By Katie Holt

Hello favourites!  We're back from dreaded dissertation bitch fits! We're now lying in bed in Berlin (holidaying is such hard work boohoo) listening to Serge Gainsbourg; wondering which bar will get the absolute PLEASURE of having our fine English arses sitting at their stalls. Thanks for your sweet as messages, we're having such a great time so far and can't wait to share it with you.

Any who, this post is about sharing the uncompromising fabulousness which is Katie Holt. We met Katie drunkenly (when in Rome!) at Blitz Party so long ago and have happily bumped into her numerous times since. When she asked capture our souls with her magic box, well, we were absolutely delighted! We were even more delighted when we saw the finished photos.

There are many other portraits etc Katie took of us, but this is the one we had the most input in and is so 'us' that we couldn't wait to share.

Harriett wears:

 30s cape

 20s-tap pants 

Aimee wears:

Thrifted lace teddy

Edwardian collar 

Thrifted shirt 

The photograph is primarily inspired this twenties photograph below which we found via tumblr. However, the idea is also inspired by a lot of Edwardian/twenties pornography which features women who have that weird incestual sisterly thing going on.      

Visit Katie and contact her her via her tumblr.  Massive thanks and love to her for all her hard work and the great day we had with her. Stay tuned for more of her work. 

STAY COOL. 

Aimee and Harriett 

xx

Guest Post: Sophie!

Hello lovely Bright Young Twins readers,

Let me introduce myself. I am Sophie, a friend of Aimee's and Harriett's. Those two are currently very busy finishing off uni coursework, so I am doing a guest blog to give you something to read and look at in the meantime.

I am a big online shopper, absolutely love ebay and have often managed to find some really good deals there. As this is the first blog post I have ever written, I thought I'd share some of my vintage ebay buys with you today. Oh and please excuse the boring conservatory setting of my photos. The rain in London just would not allow for the more interesting background of my garden.

First off is my lovely and very practical 1940s tweed jacket. It was one of my first vintage ebay buys and was badly photographed, so I managed to get it for only £10. It is nicely tailored and fits very well over my winter cardigans. It has a pretty pink silk lining, leather buttons and its original tag, which says “J. Nissen, 20 Conduit Street”. Oh, and it also seems to look good with almost anything - always a plus!

This is my gorgeous 20s/30s lace blouse, which was a steal at only £5! I just could not believe it when I managed to get it for that little. I love wearing it and it has become my absolute favourite top.

Here is a close-up of the lace. Isn't it just stunning?

This blouse was another incredible buy. For only £3.80 I managed to get this floral quilted 30s top, perfect for an English spring. It had a few stains and some rusty buttons, which obviously put many buyers off. I replaced the original rusted covered buttons and managed to get a lot of the staining out through some delicate soaking of the blouse.

The last piece I want to share with you today is my beautiful 1930s floral bias-cut evening dress. This had simply been listed as a “Vintage Dress” and the seller did not know what he or she was selling. I paid £10.50 and am still very excited about it, as it also fits me perfectly.

Do you shop on ebay? And if so, have you had any great finds lately?

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my vintage buys. I have many more fantastic items and maybe I can share some more with you another time.

Love,

Sophie x


(ed. Can I please immediately borrow that lace blouse Sophie?)

Lady of the Flowers

Hi Ladies, sorry we have been so absent lately, its a stressful time of year with
deadlines and moving we barely find the time to breathe! However here's a short
post to keep you entertained until we are back to our blogging best. 


So I like flowers... a lot! I have previously worked as a florist and I can honestly tell
 you nothing in life makes me happier than playing about with them and making arrangements. For the past week its been pouring with rain in London town, which 
meant nobody was up for braving the weather and heading down to the flower market
 this Sunday. However Columbia road is just a short walk from mine so I braved the showers and managed to get 12 bunches of wonderful blooms for only £5! 

 

One of the little projects of mine is using these flowers to make dried floral 
head pieces like the one you can see me wearing above. I have considered trying
to make a few to sell, would this be something any of our readers would be
 interested in? I was thinking of pricing the items about £15-20 each, I would
really appreciate some feedback so I can see whether there is actually a market
for them of if I am the only one who is barmy enough to wear them! Lots of love
to you all, I shall leave you with some images of what inspired my shoot.


Harriett xx

Day dreamer

Hi all, so I thought I'd start a post about a popular question. However, plain text is a little boring right? So I added some sneak peaks of what I've bought for Berlin. I know its ages away, but a girl can dream whilst she writes her dissertations. Arrrrgh.


So a few days ago on Fazbook, a magazine asked 

'What has made vintage so popular?' 

I enjoyed reading some fabulous answers and also looking at ones that made me want to scream a little bit. Some answers talked about the 'glamour' of the eras of the past and the way people presented themselves. Valid point, I think. It makes me really happy to see gents in their (very) late lives walking around in suits and shiny brogues. On the other side of the coin others said that people now days have 'no pride or dignity' walking around in their everyday clothes. This one was a real head scratcher for me. What? Does a lady wearing stockings and lipstick have more dignity than another wearing jeans? Am I more dignified in my twenties dress than I am in my Ramones T-shirt? Some claimed that clothing today has no 'class'. I hate that phrasing, but hell if I could afford some Miu Miu it would as sure as hell be mine. 

Other people commented on gender boundaries 'when ladies were ladies'. So I am more of a woman if I'm in a dress? I'm sorry what? I still clarify myself as a woman.

 1930s unworn Teddy - eBay 

Others commented on nostalgia and I think this is probably one of the aspects which has made vintage so popular. I think the most popular eras that seems to be harking back to is the forties to fifties. This is when we 'made do and mend'ed and this is when Britain was very proud of itself (for good reason)! We tend to remember the good parts of this era such as community spirit, Elvis and polite manners. Do I think that it was a better era to live in? NO! Rationing? Air raids? The constricting social roles of women with 72 hours (1950s average) of house work? My feet are firmly in 2012.   

1920s dress - eBay 

Others offered answers of money issues. But is the price of a forties dress always cheaper than the high street alternative? I'm not so sure. In my mind it's worth more but is it cheaper? Maybe five years ago. 

Sneak peak of the Swimwear SimplyBeach kindly sent us.

Nostalgia is not a new thing much like most vintage wearers know. There were resurges of twenties fashions in the sixties and thirties fashions in the seventies and forties fashions in the eighties. I have a feeling that twenties will get a lot more fashionable after the release of The Great Gatsby. As far as I know, its never been this popular. 

1940s house dress - Beyond Retro

I guess I can only guess at it myself. Perhaps street style is really influencing fashion houses? Mix that with flattering lines which are often more forgiving than the 2012 silhouette add some novelty and the idea that 'classics' are not a fashion fad. I have mixed feelings about the popularity of vintage. Selfishly, I don't want the clothes I like to get unaffordable, I don't want the resources to run out but I also love sharing a passion with others. We often get emails saying 'You've inspired me to wear what I want' and thats an amazing feeling!

My beloved Berlin reading.

However vintage style seems to be going to strength to strength so is it here to stay? Or is vintage/retro going to put to shame in another year? 

I'd love to hear your opinions. 

Aimee xx   

We're All Going on a... Summer Holiday...!

We have spent a really long time planning our summer holiday this year,  due to

 the hectic last couple of months we have both endured finishing our dissertations, 

we felt we deserved a treat. We considered Paris, Lisbon and even Barcelona. 

However when the opportunity arose for us to flat sit for a month in Harriett's

 favourite city Berlin, how could we turn such an offer down!

So from the 23rd of May, we will be living in Prenzlauer Berg, trawling the flea 

markets, terrorising the handsome men and baffling the locals with our crazy 

outfits. We know we have already asked  for advice on things to check out before 

one of our previous trips. However we are still curious to know whether we have

any lovely Berliner readers who would like to meet up, laugh at our terrible German

and drink prosecco on a paddle boat on the Teirgarten Lake!

For now we will leave you with some snaps of us from our trip last June. We've left 

out all the ones of us swinging round lap posts at six in the morning in a vain attempt

to keep up the allusion on this blog that we are actually classy ladies. We hope you

all have exciting summer holidays planned too! 

Lots of Love

Harriett & Aimee xx

A Peak Inside Harriett's Home.

Inspired by a recent post from Stella over at  Confessions of a Female Drag Queen I thought I would share with you guys a glimpse inside my home! I share a flat with four others in Shoreditch, East London just at the end of the wonderful Columbia Road. Our kitchen and bathroom aren't too exciting so I shalt bore you with snaps of our tumble dryer. Instead here's a peak into my room, stuffed full with all the clutter I'm sure you imagined it to have. 

I am lucky to have such a large room in London, especially one with two

 huge sash windows.  Over them I hang some of my favourite sheer clothing 

and Victorian bodices. On the right of my dressing table  is my 1967 Hacker 

record player and the sewing area. To the left is the sofa and coffee table.

This is where Aimee and I lye and watch Peep Show! The bed linen is

 Cath Kidston, Crochet throw, pillows and pink 30s piano shawl from

Lewes antique stores. The little glass covered 30s side table belonged to 

my Nana, she bought it back to the UK from when she lived in Singapore 

in the 60s.

This little office area is where I study and blog. I found the wooden desk 

in courtyard behind my building and made Aimee help me carry it up the

three flights of stairs to my apartment. Sorry about the little pile of shoes on

my sofa, didn't realise they were there! 

Another shot of my desk. I'm terribly embarrassed about how grimy my 

lap top screen looks, its really not that dirty, its the lighting a swear! 

Here's my little sitting room area. I have a wonderful large brown leather arm 

chair which usually sits next to the sofa but my clothing rail has recently

collapsed so I need it to hold it up against the wall! Above the sofa is another 

of my 20s flapper dresses, this ones is sadly a bit to delicate for day to day wear.

I hope you all enjoyed seeing inside my room, Aimee and I bought some really 

exciting bargains this weekend so stay tuned for some outfit posts, Edwardian 

skirts, 30's slips and celluloid sun glasses await !

Love Harriett xx

Lady and the Scamp

So for the first Sunday in about 4 months, we woke up without hangovers! Saturday is always mine and Aimee's night out on the tiles which inevitably will end in us crawling home around half 6 on the sunday morning and waking up mid afternoon with a pair of cracking headaches and wobbly tummies. 

It was an absolute novelty to have a whole sunny Sunday to enjoy. We thought what better an occasion to get dressed up and take some snaps to share with you some of our favourite spring outfits of the moment.  

Introducing the Scamp!

Harriett wears 

1930s Boater Hat: Lewes

Edwardian Vest: Spitalfields Antique Market

Edwardian Slip: Charity shop

Grey Tights: Primark

Edwardian Stockings: Lewes

Leather Boots: Rokit Vintage

And the Lady!

Aimee Wears

Dried flowers: Columbia road

Thrifted Blouse: Charity shop

Necklace: Gift. 

1950s Pearls: Her Nan's.

1930s Nightgown: eBay

1980s Teddy: Her mothers

Tights: Primark 

After doing some posing we pottered down the flower market, bought Aimee's Ma a pot plant, then headed to the pub! Let me just say we may not have been hungover sunday morning, but are both feeling a little on the delicate side today! 

Harriett & Aimee xx