Yesterday I attended one of my darling friend Zoe’s shoe workshops.

She is founder of fabulous brand ‘Love From Hetty & Dave‘, one of my favourite shops a few doors down from ours in Pokesdown.

Sunday was all about learning to customise a pair of ordinary, boring shoes into a cheeky animal leather delight to adorn your toes – Hetty & Dave style.

Having absolutely zero sewing skills I was a little anxious that I would be miles behind the rest of the lovely ladies that attended, but Zoe’s a great teacher and I soon got to grips with threading needles, cutting up templates and stitching away to revamp some old black suede Primark high heels.

The plan? To add a cheeky cat ….

With plenty of tea and a rather impressive homemade cake (Zoe is quite the baker) and the cats started to take shape….  ta daaaa!

Here’s all the shoes made on the day, including a lovely journalist from Mollie Makes magazine who was reporting on the workshop

These are my finished cat heels. I love them!

It’s also a nice feeling to look down and know you hand stitched your own shoes! I have such admiration for Zoe and how skilled she is!

Visit her website http://lovefromhettyanddave.co.uk/ for information on future workshops, or buy yourself a pair of animal shoes from Zoe’s collection on the Hetty & Dave online shop

xxx

Hi Lovelies – we are soooo excited – we have been shortlisted in The National Vintage Awards for best shop in The South West!

PLEASE could you vote for us?

It takes less than five seconds…. we’ll love you FOREVER!

xxxx

Go to http://thenationalvintageawards.co.uk/vote-here/best-regional-fashion-shop/ click What Alice Found and enter an email address at the bottom. Don’t worry, if you dont tick the box saying ‘we’d like to receive newsletters…etc’ your email wont be used at all.

Thank you very very much!

Here’s a quick look at the window display we have had in April, before it changes tomorrow! We went for a bit of 1950′s inspired domestic bliss….

This included a 50′s fold down table, 60′s tv, 1922 singer sewing machine, 50′s rolls of wallpaper, vintage hairdryer and 1920′s tiki cabinet.

xxxx

This month, with new intern Verity on board – we set about relaunching our ASOS marketplace boutique under our shop name, as opposed to the old ‘Cherry Closet’ label. We decided this was the perfect excuse for a big photo shoot look book opportunity!

We approached local historical venue Shelley Manor Theatre in Boscombe – currently undergoing renovation and not open to the public, and were delighted to be granted permission to be the first ever people to do a photo shoot there!

The Theatre

Sir Percy Florence Shelley bought the property of Boscombe Manor for his mother Mary Shelley – author of the gothic horror novel Frankenstein – shortly before her untimely death in 1851. Sir Percy, a keen thespian and playwright, soon added the theatre to the west end of the house. Many notable poets and authors regularly visited the manor including Robert Louis Stevenson!

This stunning venue was a perfect backdrop to our photos, and we can’t wait to see the theatre come back to life in future.

The Team

We had a superb team on board – with Nicki and Verity styling, Rosie Niblock, Olivia Huntingford, Emily Taylor modelling to perfection (despite the f-f-freezing weather!) Our photographer was Nicola Smith and hair and make up was provided by the awesome Chanelle Harrald. On hand was Joseph Kent capturing the days movements on video for us, and Solent student Hannah Newman snapping ‘fly on the wall’ shots for a magazine she is producing about the boutique.

The Brief

We wanted to show our vintage collection is fun, feminine, quirky, eccentric – as well as playing up our Alice in Wonderland styling. The models adopted our own unique vintage interpretation of Alice characters – including; Alice, The Queen of Hearts, Tweedledm & Tweedledee, The Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit.

The Results

Here are a small selection of the final edits, with plenty more still undergoing the editing process.

Watch the video

Shop ASOS now!

If you are not local to our Bournemouth based boutique you can order online at ASOS Marketplace – like us on Facebook and twitter to find out when we are offering flash sales and discounts on our vintage.

Recently I was visited at my retro home by More magazine photographers for a colourful two page spread – called ‘Anatomy of a room’.

They snapped pics of my vintage and eclectic items to share how I style my home, which was lots of fun and made me realise my taste in homeware is as bonkers as my vintage sourcing!

xxx Nicki xxx

Spring has arrived (well today at least! was sunny and fresh) and couldn’t be more welcome after the never ending grey dull weather.

Our current window display embraces this new season, with handmade flowers from our in store prop stylist Kelly-Marie, cleverly designed with our vintage hats at the centre!

You’ll also spot some vintage bunnies, our signature flamingos and two lovely vintage frocks inspired by Mothers Day this weekend.

In What Alice Found you’ll find vintage spring fashions emerging – including;

* Pastel shades
* Sun hats
* Floral accessories
* Pleated skirts

much love xxx

The 1920′s are set to be HUGE in the fashion and styling world this spring/Summer – with the much anticipated movie ‘The Great Gatsby‘ from director Baz Luhrmann being released in May, we are getting more requests for 1920′s styling and attire at the shop.

In store we have created a delightful collection dedicated to the roaring twenties, bursting with pearls, drop waist dresses, silk, art deco homeware and lingerie.

“A fashionable flapper had short sleek hair, a shorter than average shapeless shift dress, a chest as flat as a board, wore make up and applied it in public, smoked with a long cigarette holder, exposed her limbs and epitomised the spirit of a reckless rebel who danced the nights away in the Jazz Age….”

~ fashionera.com

Alice Tips on getting that 1920′s look …

* If you don’t want a short flapper length hem look for dresses with uneven, scalloped and handkerchief hemlines in floating fabrics – or tassles!

* The 1920′s silhouette was all about simple, clean straight lines with less emphasis on womanly curves. Dresses were looser fitting, chests flatter and the overall effect was  a more masculine shape

* Women wore cloche hats pulled well over the eyes

* As an alternative to a hat – don a jewelled headband, beaded chain across the forehead or feathered / beaded tassled headress

* Accessories include: Beaded, small hand held handbags, strings of pearls or glass beads, gloves, art deco hair grips, feather boas, fur capes and brooches

* Coats often had fur shawl collars

* T-Bar shoes with low heels are key – The Mary Jane ankle strap button shoe was the style of the twenties

xxxx

It’s that romantic time again!

Well – we think romance and love should be celebrated all year round – but hey, February seems a good a month as any to celebrate all things of the heart!

Our vintage valentines window was inspired by the delightful backstage scene of a ballet dressing room.

Filled with silk slips, tutu petticoats and pearls.

The French styled dresser and mirror is part of a full bedroom set for sale – please call us for details!

This past week in Wonderland has been full of pretty little animals and insects!

Customers have been going crazy for our ever growing selection of china and collectable ornaments,

a delightful mix of quirky, cute and kitsch.

From butterflies to bunny rabbits, we will post these lovelies on our Facebook page regularly -

and we can post out and take payment via paypal if you dont live near the store.

xxx

One of the most fun parts of owning a Georgian built vintage boutique in Bournemouth’s vintage quarter is window display dressing. Christmas time is when creative folk on our street show their artistic flair and personal shop style with windows full of vintage, antiques, handmade and designer goodies.

You may have seen in a previous blog post and on our Facebook page that a few weeks back I attended a Vintage Christmas styling workshop by the very stylish Pearl Lowe and her creative director, Abbey.

I came away from the day with a head full of ideas for our Alice Christmas window, having learnt tips from Pearl, Abbey and the many creative experts that attended the day.

Inspired by Pearls signature styling of chic and sexy black lace, upcycling vintage items with fabric and minimalist event design – this is what we came up with for Christmas 2012!

Our colour palettes consisted of hot pink, black, silver and gold. The main show-stopper frock by Frank Usher has a sequinned bodice and velvet bows, and layers of fun polka dot netted skirting.

We filled clear baubles with torn out pages from a damaged ‘Alice In Wonderland’ book and hung records and vintage bow ties on our tree.

We wrapped presents in vintage music sheets, tied up with black lace ribbon and adorned with white roses and pink decorative flowers.

We filled an old vintage frame with black lace and dipped glass bottles in gold paint for effective and festive styling.

Vintage glass jars and bottles were filled with pearls and tea lights, completed with black lace bows and an oversized vintage button.

Let the Christmas vintage fun begin!

xxx