Thursday, March 3, 2011

My Big Sisters Wardrobe


Hello again, I am back home in France now, even though I took my laptop with me on our recent trip to Britain I found I had very little time for blogging.  I was rushing around catching up with family and friends, wining and dining and shopping! We drove to Britain, 1000 miles taking the Channel tunnel so no nasty luggage restrictions we filled the car up with goodies including a pot bellied stove for chilly Spring evenings on the terrace we also hit Sainsburys big time and bought masses of Twiglets, Patacks curry pastes, Sharwoods Poppadoms, British sausages, Roses lime juice, Yorkshire tea bags amongst other things none of which are available in France.

I had a lovely return visit back to my home county of North Yorkshire even though we arrived to a cold, snowy Yorkshire and the sun only came out briefly for a few hours during the whole week, it was fabulous to see my nearest and dearest and run into friends that I have not seen for years.

As the weather was so grim any ideas of taking glorious pictures of Yorkshire and her landmarks went out of the window, instead I took some pictures of  vintage things in my big Sisters wardrobe.  Her wardrobe has fascinated me since I was a child, she has an excellent eye for quality and a bargain and looks after things beautifully, everything in her draws and wardrobe are organised and wrapped in dust-jackets, tissue paper and boxes, she even cleans her make up brushes regularly and all her cosmetics are like new and neatly arranged, not like me who tends to ram everything into the wardrobe, squash things in draws and I hardly ever wash make up brushes or organise my make up!

My big Sister is a few years older than me, she left home at seventeen and headed off for a life of adventure in London, throughout my young teenage years she bought me amazing presents from London, from the likes of Biba, Fiorucci and Harvey Nichols, she is really rather annoying whenever I make a new discovery I tell her about it, only to find that she already knows all about it.  These photographs were all a bit rushed as she was flying off the next morning to attend a friends fiftieth birthday party in New York.  We are at present thinking of pooling our talents and cooking something up, I will give you more details at a later date, soon she will be starting her own blog, so I will keep you posted on that too, in the meantime, here are some gorgeous vintage evening bags from her wardrobe...



This was the bag that started my Sisters love for all things vintage a beautiful tapestry evening bag, I think possibly circa 1919 that belonged to our Grandmother, she used this evening bag all her life and also kept things beautifully, obviously, my BS inherited this trait from her.


The quality of workmanship on the bag is beautiful.


My sister was especially thrilled to find this Elizabeth Arden miniature lipstick in one of the pockets, it still lives there.


And here is the original owner, my Grandmother on her Wedding Day, February 16th 1927, I wrote all about my Grandmother here.


  My sister bought the following bags from e bay, eagle eyed for quality at a good price.






Love this, circa 1960's from Beverly Hills




I adore the simplicity of this bag, circa 1950's with the loop to hook elegantly onto the lower arm, in pristine condition.


Another gem from our Grandmother, a sparkly wool vest top, fully lined it's such a classic, I am not sure when it dates from I would guess judging by the label some time in the late fifties.



Due to limited time that's all I have of my Big Sisters wardrobe for now, I will return unless she starts her blog soon and get's in before me!


When we returned home it was great to see this little guy again, we thought about taking him to the land of his forefathers but decided against it, it's a long journey for a small dog who loves his freedom, one of the joys of living in France is dogs are allowed everywhere, in Britain he would have been miserable couped up in the house, whilst we indulged ourselves, instead we sent him to stay with his favourite human, where he has clearly been overindulged, he currently resembles a barrel with four legs, now he is on half rations with a very strict exercise regime, which, after all our over indulgence benefits us too!


As I have not been around much, I am really looking forward to catching up with all of your blogs over the next couple of days.


7 comments:

  1. Dear Dash, I'm glad you had a good time. Shame about the weather. We've had a few sunny days but mostly it's been cold and dreary.

    The bags are gorgeous! I particularly love the black one with the diamante.

    How lovely to be home and see Crusoe xx

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  2. You are lucky - I always wanted a big sister!

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  3. Welcome home! I'd have loved a big sister especially one as cool as yours sounds.
    Your finds are so gorgeous! I love the beaded top and the Beverly Hills bag the most, how fabulous that your sister has held on to all of them.
    I saw some of those Elizabeth Arden lipsticks in an antique centre in Derbyshire for £38 each! xxx

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  4. Barrel or not, Crusoe is so photogenic :) I have a big sister but she's nowhere near as cool as yours. That Beverly Hills number and the sparkly vest....aaaah.

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  5. I adore your sisters collection ..you know I love old evening bags. I adore the black and diamante one,
    I also love beaded items xx

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  6. I have to say I am much more like you in terms of not cleaning my make-up brushes and everything being a total mess! Your sister has amazing taste, and I think it is so sweet that she keeps the lipstick in the purse still. The top beaded bag is my favourite, what a stunner x

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  7. Glad you had a lovely time away but it's nice to have you back!

    Your sister's wardrobe sounds amazing!! I am absolutely smitten with the black 50's clutch.

    Bet Crusoe is glad to have you home! Oscar always gets fat when someone is cat-sitting; I think cos he doesn't go outside and run around as much when we're not here.

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