What a year this has been and how fast it has gone as well. I literally feel like I just started 2015 and now it’s coming to an end. Well the one thing I do know is that 2015 was a busy and fun year and I would love to share with you some of the adventures I got into with you. Here is my 2015 in review.

January: Every year I attend a big German Karneval (mardi gras) function called GAMGA in Las Vegas. It’s 2 days of costume parties, after parties and then a big Gala. It’s super fun and something I have been doing with my parents since I was a kid.

February: I was lucky to be able to attend the premier of the 1940s new Canadian TV show called ‘X Company‘. I have never been part of a premier and it was a cool experience and we even got to meet the host of the event and get our pictures taken with the cast and producers.

I attend a 1920s Speakeasy party at the famous and beautiful Palais Royale in Toronto.

AND I traveled to Seattle, Washington for a long weekend to visit a good friends parents and see uber cool Seattle. I did a blog post all about it HERE.

Seattle Washington first starbucks — In front of the first Starbucks

March: I did nothing really blog post worthy. WHAT?? lol

April: VIVA Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend! I did several posts on that big adventure which can be found HERE.

May: Vintage Spectacular Dance with the GTA Swing Band. This was a super night of dancing, dressing up and great Big Band Music. The image below is some of the lovely ladies of TVS and the lead singer of the Band (she is soooo good).

I was very lucky to be part of a cool experience in May with a favorite Rockabilly band in Toronto called “The Millwinders“. Myself and few friends were filmed dancing in front of a green screen for use for future videos. Here are a couple of pictures from that day.

1950s vintage style — Credit: Kahlil Heslop

Lastly Toronto Lindy Hop (that I’m part of) put on a full weekend of Lindy hop, classes, history lessons and live music dances all weekend long called ‘Toronto World Lindy Hop Day’. I played host and it was such a good weekend 🙂

The images below are with 2 living legends in the Lindy Hop World. Chazz Young the son of one of the founders of Lindy Hop-Frankie Manning (and a talent as well) AND Dawn Hampton the Queen of the Cabaret and a little firecracker (her image is on the shirts we are wearing).

Summer (June, July and August): I did a full blog post on all the events I attended (tiki party, UK Adventure, Horse race event plus much more), so check that out HERE.

September: Weekend visit to Havana, Cuba

This was not my first visit to Havana, but this was definitely the first time I visited areas outside of the Old part and it was fantastic. I still have to do a blog post on all the new things I saw but for now here is a collage of some of the highlights.

October: Halloween and a friend’s Wedding Reception Toga Party (yes a toga party). For Halloween the hubby and I went as Amazing Race Contestants. The outfits were big hits.

Toga Party!

November: ‘Swing Out To Victory’. Once again I helped my friend Dean with hosting duties as a third of the beautiful “Dominion Belles”.

Swing out to Victory-1940s vintage outfits — Credit: Kahlil Heslop

The throwing of the candies 🙂

Here I am with 2 friends from the Toronto Vintage Society. Both created their outfits from scratch and Joy on the left, won the best dressed because she recreated the “Swing Time” outfit from the movie with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Opening of Toronto’s first ‘Shameful Tiki Room‘ (literally around the corner from my apartment). Now one of my local hangouts.

The official Tiki mug for Shameful. Very Canadian with the Beaver 🙂

I dj’d my first Rock N Roll social dance night for my friends 50s dance studio ‘Soda Pop Hop‘. Such a fun night!

December: Toronto Vintage Society annual Kitschmas Party. I played host once again at the party and it was another huge success. Here are the winners of the title of Kitschmas King and Queen. Make sure you check out the blog called “Flipsville” because she made these outfits!

And that my friends is a general overview of my 2015 year. I hope you had a wonderful year and I wish all of you a Happy 2016! Thank you so much for reading my blog and commenting and just being wonderful readers, I love and appreciate each and everyone of you.

Liz 🙂

I’m back! And while I’m off editing all the photos I took at VIVA and working on my posts I thought I would fill your eyes with lovely images from my last few weeks on Pinterest.

Enjoy and stay tuned for Viva Post # 1.

Vintage Images on Pinterest

First up while I was gone, Easter happened so here is a cute picture of Doris Day holding an Easter basket with a real bunny in it.

Further Reading: Vintage Easter 1920s-1960s (Archived blog post)

1950s vintage photo of Doris Day holding an easter basket with a bunny in it.

1950s/ 1960s vintage photo: Nothing to see here but cute Easter bonnets and really fantastic coats. I also adore the older girls purse that she is carrying. Such style at such a young age.

1940s Photo: Easter Sunday in Harlem, NY 1942 (Henri Cartier-Bresson). Now that is a hat!

Further Reading: Do you have an Easter Parade Hat?

1940s photo / 1940s Fashion: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Easter Sunday in Harlem, NY 1942 — Source: MoMA

Summer is quickly approaching (or at least in my mind it is) and I’m looking forward to all the cool events I’m attending. One of those is the “Hats & Horseshoes” event at Woodbine Racetrack. To prepare for this years event I’m have been enamoured with the 1930s images of well dressed folks spending their “Day at the Races” and hope to maybe channel their looks for my day.

Below Photo: At the races in Autieul 1938-39. That Hat and Dress…Stunning is the only word I can find right now to describe this image.

Further Reading: Vintage Hat Ideas to Wear to the Horse Races

1930s vintage photo of woman in 1930s dresses and 1930s hats At the races in Autieul 1938-39 — Photo Credit: Regina Relang

Ascot Racecourse, June 1932, Margaret Whigham, later Duchess of Argyll, and friend.

Further Reading: 1930s Fashions As Seen On Everyday People

Well we all know that at Ascot the day is less about the horses and more about the hats on everyone’s heads. Here is an excerpt from the British Newspaper The Sphere,1939 entitled “Madcap Millinery at the 1939 Ascot”. Do you have a favorite hat from the picture here?

1939 Vintage Hats at Ascot -Here is an excerpt from the British Newspaper The Sphere,1939 entitled "Madcap Millinery at the 1939 Ascot" — Source: vintagefashionfairs

At Viva this year a dear friend offered to pay for my hair to get done by a professional hairdresser for one day of the event (you will see the hair in my viva post). So for the last few weeks I have been researching vintage hairstyles on Pinterest for inspiration. Here is some of what I found.

The 1940s hairstyle below is similar to what I normally wear but I still like it (clearly for a reason).

Further Reading: A Vintage Guide to 1940s Hair Accessories

1940s vintage photo of a 1940s hairstyle with hair comb.

Stunning photo of June Haver, Vivian Blaine, and Vera-Ellen. The perfect 1940s hair.

Evelyn Ankers, 1940s hair is really adorable and probably fairly easy to pull off.

What I like seeing in these photos is the frizz on her tips. Makes me feel better knowing that even movie stars did not always have 100% perfect hair.

1940s Hairstyle as seen on Evelyn Ankers

Lastly I figured that if I was really in a pinch I could pick a style from this chart of 1950s stars and their hairstyles.

1950s retro hair chart featuring 1950s movie stars.

I would like to end this post on a cute note and this image from January 1927 of a young visitor and her toy elephant who discovers that the elephant house at London Zoo is closed for their winter holidays, fits the bill perfectly.

1927 vintage image of a child and her toy — Source: Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images

Happy Wednesday!

Further Reading:

Liz

Tag: vintage clothing

Happy New Year! The Vintage Inn’s 2015 Year in Review

My Favorite Vintage Images on Pinterest (April Edition)

Vintage Images on Pinterest