oils, gouache and pastels."

Violets in a Meissen Bowl

One watercolour subject that I prefer is Still Life on a table and a background of antique lace and vintage fabrics, which is a particular challenge in watercolour as one cannot use white paint. The white of the lace is conveyed by the white of the paper, and its shadows, creases, cutwork and stitching indicated by light layers of delicate colour. The lace and fabrics can compliment flowers, fruit and decorated items of Victorian, Edwardian and more modern china.

Figs

I collect Victorian and other vintage tablecloths, dresses, christening robes, embroidered place mats etc for paintings. I have a life-sized watercolour of the broderie anglaise robe that my father was christened in (and I have a photograph of him wearing it)…..he is 90 years-old this year."

Heather has had three books I have written and illustrated, published by Hodder and Stoughton. She has also illustrated books for primary school teachers and designed and painted hundreds of greetings cards for a number of British and American companies. She lives near Richmond Park (London) with her husband and two cats and has five grandchildren.

Forget-Me-Nots in a Bowl

Bags in a Store....... + Missoni!

I was recently contacted by a very lovely lady from CSN Stores. Now for those of you who know about this company, it’s ok. But for me, I had never heard of it and was amazed to research some and find that CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find almost anything you need whether it be a sofa or a suitcase, a crib or a cookie sheet!


So I delved deeper and tried to find what could be really interesting to get for myself that would have a vintage feel to it and still be fashionable.....and this is what I found…I was quite surprised to find something by designer Missoni,


Tamara Amy Triple Zip Satchel in Brown Paisley
Missoni Home Passiflora Cushion Collection
Trend Lab Tulip Diaper Tote Bag in Vintage Green
Lucy and Michael Michael Catch All Tote Bag in Retro Rodeo Tan
Thomas Paul Tree Tote in Black

Take a closer look at these webpages and see for yourselves.....
http://www.csnsofas.com/
http://www.allmodernbaby.com/
http://www.cookware.com/
http://www.diaperbagboutique.com/
http://www.allmodernpet.com/
http://www.csnbaby.com/

Inspire by Fashion & Human Form

This is an artist  whose work has a particular delicacy and fluidity. I found her work on Etsy and decided I would feature something about her creative designs.

 

Jodi Taylor explains about what inspires her most, "I am inspired by fashion, nature, the human form & mind. My work is my subconscious speaking, capturing a dreamy femininity, beauty & human feelings. With my art I explore emotion & the human mind, how we perceive nature, beauty as well as our relationship to it. I am working toward communicating parts of human behavior that have become thoughtless, the way we live & think but do not question."

Mary Quant

A Mary Quant Fashion Line-up

Mary Quant remains best known as the 'High Priestess of Sixties Fashion'. Her name, her fashion, her logo remain symbolic of this era. Again art played a great role in her creative work, with Op Art and Pop Art patterns constantly showing up in her creations. She brought the mini-skirt to fame, then there were the hot pants and the plastic macintosh. And anybody who grew up in the sixties will remember playing about with those colourful paint-box make-up sets most mums carried around in their bags. What are your memories of the sixties?

It was Versace

If you go back to my last giveaway here you will find that I prompted readers to give me some answers to two questions based on the picture above - who was this designer & what era do we have here?
Nobody guessed!
& henceforth..... nobody won.
This designer was non other that Gianni Versace and we are here speaking of the late eighties. The strapless evening dress was part of the Atelier line which was created in 1989. The fabric repeats designs from Constructivist Russian art and circus motifs.
Thanks to all the ladies who participated.