We interrupt this programme......

......to bring you a report from the marvellously coiffed and uncomfortably-clad 1950s.

Like a lot of people I 'heart' the fifties - however although I would have loved to have visited, I wouldn't have wanted to live there. I've long been a fan of fifties design, from the tasteful textiles of Lucienne Day to the more lurid pin-up girl style which seems so much a la mode at the moment. 

Da na!  Breathe in...

 

On Saturday I went to a fabulous vintage-style birthday party - suffice to say I will never drink champagne out of anything but exquisite bone china cups and saucers again.  Apart from the beautiful food and the usual raucous laughter you usually get when a lot of girls get together, the highlight was having our hair and makeup done.  It looked great, but it wasn't half a lot of hard work, even just sitting there and having it done was exhausting - how the ladies of the time managed to keep it up I just don't know. 

The view I never got to see

These came out of my hair - all 28 of them!

 

Already starting to fall apart at the seams

And then there's the clothes and shoes.  I'm lucky enough to own a Vivienne of Holloway dress which my friend Andy won in a raffle at the Wet Spot Burlesque night in Leeds (where, incidentally, we have seen the superlatively gorgeous Anna Fur Laxis on several occasions - just dropping that in there) - I always knew it was a good move to have male friends....anywayyyy.....it's a lovely thing, and it does wonders for the figure, but it's not what you'd call comfortable, and that's without a girdle underneath.  I was crippled, aching all over and thought my poor old modern-day knees and feet would never recover. 

It got me thinking about how the shoes, clothes hair and make-up make you act and carry yourself, and whether women in those times looked as good as we imagine they did. I bet they would have killed for our conditioner, hairspray and mineral foundation, not to mention a pair of trackie bottoms and some trainers.  But I suppose there's nothing wrong with upping the standards a bit occasionally. Just having lippie on makes me speak a bit differently don't you know.

To continue the fifties theme, here are the covers of some great Sexton Blake publications I found in a second hand bookshop in Otley today.  I only went to find war and transport books for the medium pickle but there was a whole suitcase of these beauties.  Of course I instantly went for the double-entendres but it was a difficult choice. 

 

Catch ya later, daddy-o xxxxx