It All Went Peachy Keen!

I think I have just about recovered from the first Peachy Keen Vintage Fair. It was a long old day, starting at 8am and finishing just before 5, jam packed of lifting and shifting, selling and singing!

I had such a good time doing it, and have even set the date for the next one - Saturday 30th May!

Doors opened at 11am at St Peter's By The Waterfront and the public came streaming in. Over 230 people came through the doors that day, and the vast majority (I think there were two grumbles) had a swell time. Traders were super happy with their day's work, and many have booked in to trade again in May! 

Photo credits to John 'Swampy' French

If you would like information on the next Peachy Keen Vintage Fair please get in touch via email peachykeenvintagefair@outlook.com - spaces are filling up fast for traders but I'm always looking for contacts!

Here is the link to the Facebook event

Roxie Reviews: House of Satin Lingerie

(Ooh well I haven't done one of these for a while!)

House of Satin is a new vintage inspired lingerie brand which hit the market late last year. I've heard great things from them and their stuff is super reasonably priced so I thought, why not? In the words of Tom Haverford and Donna Meagle "treat yo self!", From their eBay shop, I bought myself their "Vintage Style Full Cover Bra", a pair of briefs and their girdle, all in pale blue. I think the whole set came to just over £30 which is just...wow. Less than one What Katie Did bra!

Delivery was quick and I ripped open the parcel to reveal my goodies. The bra fitted well and definitely gave that vintage shape that us so-inclined lasses desire. What I particularly liked was the subtle shape, as it wasn't as pointy as a harsh 1950s bullet bra but definitely still had that perkiness that's more akin to 1940s and 1960s shapes. I'm yet to wear it under anything but I know it's going to fit well. I have little to comment on the briefs apart from they're comfy, good quality fabric and the elastic doesn't cut too much into my skin.

The girdle...hmmmm. I'm still in two minds about this. It looks great and it does hold my stockings up (always a bonus for long legged ladies like myself), but it doesn't hold much support in the tummy and definitely doesn't nip in the waist like other brands do. This might just be because I bought the wrong size, but the fabric doesn't feel secure or elastic-y enough to have much support no matter the size. I bought a medium, which fits well on my thighs but not so great my waist - maybe if I had bought a small the waist would have fitted better but then I worry it would have cut into my thighs. One last thing I would like to see is adjustable straps on the suspenders as they didn't quite sit well, but that is just a little thing.

All in all, House of Satin is amazing value for someone who wants to fill their lingerie draw with good quality, vintage style pieces. It is much more affordable than other brands but their bras and knickers are just as good quality. Their shapewear could be stronger in hold but it looks pretty and does keep stockings up securely. I'm definitely going to be buying more from House of Satin to add to my collection! Definitely can't wait to see what their Spring/Summer 2015 range brings us!

(Photography by Jae Storer Photography)

Peachy Keen Vintage Fair

I don't know if any of y'all are aware but last November I decided I needed a new project. So, sat on the train from Stowmarket to Ipswich on the way home from work, Peachy Keen Vintage Fair was born.

I have experience in running events through my job so it seemed do-able to to me, and the idea excited me. Ipswich is full of vintage loving people but sadly not much in the way of vintage events, so it seems like I have a good audience crying out for something to do!

I advertised the event and soon my pitches were full of amazing traders, including Dead Men's Spex, The Vanity Box and Vintage Mon Cherie. There are going to be fourteen traders in total which seems like a good amount to start with, but who knows! Hopefully the fair will grow and grow!

For your aural pleasure, Ipswich's newest rockabilly duo (who also happen to be very good friends of mine!) The J.S. Combo are going to be playing a little set. These boys are ace and are really going to go far!

So, if you're in the area on Sunday 8th March come on down to St Peter's By The Waterfront to explore my cacophony of retro delights and bliss!

Sunglasses, Ice Cream & Hotdogs

That is mostly what my weekend consisted of!

What a glorious weekend of sunshine and friends I had! It made me really remember how amazing summer is in this country, and I can't wait to spend it in my new East Anglian home.

Ipswich doesn't have much in the way of vintage clothes shops or lifestyle things, apart from some pretty decent bands, so I was chuffed to hear Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair was rolling into town. Myself and my friends pootled down to the fair to check it out, and were pleasantly surprised. Recently we in the vintage community have seen a bit of a, how do I put this, decline in actual vintage at the fairs, but it was great to see lots of 1960s clothes on Saturday as well as some modern reproductions of mid-century things. Even the boys had some things to look at - a true rarity nowadays!

Got snapped at Judy's!

I got myself some sunglasses (cat eye, obviously!) from a lovely stall - forget the name, sorry - that was selling prints and knick knacks. Kayla also got herself some sunnies as well as a bowling shirt. Rick picked up a Hawaiian shirt ready for my shindig at the end of the month and I think the other lads got some delights too.

As an Ipswich newbie I had yet to experience Ra Ra's Ice Cream parlour until this weekend. We must have looked a right sight all trooping into there - maybe a little movie set-ish aha! Anyway, the ice cream was delicious, as were the milkshakes and they do root beer! Yum! Now...if only they could so some more food, I think we'd make it a frequent haunt of our's!

That brings me neatly onto my next little segment. What is a summer Saturday without a few pints in the pub? We spent the rest of the afternoon and into the evening sat in a pub garden, drinking cider and eating hot dogs (well I stole chips from Rick's plate). Regardless of the odd yelp from the crowd watching the football it was a lovely evening!

After my little taster, I can't wait for summer to be in full swing!

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A Most Blustery Day.

Some of you may well know that I am trying to reignite my modelling antics. I've done a fair bit in the past and got busy this summer being an Atomic Bombshell. It is something I would really like to do more of in the future, especially now I am back in the south and can get out and about more.

So, last Friday I had a shoot planned with two photographers. Well, actually it was originally just the one but Annette came along too to snap some extras. I have yet to receive Annette's photos (she's a very busy lady!) but here are Ray Haynes' shots.

The shoot took place on Weston Shore, in Netley and on Southampton Common as they provided us with some amazing natural backdrops.

I wore a two outfits consisting of:

• Skirt from Shanghai Lil
• Jumper from TK Maxx
• Scarf from Accessorize (I think...)
• Dungarees from Freddies of Pinewood
• Jumper from Topshop
• Boots from Jones'
• Jacket from a kilo sale

If you would like to shoot with me, please email me at roxieroulette@outlook.com

If you have enjoyed this post, please head to my Facebook page and give it a like for all my updates!

Open For Business!

I've had a bit of a career change...gone is the trowel, gone are the cocktail shakers and in with the vintage clobber! You all know that I love vintage clothing and vintage home ware so I decided to turn this passion into a business venture.

With the help of my parents and their friends, Mick and Sandy Mears, we have opened Shanghai Lil Vintage. It is a very small business for now, only based online and at the odd vintage fair, but hopefully it will grow and flourish into a successful business that I can get my main (or majority) income from.

The stock mainly revolves around vintage clothing from the 1950s to the 1980s, but also incorporates reproduction and some of the things Mama Roulette and Sandy cleverly make. At the fairs I will also be taking a range of home wares, mainly courtesy of the parents and the Mears' who have been avid collection for many a year. There is also a large collection of jewellery to finish off the outfits.

This blog is just an introduction to Shanghai Lil with links and that, but fret not! I shall show my wares (oooh matron!) to you in separate posts, giving you an in depth look into the pretties I shall be selling.

Please here for our shop, and why not check out our Facebook and Twitter too.

If you would like to feature our stall at your vintage fair, or know of a vintage fair that might interest us, please email us at:

shanghaililvintage@outlook.com

If you have liked this post, please 'like' my Facebook for more updates

That There Londinium.

Phew! Where have the last few weeks gone? How long has it been? Two and a half months? What?! Well I'm back. One dissertation, three essays, two exams, one house move, and a graduation later I have caught a couple of minutes to write to you about a little trip down to our capital I took on 27th May...

You may have read about it from the other lovely ladies I met that the 27th May was a little meet up of vintage lovers and bloggers in London. The weather was truly glorious (as it is right now!) and London was buzzing on the sunny bank holiday. Myself and Adele (of My Last Dollar Dress) travelled down from the north and met the other ladies on Brick Lane where we explored the vintage shops there before venturing to Crouch End. I personally did not buy anything but the other troopers made some purchases - my personal favourite being Ruby Armoire's hat from Crouch End.

We finished the day off in Joe's Kitchen in Camden town for a cocktail or two mmm...

 One thing we did notice was the amount of attention that we got throughout the day. We hardly expected to go unnoticed all day but the amount we did get got kind of...frustrating. It got especially annoying when we were harassed for photos by people in Camden thinking we were some kind of tourist attraction. I don't know. We should expect that kind of attention because we do look different, but the constant flash of cameras and iPhones being stuck under our noses began to grate after about half an hour. How celebrities do it I do not know...

Well, that was our trip in a nutshell! I hope there are more to come in the future! I think now would be a jolly good time for you to all go over and visit the other ladies' blogs and say a quick hello!

Mel at Incendiary Blonde

Emmie at My Oh Sew Vintage Life

Hollie (aka The War Bride) at We'll Meet Again

Hannah at A Brighton Belle

Votes For Roxie!

If you are on my Facebook or follow me on Twitter you would have already seen that I plan on spamming you all with my face for a wee while. This is all because I NEED YOUR VOTES!

This is an opportunity for me to model at The Rockabilly Rave on the 15th June this year. It's all really simple, all you need to do is click here and 'like' the photo!

I'm not doing too badly at the moment but I really am in need of your votes so it would be a massive favour if all my lovely followers voted for me :)

Thank you all so much!

Mwah! xx

Seventy Four Year Old Time Capsule.

Scrolling through my Tumblr dashboard this morning I came across one of my favourite posts ever. Now, I must admit, I do not know the source of this amazing information, or the photos that accompany it, but it was just too good not to share with you.

In 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War, Mme De Florian locked the doors of her Parisian apartment for the last time...and never came back. What she left behind her was a snap shot of time, portraying the life of a citizen of the Pigalle quarter just before a world changing event. The apartment was rediscovered after Mme De Florian's death some seventy years later, by her descendants, who described the discovery as if they were "stumbling into the castle of sleeping beauty".

The last photo is a painting of Mme De Florian's grandmother, the famous Parisian actress Marthe De Florian. Marthe was a lover of the artist, Giovanni Boldini, and their love letters were also found, tied with ribbon, in the apartment!

What a find! I can hardly imagine, if I left my house for seventy years, it would be this glamorous!

Same Old Story.

Ahh it's that time of year again. Along with New Year's Eve, I genuinely dread Valentine's Day. I try to make myself feel positive about it every year, but there is no escaping the loneliness. Sob sob. Yet again, I am single this year - I've just come to accept that - and so won't be receiving any cards, kisses or fine dining. Instead I'll have a nice hot shower, put on clean pj's and crack open a bottle of wine - I'll just love me instead.

Fully what I expect to look like tonight

That's enough of my Valentine's sob story - you've heard it all before anyway - so I thought I'd just share with you some stunning vintage Valentine's beauties instead.

Vintage Vegetarianism.

Frequent and long standing readers of this 'ere ramblings might remember that last year I gave up meat for lent. Well, I've done the same again this year. It's day one, I'm ill and there is left over chicken pizza in the fridge - it's torture! Anyway, onto the purpose of this post...

I've decided to do a bit more research into vegetarianism this year, and try to expand my food palette from veggie sausages (they are delicious though) and bland risottos. With a little tap into Google I've discovered a whole world of vintage vegetarian recipes! The best seem to come from the website called 'Vintage Recipes' (Imaginative, I know) although some digging has revealed quite a few have meat in, naughty naughty! They date from 1672 (how to boil samphire, and how to fry pompion - whatever that is!) to the 1920s. A lot of these recipes appear to be just how to prepare and cook vegetables, hardly enough for an entire meal! I will attempt to recreate some of them though, and share with you my successes - or failures!

Glancing down the list these seem to be my favourites:

Brighton Stew (1892) - a haricot bean based stew, yum yum yum!

Croquettes of Salsify and Celeriac (1898) - Although apparently I need a fire for this, gas hob will probably do!

Flan of Vegetables (no date) - This sounds like a good one hot for dinner and then cold for lunch

German Lentil Curry (1915) - Sounds like a dhal curry to me, not sure if I have to use German lentils (what are they?), so might substitute for chickpeas instead.

Legume Loaf (1918) - This is from the book 'Foods That Will Win The War & How To Cook Them' and sounds like a nice, nutty bread.

Minestra (1915) - Vegetabley, ricey dish mmm

Nut and Pepper Croquettes (1920) - I'm sensing a croquettey kinda Lent

Savoury Pie (1915) - Another beany, eggy recipe

I managed it last year, I'm sure I'll do it this year! What are you giving up/taking up for Lent? Do you have any favourite vegetarian dishes?

Vogue #1

During my absence from blogging (due to yet more technical issues) I spent a lot of time listening to my music collection - I managed to listen to every track on my iPod on shuffle, quite an achievement! One track led to the inspiration for this post, and the following ones of the theme. Madonna. I haven't done anything on this woman on this blog, and yet I love her. So, here it is, the Vogue rap, verse by verse, in my favourite pictures of the stars.

Greta Garbo, and Monroe
Dietrich and DiMaggio
Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean
On the cover of a magazine

Greta Garbo - I love her simple 1930s style with the iconic thin eyebrows

Marilyn Monroe - Controversially I'm not a big fan of the classic Marilyn look, but I think she is one of the most natural beauties in her earlier photos

Marlene Dietrich - I was going to do the stereotypical Marlene-in-a-suit photo but then I came across this and just...wow. I want this on my wall!

Joe DiMaggio - apparently he's 'boning his bat'...no, that's not a euphemism 

Marlon Brando - Words do not describe my love, love, for this man.

James Dean - I used to have this as a poster on my wall from the age of 11. Most kids had Blue/McFly/Busted...I had Jimmy Dean.

Chaps at Goodwood

As I said in my little ditty on this years Goodwood Revival my personal highlight was the antics of the Chap Olympiad. Usually held in July, the fellas over at The Chap magazine also put on their alternative (and, in some counts, far superior) Olympic events. The afternoon started with the ceremonial lighting of the Olympic pipe and continued with events such as Bicycle Jousting (two chaps - or chappettes - stride forward on their triumphant steeds brandishing umbrellas and briefcases), the deadly duel with lobsters (first to pluck bodily hair from his opponent is the winner), and moustache tug-of-war. There were three instalments of the event, culminating in the award ceremony, with Mr Marlowe taking first place, and the ceremonial extinguishing of the Olympic Pipe.

I shall say very little else on the event, and let my 'wonderful' photographing do the talking...

Editor-in-Chief Mr Gustav Temple starts things off

Chappette Bethan looking the pinnacle of British elegance

Bicycle Jousting was my personal favourite. I don't think Agatha could handle it though.

Not a fragment of Lycra in sight

No lobsters were harmed in the duel

Heave Ho!

Bravo, chaps! Splendid show!