Some of my Christmas Goodies

I just thought I'd share some of my lovely Christmas gifts with you all. I had a lovely day. It was, as usual, a small family affair. Breakfast was at my sister's, then my brother came over for lunch and then my sister and her partner came over for dinner. I made dinner this year, for the first time: lasagne and tiramisu, which is our very own tradition. As usual, more food than needed was made and I was eating lasagne and tiramisu for days after!

I purchased a couple of hats on etsy earlier in the year - I paid for one and the other was paid for by my mother, who saved it as a Christmas gift. I can't wait to wear it.


These babydoll pyjamas are also from my mum. I actually mentioned them in a blog post, earlier in the year, too.

On the left is a vintage newspaper from my sister and her partner; on the right is the box for the pyjamas.

This was also a gift from my sister and her partner.



And I got a few vintage-themed books, too. The Dirk Bogarde biography is quite intimidating at over 700 pages! But it will be a very interesting read, I'm sure.

Did anyone else get any lovely vintage goodies over the holiday season?

And I almost forgot, but here's a look at my Christmas outfit:



Outfit details: veiled hat - Salvo's; dress - made by mum; belt - gift; shoes - Big W.

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x

Silver Screen Sunday {8 Femmes}

I have already posted about today's movie, 8 Femmes directed by François Ozon (who, I have just realised, is quite an attractive man), but I felt like it deserved another looking at. Especially considering I posted about it a good two months before I started doing Silver Screen Sundays.

An isolated mansion in the snowy countryside of 1950s France. A family is gathered for the holiday season...but there will be no celebration - their beloved patriarch has been murdered! The killer can only be one of the eight women closest to the man of the house. Was it his powerful wife? His spinster sister-in-law? Or one of his two pretty young daughters? Eight women. All of them suspects. One of them is guilty. Which is it?

Aside from the fact that this film is just delightful and beautifully shot, it also has, of course, incredibly gorgeous costumes.
Catherine Deneuve, as the lady of the manor, is super stylish and timelessly beautiful. This leopard print coat, from Daddy-Os, is just as stylish as Catherine Deneuve, as is this hat -

Found here on etsy.

Isabelle Huppert plays Deneuve's neurotic sister, Augustine, whose transformation from spinster to bombshell is spectacular.

I can picture Augustine wearing something like this before her makeover.

Fanny Ardant plays something of a wild child. Her red wiggle dress is stunning as is this number by Bettie Page clothing:

Found here on Blue Velvet Vintage.

Virgine Ledoyen and Ludivine Savignier play sisters Suzon and Catherine:

This pink dress from etsy makes me think of Suzon's outfit for warmer weather.

From Bernie Dexter.

From Tarantula Clothing.

The capris and pullover would do for a slightly more grown-up version of Catherine's outfit.

You can see the trailer for the film here.

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x

A Christmas Video from Yours Truly

Happy Holidays everyone!

Please excuse the slightly unattractive frozen expression - I'm far too lazy to edit such a short video!

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x

Outfit Post

On Sunday I went to a BBQ at my friend Luna's, which was very nice and relaxing (Luna writes a blog about swing and other kinds of dance type things) - I haven't been to a BBQ in years!

I look a little angry, again! I think it's because I forgot to put on my sunglasses and left my eyes at the full mercy of the sun's rays.

Outfit details: hair flower - Diva; halter top - it's actually a strapless top I attached ribbons to but I don't remember where I bought the top from; trousers - Target; shoes - Big W.

Yesterday I went to the cinema to see Where the Wild Things Are with my friend Jacoba and her boyfriend Kyle. It was a little pre-Christmas get together so Jacoba and I could exchange presents. I bought her some chocolate and a Sunny Buick print and she bought me this nifty set of books:


Harlequin vintage collection (the image is from the Harlequin website). I can't wait to get reading!

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x

Silver Screen Sunday {Shake, Rattle & Rock}

This is a slightly belated Silver Screen Sunday but I didn't want to miss it two weeks in a row! I've had a request, which I was going to do this week, but my technical problems have thrown my schedule off course so I've fallen back on a film that I had already screen-capped. So, without further ado I bring you Shake, Rattle & Rock. Directed by Edward L. Cahn, in 1956, it may be thin on plot but a film like this is really only good to watch for the music, clothes and dancing.

A group of concerned adults try to ban rock and roll music in their town because they think that the music promotes juvenile delinquency. It's now up to a disc jockey and a hipster to defend the music in a televised trial.
Synopsis from imdb.com

Boasting some truly great rock 'n' roll artists, such as Fats Domino (left, with band) and Big Joe Turner (right, with band), the soundtrack showcases all that was fantastic about music of this era.

Found here on amazon.

This is a rather poor quality video but it's difficult to find anything of this film. This one shows Annita Ray singing a cute little song and some kids dancing, too.

I love 1950s teenager fashions. I think there's something very 'fun' about them (although the kids in the last shot don't look particularly peppy, do they?)

Lisa Gaye has some very cute outfits in this film. She also gives me a serious case of hair envy.


This swimsuit from reVamp vintage could definitely function as separates, too. And bottoms are just about as short as the shorts Lisa wears! If they're too short for you Tara Starlet has some very cute sailor shorts, which I've heard nothing but great things about.

Image from here.

Lisa also has this adorable suspender pencil skirt which I could not get a decent shot of. Vivien of Holloway has some extremely adorable skirts, which are very similar.


Well, cats and kittens, I hope you enjoyed this rather hastily prepared edition of Silver Screen Sunday!

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x

Andi B. Goode, the social butterfly

So, I've been quite a busy lady these past few days. Today, however, I spent a good deal of time reinstalling my operating system as my computer died just a little bit. Everything is OK now and nothing (so far as I can tell) has been lost but I had an enormous scare, nonetheless. I am now quite frazzled and almost literally cannot type. So, instead of anything detailed, I bring you photos of the outfit persuasion.

Wednesday night I attended Lucky Seven's Christmas show, with my friend Stef, at the Casino. It was a rather great show and I felt I ought to wear something a little festive.

Outfit details: Santa hat (with sparkles) - ?; faux pearls - Mum's; 1960s dress - Rewind at Glenelg; bracelet - etsy; shoes - Big W.

I was also sporting second day curls that survived two very hot days!

Thursday night I went to Cushdy for the Peaches 'n' Gin Burlesque Christmas show (Dear Santa...), which was absolutely fantastic. As I mentioned, I am frazzled and cannot write anything more than that at the moment, which is a shame. I will just say it was a wonderful night and I was glad to finally be able to wear this dress!

Outfit details: 1930s dress - Red Ruby Vintage; earrings - Diva; bracelet - etsy; stockings - Love Kylie; shoes - Big W.

And last night was the Lindy Lounge Christmas P-Jam so I wore one of my vintage nighties (but took a change of clothes as I went into town, after, for pizza and didn't fancy eating out in my pyjamas!) It was another fun night - I think I danced more in the one night than in all the social dance nights I'd been to up until then!

Outfit details: scarf - Mum's; curlers - possibly Hairhouse Warehouse; vintage nylon nightie - an op-shop at Victor Harbour; slippers - Big W. I'm also wearing a leopard print singlet and leopard print boxer shorts underneath as the nightie is incredibly sheer!

Apologies for the limited descriptions of my nights out but computer problems are so draining! Now I need to catch up on blogs and other internet things.

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x

Outfit Post

Yesterday, I got a phone call to tell me that some of my photographs had been selected for the Helpmann Academy graduate exhibition for 2010. This is pretty exciting because there are 4 partner schools from which work is selected. I had to go into town, today, to talk to someone about printing extra work for it so I decided to wear one of the dresses I bought on the weekend.

Outfit details: bow hair clip - ?; beaded necklace - Fisherman's Wharf Markets; 1960s day dress - Gilles Street Markets; vintage seamed stockings - Antique Market; shoes - Big W.

Hope everyone who reads this is having a wonderful day! I leave you with this song, which is making me feel incredibly good, right now. I had completely forgotten about it until the other day and now I can't stop listening to it!

Also, I've changed my banner - what do you all think? I wanted something simpler.

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x

Gilles Street Market

Yesterday, my mum and I headed into town for the last Gilles Street Market of 2009. I must admit, I don't often find very much (if any) vintage of the eras that I love so I was fairly confident that I would come away relatively unscathed in the bank department. The reality? Far from my expectations.

This lovely 1960s day dress cost me 60$. It was marked as 65$ but the top button was missing (it had been ironed in such a way that I feel was meant to disguise the missing button) so the woman I bought it from knocked off 5$. There's something very familiar about this dress and I'm sure I've seen one similar some place or another. It happens to fit me perfectly, too.


Then there's this 1950s circle dress. This also fits me perfectly and is absolutely divine. It cost 100$. My initial thought was that it was completely overpriced but, as I walked around, I couldn't stop thinking about it and knew I had to at least try it on. Unfortunately, as I said, it fit perfectly and I knew there was no way I could go home without it. So, I'm significantly poorer (or, more accurately, deeper in debt to my wonderful mother) but very pleased with myself, at least.

Now, I don't usually mention the price of things I buy but I've been thinking about the cost of vintage quite a bit, lately, and was thinking of writing a post about it. Is anyone interested? I was thinking of just writing about my own experiences and then get everyone else to maybe tell me about theirs.

Oh, and here is what I wore, yesterday:

Outfit details: sunglasses - ?; beaded necklace - Fisherman's Wharf Markets; 1960s N.O.S. dress - Red Ruby Vintage; shoes - Rubi Shoes.

I've also just realised that I received another blog award, from Melanie of Pink Champagne for Dancing. What I'm meant to do is pass it on, but what I'm going to do instead is tell everyone to check out Melanie's awesome blog, which she started only last month, I think. She's a very stylish lady and very sweet, too.

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x

Dreaming of a White Christmas...

This week's transmission of Silver Screen Sunday is interrupted to bring you a special presentation of last night's White Christmas Swing Ball.

A few weeks ago I showed you a sneak preview of a dress I bought for a very special occasion and, last night, I finally got to wear it. So that means you all get to see it in all of its glory!


Outfit details: hair flower - taken from a bunch of cheap fake flowers; necklace - Diva; 1950s flocked dress - Red Ruby Vintage; corsage - home-made; shoes - Payless.

I really love my dress so so much. It's beautiful and I got a lot of compliments on it, too. And was also asked by a drunk guy, standing with a group of other drunk guys in the street, if I had just got married. How witty of him - his friends thought it was hilarious. I was merely amused at how funny they found it to be but I wasn't bothered.

I love the 'v' shape of the back.

DIY Corsage.

A couple of close-ups of my hair...

I curled it a fair bit tighter than I usually do in hopes of getting a shorter, more 1950s, style.

I didn't get any other photos of anyone else at all, except for this one taken of Jacoba (who bought her awesome dress from Midwest Trader) and I before we left. At least it's some proof that I know other people! Enken (who has her own blog, which is pretty darn awesome) took a few photos that have me in them so hopefully I can provide a link to those at some point as proof that I was actually there! Actually, it was the first time Enken and I ever met, which was lovely. We mentioned how it's very strange to know someone online, who lives in the same city, and to not meet them!

Anway, despite the lack of photographic evidence (my camera doesn't work well at all in low light and I'm not fond of on-camera flash) the night was a blast! The hall was decked out with fabulous decorations, there were absolutely outstanding performances by the Swing Sesh student performance team as well as Peaches 'n' Gin Burlesque and the atmosphere was just great in general. I'm so glad I had the courage to start swing dance lessons when I did because I've had such a great time, so far, and look forward to continuing to have many more great times. Hopefully some others will upload photos of last night to various places and I can provide links...until then, you can, at least, see my dress!

Oh, I just remembered that I filmed myself twirling around because, well, it was fun! And I just love watching the way dresses swing out when you twirl around...it's not the most graceful footage of me but it's also the first footage of me on Ye Olde Internets. No talking yet, though!

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x

A Swingin' Safari!

For some reason this suit makes me think of A Swingin' Safari by Bert Kaempfert, hence the title of the post.

I wore this out to dinner for my sister's partner's birthday, last night...I was going to wear a dress but I just had one of those days where it felt like far too much effort to wear one! So, I finally got to wear my pant-suit.

Outfit details: head-scarf - actually a belt and it belongs to my mum; 1940s rayon pant suit - Red Ruby Vintage; shoes - KMart.

After I bought the suit, I found this image from My Vintage Vogue and thought it was a rather happy coincidence, I suppose.

I'd also like to say that today my thoughts are with one John Lennon as it marks the 29th anniversary of his untimely passing. R.I.P. My favourite band is The Beatles and they've had a huge impact of my life and I still find John Lennon to be a big inspiration to me.

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x

Silver Screen Sunday {Houseboat}

After yesterday's post about one of my favourite Italian singers, I thought I might look at 1958's Houseboat, a film starring Sophia Loren, who is one of Italy's most iconic actresses. It also stars one of my favourite actors, the ever suave Cary Grant.

I think he has absolutely perfect comic timing. And his expressions are classic!

Some of Sophia's dressier looks. I do like how simple accessories, like earrings and a beaded necklace, transform the green dress.

And some more casual looks, too, which she pulls of just as well.

This is one of my favourite scenes - I spent most of the time looking at all of the fabulous clothes worn by the extras! It's distracting.

And Martha Hyer as Carolyn Gibson has some gorgeous ensembles, too.

But my absolute favourite dress in the whole film is this gold number which I think might be aptly described by the term 'va-va-voom!'


So, here are three gorgeous gold dresses I found on etsy.

Found here on etsy.

Found here on etsy.

Found here on etsy.

This is the reaction Sophia's gold dress receives. I think their expressions say it all, really!

Here's a little song that Sophia sings, just to give you a taste of the film -

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x