Gatsby Garden Party

This past Sunday I attended an event called ” The Gatsby Garden Party” that was run by the Spadina Museum right here in Toronto. It was a lovely afternoon filled with music, croquet, lemonade & ice-cream, Charleston lessons and a tour of this outstanding historical house (I might do a future blog post on the house and the family as this house was really amazing).

The day turned out to be so beautiful, hot but sunny with not a chance of rain anywhere and lots of people came out in full 1920’s style, which I was really glad. Nothing worse than going to a 1920’s party and being the only person IN 1920’s clothes 🙂 I wore a 1920’s reproduction dress from Unique Vintage that was actually my mothers and a 1950’s hat (which looked very 1920’s) from Cabaret Vintage. I received many many compliments on this dress and it was truly beautiful BUT due to the weight of the beads after 4 hours my shoulders were feeling the pain (ahhh what we do for fashion lol). That’s okay I felt fantastic in it and when I danced the beads spun around in the most magical way and I truly felt like I was a part of the Gatsby world.

Here I am out front of the Spadina House.

Recently I have a joined a Meetup group to meet vintage like-minded ladies and our recent get-together was at the party. I have to say that if you are looking to meet people who share the same likes/interests as you that coming to events like this or joining “Meetup” is a good place to start. These ladies are fantastic and so nice and I am really looking forward to doing more things with them.

Here is a pic of our little group…

As mentioned above there was live music at the event and one of the bands that played is a favorite of Swing Dancers in Toronto, “Combo Royale“. Their style according to their website is “Old-Time Foot Stompin Jazz” and that statement is really true for when you are around them you can’t help but clap, sing, dance etc. I love the band and I have also become friends with a few of the members as well 🙂

As well as music there was Croquet. I really wanted to learn how to play this game but the sun was pretty hot and I was starting to melt so I had to pass this time around.

Here is an awesome picture of the back of the Spadina House and I did not realize that when I took the picture that this very handsome and well dressed man was in it lol! Clearly he thinks I’m taking a picture of him with that perfect pose, when I was really focused on the house. But I’m very happy he did pose because I love this photo even more now.

Here I am with a fellow swing dancer (whose names escapes me). Her outfit was outstanding and I think she might of also won the costume contest.

The museum was kind enough to let us tour the home as part of the activities of the day and boy oh boy was I glad I did, for this house is truly a masterpiece (and very well restored). The early 1900’s-1930’s décor was drool worthy and I became slightly obsessed on trying to figure out how I could move in here without anyone knowing lol!

Here is a window from the front foyer…wow! Pssst…can you see the animal in the pic? It was a stuffed wolf that welcomed you when you walked in and boy did it look real!

Front sitting room (sorry for the blurry pic).

The wallpaper in the house was so incredible and I think I spent a lot of time staring at it and talking about it (my husband was pretty sure I had gone crazy lol), but don’t you agree that it is pretty awesome wallpaper?? According to the guides when the house was given over to the city in the 1980’s they discovered that the Austin family were a bit of hoarders and kept everything, from grocery receipts to….wallpaper swatches! So when the restoration/replication started they had an easy job when it came to recreating the wallpaper. Yay for antique hoarders!

This was the closet in the main bedroom, so envious on the size! My closet is an Ikea wardrobe 🙁

Vintage dresses on display in the closet of my dreams (see why I wanted to move in).

Another Wallpaper shot 🙂 AND the most lovely pictures of the owner and her two daughters (I believe).

Close up of the pictures. Look at the hair? Beautiful.

OMG! Everything about this photo is outstanding. Hair, clothes, pose..wow! Love 🙂

I sadly did not take a lot of pictures of the inside of the house because I think I was spending too much time gawking and not picture-taking lol! So you will just have to visit Toronto and see it with your own eyes (it is worth the trip trust me). If you do visit you can pop over next door and tour Casa Loma as well.

Here I am at the end of the day in front of Casa Loma.

Have you attended any Gatsby like parties recently?

Liz 🙂

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