Vintage Fashion Expo in Los Angeles

Vintage Fashion Expo
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
October 17th and 18th, 2009
Expo Hours Saturday 10:30-6 Sunday 11-5
Tickets are $10, or follow this link
to go to their coupon page and save $5.

Click on the banner to visit their website for more details.

They have an average of 90 vendors at the expo selling clothes, shoes, jewelry, patterns, purses…you name it! Here is a short list from the website:

Vintage Blue Moon
Luxe
Rare Finds
Sentiments By Katherine
Atelier Suzanne
Decades of Fashion
Papillon Antiques
Snappy Gabs
Mr. Toads
Lapin Vintage
Scout LA
Foxy Couture
Flaun’s Vintage Clothing
Barbara & Kent Grigg
Gail Gum Antiques
Hot Couture
A La Mode Vintage
Jean Langford
The Mad Hatters Tea Party
Re-Vamp Vintage
Vintage@1860-1960.com
Little Treasures
Vintage Apparel by Ardis
King Vintage
Connie Parente Accessories
Donnaland
Feather Vintage
Chris Enebo Antiques
Now ‘N’ Then
Marche aux Puces
BuyVintageClothing.com
Discover Yesterday
Bobbie Boutique
Two Sisters
Ellen’s Elegants
Vu
Vintage Vanities
Allyn Scura Eyewear
Meow
Cherry, Inc.
Edith’s Daughter
The Nostalgic Lady
The Bakelite Lady
Trappings of Time
Mercer International
Unforgettable
Time Slot Antiques
The Cat’s Meow
Woodland Farms Vintage
Frock You Vintage
The Paper Bag Princess
Timeless Vixen
The Other Shop
Raw Vintage
Retro Diva
Faultline Collectables
Honeymoon Antiques
TaTa Lane
Pamela Heiman Vintage
Eclectibles
Daddyo’s
Avenue Antiques
Charles Nero Art & Antiques
Paris Vintage
Bertz Antiques
Mermaid’s Haven
Licia Kuhn Antiques
G.S. Antiques LLC
Cathy Githens Antiques
Anna Newman Vintage
Dress
The Butlers Cottage
Red Headed Rachel
The Tie Merchant
Mary’s Exchange
Aubergine
Unbuttons
Soiree Vintage
Erzsebet Bathory
Bloomers
Ms. Matcher’s Matchless Jewelry
Kathy Judkins
Eva Linowski
Dena McCarthy
Octavia’s Scrapbook
Gail Pierson
LA Vintage Boudoir
Offerings
Cheetah Girl
Clever Vintage Clothing
Somewhere In Time
Juliana Goitein
Linda Goldberg
Kerry Holden
Mary Scates Antiques

I won’t be in town otherwise I would definitely be there. I went a few years ago and had such an amazing time…

Beautiful Besame Cosmetics

I’ve played with Besame Cosmetics, and I can say it’s a lovely brand of makeup, with a spot-on accurate palette of vintage colors. But mainly, it’s the gorgeous vintage-recreation packaging that I love. If I ever stop travelling and find myself with my own dressing table, this is what would be on it. In the photo above is Gabriela Hernandez, the founder of the company.




More: BesameCosmetics.com

Shoes on Amazon.com

So, you will have noticed the new Best of Swing & Vintage on Amazon banner in the sidebar, and this is what I’ve been procrastinating with the last week, what fun! I’ve set up my very own Amazon store, with all – well the name says it all really – the best of swing and vintage to be found on Amazon.com.  It’s so fun, like curating your own collection. Anyway, the best thing though is the shoes! I mean, we all think of Amazon for books, CDs, DVDs, but I had no idea there were so many shoes!! There’s loads of styles, but for example, here’s some of my favorite granny heels:

ALDO Miriello - Clearance Heels Women's Shoes  Miz Mooz Women's Rimini T-Strap Pump
Sofft "Gallery" Mary Jane Pump Sofft "Oriole" Pump
Sofft "Fiona" Mary Jane Pump Nine West Women's Ambelu Pump

Yeah, on Amazon! Who would of thought….

The Blue Devils in crisp linen suits

thebluedevilssaxophonesection1932withlesteryounginthemiddle

The Blue Devils were a Kansas city jazz band in the 1920s and 30s, and above we have a photograph from 1932 of the saxophone section (Theo Ross and Buster Smith) welcoming their newest member, Lester Young, in the middle. For jazz fans, other big names that were in the band included Hot Lips Page, Bill ‘Count’ Basie and Jimmy Rushing. If you don’t know who any of those guys are, no problem – just look at how fine those 1930s suits are! Freshly pressed three-piece linen suits, and look at the details! Jazz orchestras knew how to dress. Perfectly matching down to the ties, the shoes, even the pocket handkerchiefs. And look closely, Lester is even holding a pipe.

Photo from ‘Jazz: A History of America’s Music’ by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns.