WHO WORE WHAT WHEN

Fashion Salvation

I was styling a shoot today for The Salvation Army that will appear in the press this week. Here are my own images from the day. Antonia who was today's photographer took some amazing images in some fabby sets that she created using different bits and bobs from the shop, and the student models looked fantastic and were very professional despite never having done anything like this before. I don't tend to blog and each and every shoot that I do, because after a while I think it would get a bit dull, for both me and anyone who reads this, but this shoot reminded me that to make a great outfit, you don't need a wardrobe full of designer labels costing the earth. Each of these runway inspired outfits cost less than £20 and all the money made goes to a worthwhile cause.

Vintage Valentino Blazer (only £5.99!!!!!!) So Balmain A/W 09!


These acid wash tapered leg, high-waisted jeans are only 99p! The 50s are still proving to be very popular and Kaeleigh, the hair stylist did an amazing job on the hair.




The middle girl's 'Sherlock Holmes' style tweed cape looked great, but when it came to posing for photos, I think she found it rather restrictive. I loved her animal print top, and I believe that she purchased this skirt straight after the shoot!

A new job...

I had a phone call from the lovely Sarah at The Salvation Army who are holding a fashion event for freshers and students on Monday 14th September. The event will include yours truly styling some student models in clothing from the stores and then all week, students will receive 20% OFF all their purchases, including clothing, furniture etc. It should be a great event and it's for a good cause!

H-H-H-H-HOLA

I totally forgot I had done this interview with Spanish 'H Magazine' until I was scouring back issues for a photo shoot I had seen. I thought they had decided against using it. Can't really remember my answers to their questions so it would be nice to know what I had said, so I can scrutinize every last word and CRINGE, but alas, my Spanish does not extend much further than 'hola' and 'amigo'.

Lovely pics of Jess and Jenni!

What is in my bag?

Another tedious post that has been well overdone by bloggers across the world. Weirdly it doesn't seem to get old for me, even though I have read umpteen variations of this exact same post concept. Enjoy.

My purse is full of business cards, post it notes, photographs with no room for any cash, so it generally floats about at the bottom of my bag. Many a queue has been held up while I rummage around the bottom of my bag while people moan and tut. I am that annoying person! My sister bought me the Urban Decay eyeshadow pallet for my birthday one year and I use it all the time. The colour titles Peace is the best! Piriton tablets in case someone tries to kill me by feeding me eggs or nuts, and my new favourite bird brooch from Hungry Designs. I also must be the only person in the world without an iPhone. If The Kenneth is reading this...I would like one for Xmas please...or as a Graduation present...whichever happens first (hopefully Graduation)!

My hot pink leather purse is by Loop from Urban Outfitters and has two wee rabbits on it. I have been scouring eBay for the green version with fruit appliqued onto the front, but have not managed to find it yet! Being a computer geek, I always carry my pen drive with me, just in case I need to quickly download an important conspiracy type file a la Sandra Bullock in The Net! My CK sunglasses that I don't get to wear that often due to the atrocious overcast/rainy/stormy weather that we have in Scotland. Always with my marketing head on, I make sure that I have some Glasgow Craft Mafia related promo materials, in this case, a postcard, on me.

Thanks for looking around my bag!

90s vintage? WTF?

After nearly four years of running Pistol Whip Vintage.com and seven years selling vintage on eBay, I am closing the store. My heart isn't in it anymore, what with being bogged down with Uni and Styling work, and also the imminent launch of the magazine. It will be a sad time as I put so much work into it, but I cannot wait to get stuck into my new little venture!

As a self proclaimed Vintage Aficionado, I am always excited when new vintage shops spring up on the internet. Despite running Pistol Whip Vintage, I still shop other stores all the time, as I am constantly on the look out for fab vintage. I heard about Bitching & Junk Food a while ago and immediately forgot all about it, only to be reminded today by Topshop's Inside Out Blog.

My first impression was 'Wow!' finally some UK vintage sellers who are making an effort with their store photography and styling. I think that because I am so used to 'clever' USA based vintage sellers such as Nasty Gal, Bleubird and Urban Collection, it is always such a letdown looking at UK based online vintage stores that utilize tailors dummies as opposed to live models and have next to no photo editing skills or computer know-how.

On closer inspection, I realized that they only sell '80s and 90s vintage'. Whit? 90s vintage? I can understand 80s vintage, but 90s??? Maybe I am getting old, and need to understand that there are obviously a load of new younger, whippersnapper type vintage buyers and sellers who don't remember the horrors of bomber jackets and cheap synthetic shell suits from this era.

Personally I think that for an item to be classed as 'vintage' it needs to be a minimum of 25 years old. The Vintage Fashion Guild agree. The prices are steep, with some 90s dresses selling for £50/£60 and earrings at £18. In stark contrast to this, I was excited to read that they will be having giveaways! More info can be found on their site nearer the time.

The store has some nice pieces. I especially like this fringed leopard scarf and Kiss t-shirt:

and some really awful (90s?) pieces...





The styling was a bit off in some of the pics, a lot of it being a bit 6months ago. After a while, if I had seen a pair of these on the models, I wouldn't have been surprised:


Still, I feel I should applaud the people behind the store for attempting to give those pesky USA based vintage sellers a run for their money! The reason why those sellers are so popular and successful is because they pay close attention to what is on the runway, and are extremely good at forecasting trends and styling the shoots to replicate them as closely as possible. This, unfortunately is where B&JF falls down. But they are new and hopefully will go from strength to strength in the future and wave the flag proudly for British UK sellers!

YUM!

Just got some images back from a shoot I did a while ago that I made the sweetie accessories for. At first when I saw the images, I was kind of disappointed but they are growing on me now. I think because I know how long it took me to make that darn hat, I expected it to blow my mind when I saw it 'in action'. Oh well... I do love the pleated red laces though!

In need of rebranding?

I am in the midst of finishing a piece of Uni work due in tomorrow. It is a rebranding assignment and the company I have chosen to rebrand is Dorothy Perkins. I cannot remember the last time that I went in, or was on their website. The physical shop itself, is very unappealing, not very atmospheric, and the clothing, or so I thought is typical workwear or eveningwear, for those not bothered about being trendy or even remotely fashionable. How wrong could I be? I stand by my comments about the store, and the website too is rather uninspiring, but this morning's online browsing turned up some gems that I would happily add to my wardrobe!

This black deep V neckline dress screams OLSEN!

£5 from the sale of this Owl print tshirt goes to The Woodland Trust, and it compliments these peg leg trousers perfectly. I would wear this little combo right now, if I could!

 

The Mafia Social Swap Shop

This Thursday at 6pm in The Butterfly & Pig, there will be a very special Glasgow Craft Mafia Social, that will take the form of a crafty swap shop. The idea is to bring along your crafty supplies like buttons, material etc and to swap them with someone else! One person's treasure and all that. The social is open to members and non-members and is of course FREE, like all of our events! If you don't have anything to swap, then not to worry, the Social is a perfect way to meet like-minded crafty folks and a great excuse to have a drink and one of the B&P's famous burgers. Mmmmmmmm!

Saturday Night Baggage...

I really am just too cool. Tonight, Saturday night, I am sitting at home, in front of the computer, in my jim jams, listening to The Cure. Between cups of tea (rock out!), and replying to emails (woah there crazy lady!) I am thinking about what I need to do for tomorrow's shoot. I have taken on the task of decorating a hat, glasses and collar with smarties, and I have been putting off finishing this wee project all day. I had a great BBQ earlier with my family after doing TWO classes at the gym and I am knackered! It must be done, so I am going to get started soon...honest!

Another of my fun Saturday night tasks was to de-slug-ify one of my favourite bags. Several months ago, after a mental night out (I am never playing drinking games ever again, they are evil!), I accidentally fell into the rose bush in my garden, left my vintage mink coat outside in the snow, and tipped the contents of my bag into the driveway (haven't had more than one glass of wine at a time since!). After scooping said contents off the ground and back into my bag, I went inside and forgot all about it. The next day, when I was looking for my phone in my bag, I came across a slug, yes a SLUG in my bag! After The Kenneth came to my rescue and removed it, I zipped it up and have not used it since.

Now, I could just give the bag up for lost...my slug phobia is that bad that I have considered it. But I love this bag. It is HUGE and you've got to love the studdage! And the snakeskin effect quilting is so bad it's good!

I do have a second huge studded bag in the wings ready to replace it. It is from NEXT of all places, and I had borrowed it for a shoot a couple of weeks ago. I decided to keep it, as I don't really own a decent black bag...you know for funerals etc, so thought it would come in handy. It also has huge ruffley frill bits. I haven't used it yet, but will this week probs.



Of course, the DREAM studded bag is the Alexander Wang's 'Coco' (incidentally the name of our neighbour's siamese cat), creation from his A/W 09 collection, as seen on the ever fashionable arm of MK.



Even though I probably own about 40 bags, I don't really consider myself to be a bag-kind-of-girl. I tend to use the same bag until it dies, or falls apart. A good example is my Urban Outfitters bag with brightly coloured guitars all over it. I remember it being quite expensive as it was in one of their wee designer concessions, but there is no label on it anywhere so couldn't tell you the brand. I have definitely got my money's worth out of it as the once hot pink strap has worn down to a horrible brown colour. Must get that replaced actually.





It is now 01:12am. I need to finish that hat!!

Make me a picture...

A while ago, I was lucky enough to meet a wonderful artist, Jacquie Picture Maker, on myspace who asked me if she could create a new logo for Pistol Whip Vintage. Her work is amazing, so of course I said YES!

Here is a small sample of her work:

It's nice to find someone who still works 'old school' using good old fashioned pencils, rather than these fancy high-tech graphic designers with their expensive graphics packages!

Here is our lovely cameo logo complete with Twiggy and Mickey Mouse. I absolutely love it: