Summer Shoot

During the summer it's usually at least a little bit warmer than during the winter here in Sweden. So this time of the year it feels completely ok to do photo shoots with less clothes on than three layers of fur coats. One sunny day I got together with photographer Peter Nilsson to do a shoot, and here is the result!

Photo: Peter Nilsson

Plaid Dress

Ok, I'm back from my one week off blogging! And I'm back with an outfit post. This is a dress I got for Christmas, and it's finally spring-like enough in this cold country to bring it out of my closet!

The dress is vintage, from the 40s, and made from a very light plaid cotton fabric. It has a nice "collar" application at the front, and big pockets. I found the dress at Dalena Vintage on Etsy, and I love it. Very soft and comfortable to wear.

I'm also wearing my Thomas Sabo charm bracelet. So far I have a skull, a gothic cross, and a guitar hanging from it, but there are so many charms to choose from, so I will be adding to it. Perfect things to wish for around birthdays and such!

Easter Dress

On Good Friday I had been invited to Fräulein Frauke's and her husband John-Paul Bichard's yearly Easter party. Every guest brings something for the buffet, and a bottle of bubbly, and then we just share everything. I made loads of dark chocolate mousse! Everyone always dress up for this decadent party, so I though it was a good idea to premiere a dress I got for my birthday last August, but still haven't had an opportunity to wear  - a vintage gown from the 40s!

The floor length dress has a plaid pattern of shiny brown, purple, copper, gold and white blending together. The skirt looks pretty narrow from the front, but there's actually quite a lot of fabric in it...

...that is gathered in the back to create a small train. At the waistline sits a sort of belt that closes in a big bow at the back.

The edge around both the neckline and the bottom of the belt is scalloped. I love this dress because it seems so different from other 40s gowns. The design of the dress is very elegant, like a ball gown. But then whoever made it used this "simple" plaid fabric that probably would have fitted a day dress. So it feels like I can wear it to both fancy parties, and just for afternoon tea.

Photo: John-Paul Bichard

I had a great time at the party, and above you see how it ended...

Hat Parade

I think it was very unnecessary that hats pretty much disappeared from fashion after the 60s. But back in the good old - stylish - days, women would walk down the streets with the sole purpose of showing off their new spring/fall hats. So when The Hallwyl House let people who wore a hat get in to see their exhibition Hats Off for free, on the last day of the show, milliner Marika Smith got the idea to gather the visitors and create an old fashioned hat parade from the museum to Djurgården (The Royal Game Park), where we ended our parade with a picnic.

I wore a vintage felt hat from the 40s together with my outfit from Dalena Vintage, that I wrote about here!

The hat exhibition was fun to see. But they should have accompanied the hats with photos of people actually wearing them. These head-decorations can look so different on a head, from what they look sitting on an exhibition stick!

When leaving The Hallwyl House, we were quite a few hat-wearers that paraded away through the streets of Stockholm, meeting many smiling onlookers on our stroll.

The weather was perfect for a picnic! Not cold, but not too hot either.

The organizer, Marika, wore one of her own creations on her head...

...And she had also baked heavenly vanilla buns for everyone!

This was my first picnic for this summer, but I hope for many more!

Funeral Outfit

And so it was time for funeral number two, for grandma number two, this summer/fall. And this time I chose to go with the traditional black!

The dress I wore is from the 40s, in a pretty heavy, slinky fabric. I bought it from Fanny.

It's a bit difficult to see in the photo, but the back has sort of a little bustle, and at the top there is a small opening that closes with a hook and eye.

On the inside of the sleeves there are zippers, which makes them sit perfectly around my skinny arms. I love this dress! It's one of those pieces that you can pretty much wear at any occasion, and the fact that I wore it to a funeral, won't stop me from wearing it to a party in the future!

Last Sunday and next Saturday

Last Sunday I - together with a bunch of other people - was invited to the Bichard Residence - the home of Fräulein Frauke and John Paul Bichard.

I wore a 40s dress I bought straight from Kellerman Vintage, on mine and Fanny's little shopping trip to Rouen. The dress has some lovely details!

Dress clips both at the neckline...

...And on both sleeves - still with all stones in place, I might add!

On one side it buttons up with covered buttons. On the opposite side the buttons are just for decoration.

Of course my partner in driving like criminals - Fanny - was there too! Here in a new vintage coat and lovely victory rolls.

The reason we had all been invited to the Bichard Residence (except for the scones, tea, chocolate cake and wine...) was to look at the series of photos from the project "June 1940 - The Evacuation", John Paul Bichard is working on right now. I did a post on it earlier, which you can read here. As a thanks for participating in front of the camera he wanted to show the finished pictures to us, before they went public. It was so nice to see what had become of those photo shoots! The photos looked like stills from a black and white 40s movie! I had just been able to participate at one of the shoots, but the project will continue next spring, so I hope to be able to get into it a bit more then!

And now for the rest of you who might wanna take a look at these photos. Next Saturday, November 26th, they will be shown to the public at Nalen, during "Fräulein Frauke presents - Duty Calls"! 

Last time Fräulein Frauke arranged one of her amazing nights - together with Mr Bichard - it was called "Dark Fairytale". I was there, and you can read about it here. This time the evening is inspired by WWII, and people's need to get away from the war and all it's horrors for at least one night of extravaganza! 

Except from the photo show and jazz music from one of the best jazz bands in Stockholm, the audience will be treated to burlesque performances by some of Europe's biggest artists of this genre!

Dusty Limits (UK) - Comedy genius with a sharp tongue and a fantastic singing voice!

Vicky Butterfly (UK) - One of the worlds biggest burlesque artists! A dancer that brings back the vaudeville and sheer beauty of the early 1900s.

Fräulein Frauke (Sweden) - The Saucy Songbird! Together with her husband, John Paul Bichard, she's the creator of Swedens best burlesque cabaret nights! I know - for I have been there! She sings like an angel and takes her clothes off like a...ehm...well, I guess you'll just have to wait and see...

Virginia Valentine - "Hoochy Koochy Mama"... 

...and Ruby Luscious will also be there!

Here comes the bad news - for me: I can't go because I have to work late on Saturday and early on Sunday!!!!!!! Aaaaaarg!!!!!

Words like "f**k", h**l", "d**n", "b*****s and h**s", etc, comes to mind...But for all you lucky bastards who will be there - I know you'll have a wonderful evening!