Ric-Rac-Book-Tastic (or something)

Bit late with this one, but better late than never as they say!

Last Saturday I went to the rather wonderful launch of the rather wonderful Style Me Vintage: Clothes by Naomi of Vintage Secret. (My review is here!)

I did not take my camera, as I did not trust myself not to leave it in corners and step on it after a few Kings Ginger and Freixenet cocktails. I thought I would take photos with my iPhone, in fact the only thing I photographed was the pork pies. Though they were delicious. They’re “iced” with flavoured mashed potato, and 5 of them constituted my dinner.

So instead I am turning to the work of the very lovely and talented Hanson Leatherby to help me illustrate this post.

The launch party was held in The Fox in Shoreditch, and magically transformed into the Ric Rac Club after hours. The start of the evening was all about Naomi and the book. Her lovely Grandmothers were in attendance, this is me chatting with Naomi’s grandmother about gloves, the size of our hips and how lovely Naomi is.

I went for a bit of a beehive and early 60s style in an orange silk dress with pearls and black accessories. I’m loving big up dos at the moment for the minimal hair setting required, I badly need a hair cut and putting rollers in long hair is a right faff!

But back to the party. Naomi herself looked lovely in black lace, though she was flitting around with a look on her face that was part terror and part stress all evening! (Not in this photo obviously, in this photo she looks relaxed and happy, lovely)

The party really did feel like some kind of vintage convention, and the reason we all took so few photos was that we were all too busy catching up, drinking A LOT and telling each other how much we really, really, loved each other.

The party ran into the Ric Rac nice and smoothly, so I’m not sure where one started and the other ended. We were treated to various entertainments, such as the impeccably dressed Gemma from Bake Do & Mend doing a ukulele set, therefore giving us all a chance to caterwaul along to “Waiting at the Church”

THERE I WAS, WAITING AT THE CHURCH, WAITING AT THE CHURCH, WAITING AT THE CHURCH… etc etc to detriment of everyone’s ears.

Not only did I take home a lovely goodie bag containing hair flowers and a copy of BBC Homes & Antiques, but I also won a prize in the raffle!

Looking fairly put together here I think, considering how much I’d had to drink by this point, and proudly displaying my new copy of “Am I a Chap?”

I’m still waiting to see how hilariously cheesy are the photos of my and Lucy from The Glamourologist posing in the photobooth, but one of my favourites from the night is this one (taken by Charlotte of Tuppence Ha’penny) of me and one of the ladies from Anova (Naomi’s publisher) apparently trying to escape from Margaret of Penny Dreadful who was wearing an amazing wig!

You can grab yourself a copy of Style Me Vintage: Clothes on Amazon. I highly recommend it!

You can see more of Hanson Leatherbys lovely photos of the night over on his website. Including quite a scary one where my bullet bra clad bosom looks VERY pointy.