Gorenje vintage-style fridge freezer

With the ongoing trend for all things retro and vintage-style and the massive popularity of the Smeg fridge, I’ve always been surprised that there weren’t many similar products around on the market. I remember looking online for a 50s-style fridge-freezer a couple of years ago when I popped the inside of mine (never hack at the ice in a defrosting freezer kids!) but nothing much came up except Smegs and other allegedly retro-style ones which just didn’t appeal.

Googling around tonight, though, (a big and very boring clean-up at home has got me thinking about housey things), I spotted the Gorenje retro fridge-freezer range. I think the fridge-freezers are very stylish and have a genuine retro feel.

I like the cream one best but the product also comes in a range of colours such as green, pink, orange, red and black. Even better, the Gorenje fridge-freezers cost around £700, making them quite a bit more affordable than the Smeg

Gorenje freestanding fridge-freezer RF60309OC-L

Mad Men dress

Recently I posted about a skirt which had been given the Mad Men title but, although lovely, I didn’t think it particularly reminiscent of the TV show.

This dress on the other hand is another matter. To me it screams Joan from Mad Men and looks very flattering too. I work from home so I don’t have much call for office-wear, even though I am always very drawn to it (pussy bows and shift dresses – yes please!) and I am wondering if this would look to worky to wear for a night out?

Very.co.uk Holly Willoughby Button Front Pencil Dress: £59.00

What do you think? Any ideas on de-working it for the weekend?

Going dotty

Despite being a lifelong fan, in my own way, even I am a little bit over polka dots as we have all been somewhat over-exposed during the past few years (the caveat is that I am actually wearing them today – a seven-year-old Warehouse wrap dress that I hope and pray will never die!).

Anyway, despite the ubiquity of the spotty dress these days, I do still like this one a lot. Oasis was for a time a shop I never bothered with as I found its wares a little dull but it has really improved recently in my opinion and has some good-quality vintage-style pieces.

I love the old-school glamour of this dress and I think it would be very flattering and easy to wear with red lipstick and seamed fishnets.

Oasis belted spot dress: £65.00

*Edit: I have now tried this dress on and it is a dream! Fitted without making me look lumpen – in fact it gives a great hourglass shape. Someone on the Oasis site said it was too short to look vintage-style but on me at 5 foot 3 it is a brilliant length – just below the knee and looks very classy (I think!)

New Look 40s-style tea dress

I was just wandering through town killing some time the other day when I spotted this lovely frock – its 40s styling caught my eye straight away. I tried it on but unfortunately it’s just a bit too low cut for me and I wouldn’t feel comfortable with the cleavage on show. For a lady who isn’t as booby (not bragging by the way – I’d trade mine for a B cup any day!) I think this dress would be really nice on and could easily be worn with tights in the colder months. Curse my boobs!

New Look Floral Ditsy Tea Dress: £34.99

40-style shoes

I’ve been looking out for some vintage-style 40s shoes for a while now – something comfortable and suitable for daywear but with a bit more to them than the brogues that are everywhere right now.

I think both these pairs fit the bill well, although the M & S ones may pip the Office ones to the post, as they have a nice granny chic charm. Also, I absolutely swear by shoes from Marks & Spencer. I find that they are always comfortable, they fit wide feet well and they are good quality. I can imagine these shoes looking good with autumnal tea dresses and fishnets or coloured tights.

Marks & Spencer Footglove round toe lace up shoe: £45.00

Office Bronski lace up shoes: £65.00

Tara Starlet Mad Men skirt

I’m not really one for skirts. You rarely catch me out of a dress but I just find skirts a bit harder to wear. I don’t suit high waists and I sometimes just hate the feeling of a waistband – yes, I’m fussy. Plus of course you can just throw a dress on, rather than finding a top too. Clearly, I am also lazy.

But maybe, just maybe, this lovely skirt from Tara Starlet could tempt me back to skirts. I love the fabric and it looks like an authentic-looking length. I am not a fan of vintage-style dresses and skirts which then sit over the knee (when you’re 5 foot 3 like me, they really shouldn’t anyway!).

Despite the title Tara Starlet have given it, this skirt doesn’t scream Mad Men to me but I do love it anyway. It could look good with a white fitted T-shirt, nice blouse or buttoned-up tight cardigan.

Tara Starlet Mad Men skirt: £60.00

SS Atlantica, 10 September 2011

This is an event I soooo wish I could attend! I have read about the SS Atlantica events before and swore I would go to the next one. Sadly, I only received email notification last week that the next event will be on 10 September ,which is a real shame. Far too late notice for me as I live in the North East and the train ticket would bankrupt me. Plus, I need a bit of warning to get a suitable outfit together!

The event harks back to the ‘golden age of travel’ and takes place on a ’30s-themed ship, boarding at the Savoy Pier in London. There’s roulette, live entertainment, champers and vintage-style cocktails. Men are urged to dress like Agatha Christie villians, whereas the ladies are encouraged to glam it up starlet-style in silk and furs (fake, I hope!).

Would really love to have gone to this. I hope I will get more warning next time! In the meantime, perhaps someone wants to organise one in Newcastle-upon-Tyne…? We have the river after all. If you do happen to go to the SS Atlantica event, please do let me know what it’s like.

I’ll just have to make do with Poirot reruns for now.

People Tree Orla Kiely tea dress

I am always a sucker for a good print on a dress and I am very taken with this new teacup-print People Tree frock. It’s not a website I check out regularly I must admit but this one just happened to catch my eye as I was browsing around.

I am unsure what it would look like on shape-wise – it looks like it could be either the easiest dress to wear ever or could border on the frumpy. I am sorely tempted to try the jade version on to find out…

People Tree Orla Kiely Tea Dress

 People Tree Orla Kiely Tea Dress: £95.00

 

La Rosa hotel, Whitby

La Rosa hotel, Whitby

When I stay in a hotel (which isn’t very often unfortunately), it’s usually for a specific purpose (work/weddings etc.) and/or because I am visiting a city, meaning that there’s lots to do. I always lament that I don’t get a chance to just enjoy the facilities. Thanks to timing and the weather that wasn’t the case when I visited the beautiful La Rosa hotel in Whitby earlier this year.

This is definitely my fave hotel that I have ever stayed in. I went for my birthday in February after looking longingly at the website a number of times, which boasts “Victorian seaside fun”. I was so excited and I was not disappointed. I had originally booked into the Little Red room as I am a sucker for a dark fairytale theme but on arrival we were upgraded to Arabesque (inside the genie’s bottle!), which was even better as it had an amazing, massive free-standing bath which I certainly made use of (I am a massive bath fan!).

We had a lovely, high four-poster bed and beautiful decoration and detail everywhere. Due to the fact that Lewis Carroll used to stay in the building when  he was in Whitby, there is a very pretty Alice in Wonderland café downstairs and we had Alice in Wonderland themed tea and chocolate clocks in our room, with lovely vintage china. This place is all about the details. They have some really unusual books and vintage nick nacks dotted all around too.

As it was a freezing and blustery mid-week in February, Whitby was quiet (and quite romantic I thought!). We went out and about during the day and for drinks and a meal on the night but for once the itinerary was not so packed that we couldn’t actually enjoy luxuriating in the hotel facilities, especially the bath!

The hotel keeps a big stash of DVDs downstairs too, which guests are free to borrow. It was great to cosy up in such beautiful and unique surroundings on a cold winter’s birthday night.

Finally, I couldn’t not mention the breakfast at La Rosa. Rather than having to get up and eat breakfast in a dining room with other guests, La Rosa staff drop a basket of breakfast goodies off outside your room and what a basket of delights it is! Vintage china and glasses and lovely serviettes, with cheese scones, boiled eggs, cake, fruit, yoghurt and more. Amazing!

I really can’t recommend La Rosa enough. I LOVED it and would really love to go back some time soon. I really want to try the campsite too but I fear I have left it too late in the year once again to make it this summer. Maybe next…

Vintage-style glasses

I desperately need some new specs at the moment. My current pair are about five years-old and very crooked – let’s just say they don’t make me look like the sharpest knife in the drawer and I wouldn’t be caught dead in them outside the house. If I had a nice pair, I’d definitely be happier to wear them out and about some days and I suspect it would be better for my eyes.

One of the reasons I have put off replacing them for so long is that after my last shopping excursion for glasses (as I say, at least five years back), I was under the impression that nice glasses were hard to find.

However, a Groupon-induced look around www.glassesdirect.co.uk proved me wrong. I would never have expected to find affordable vintage-style glasses on a site like that. I didn’t buy the Groupon voucher in the end as I have been stung by terms and conditions too many times in the past, but I am still thinking of plumping for these two pairs when I get paid and best of all, it’s two for one on everything over £59 so one pair should be free!

Lucky Brand Stealie

Glassesdirect Lucky Brand Stealie glasses: £119

Belladonna

Glassesdirect Belladonna glasses: £69

I need to get me to the optician for an updated prescription without delay!