Whilst we’re on a cycling theme, thought I’d show you these images that I found. I’m afraid that I can’t provide any information about them though, except to say that they were probably posted to various Livejournal communities and were saved without details. If you know anything, please let me know.

Hope you like them too.

We had some beautiful evening clothes in Circa’s window last week - golds and peaches, shiny and sparkly to ward off the wintery nights. Sadly, we sold the centre piece (a fabulous peach bias cut gown with elaborate slashed and frilled sleeves) the first day, so we replaced it with another gold and I took some pics before any more gowns found new homes.

We’re having some lighting issues with the front window and it’s looking rather dark - this should be fixed soon.

As you know, I do lots of hand washing to keep Circa full of vintage goodies - and this time of year when the sky clouds over and rain falls at least a little on most days, it becomes hard to keep up with demand. Lately we’ve been particularly short of dresses as dry cleaning has been the only way to keep up, and many fabrics are better when they’ve been laundered and dried in a sunny and breezy backyard.

My priority this week has been to catch up on my washing. Yesterday I spent the day at my circa 1942 green porcelain kitchen sink, hard at it. When the weather isn’t great it can take up to two days for them to dry so this morning (during a burst of sunlight) I snuck out there and took a few pics of what will soon be available in the shop. Note that they’ll look much better when they’ve been ironed and mended!

Bow ties - these are dried flat on a towel so that they don’t get peg marks on them.

Scarves - silks and acetates from the ’40s to the ’80s. Nice and colourful despite the cloudy day!

Edwardian chemise, Edwardian tea gown, nylon petticoats and 1930s wedding dress. Behind you can just see a brilliant yellow late ’30s ballgown.

It’s been a busy time - as well as the Craft Show (now finished - the mannequins are safely back at Circa sans tulle and ribbon), there has also been the French Film Festival, where we dressed six people in 1930s outfits for the opening night (hopefully photos are on their way) and the opening of the Robert Fritzlaff exhibition at Como House last Thursday.

Today, whilst the shop was shut we took some photos for the next edition of Carter’s “Everything Vintage” Guide. In between the proper, professional shots I took some snaps - these garments are all in stock now and available for your selection. Eras are from the 1930s to the 1960s. Click on an image to see it in full. The book will be out later this year.

The way we wear clothes has changed a lot in the last few decades, in particular with regards to underwear and accessories - the overall casualisation of clothing isn’t always a good thing, I think.

Vintage clothes were designed to look their best with vintage foundation garments - these days, you don’t have to strap yourself into corsetry, suspender belts or girdles unless you want to, but we can all benefit from the goodness that is a decent petticoat.

Our grandmothers understood it well: a nice petticoat will make your clothing fit and look better as well as add to your comfort. It also makes dressing more of an occasion - walking around whilst you get ready of a morning (or any time you change outfits) is easier and more glamourous whilst wearing the equivalent of a sexy, sultry slip of slightly sheer fabric that covers and enhances your assets. After all, has Liz Taylor ever looked better than she did in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or Butterfield 8?

Circa is currently closed so I can’t show you any of our beauties, instead here are some lovely examples from other vintage shops: far too nice to be limited to your boudoir, many will happily double as evening frocks, especially for the hot summer nights ahead.

Clicking on each image will take you to the full size version (and believe me, they look much better in full size) and there is a link below each that will take you to each shop for more information. All photos remain the property of their respective websites.

Stockings and suspenders are an essential part of creating a vintage look for a modern gal, but even Dita can’t duplicate the saucy elegance of old photos and the irreverent look of an immoral woman.

Beneath the cut are some of my favourite pics, collected over the years from assorted Livejournal communities. Dating from the Edwardian era to the early 1960s, all are work-safe: containing luscious thighs and scanties but no actual nudity….many were exceedingly racy back in the day and many are fetishistic: then as now. I’ve displayed them roughly in era order, so you can observe the different approaches (and increased raunchiness) as we go.

A good friend mentioned that her husband enjoyed a post I once wrote about vintage stockings…so Chris, this one is for you and also for the rest of us who hanker for a bit of vintage sexy-style glamour - the best sort.

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The next Melbourne Vintage Clothing Fair is being held at the Williamstown Town Hall on the 22nd and 23rd of November. Full information can be found at the Way We Wear Fair’s website. This year’s theme is “I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside” in honour of the beautiful location.

Next year’s dates have already been announced: at the same venue on the weekends of 20-21st June and 21-22nd Novemeber.

Good news for Sydneysiders and those of us who like to visit the Northern city! Details will soon be announced for monthly vintage clothing markets at Leichardt Town Hall. Lovely central location.

Gorgeous 1930s hoop girl photograph courtesy The Way We Wear Fair. The perfect outfit for lounging around on a warm summer’s day.

We don’t really celebrate Halloween in Australia, but I thought you might enjoy these cheesecake lovelies - dates are from the 1930s to the 1960s and have been reproduced courtesy of Livejournal user AnnaBeliss.

Click on images to see in full.

A lady came in the shop earlier and said that she hadn’t realised that we were a shop, because when she looked at the website, it looked like we just organised events!

Nothing could be further from the truth - Circa functions mainly as a buyer and seller of good quality vintage clothing, it’s just that I don’t often post to the website about our stock because I get lots of email enquiries from people who want to buy it and we’re not an online shop - if however, you’re interested in anything we have, we’d love you to visit and try it on and see if it’s to your liking.

As far as organising events go, we do from time to time but most of the events mentioned here are independent, they’re things that I like and think that you might like to know about too.

Now - onto the reason for today’s post - we’ve been working hard to get new stock in for spring/summer and especially, we love vintage florals. Here are some of the prints from garments currently in, the eras date from the 1930s to the late 1970s. Apologies for posting so many, it was hard to choose favourites and they make a nice collection, don’t you think?

Most of these are frocks (because we love frocks) but they include skirts, blouses, jackets and swimsuits. I was tempted to include scarves but then we really would have hundreds!

It’s that time of year again, and at Circa, we’re getting ready for Melbourne’s Spring Racing Carnival…Nadia Bailey from The Vine popped in as we started to get some of the new hats out and snapped a few pics of Fay, our 1930s mannequin modelling the new arrivals.

Photo courtesy The Vine.

These colourful little beauties date from the 1930s to the 1950s and will be in store in the next few days. Nadia’s written a piece about hats for the carnival - you can read more at The Vine’s Spring Racing Hat Guide.