Tag: vintage

Makeup for Lindy Hopping

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Being a vintage gal is a pretty demanding kind of thing. Curling and styling your hair, the anything-but-natural makeup, hunting out rare vintage styles and sometimes wearing clothes that are 80 years old, not to mention the ordeals of garters, stockings, high heels, corsets, jewelery, hats – there’s a lot involved!

Now imagine, that on top of all that, you weren’t only going to style your hair, do your makeup, and wear uber-feminine vintage style clothing, but you were going to do all that whilst swing dancing… for four hours straight… sweating and spinning and twisting and getting tossed around, sometimes upside down, by your partners – it’s a whole different affair!

When it comes to makeup, it can be really hard to find anything that stays, but here are two products I use. I guess, even if you’re not a Lindy Hopper, then at least you know these products have passed the ultimate durability test!

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Firstly, my dance partner Juan would kill me if I got lipstick on his shirt, and I’m not a fan of re-applying lipstick every ten minutes (or lipstick on my teeth, for that matter), so I use Cover Girl Outlast All Day Lipcolor, in “Ever Red-dy” (#507). It seriously doesn’t come off – you need a special remover to get it off at the end of the night. I like this one because the color is a real fire-engine red, and it doesn’t flake off like some other so-called “everlast” brands. I’ve stopped trying to find it in stores (it’s usually the first color to go), so now I just buy it online on Amazon:

Cover Girl Outlast All Day Lipcolor on Amazon.com

I kiss my boyfriend, eat a meal, drink and dance all night long, and it stays on. I just pray they don’t discontinue it!!

Secondly, we have MAC Liquidlast Liner – yep, waterproof black liquid liner. Again, this stuff SERIOUSLY stays, you’ll need a special remover to get it off, although I find my moisturizer on a cottonbud works too. I think anything oil-based would get it off. But sweat doesn’t budge it, and you don’t have to worry about rubbing your eyes either. You can get it anywhere they sell MAC, I got mine at Sephora.

Jeans!

I’ve slowly been amassing a collection of websites where one can buy vintage reproductions and recently four stores have caught my eye. The first is Freddies of Pinewood, which is based in the UK and will ship to the US. Their jeans are made from modern washable denim, without stretch. “You can wear them day in and day out without worrying that you will ruin them!”
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Model/photographer – Jenny Brophy
A great reproduction of the original 1940’s and 1950’s denim jeans for ladies, for £35

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Versatile 1940’s style dungarees made from denim with no stretch. They have a wide leg, huge pockets on the front, a cute hanky pocket and patch pockets on the back. The straps cross at the back and fasten with two buttons. You will probably have to re-sew the strap buttons to fit your size. They have a 34″ inside leg. Available in blue, black and grey denim. £40

RetroSpec’d offers reproduction clothing from the 1940s and 1950s for girls and guys. Just look at these jeans!!

and…..

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Wide legged and high waisted they’re an extremely flattering cut and come in a variety of colors and styles.

Pictured opposite is the lovely Anna Fur Laxis in the denim style. As you can see they’re super versatile and work as well with halter tops as with blouses.

and last, but certainly not least….

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I don’t particularly like this website, but I like the clothing. Two other non jean pieces I like are the high waisted capri pants and the World War II vintage Overalls. Cute!!!!

These classic jeans are simply amazing. Handtailored to the guidelines of 1940s fashion!  The original patterns dates from the first half of the 1940. These are the pants that the American working women wore during WWII. These women looked great and so will you!

Features:

  • -Heavy weight denim fabric.
  • -Metal side zipper.
  • -High waisted.
  • -Top stitched pockets and waist band.
  • -Great fit.
  • -Two lengths available: inside leg 86 cm (34″) and 91 cm (36″).