Rave On!

Here's what we wore on Saturday night for our friends' daughter's 1990s themed 30th Birthday party. 

Jon recaptured his rave days in black denim dungarees, a bucket hat, Vans Hi-Tops, a baggy tee shirt and some Sick Eye shades along with the obligatory dummy and some stick-on smiley faces - which he doled out to the party goers - E's for grown-ups!

I went for a Cheong-san (as worn by Madonna, Kate Moss and Ginger Spice), silver platforms, bug eye spex, a 1990s magazine clutch and a Gwen Stefani Lamb bangle. My Space Buns were adorned with some vintage diamonte hair grips.

I took absolutely no photos when we were there but had a tremendous time and loved catching up with friends and our Glasto family.

Madonna, 1996

Despite the birthday girl plying us with some rather deadly cinnamon whisky, our cheese on toast breakfast soon sorted us out. We did give the usual Sunday morning charity shop trip a miss but I had to pop out to deposit more of my Vinted sales in the parcel lockers at Lidl.

This Naked Generation dress, cowboy boots, fedora and gilet all frequently pop up on my blog, although it's the first time I've worn them together, and there's a subtle update....

 

William Morris's original Kennet design was a lot more muted than the colours on this Morris & Co. gilet so I dyed it Dylon's Sandy Beige. It's toned down the rather harsh looking pink and white (the images on the left of the collage) and works with the natural dyes of my Indian block printed dresses a lot better. I think William would approve (that's the legendary Arts & Crafts designer, not our cat!)

Monday was a charity shopping morning and as it wasn't raining I thought I'd give my new-to-me heavy cotton maxi skirt an outing (hems and puddles aren't good). It's a 1970s wraparound, hand woven in Greece and in reality, the design is metallic gold, although it looks brown captured in our gloomy jungle garden. 

In the past I've sold midi length versions of this skirt in white/brown and white/blue but it's the first maxi length one I've come across and was a Vinted bargain at £7.

Today (Tuesday) has been a swimming, 'Spoons and charity shopping morning. You've seen the waistcoat, hat and boots before but the dress is new. 

It's one of those Indian Art Silk dresses which is just a fancy way of saying Polyester. I'd only visited Mr Singh's haberdashery stall for bias binding and thread and ended up having my arm twisted by his lovely daughter and buying this dress for a tenner. It rolls down to nothing & doesn't crease making it perfect for chucking in the locker at the swimming baths.

I've fallen out of the habit of photographing our Kinky Melon stock finds so, until I can get my act together, here's the things I've found for me.

1. A sealed Stila Lip Vinyl in Supercharge (Age UK, 99p) which I'm wearing in Tuesday's outfit photo and despite it being a bit messy, absolutely love. 

2. A pair of cream lace-covered Vans. I rarely wear trainers but at £2.95 (Sue Ryder) they were too pretty to leave behind.

3. A Lara Ethnics "Santa Fe" maxi (Cancer UK, £3). Lara Ethnics is a boho-inspired French label who ethically manufacture in India and Bali. This dress currently retails at €75 and can be worn as a halter or with shoulder straps with tassel ties than can be wrapped around the waist or left loose. I'm thinking it'll be a useful dress to take on holiday with me, I do love a halterneck and being synthetic is crease free and lightweight.

 As always there's a pile of secondhand books to keep me quiet (Cancer UK, Age UK, BHF). I'm three-quarters of the way through We That Are Young, a retelling of King Lear set in modern day India. It's a whopper of a book and a gripping, eye-gouging read! 

The look of love! No wonder he's a chonk, who can resist a face like that?

Photo courtesy of my dear friends Ann & Jos

I'm off to Birmingham with a girlfriend tomorrow as there's a new Pre-Raphaelite exhibition currently running in the city. I'd better wash my hair and attempt to emulate one of those long-haired beauties in the paintings, I went a bit mad with the hairspray on Saturday night and it feels more like wire wool than hair! 

See you soon. x