A background

Recently while browsing in a charity shop for a fancy dress party, I picked up a book entitiled 'Elegance'
The book, by Kathleen Tessaro, follows a characters search for grace.

The story reference an actual book publised years ago by Madame Antoine Dariaux and I haven't put it down.
Elegance is something that has slowly seeped into my life over the years. Or at least my quest for it.

I wasn't a child that played with make up as my mum didn't wear any. She has always been a naturally beauitful lady.
Although my mum's style was more perms and shoulder pads when she was younger. When she got older she became the appitamy of under stated chicness.
I remember loving seeing her get ready for a rare night out. She would wear beautiful  sleek black dresses and ALWAYS a spray of perfume.
She has worn the same perfume all my life. Yardleys Chique. It will always be the smell of her to me.
Always smell beautiful was my first ever tip towards elegance.

The next time I discovered a love of all things beautiful was Frank Sinatra and his music. His voice was like silk to me , a 9 year old in the 90's meant that Frank Sinatra's music was completly ground breaking. It also enabled me to discover the 50's.

As I got older I became the only teenager I know abssessed with Audrey Hepburn, Nat King Cole and Gene Kelly.
Apart from my best friend Jess. Luckily for me shared my obsession. The day I heard her mention Maraliyn Monroe I knew we'd be friends for life.
We had ideas of one day becoming glamourous woman who had coffee in cafes, had our hair done, wore gloves and danced in beautiful shoes.

Now that we are older my love has escallated into obsession and we do have coffee in cafes, have our hair done and dance in beautiful shoes but we still chat about all things old hollywood while we do it. Nothing changes. (I still haven't found a good leather pair of driving gloves)

So why do I love those old hollywood stars. Why do the woman say nothing but beautiful to me. I love the way their hair frames their faces, the sexy curve of their hips and how every item of clothing makes them a lady.

I come from a very male orintated job as an animator and over the years I forget the joys of being a lady. Since moving to London I have had the chance to flurish. I can wear what I like, heels, high waisted skirts, red lipstick.
I finally feel i've found my nieche. I never fitted with girls in magazines and the trends never suited me but with 40's and 50's clothes I feel I finally have a style. When I use to be upset when I was younger because I felt ugly and like I didn't look right in clothes my mum was forever telling me that i'd find what suited me and finally it all fell into place.

Clothes and my challenge to be seen as graceful doesn't mean I'm high matinence (i'll still run around in a muddy firls and spend days in my pj's.) Discovering my love of the 40's and 50's means I can just feel confident in myself.

I'm no wear near as eleant or chic as I hope to be but with my book already being read for the 2nd time in two weeks i'm on the right track.

Quote of the Week

" A woman's dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view" Sophia Loren

Read This Book

Read This! That is all.

Grease is the word

This Saturday was one of a kind and one I have been looking forward to for far to long.

My girls and I got our retro glad rags on and headed to an unlikely location. A field in west London.

We were on our way to Future Cinema’s Grease night.

Previously I have been lucky enough to attend a future cinema event (In fact I went to the Bugsy Malone night twice!) and this one was nothing less than expected.

My friends and I were in ‘Grease’ for GCSE drama so since then it hasn’t been on my radar but since I got to wear a prom dress, put on red lip stick and dance to ‘Chuck Berry’ I was in.

When we turned up we were overwhelmed by the amount of people. We arrived slightly late and were scared we’d miss some of the fun but it was still in full swing when we arrived. We were greeted by friendly ladies who asked us if this was our first year at Rydell. Unfortunately my American accent is as about as convincing as Dick Van Dykes English accent so I couldn’t play along but it didn’t stop us from giggling the entire night.

I was a little bit upset to see that we had to pay for so many things when we got into the event. We had debated the price hike up from the Bugsy event but since it was Grease we couldn’t say no but it was disappointing to see how much extras were called for. Rides were £3 each. Candy floss £3 , hot dogs £6 and a cocktail in a small cup was £8 (in fairness they did put candy floss in my cocktail so I was quite happy) but I was upset we couldn’t buy more.

This didn’t dampen our night too much. We were jiving the night away before the movie even started with too many photo ops to keep up with. For a girl who’s personality is mainly instagram it was almost mind bending to see so many pretty things at once.

We were so busy entertaining ourselves that we missed most of the acting and dance sequences but believe me we still enjoyed ourselves. When the film finally did start we ran to our seats. Despite being as far back as the crowd went (which note for future shows- more dancing room!) We heard every word and had a great view.

The atmosphere was electric. It really was. Every line was echoed by the audience, ever song sung at the top of everyone’s lungs and when ‘Grease lightning’ started people got on their feet and danced like no one was watching.

I think my favourite thing about Future Cinema is the atmosphere. You are all there in costume and you always know what you are going to see. You are playing a character before you even arrive. I know that Future Cinemas is run by the same company that does Secret Cinema. I have a ticket (an extremely over priced ticket that I’m regretting even with the success of Grease…but that’s another story for another time) but I wonder if the atmosphere with rival Future Cinemas ones as no ones knows what they are in for. I imagine you get a mixed response. I’m also hoping that they still have a dance after the films finish as the dancing after Grease and Bugsy have been some of my favourite nights out. They know good music.

We danced into the wee hours and didn’t want to go home. Before we left we stopped into Frenchie’s house which had been build especially for the occasion. My friend had a make over which was stunningly done by the lovely ladies at www.Rockabettystudios.com. I would recommend them for any future event. We had our photos taken in Frenchie’s room and were amazingly not charged for them but just given a Facebook page to visit which was a great touch for the night that cost me a small fortune.

I made memories I will cherish for a life time and I would recommend any one who enjoys dancing around like a extra in footloose to get their sweet patooties to the next event.

Like I mentioned it is a shame that the prices are being put up and up each time but I’m hoping that the price of the next event means we wont be paying for so much on the night, but we will wait and see.

Conclusion: Grease really is the word.