Off to a smashing (s)TART!

Last weekend our first TART event took place at the glorious 40 Winks. Sumptuous food from Vintage Patisserie, plenty of sophisticated booze as well as vintage frocks from yours truly, alongside new collections from up and coming designers of hats, lingerie, accessories and clothes.
Lipstick and Curls transformed ladies' hair and make-up, whilst our co-host Fleur de Guerre handed out vintage beauty and style tips- see more photos on her wonderful blog here.


David Carter's iconic hotel, 40 Winks, was the perfect location for this pampering extravaganza- contact him at reservations@40winks.org to book your place- very few left for the 12th December, and nearly all sold out for the January date too, so get booking.

Military Chic

Would you like to see your man dressed up in vintage uniform?Or maybe knab some accessories for your own outfits? Legendary costumier Angel's is opening up its warehouse once again to get rid of 250,000 high-quality items of authentic uniform and equipment dating from 1900 onwards. On the 28th November, you can head to the warehouse and grab a gas mark used on the set of Saving Private Ryan or a helmet from the Dad's Army wardrobe. With lots of events coming up that require WWII allied uniform dress; The Blitz party, Prohibition and the Home Front Christmas Ball to name a few, this is the perfect opportunity to get costumes for you and your man sorted. Word of warning though- having been to the last Angel's sale extravaganza, you should know that it is utter madness- not only is it a fair old trek outside what I count as London, queues for the last sale started at 5 in the morning, and by the time I roled up at about 2pm nearly everything had gone. Having said that, this sale hasn't been publicised half as much, and of course is only military clothes so hopefully appealing to a smaller, more niche audience, i.e us!

Entrance	£5
Coats,tunics,blouson jackets:	£20
Helmets:	£20
Trousers, breeches:	£10
Caps:	£10
Equipment:	from £5

It starts at 8.30am and goes on til 5pm, the address and further details here and here.

Eventful times ahead!

Parties, stalls, workshops- we are so busy in the coming months we barely have time to blog about it- but here you go;all the latest and greatest from Vintage Secret.
Firstly, you may have seen that our very own Naomi Thompson is giving a vintage styling workshop in association with QueensofVintage- its going to be at the gorgeous Betty Blythe fine food pantry,( which our very first blog post was about!)

with only 20 exclusive places available at £35 a head, including tea. Naomi will be sharing her top tips on collecting vintage pieces, what to wear for specific eras and particular body shapes, how to mix and match with modern pieces as well as the best places to buy vintage.
You may have seen our new monthly pampering event, Tart, mentioned in the magazine of The Times on Saturday- a huge piece on David Carter's glamorous home/hotel where the event will be held. Here are the pictures from the piece, and you can read the article here.





You can see more lovely press about the forthcoming events here, including a wonderful blog post from The Times journalist and author, India Knight. India's god-daughter Nina Dolcetti will be showing her amazing shoes at Tart,(see pic below) as well as some other great new designers who've come on board since I did my last post about the event, including underwear label Bunnies Forever- have a look at their website, its so cute!
Also coming up at David's is a new series of Bedtime Story events, now to be curated by renowned storyteller and good friend of mine, Rachel Rose Reid. Its a testament to how amazingly talented she is that Rachel has managed to make a career out of storytelling, earning fame everywhere from the Edinburgh festival to New York City. Have a look at the line-up on our events page- think Sherlock Holmes, Oscar Wilde and special Valentines Day story nights next year. David's little hotel is often home to A- list actors when they spend time in London, and rumour has it that he's managed to convince one such star to come and do some storytelling- stay tuned for further details. Some of our musical friends will also be gracing the nights with their talents- do email David to reserve your place now as these events have always sold out very quickly.

New Clients!

Hello everyone! Apologies for the lack of blogging-we've been super busy organising Tart- our new series of glamourous pampering events at '40 Winks' boutique hotel. Somehow, we've also managed to make time to lend some of our lovely clothes to a few new clients. Have a look at the gorgeous 1950s dress from Vintage Secret, borrowed by Jacques Fath for their new handbag collection.
SKIP theatre borrowed some of our 1950s swimsuits for their performance:LENGTHS- synchronised swimmers moved through the crowd drawing reference to swimming galas and Busby Berkeley choreography. The perfomers gave out goggles to the guests and smeared them with vaseline to give a soft focus/under-water effect, the guests were then invited to join in with an imaginary swimming race. All to the soundtrack of a swimming pool, at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden.

Music week!

Just a quick follow up to our recent musically themed post- tonight Tinsel and Twinkle's record label Pushing Pussy Records is running a night at new venue, the Blues Kitchen, who are celebrating their launch this week. The Palpitations and The Lovebirds will be playing live for FREE to celebrate their new EP being available to download. Stay tuned for further Palpitations action here, as Vintage Secret will be styling lead singer Danielle (pictured) for a photoshoot very soon!Vintage Secret were meant to be running a stall at the event tonight, but unfortunately VS mistress Naomi has come down with the vile Swine Flu so is bedridden!!!We're keeping our fingers crossed that with enough rest, she'll be back on her feet for our stall at Gabby Young's albulm lanch at the Bush Hall Thursday night- if you haven't got your ticket yet, get it here! Not only will Gabby Young and Other Animals be performing their whole album for your pleasure, you can also expect over 20 stalls selling vintage and homemade clothes, accessories, food and other delights- not to be missed!We went along and saw Gabby performing a charmingly intimate gig at vintage store Beyond Retro this weekend- here are some pics!

TART!

So here you are- full details of our latest venture!We've teamed up with some of our most stylish friends to bring you a truly glamorous new event.But be sure to book soon as places are very limited.

AN EXCLUSIVE NEW EVENT AT 40 WINKS BROUGHT TO YOU BY VINTAGE GURU NAOMI THOMPSON, PIN-UP QUEEN FLEUR DE GUERRE, AND THE DANDYESQUE DAVID CARTER.
SATURDAY 14TH NOVEMBER AND SATURDAY 12TH DECEMBER 2-6PM (AND MONTHLY THROUGHOUT 2010!!).



















SPEND A BLISSFUL SATURDAY AFTERNOON IN THE LUXURIOUS SETTING OF 40 WINKS, LONDON'S SEXIEST BOUTIQUE HOTEL, AND INDULGE IN AN ORGY OF FUN, FRIVOLITY AND FABULOUS FASHION....WHILE THE UNIFORMED WAITRESSES FROM VINTAGE PATISSERIE SERVE YOU CUCUMBER SANDWICHES, YUMMY CAKES AND CHOCOLATES, VINTAGE BEAUTY EXPERTS LIPSTICK AND CURLS AND MAKE-UP ARTIST TO THE STARS, BELLA CRUIKSHANK, WILL BE ON HAND TO TRANSFORM YOU
INTO YOUR INNER STARLET. TRY ONE OF OUR DELICIOUS COCKTAILS OR A GLASS OF
BUBBLY (SURREPTIOUSLY SERVED UP IN VINTAGE TEACUPS), AND SLIP ON A 50S EVENING GOWN FROM A SELECTION FROM VOGUE FAVOURITES, VINTAGE SECRET WITH EXPERT STYLE ADVICE PROVIDED BY NAOMI AND FLEUR. ‘TART’ WILL ALSO
PLAY HOST TO SOME OF LONDON’S BRIGHTEST AND COOLEST YOUNG DESIGNERS LIKE AWARD WINNING MILLINER KATHERINE ELIZABETH AND THE LIKES OF MINNA, WHOSE CREATIONS INCORPORATE LACE, BROOCHES AND BUTTONS FOUND AT ANTIQUE MARKETS. EXPECT JEWELS, LINGERIE AND LOTS OF LOVELY SHOES. IF ALL THIS PROVES A LITTLE TOO TAXING, RELAX WITH A MASSAGE FROM THE WELL TRAINED HANDS OF XHILARATE.

TO ENSURE THE ULTIMATE LUXURY EXPERIENCE, ONLY 25 PLACES ARE AVAILABLE AT £60 PER HEAD. 'TART' PROMISES TO BE BOTH THE PERFECT PRECURSOR TO A GIRLS' NIGHT OUT, OR SIMPLY AN IDEAL GIRLS' AFTERNOON IN.
NB. NICE BOYS ARE ALLOWED TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR
THIS EVENT, BUT ONLY GIRLS ARE ALLOWED TO COME...

EMAIL RESERVATIONS@40WINKS.ORG OR PHONE 020 7790 0259

V is for Vintage Secret, Vogue...

On page 134 of November Vogue, under V for Vintage in the directory of More dash than Cash, you'll find a familiar name!
' Naomi Thompson's website vintagesecret.com's stock of Frank Usher, Alice Pollock and Emilio Pucci vintage caused such a stir, she now offers bespoke tea and dinner parties for her fans'
Along with a pic of one of our lovely frocks, this coverage from Vogue writer Grace Timothy has made us very proud!
Antiques Roadshow expert Katherine Higgins also mentioned us in her piece about Goodwood for BBC Homes and Antiques, saying how ' Naomi at Vintage Secret was hugely helpful with the loan of key vintage fashion pieces'.
To see more wonderful VS press, have a look on our website.
Naomi has also been dishing out her style tips for Run- Riot readers, have a look to find out what you should be up to this Autumn.