Retro Chick is taking a well earned break, but to keep you entertained today’s post comes from Wake Up Little Susie. Susie is a vintage seller, and this post about her style evolution is particularly interesting as she comes to “vintage” from the Rock ‘n’ Roll scene of the 1980s and has a slightly different take on it than those of us who were teenagers in the 90s, or are coming to “vintage” as teenagers now.

With my distinct 1950s look I’ve become a familiar face in Norwich over the years, at Rock ‘n’ Roll gigs, vintage fairs, on the number 16 bus or just going about my daily business! I’m recognised every where I go – a charity collector in a shop the other day greeted me with ‘Oh, you’re that vintage lady!’ and I was recently stopped by someone who said ‘I often see you on the bus and just wanted to say I think you look lovely!’ – but, has anyone ever wondered why I look this way, and how I got interested in 1950s style?

Susie & Simon 2012

My love for all things vintage stems from my life-long love for Rock ‘n’ Roll music. Difficult to pin-point exactly where it came from – partly my parent’s record collection, partly the pop culture that was around when I was a kid in the ‘70s with the likes of ‘Happy Days’ and ‘Grease’ on our TV and movie screens and Rock ‘n’ Roll in the charts in the form of Showaddywaddy and The Darts, and as a teenager in the ‘80s when Shakin’ Stevens made it big. Whatever, I just innately felt that this was the music and period for me!

With my increasing love for Rock ‘n’ Roll came the seemingly natural desire to dress accordingly and I would go crazy trying to get Rock ‘n’ Roll outfits. Luckily there was that retro ‘50s thing going on in the ‘80s with lots of lovely pastels and bright colours. A polka dot full skirt was easy to obtain, and whilst still at primary school I remember finding net petticoats in British Home Stores. Never a confident child or outgoing teenager, I still had that inner desire to ‘look different’ and make a point of doing my own style thing. As I got older into the ‘80s, I would see the older Rockabilly girls in Norwich, with their turned up jeans and big curly quiffs, and immediately knew that I wanted to be like them! I would improvise best I could, turning up my jeans and matching the colour of a sweater with the ribbon in my ponytail.

Susie and her brother in the mid 80s

Through music magazines I discovered the reproduction clothing companies Ted’s Corner and Daddy-O, a big break through in the evolution of my style. I wore my red Ted’s Corner circle skirt to death and to this day still wear the white net petticoat I ordered from them at the age of 14! Daddy-O reproduced the more American styles with pedal pushers, stripy blouses and Jane Russell gypsy tops which all found their way into my early teenage wardrobe! My first major vintage find was a beautiful blue St Michael’s skirt with white buttons, from a boot sale at Wells which kicked off my exploration of old clothes shops in Norwich – (we just called it ‘original’ clothing then, the term ‘vintage’ wasn’t used as widely as it is now). Of course in the mid ‘80s it was much easier to pick up ‘50s clothes in charity shops, and I still have a good collection of colourful print dresses picked up in those days for less than a fiver.

Susie red circle skirt, mid '80s

The biggest event in my Rock ‘n’ Roll history came with my first rockin’ gig at C.C.’s Nightspot in Norwich in February 1988! I had pestered Robbie, son of my parents friends who I’d heard was into Rock ‘n’ Roll, until he decided it was time to introduce me to the exciting world of the Norwich Rock ‘n’ Roll scene at the age of 16 and offered me a lift – needless to say I jumped at the chance and haven’t looked back since! This opened me up to types of music I was unfamiliar with and I was soon delving into the Rockabilly section in Andy’s Records, and buying repro 45s in the City’s second hand record shops featuring all the latest boppers, jivers and strollers! Dancing was instantly high on my list of things to learn to do, and all the girls already into the ‘50s look on the Rock ‘n’ Roll scene became a huge influence.

In the ‘80s the thing was to be as authentic as possible, very little repro clothing was worn then, and I would marvel at the hair set in ‘poodle’ styles, the glamorous make-up and fantastic clothes. Pretty soon Sandra, to become one of my life-long best mates, took me under her wing, passed on some original dresses and bags to me (yippee!), I plucked up the courage to ask what kind of eye-liner they all wore (liquid!) and soon I was setting my hair with plastic rollers and setting lotion, to varying degrees of success.

Skegness 1994

The first Hemsby Rock ‘n’ Roll weekender came at the right time for me at 17, in October 1988, and weekenders led to a whole new adventure in hearing new music, record collecting and outfit planning! Friday night would mean my second best dress at that time, something light and comfy to dance in as you’d be itching to get out on the floor on the first night of a weekender! Saturday was the day so best smart/casual was called for, usually my nicest pair of fitted slacks with a ‘50s top. Saturday night was the big night, definitely spending time in the chalet with a head full of rollers before donning my absolute best evening dress and accessories. By Sunday, a little jaded (too much dancing and alcohol, not enough food and sleep) a more casual look could creep in, with my Daddy-O side zip jeans, but by Sunday night it would be on with a skirt, again for maximum ease of dancing.

My main criteria to this day for deciding whether or not to buy a dress is ‘can I dance in it?’ I’ve grown up with the Hemsby weekenders, meeting my husband to be there in May 1991, finding that special someone to share my life and interests with being the number one great thing about my love for the ‘50s!

Susie Hemsby 1995

You would think that in a scene relating to a specific period of time, fashions would remain fairly static but trends still come and go, sometimes influenced (whether consciously or otherwise) by general trends. The ‘must look ‘50s’ attitude of the ‘80s rockabilly scene changed into a more casual thing in the ‘90s with girls wearing jeans, T-shirts, leather trousers and motorcycle boots and the set hairstyles giving way to straight hair and ‘Betty Page’ fringes. This look was never ‘me’ and I carried on with my ‘50s print dresses and curls, by then wearing what I liked and felt good in without a thought for trends or making a point – I had found ‘my style’!

I’ve also more recently adjusted to a whole new wave of vintage fans that haven’t come up through the Rock ‘n’ Roll scene, originally finding that hard to understand but now finding a completely new and cool wavelength with them! The current vintage ladies go for a more stylised look, influenced by pin-up and burlesque styles and look fantastic but I’m happy with my more relaxed natural look (I can’t get my hair to stay that tidy anyway!) and I guess I’ve got it right as I’ve been told many times (at home & in the States) that I remind people of how their Mum looked in the ‘50s! We’re now in a new and exciting time to be vintage fans so I’m enjoying being ‘me’ more than ever!

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Retro Chick is taking a well earned break, but to keep you entertained today’s post comes from Lili La Scala, singer of vintage songs, collector of vintage clothes, lover of shoes, cat lady, pin up girl, burlesquer and comedy WAG. You can catch Lili in Norwich next week at the Spiegeltent.

Musica-Lili speaking!

My fascination with vintage songs began when I was very small. Growing up, I spent an awful lot of time with my Great-Aunt who told me stories of WW2 and first introduced me to the wonderful songs that she’d learnt all those years before. Since then, my collection has steadily grown, although in the last few years it has begun to sky rocket.

People who have seen me sing and have heard about my hoarding habits have started to send me their old piles of vintage music. Music that they have found in a deceased relative’s house, or that was left to them, or that they have bought and framed to hang on the wall. My collection currently takes over a cupboard, a 3 drawer filing cabinet, half my office floor (temporarily, I have assured my long suffering husband!) and I have music from the late Victorian era all the way through to the late 50’s . Each day a new brown paper package arrives, like the song says, tied up with strings, and I have to tell my husband that it has been there weeks! Piles of music are gradually making their way towards the front door.

I thought I would share some of my favourite pieces with you.

I adore songs from WW2, these covers tickle me especially.

A coronation album from 1937

A song from 1913, what a fabulous dress.

Just one small selection of my collection.

Of course, there are some pieces that I would love to find but have yet to lay my hands on, I’m desperately looking for ‘The Deepest Shelter in Town’, a rather naughty song from WW2. You never know, it might just be in the next pile to arrive. Until then, I’ll just keep searching.

All the content in this post belongs to Retro Chick. If you are seeing this post and it is not in your Feed Reader, then it has probably been stolen by some unscrupulous person.

If you would like to repost my content, please contact me via my website and I'll be happy to dicuss it, really!

Retro Chick is taking a well earned break, but to keep you entertained today’s post comes from Simon Pritchard, an artist specialising in art based on Rock ‘n’ Roll music and pop culture. View his work at Art Beat 64.

For anyone brought up on the British gothic horror films from the Hammer studios in the 1950s and ‘60s or like myself as a kid during TV screenings in the late ‘70s, the first thing that usually springs to mind is Peter Cushing pitting wits against Christopher Lee’s Dracula, staking the odd vampire femme fatale along the way. Breasts and blood were the order of the day to the casual thrill seeker but for the more style inclined viewer Hammer was much more than it’s gore.

The costuming of Hammer from the late 1950s through to it’s demise in the mid ‘70s was second to none often contradicting the studio’s low budgets and appearing more lavish and expensive than they actually were.

This blog’s focus is on Hammers early gothic period from the late ‘50s through the late ‘60s, it’s first wave of greatness.

From the studios first bona fide breakthrough film ‘The Curse Of Frankenstein’ in 1957 the costuming and hair styling of its players often melded together the European Victorian gothic of its settings with contemporary styling of the era in which they were made. Costume designer Molly Arbuthnot designed and ran wardrobe on many Hammer gothic and I believe her styling consciously or unconsciously incorporated elements of late 18th and early 19th century, Victorian opulence and the modern ‘New Look’ of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Peter Cushing and Hazel Court in Curse Of Frankenstein 1957

hazel court in 'the curse of frankenstein' 1957

Hazel Court’s flamboyant gowns in ‘Curse’ are testament to this surely and the sartorial elegance of it’s male characters reflected the somewhat similar Saville Row upper class Edwardian revival that in turn inspired the working class Brit teddy boy and London spiv culture of the time. It’s no stretch of the imagination to recognise the dandyisms of the teddy boy and American style “zoot suiter” with the sartorial decadence of Peter Cushing’s Victor Frankenstein, something that mirrored the smart and sharp mod dandy fop ethic of the next decade. A point of interest is the ‘Peacock Revolution’ that sprang up in Britain in the ‘50s embraced by middle-class young men seeking to emulate the foppish Edwardian style. Carnaby streets first boutique ‘John Stephen’ catering to dandy affectations opened as early as 1956.

It’s important to note that Hammer Horror arrived just in time in the 1950s, that it’s timing could not have been more poignant is an understatement indeed. Britain’s youth needed something badly to shake off the post war struggles and stiff upper-lipped attitudes of the previous generation; they needed colour, new fashion, new music, thrills and sex.

1960s carnaby street dandy

Rock’n’Roll music from the US was liberating teenagers and upsetting the elders and Hammer inadvertently became the cinematic evil twin to the corrupting onslaught of the “Devils music”.

Their gothic fairytale terrors offered the aforementioned blood and monsters all savagely played out with heaving bosoms in low cut evening gowns and vampire sluts in translucent negligees and wispy nightwear. All this splendour in eye stinging primary colours and evocative pastels. Horror was no longer monochrome and Britain was no longer grey for the nations young.

Suzanne Farmer and Barbarah Shelley in Dracula Prince Of Darkness 1966.

The old guard didn’t know what had hit it, the critics blew gaskets and denounced the debauchery of Hammer but it mattered little, audiences flocked to see the latest Frankensteins, Draculas and assorted monsters and vampires. The small independent studio forever changed the face of not just home grown but horror cinema worldwide. Much respect should be shown to the artistry of it’s craftspeople whose wonderful sets and glorious costumes inspired a struggling post war era and whose beauty is a timeless lush and sexy visual treat more than fifty years later. The Glamour of the Hammer is forever.

Recommended Hammer films for anyone interested
The Curse of Frankenstein [1957]
Dracula [1958]
The Mummy [1959]
Brides Of Dracula [1960]
The Gorgon [1964]
Kiss of the Vampire [1963]
Dracula Prince of Darkess [1966]
The Plague of The Zombies [1966]
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed [1969]

EDITORS NOTE: You might also try The Best of Hammer Box Set or The Ultimate Hammer Collection (21 Disc Box Set) to get yourself a good selection of Hammer Films cheaper than buying many of them individually!

All the content in this post belongs to Retro Chick. If you are seeing this post and it is not in your Feed Reader, then it has probably been stolen by some unscrupulous person.

If you would like to repost my content, please contact me via my website and I'll be happy to dicuss it, really!