The Melbourne Spring Fashion Week is currently in swing and this year, there’s a lot for those of us who prefer our fashion to be of the vintage persuasion. To make things easier (there’s so much going on) here are some highlights and Must-Sees (including a few small contributions by Circa):

Tuesday 31st August
9am to 7pm: Step back to another era and experience fashion of generations past. Styled by Circa Vintage Clothing, MSFW’s Week of Wardobes will showcase the finest vintage designs in sleepwear for the theme “Slumber in the City”.
Location: City Square, Swanston Street, between Collins Street and Flinders Lane.

2pm – 3pm: Everyone’s favourite vintage fashion blogger, Candice DeVille aka Super Kawaii Mama is presenting a workshop on vintage glamour, with a focus on sleepwear. It’s a free event but arrive early because choice positions will be in hot demand! Candice will be assisted by Eszter and Marianne, who will be modelling outfits from Circa and (rumour has it) one of Melbourne’s most elegant lingerie labels.
Location: City Square on Swanston Street.

6 – 9.30pm: Merry Go Round – a luxury event. “Makeovers, Manicures and Martinis and Miss Money Penny have teamed up to bring you a luxury shopping event that combines mini pampering treatments with a personal styling session and an elegant showing of hand-picked pre-owned designer items.”
Location: Longroom, 162 – 168 Collins St and cost is $70. Bookings required.

Wednesday 1st September
9am to 7pm: Step back to another era and experience fashion of generations past. Styled by Circa Vintage Clothing, MSFW’s Week of Wardobes will showcase the finest vintage designs in day and evening wear for the theme “Women’s Wonderland”.
Location: City Square, Swanston Street.

2.30pm: ACMI are screening “Beyond Biba: a portrait of Barbara Hulanicki” as part of a series of films on fashion icons. “The woman behind the iconic London retail hotspot, Biba, Barbara Hulanicki revolutionised British fashion in the seventies. Capturing the fascinating story of the woman who bought a new level of glamour to high street fashion. ”
Location: ACMI Federation Square.

Photo courtesy MSFW and ACMI

Thursday 2nd September
9am to 7pm: Step back to another era and experience fashion of generations past. Styled by Circa Vintage Clothing, MSFW’s Week of Wardobes will showcase the finest vintage designs in swimwear for the theme “Beauty and the Beach”.
Location: City Square, Swanston Street.

3.30pm: Candice (SKM) is back again with her lovely models for a second Vintage Glamour workshop, this time with a beachy theme. As before, this is a free event. “Ever wanted to discover the elements that make a polished, vintage look? Wondering how to choose the right vintage pieces for your personality? Vintage model and style blogger Candice DeVille shares her secrets in this exclusive session that will help you find your perfect vintage glamour look and how to mix it with a modern wardrobe.”
Location: City Square, Swanston Street.

Friday 3rd September
9am to 7pm: Step back to another era and experience fashion of generations past. Styled by Circa Vintage Clothing, MSFW’s Week of Wardobes will showcase the finest vintage designs in men’s wear for the theme “It’s a Man’s World”.
Location: City Square, Swanston Street.

Might be a good day to go and see the Age of Fashion exhibition that is on at QV Square, QV Melbourne, between Russell, Swanston, Lonsdale and Little Lonsdale streets. “CELEBRATE Melbourne’s love affair with style, sophistication and sleek chic at this must-see fashion photographic exhibition. Offering Melbournians a tangible slice of history, documenting the influences, ideologies, icons and inspirations behind Melbourne’s signature style. ” Here’s one of my favourite Melbourne fashion icons, Jeannie Shrimpton in her headline grabbing 1965 Day at the Races.

Photo courtesy MSFW and QV.

Saturday 4th September
10am: Round She Goes. “Round She Goes is one of Melbourne’s most popular preloved fashion markets for women – buy fantastic preloved designer and quality vintage fashion and accessories from various stallholders. It’s a free event and can be found at Collins234 – Boutique Place, Level 2, 234 Collins Street

Sunday 5th September
2.30pm – The Upmarket. “Miss Money Penny Fashion Emporium and Take 2 Markets present: The UP Market. Join Melbourne’s queens of designer fashion chic-o-nomics at our luxury shopping event. Shop amongst 40 glam stalls for only the finest brand new, just slipped on and vintage designer fashion treasures – for a fraction of the retail price.” Venue is Alto Event Space at Melbourne’s GPO, 350 Bourke Street and the cost is $50. Bookings required!

This week Circa welcomed a new sales lady, Carly from The Lindy Charm School for Girls. It seemed like a good opportunity to introduce her to some vintage lovers as well as the Circa coterie, for High Tea at the Park Hyatt.

What I found particularly interesting, of course, was what everyone chose to wear – Vic dressed in 1930s, Candice wore a ’40s inspired printed 1980s frock and most of the rest of us were somewhere in the 1940s or 1950s with the exception of Jules, who wore a sweet 1960s inspired creation of her own.

Looking around at the diverse outfits, I couldn’t help thinking that here were a variety of dresses that were originally intended for a particular type of occasion and yet in the 21st century all are appropriate for an afternoon of tea and cakes. It’s one of the aspects of vintage that I love the most: how easy it is to create your own personal style.

Tim and I were early, so raised a toast to the impending afternoon:

Most of the ladies arrived in quick succession and took their places around the table – it was especially nice to be able to introduce people who knew each other online but were yet to meet in person.

Julie from Ballarat Vintage Style, wearing a gorgeous nylon late ’40s picnic dress, Kesenya from Alice Jeans in a floral party frock (love the red beads) and Jules from Poppet wearing one of her own designs, soon to be available from Poppet Vintage hopefully.

Circa’s new lady Carly in a fabulous 1940s cocktail dress, with Esther (also Circa) in a late ’40s picnic dress.

Hubby Tim Hamilton with Maria from Vintage Suburbia in another of those ever popular picnic dresses, this one from the early ’50s. Perfect for afternoon tea! Maria accessorised it with a great floral bag too.

Candice from Super Kawaii Mama in a bold 1980s floral with Claire from HarbourMaster – wearing a silk ’50s party dress.

Marianne from Esme and the Laneway in a cute ’40s day frock, Victoria (from Circa) in ’30s floral rayon afternoon dress and Eszter from Kitty’s Drawings in a 1950s cotton print sundress.

Tamasein from Underground Cinema in an early 1940s dinner dress (I have dozens of these and I never get tired of them) and Fiona, burlesque dancer Foxtrot India (and also Circa) in a 1950s petticoat and polka dot skirt.

Now you’re probably wondering what everyone’s dresses look like in full? Here’s a group shot minus a few who had to leave on time – the rest of us seemed in no hurry as it was such a lovely way to spend an afternoon!

Thank you to everyone who came: it was wonderful to see you all and we must do it again soon!

Vintage lovers, I spend a certain amount of time online and one of my favourite occupations is in the perusal of blogs – especially those from ladies who like nothing better than to frock up and show the world how fabulous and stylish they are.

Here are some of my favourites:

Alice Jean’s – vintage living in a modern world
Kesenya is a lady from another age, and like me, prefers the pre-1965 world (in most but not all ways). Her blog is an ode to vintage living, complete with handsome husband.

Esme and the laneway.
I love everything about Marianne’s style – from the red and white polka dots to the victory rolls. Mixing vintage with modern, her style is feminine and whimsical.

Fleur de Guerre – diary of a vintage girl
Fleur is based in England – as she puts it, “part-time pinup girl and full-time Forties enthusiast” and her blog is full of great images depicting her glamourous life.

Super Kawaii Mama
Circa’s favourite glamourpuss, Candice updates frequently with fashion, style tips, make-up and hair tutorials as well reflections on life as mother to two (inevitably stylish) young daughters. Like Marianne, Candice mixes real vintage with more modern styles to produce an individual look.

I’m a bit behind with things at the moment – mostly I’ve been in the shop, so there hasn’t been as much time as I like for getting new stock ready, or answering emails or catching up on various things – I still haven’t finished setting up my new stockroom after moving last November.

In the meantime, I thought you might like to see some lovely 1960s photos by John French of Jean Shrimpton – after Twiggy, perhaps the most successful face of English fashion from the elegance of the early ‘sixties to the Mod era of Carnaby Street. Personally, I love her fresh face, fine bone structure and thick hair.

Jeannie holds a special place in Australian fashion history – in 1965 she shocked Melbourne society by turning up on Derby Day (during the Spring racing carnival) in a mini dress with no hat, no gloves and no stockings. It was a small thing, and she didn’t intend to ruffle feathers, but it was a big step in our evolving fashion styles.

Apparently she didn’t care much for fashion, and perhaps that’s why she wears clothes so well – she looks as much at home in an evening dress as she does in a simple shift. Aged 67 now, I’m sure she still looks fabulous.

As the decade draws to a close, I thought it might be nice to revisit some of the best frocks of the era. Naturally, they’re all either vintage or vintage inspired – glamour is so often influenced by the Golden years of the 20th century, isn’t it?

The dress that started it all – when Julia Roberts chose a 1982 Valentino frock to accept her Oscar for Erin Brockovich, the power of vintage to impress was there for all to see. Has she ever looked more elegant? Photo credit by Chris Weeks/Getty Images.

Penelope Cruz at the Oscars, 2007 in a glamourous Atelier Versace gown. This one reminds me of Grace Kelly – pulling out all the stops. Photo credit by Sara De Boer/Retna.

Kate Winslet at the Oscars, 2002 in a beautiful gown by Ben de Lisi. I can see Dorothy Lamour in this striking ’40s inspired gown. Photo credit by Tammie Arroyo/Retna.

Emma Watson at the London premiere of “Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince” in 2009. Original ’70s dress by Ossie Clark, it still looked fabulous when she got drenched in the rain on the red carpet. Photo credit by James Veysey/Camera Press/Retna.

Keira Knightley in “Atonement” 2007, wearing the fabulous emerald silk gown that helped to sway modern brides from fluffy strapless meringues to a more elegant and sexy movie star look inspired by the 1930s.

Sarah Jessica Parker wearing the gown that inspired a generation to seek the perfect vintage frock – in the final TV episode of “Sex and the City” 2004. Although looking very much like a ’50s prom dress, this version was designed by Versace. Photo credit by HBO.

On Saturday, local burlesque star Foxtrot India aka Fiona Hamilton, came to visit us at Circa – her ’50s floral dress caught my eye and I thought you might like to see it too. She bought it at a great little vintage shop at Covent Garden in London, perhaps when she was studying at the London School of Striptease?

Fiona knows how to wear her vintage – she was also one of the models at the recent Circa vintage fashion parade.

I buy a lot of vintage clothing but it’s a special treat to buy it from the original owner – a personal wardrobe reveals a lot about a woman and her life. It holds together with a consistency and is often more than the sum of its parts.

Audrey Hepburn, one of the great beauties and style icons of the 20th century was also the muse of Givenchy and a woman of exceptional grace and elegance. A couple of days ago Kerry Taylor Auctions in London had the privilege of auctioning a collection of her personal gowns.

Covering the decades from the 1950s to the 1970s, they show a continuing sense of elegance. Their simple but feminine shapes effectively convey the woman we knew and loved – and they show how strong her sense of style was despite all the rapid changes of fashions during the late ’60s and early ’70s when she continued to wear the sort of dresses and gowns she wore in the earlier time.

It’s an exceptional collection – here are some highlights:

One of my final tasks for The Book is to write small pieces on the major fashion designers of the 20th century – it’s been both pleasurable and frustrating because I love them so much, it’s a struggle to write only one paragraph. So I’ve been writing three – to do less seems insulting, these men and women have contributed so much to my world of vintage clothing.

Today I considered one of my favourites, the incomparable Elsa Schiaparelli. Not only did she have the good fortune to be operating at a very interesting (and glamourous) time in fashion (the ’20s and ’30s), but she was able to count amongst her many friends some of the most important artists, including Jean Cocteau, Man Ray, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso.

Schiaparelli collaborated with some of these men, whilst others merely inspired her – and the results were witty and fun, challenging and controversial. Here are some of her most talked about creations…they all date from the late ’30s and I love them all.

When I was fifteen I had that poster of you on my bedroom wall – along with many others of my favourite, Marilyn Monroe.

Since then I’ve read hundreds of books on you (and boy are there a lot). I think I own about fifty or so including the fabulous catalogue of your private possessions, auctioned at Christie’s in 1999. Pity I couldn’t have been there, but it must have been a sad day when people eagerly bid for every small piece of your life from the book you read (and scribbled on) as a five year old to your dog licence (which, I recall, went for an awfully high price).

The clothes of course are my favourites – the glittery red heels you wore in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, the long blue gown you gaffer-taped up so the troops in Korea could see your legs better. The silk souffle piece of nothing you were sewn into, to sing for a President.

Still the greatest – happy birthday wonderful, golden lady. You’ll always be in my heart (and my bookshelf).

I think I’ve recovered from my little passion for Fred Astaire – did you enjoy the clips of him dancing? Poor me, I had to watch through so many to find the right ones to share with you. He was a wonderful man, one of the true old school. It’s a pity that dance isn’t as respected an artform as many others.

It’s back to the near past now – or so it seems as the mid to late 1970s have been influencing fashion quite a bit of late. Here is Jerry Hall, looking glamourous at the height of her modelling fame, dating Bryan Ferry (pre-Mick Jagger) and jetting to exotic locations. These photos are all from a Vogue pattern book, circa 1975 – they reveal how much home sewing has fallen from grace, and how large the market was for dressmaking patterns to be able to afford the sort of budget a shoot like this would need.

One of the great things about this spread is that it clearly shows the different trends of the day – the flowing goddess gowns, the exotically Eastern caftans and the Edwardian influenced romantic white dresses with upswept hair. Jerry’s tall frame suits the styles well and she looks at home amongst the wonderful locations (as well as in the arms of a well dressed man).

As always, click on an image to see in full.