Arachnia,Vampire Queen of Spiders

My God this year has crept up on me and gone by in a flash.I can't believe we're in November already!

As such,we had planned a Halloween Funday Monday at work a month in advance.However that month absolutely flew in,so I was left with a very last minute costume.

Unfortunately Halloween turned out to be a total let down for me this year.We Aussies just don't do it like the Scots.I was very pleasantly surprised in my first year living there at just how huge Halloween is over there.The whole kit and kaboodle - trick or treating and the efforts put in to dressing up.Although lately,yes it all seems to be slutty this and slutty that.Nothing wrong with a bit of sexiness,but a slutty bumblebee?!?!?!  C'moooooon! Where's the imagination? 

Then my lovingly planned Halloween Monday celebrations were thwarted by an (extremely) last minute fire evacuation training.Cue lots of stress for the fill in Team Leader and staff,most of whom don't share my Halloween enthusiasm and love all things macabre.

And on the actual 31st I had nothing planned as I was working the next 2 days.Le sigh.First world problems,blah blah blah.........

Anyways,here is my very last minute and not very imaginative costume made with what I had on hand.......oh,and I totally rocked up to training like this,even though I was the only one dressed for Halloween in the room............................

**** Picture Heavy because I'm a vain beeatch and just discovered some awesome filters in the editor.

Arachnia,Vampire Spider Queen....it was all I could think of at the time.

Trying to do Bela Lugosi Dracula eyes.Failing.

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And yes,I own not one but TWO Bela Lugosi 'Dracula' necklaces

OUTFIT DETAILS

Dress - New Look  (Old,Glasgow)

Belt - Old (???????????)

Shoes - Big W (current)

Bela Lugosi Necklace - Etsy

Hair Flower - Ebay

Hat/Veil hairband thing - Hot Dollar Halloween section

Skull - Crystal Skull Vodka bottle

Halloween Weekly Dose Catch Up

I've missed a few Halloween Daily Doses so here's what I've been posting on Facebook..................

This was supposed to be a 'horror' film back in 1936,but now it's just fcuking hilarious.

Not a conventional Halloween horror,but a horror nonetheless.Ms Davis is one bad beeatch!!!!

No CGI shit here,just make up and a changing camera filter.And now Senor Lugosi.................

I never drink................wine........................

THE sexiest entrance in cinema history...................

Halloween Week Dose #3

Well my much anticipated Halloween Funday Monday at work was a bit of a let down today and dammit I looked freaking fantastic! (Blog post to come.) I was in training most of the day and missed the creepsville shenanigans I had spent weeks planning.My service users had loads of fun though,which is the main thing I suppose. Nevertheless I still had to go home and cheer myself up with a bit of Bela................

Oh and might I add I got to put out a real fire today,evacuated my entire workplace with my fellow team leader,and should you stop breathing and require CPR I shall be able to save your life.You can just call me She Ra,Princess of Power thank you very much ;P 

Aussie Curves RETRO

I've been admiring the Aussie Curves posts from afar for a loooooonnnnng time now.It's partly what convinced me to start blogging again.When  I saw the 'Retro' challenge come up I knew that would be the post to start with.Hence these photos were taken a couple of weeks ago,before my transition to my Mermaid-Ariel hair.

So retro.Le sigh.If I could wear dresses and skirts like these every single day,I would! I was uber excited when I got a promotion at work,partly because I would have 1 office day where I could glam up.Turns out one office day is enough for me.I get restless sitting behind a desk and computer all day.

Anyways,I've posted before about my love of vintage.A childhood with several gay Uncles and a musical loving Mama Frangipani started my retro lust early on.My little home is filled with vintage posters,portaits of Marilyn Monroe,Marlene Dietriech,Ava Gardner and I worship at the alter of Ms Bette Davis.Oh,and I would give up my husband for the diviiiiiine Monsieur Bela Lugosi.Swooooon! *jokingnotjoking........of course I'm joking........maybe.................

Mr Bela Lugosi

I even managed to find a vintage - repro handfasting dress that was a cross between Jane Russell-Marilyn Monroe's wedding dress in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Grace Kelly's divine number in Rear Window.Complete with a gorgeously kitsch little hair piece.But I will blog about my handfasting another time.In the meantime,here's a couple of photos for those that are curious.............

Oooh,my Scotsman looks diviiiiiinnnnnneeeee!

Off duty,my style is eclectic,ultra femme-ultra-colourful............but I would dress in vintage all the time if I had the budget.Le sigh.Unfortunately,vintage clothing in big sizes is very slim pickings and vintage repro dress prices mean they are a treat,but my collection is building slowly.As for this dress,this is the very first Collectif dress I bought for the size I am now (but that's a different post altogether!),and dammit I wish I'd bought it sooner!

The fabric is a really good quality cotton,so it 'breathe's in our hot Sydney weather,or transitions to winter wear with a cardigan,tights and a petticoat.The cut is just gorgeous and make my knockers look ultra fantabulous.And the print..........oooohhhhh,the print! Collectif designs have the most gorgeous prints - I have a few in frangipani,yellow hibiscus,owl,geisha,leopard (of course),teapots,Eiffel tower and poodle! The colours are super bright and lush,it's withstood about 2 years worth of washing and still hasn't faded.....although I do always dry my stuff inside out.(We dry our stuff in the sun,on the balcony)

Unfortunately this dress is out of print but you can find many more gorgeous prints at collectif.co.uk This was a size smaller than I would usually take,so there is some give in the fabric (I'm a 22-24).I can even scandalously squeeze my bosoms into a size 20,as seen in this post.

**** There are photos following of me twirling joyfully in this dress with my fat,cellulite ridden thighs in all their glory.If you are going to body snark,please leave now.My fat and cellulite does not bother me,so it should not bother you.It's took  me a looooong time to get this confident.And for the record,I've had my 6 monthly check up at the Doctor and have a clean bill of health.All my stats are on the very healthy end of the spectrum.Size is no indication of health.

My best Betty Grable impression.

                                            

OUTFIT DETAILS

Dress - Collectif (old)

Petticoat - Vivien of Holloway  (currently available - was my handfasting petticoat)

Shoes - Primark (Old - Glasgow)

Belt - ???

OOTD #8 - Pink Leopards in the Shire/Fat chicks can wear leopard print #2

The husband-man and I hit up DFO factory store outlet last Wednesday in search of some nice Ralph Lauren shirts for him,as I'm always the one spending money shopping for clothes.

Unfortunately as he's such a fusspot we didn't find anything to the Scotsman's liking,but I did happen upon some garishly bright fuschia leopard print Converse for the bargain price of only $50!!!! 

They are uber kitsch and uber trashy and uber bright and I love them! And they just happened to go perfectly with an equally garish pink and orange leopard print skirt I had in my cupboard.

And yes,my fellow splendiforous curvaceous babes,fat chicks can wear leopard print! Fat chicks can wear garish hot pink leopard print!!!! Fat chicks can wear whatever the feck they want!!!!!!

This is what I wore to my Saturday shift,which is basically a social outing group for my service users.So I still need to be comfy,but can also glam up a little bit more than during the week.My trusty skirt-leggings-hair flower combo is a winner for work.

The shirt is a thrifted oversized Supre top.It's soooo comfy for these unusually hot Spring days Sydney's been having.Hair wasn't co-operating again.Really don't know what I'm going to do with it.Scraping it into a bun is becoming so damn boring........

My splendid arse clad in garish leopard print.

OUTFIT DETAILS

TOP - Thrifted $4 (Supre)

SKIRT - New Look (Glasgow - old)

LEGGINGS - Big W

CONVERSE - DFO Converse Outlet Shop (current $50)

HAIR FLOWER - Diva? (DFO factory outlet)

LIPS - Rimmel Funtime Fuschia overlayed with a light pink Napoleon gloss

Sydney Life #1 - Sydney Vintage Fair

Me and vintage go wayyyyyyy back.Back before op-shopping was cool and vintage was everywhere.Back before all the shops in Newtown raised their prices ridiculously and everyone was into sustainable fashion.


Mama Frangipani is an avid lover of all the old classic films and film stars.Papa Barchen's all time favourite actor is James Dean and his fave movie Rebel Without a Cause.I grew up with several very camp,gay Uncles who would lend Mama F 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane' , 'Victor Victoria', 'The King & I', 'West Side Story' (Mama's 2 favourite films) and we would watch them on the weekends curled up on the sofa.Oh and on video of course as it was the 80's.I had the hugest crush on Ms Marilyn Monroe (and She Ra and her purple friend.) Mama and I watched a telemovie of Marilyn's life and I think seeing her tragic story and vulnerability made me fall in love with her there and then.Even at such a young age I was a sucker for a tragic love story (The original Little Mermaid was my my favourite fairy tale growing up) and till this day I remember vividly the scene of her all alone with her pills,just wanting to be loved.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

Anyways,in happier subjects I fell in love with not only the beautiful women,but the gorgeous dresses, make up and shoes of that era too.In fact I managed to find a vintage reproduction Handfasting dress that was a cross between Marilyn's/Jane Russells 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' wedding dress and Grace Kelly's 'Rear Window' dress,but that's a post for another time.

Les Miserables,Phantom of the Opera and other musicals would blast from our cassette player while Mama cooked on the weekends.Thinking about it now,there were concepts that were probably too advanced for a child.I remember my Mama trying to explain to me what a whore was when I 'Lovely Ladies' came on one time.

I was obsessed with Les Mis and Phantom and devoured them in all forms when I was a kid - the musicals,all the different film versions and the children's versions of the books till I grew old enough to read the actual novels myself.

When I started earning my own $$$ in high school,weekends off were spent trawling through Newtown's King St,Glebe Markets and an old favourite,Mister Stinky's although it seems to have become more of a costume hire shop now as opposed to the treasure trove of awesome vintage-second hand clothes it used to be.

All in all I was a camp,female loving,vintage adoring,semi goth weirdo bookworm as a kid.And that's pretty much continued all my life. (Side note:I thought Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers were married when I was young - like 7 or 8 years old.I was absolutely devastated when I found out they weren't)

Although,I only recently really started indulging in dressing how I wanted as vintage is very few and far between in fat sizes and only the last few years or so have the vintage reproduction companies cottoned on to the fact that we fat chicks not only LOVE vintage stylings but they are very flattering to our figures.Although at $90 upwards a pop,my wardrobe has to accommodate for modern fashion too :( LE sigh.

Anyways,I've digressed a whole heap.The point is anything retro - vintage and I'm there.So when the Princess texted me to say there was a Vintage Fair on at Redfern,we were there! 

We went on the last day,which was a Sunday.Unfortunately I went home empty handed,possibly because all the good stuff was gone already,or because vintage plus size is very slim pickings.Oh and everything I did like was wayyyyyyy outta my budget ($200 necklace anyone?) The Princess did pick up an awesome vintage PINK trunk.Collecting vintage trunks is her 'thing' and she even hauled a few over from her 3 year stint of living in the UK.Oh,and the pink trunk features in this post.

I still had an awesome time browsing the stalls,watching the fashion shows,lusting over the cars and dresses,people watching and virtual shopping all the things that were out of my budget/size range.

The lovely Nora of  Nora Finds

I didn't remember the names of everyone else,except Emma as I know her from her blog.If anyone knows who these lovely ladies and gents are please let me know so I can link back to them,if they have blogs/websites/businesses.

I fell in love with this lovely lady and her lovelier frock.

The gorgeous Emma from Emma Aime

So damn kitsch! I heartbreakingly had to leave them behind.

Humphrey B. Bear.Aussie childhood memories.

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This would make a beautiful wedding dress for someone.