The other day I was reading a post from fellow blogger 'Vicki Archer of French Essence', "Paris and the truth about girlfriends", which in turn led me to Sande Chase's blog, 'A Gift Wrapped Life' and her post on "All the girls are crazy for Paris." These two lovely ladies from different parts of the world who met through blogging, recently met up in Paris and spent a girly week together. I couldn't think of anything more wonderful than spending a week in Paris, but doubly fabulous when spending it with a girlfriend.... just imagine copious amounts of shopping, chatting and coffees, smack, bang!, in the fashion capital of the world.
Both these stylish women spoke about their new Oxfords (brogues) they bought in Paris, when I saw a photo of them on A Gift Wrapped Life, I was really excited, as I'd found a vintage pair at my mothers house last week. If you're a follower of my blog you'll know I've been caring for my mother for the past 3 years helping her with her battle with cancer, sadly my mother passed away early August and I now have the difficult job of sorting out her house.
My mother loved beautiful things and she never threw anything away. Mum had been in our family house for 50 years, so you can imagine, (actually you cant) the amount of things she had accumulated. My mothers house and cupboards were always so tidy but tightly packed, and I'm sure if there was such a thing as a Masters degree in "storage" mum would have passed with honours as when I started to tackle the cupboards it was like an Aladdin's cave....not just a few doilies, or a few handbags or a few clothes, it was MOUNTAINS of everything, it was like a treasure trove to me...tears would run when I found old photos and letters from my dad, laughter when I found pre-war nylon stockings still in their original packaging, and delight when the vintage crocodile handbag I found polished up like a new penny (a very British saying).
Sadly as my own cupboards are filling up I've had to start to sell some items, I've been delighted, however, they've gone to people that love vintage. One such example was my mothers 1940's faux ocelot swing coat. I advertised this on Trade Me (NZ equivalent to Ebay) and was thrilled when the girl that bought it turned out to be young, tall and elegant, and when she put on the coat she looked a million dollars. She absolutely loved the coat and although the tears flowed (from myself) as she walked away in it, I knew that it would be truly treasured and mum would be pleased it was going to someone who would clearly wear it as much as she did.
Today I am sharing a few of the lovely things I've discovered, including the pair of oxfords/brogues that I'll definitely be keeping, especially as they are this Fall's fashion 'must have'.
Mum's old Alligator handbag and polished up Oxfords. The oxfords mum had for over 40 years, they have beautiful leather soles and are hardly worn. Don't you just love the old shoe horns inside, these should keep my shoes in beautiful shape until Autumn (Fall), it's the beginning of Spring here in New Zealand.
Embroidery anglaise vintage gloves, made in Paris and bought in Morleys in London, still in their original packaging. I found many more pairs of gloves including some gorgeous black leather ones with little buttons on the underneath...oh! and a pair of gold lurex evening gloves too.
Gorgeous lace edged handkerchiefs, these are just 3 of dozens I discovered. The one on the left is very old and has a piece of hand made Honiton lace in the corner. Honiton in England is famous for its exquisite lace.
If your trying to envisage the woman behind these lovely things, you can see a photo in a previous post taken in her 30's, I might be biased but I think my mother looked like a movie star....oh and I'm not sure that I mentioned she was actually in the recent re-make of King Kong, and when I was looking through her things the other day I found a letter from the wardrobe department describing what she had to wear even down to dark green lingerie. Needless to say, any work my mother did as an extra she usually had the right clothes to wear. One such audition she went to she wore her faux Ocelot coat and as she went to remove it, they almost shouted at her "No" that is absolutely perfect". The audition was for an advert where she had to be driving a Cadillac with a yellow canary on her shoulder, I still laugh about this story today. I could probably write a book about my mother and maybe one day I will...
There are far too many wonderful discoveries to photograph, I hope you enjoyed a few of my finds...Oh and if you love vintage, linens and lace you may enjoy my collection on Pinterest.
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