Outfit&tips: My new love.... Ains&Elke

The weather has been very good over the last few days....(actually it's been freaking hot haha)... so that meant I FINALLY got to wear my custom made Norma Playsuit by Ains&Elk StyleHaus. A few weeks ago, Alixis contacted me if I was interested in reviewing on of her designs. I am so very happy she did, because I never came across her Etsy shop before, but I absolutely ADORED every single piece on there as soon as she send me the link... My god, what a beautiful patterns and even more gorgeous vintage fabrics Alixis works with. I felt absolutely blessed to get a chance to wear one of her pieces and to be honest, I've been wanting a summer suit for ages... So after careful consideration, I chose to go for this cute playsuit in a mustard yellow fabric.....

After just a few days my package arrived and when I opened the lovely wrapped goodies I was instantly smitten! The fabric is just so divine... but the quality and the detailing (beautiful lining) in the suit is possibly even more remarkable! Now I am quite picky when it comes to quality, but Ains&Elke's work truly is A+ material. On top of that, the fit is PERFECT... which can be a bit tricky with sending measurements through the internet, so I consider my cuty of a suit to be true craftsmanship. I wore this outfit to the park yesterday and I felt like a million bucks! If by any chance you've been looking out for a vintage summer suit like this, I highly recommend contacting Alixis to check out the possibilities. Even the prices are great (especially when you consider what unique pieces you'll be getting)!

So, to put even more cherries on an already delicious cake..... here is AN AMAZING GIFT TO YOU GUYS.... If you use the code 'DARLING' on the Ains&Elke StyleHaus Etsy shop, you will get 15% off on your order! Get it while it's hot, this discount will be available for a month babes! Oeeeh and if you purchase something, SHOW ME <3 I'd love to see what cute outfits you will be wearing this summer :)

THANKS A MILLION ALIXIS <3

Make sure to check out Ains&Elke StyleHaus:

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Tips&trics: A quicky vintage updo how-to

Occasionally you lovelies ask me about my hair and how I create some of my up-do's. To be frank, I am no genius when it comes to hair styling... but I did manage to find myself a few easy going routines over the years. Here is one of my favorites, since it only take a few minutes (literally like 4... 5 max) and it tops almost any vintage-y look off. Let me run you through the steps!

The quick and easy updo

You will need: a proper brush, bobby pins (I'd say about 10-12) and an elastic band

Divide your hair into three sections, the middle section being the thickest one (1/2/1)

Turn the middle section into a ponytail with a clean and thin elastic band

Then run the band toward the end of that ponytail

Grab the remaining (tiny) ponytail and start rolling it towards your head (inwards)

Secure the roll with some bobby pins (don't be shy with the pins though, you want the roll to be solid)

Grab the two remaining sections of hair and start braiding the first one. You can use a small
band to close the braid if your hair is less stubborn as mind haha

Wrap the braid over the roll and secure the braid on several points with bi-ba-bobby pins

Don't braid the sections of hair at once; the one you wanted to secure second
will be unraveled by the time you get to it haha

Braid the last section of hair, wrap it around the first braid and roll, secure it with
bobby pins as well and make sure the ends are tucked in nicely

ET VOILA! Easy does it <3 Like this do, but not the braids?
Check out this tutorial by Irene!

Dutch Vintage webshop guide (updated 22-09-13)

Dears, I have made you something I hope you'll enjoy! It's a vintage webshop list of Dutch online stores which I would recommend. I have ordered from all these shops myself somewhere in the past. And therefore I stand for their quality when it comes to the products and shipment. I will give a short description of what to expect from the shops and what their strong point are. I figured this would be handier than to write different blogs about shops I discovered. So I will be updating this list as well in the future. In alphabetical order:

Attic Empire

Small but cute. A lovely webshop with a store to match in Amsterdam. Found some cute pieces there in the past and I always make sure to check the Empire out when I go for an online vintage run. The pieces are mostly form the 70s and 80s.

Strong points: A beautiful scarf selection - A quirky collection of unexpected styles - Old stock and designer vintage

Delivery: Within a few days

* Also for men

Doortje Vintage

A big online shop filled with goodies, mostly from the 70s and up. If you are more into the decades before that, you will run into older pieces every now and then, but not very frequently. Doortje is originated from a shop in Eindhoven.

Strong points: Very frequent updates - A HUGE and strong jewelry section - Great item descriptions

Delivery: Within a few days, can be tracked online.

* Also for men

Else Vintage *NEW*

Lovely webshop which focuses on the more 'clean' and wearable vintage pieces. Great blouses and blazers, but also a big selection of bottoms. I love the fact that they sell a lot of trousers... which is more rare in vintage webshops I concluded.

Strong points: Great selection of bottoms and a proper items description
Delivery: *still unknown to me

* Also for men

Froufrous *NEW*

Love the girl behind this shop and her personal style! Madame Mode poured her passion for vintage into an amazingly cute shop (a boutique in Arnhem as well as a webshop) filled with vintage goodies and selected modern styles. You will mainly find pieces from the 50s-90s, but an older piece is no exeption.

Strong points: Sweet prices and a lovely selection of more excentric pieces
Delivery: Within a few days

* Also for men

I Love Vintage

Our queen webshop when it comes to vintage&repro. ILV is a gorgeous (online) shop with pretty products and a lovely staff. Clothing wise the focus goes to repro dresses from several labels (they even sell and produce their own GORGEOUS label named Bannou) and accessories are mainly vintage. You can find styles from the 20s up to the 80s. That way you can create complete looks, accentuating all your strong points. ILV has a beautiful boutique located om Amsterdam.

Strong points: The combination of repro and vintage - The very helpful staff - Great item descriptions - Gorgeous styling (of the website, shop and products) - Daily updates

Delivery: Fast and traceable

Phixi

Lovely and cute webshop with a various collection. Mostly 70s and up, but older pieces can be found. Items descriptions are sometimes a bit 'basic' so make sure to have a good look. Regular updates and very friendly prices!

Strong points: Lovely prices - Interesting variety

Delivery: Withing a few days, can be traced online

Rewind Play Fast Forward *NEW*

A bit of and odd name (gotta love odd though)... but hey; they sell cute stuff so I figured I'd put this webshop in the list as well. A combination of mainly 70s-80s vintage, but there are some gems to be found on there!

Strong points: Good items description and I love their styling!
Delivery: Fast and traceable

Sugar Sugar

A very 70s orientated webshop, but definitely in a good way. A lovely selection of handpicked vintage all giving off this great fashionable seventies vibe, but older pieces can sometimes be found. 

Strong points: Great selection - Big variety - Lovely prices

Delivery: Within a few days

* Also for men and kids

Top Vintage

Even though TV doens't sell actual vintage, I could not withold this great repro shop from the list. Top Vintage sells many repro brands, from the affordable ones to the more exclusive and pricey ones. So there is something for everyone, and the styles are mostly 40s to 60s. Great customer service!

Strong points: HUGE selection of different labels
Delivery: Fast and traceable

Vintage Store

This is a smaller webshop, which I would still recommend gladly. I have found several gorgeous items there in the past. Make sure to take a closer and second look at the items, because the item description and pictures don't always do the product justice. Items from the 60s and up mostly, but older pieces tend to pop up occasionally.

Strong points: A gorgeous watch selection - Great variety of items - On of the fewer shops to sell hats

Delivery: Within a few days

* Also for men and kids

Tips&history: Mr. Selfridges

Is there anything better, than to drift away on a sea of fashion history? I reckon there is not... therefore I away get psyched when a new costume drama series pops up. My most recent discovery has been 'Mr. Selfride' which a lovely colleague of mine pointed out to me. A series filled with historic fashion imagery since the story is about Selfridges warehouse in Londen during the last years of La Belle Epoque. A true delight, absolutely lovely to watch. Great imagery, lovely casting and a cute 'Brittish' story....

Since a picture says more then a thousand words and a movie is filled with a thousand pictures.... I say watch the Mr. Selfridge trailer to see if this is something you kittens would like to watch....

Tips&trics: The Vintage Detective

Oh modern technology.... why are thou so resourceful.... how can we nostalgist ever keep up? WELLLL we can start by downloading the next amazing app: The Vintage Detective. An app filled with lovely selected vintage addresses throughout Holland and Belgium, how can we resist? 

I downloaded this handy appliance a few months ago and I have to say; very very convenient. You can choose from a great variety of Dutch cities to visit with this app. When selected a city, let's say Utrecht, the app will show you all the vintage shops worth visiting... But it doesn't stop there. The list of hotspots is also enriched with several vintage-y establishments where you can grab a bite, get your hair done... and so on. Per hotspot, you will find a handy description including how to get there, opening hours and contact information. A great little guideline to help you enjoy a (new) town to the vintage fullest I'd say!

Go get you Vintage Detective App (for less than a euro dears!!) HERE

Tips&trics: Edward Steichen

Over the last few weeks, I think at least five of my friends and relatives contacted me with the following message; 'Tess, you HAVE to check the latest photography exhibition at Foam Amsterdam out... I am sure you will LOVE it.' Apparently, each one of the darlings stumbled upon adds for the Edward Steichen exhibit and I adore them for thinking of me, because of course a display of such beauty is totally my 'thing.' So a few weeks ago I went there and it was gorgeousness all over indeed. High fashion... 20s & 30s... what more could a gal want! I would recommend going there if you are in Amsterdam between now and the 6th of September, a picture may say more than a thousand words... can you imagine what over 200 stunningly beautiful pictures might do to you...

 

Edward Steichen (1879-1973) was already a famous painter and photographer on both sides of the Atlantic when, in early 1923, he was offered one of the most prestigious and certainly the most lucrative position in photography's commercial domain - that of chief photographer for Condé Nast's influential and highly regarded magazines Vogue andVanity Fair. Summoning up his exceptional talents, and fired with prodigious enthusiasm, Steichen spent the next fifteen years showcasing the culture of that era and its most prominent exponents from the realms of literature, journalism, dance, sport, politics, theatre and film. It was for his images of haute couture, though, that Steichen remains best known.

Compared with his predecessors, Steichen accomplished a stylistic leap in fashion photography equal in magnitude to the transition from silent pictures to sound. He abandoned his artistic beginnings in photographic Impressionism, Art Nouveau and Symbolism to become - for those fifteen years, at least - the greatest photographer of Art Déco and the originator - no less - of glamour photography. In addition to stunning fashion photographs, from Worth and Poiret to Chanel and Schiaparelli, the Steichen archive at Condé Nast, New York, contains magnificent portraits - of Greta Garbo, Cecil B. DeMille, Winston Churchill, Marlene Dietrich, George Gershwin, Frank Lloyd Wright, Amelia Earhart, Walt Disney and hundreds of other celebrities.

Since the 1930s, however, no more than a handful of these prints have been exhibited or published. The period represents the high point in Edward Steichen's photographic career, and the work he did for Condé Nast's influential magazines are among the most striking creations of twentieth-century photography. (text by Foam; check out their website for more information about the exhibition)

Trips, trics&outfit: House of Elliot-ish

The House of Elliot is one of the most intriguing restaurants in Gent. Pretty expensive (therefore we didn't actually eat there) but worth having a peek inside. Elliot is a roaring twenties inspired restaurant, based on the TV-series... House of Elliot (no shit Sherlock hahaha.) The whole restaurant, inside and out, screams 1920s luxury and decadence. It actually looks like a small vintage museum. Turned out that got everything to do with the owners love for nostalgia. When passing Elliot, we kind of ran into the owner and he told us about his antiques collection and passion for bygone decades. The current window display is filled with Josephine Baker novelties and inside of the restaurant stood an actual life size Baker doll from her Folies Bergère days. Such absolute delight to gaze at and dream about gorgeous times gone by.... Here are a few snaps from Elliot and the outfit I wore that day.

Kimono: Zara

Blouse: Anna van Toor

Pants: vintage (episode)

Bag: vintage (fleamarket)

Necklace: Zara

Earrings: Zara

Belt: vintage

Shoes: Bleyer

Trips&travels: Gent by Night

Of course the Belgian nightlife had to be explored as well. On the first night we were there started in a quirky bar called 'Pink Flamingo's' and after that we ended up in the 'Trollekelder.' Both very different from each other but loads of fun. We met some awesome Gentenaren (locals) and grilled them about the best places to be. It turned out Gent has something in store for everyone, especially for hedonists like ourselves. The next day we had dinner at 'Mosquito Coast', a fun and gorgeous travel inspired cafe. The food was delicious and the cocktails were even better. To us, these three places were to go to after the sun went down.

Tips&trics: The Notorious Dress

My loves... You know I'm quite picky when it comes to retro inspired wears. I am a true vintage lover and I often feel like the authentic pieces are being overshadowed by the retro wear trend. I do however appreciate good retro inspired garments from time to time, as long as the fit is proper and the fabric is still vintage-ishy I can be open minded. 

I have been modelling new retro styles for Notorious over the last few months and I love it. The ladies from the little boutique in Utrecht value the same aspect in garments as I do. Good fits, refined detailing, decent fabrics, accurate finishing... and so on. So I always know I'll like the new pieces they select.

This however was a very special occasion; I got together with four sultry ladies and an amazing photographer  (Eva Krebbers) to capture a new dress designed by non other than.... The  Notorious beauties themselves! Manja and Laura put their heads together with Hotrod Hussy to create their very own design. I was lucky enough to try the black version on and I can honestly say it felt like a GLOVE. The dress is just so incredibly comfortable and the fit is A-MA-ZING... each lady modelling a dress that day had a different body type and the Notorious dress fitted us all to the teeth. Because of the clean designs this beauty is very diverse. You can wear it for a more formal occasion with a blazer for instance and then with some killer heels when you go out for a booming night on the town. This dress is a multi-talent!

Photography: Eva Krebbers

The Notorious Dress

Photography: Eva Krebbers

Photography: Eva Krebbers

Photography: Eva Krebbers

Photography: Eva Krebbers

Photography: Eva Krebbers

Photography: Eva Krebbers