A New Home for Two of My Ladies

These two lovely ladies are all set to start their new lives in Next. They are both destined for two branches of Next on Oxford Street - the Bond Street and Marble Arch shops. How exciting, I wonder what they will be used to display?

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They are tailored in Austen Natural and if you would like to see more pictures and details, just follow this link:

http://www.vintagestylemannequins.co.uk/item_67/MTO-Austen--Natural.htm

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I definately think a trip to London is in order. I can use Christmas shopping as an excuse, but really it will be to see how my ladies and gents are getting on.

Hope you are all having a lovely (if rainy!) day.
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Speak soon, Julie x

Shame on You - Developers of the 60s!

The village I live in has a lovely promenade of local shops and lots of Victorian and Edwardian buildings. The majority of it looks, I would imagine, quite unchanged from the early 1900s. The far end of it, however, suffered from the 60s habit of knocking down beautiful buildings and building featureless boxes.

The picture below shows Birkdale Town Hall and library as it looked in 1910 - beautifully well built, with stunning features - clearly a focal point of the village at the time. This lovely building was knocked down and replaced with ...

... this.

How could it have ever been allowed? At least now, thank goodness, there is a recognition of the value of old buildings to our heritige and this happens much less often.

More news to come soon about a particular building in the village ...

Facebook Free Giveaway Decided!

I have decided on the giveaway prize! The first 300 people who 'like' the page will be entered into the draw to win a £170 gift voucher for the website. You can use this voucher to buy, or put towards, a mannequin of your choice. I know I'm aiming high, but hey, why not! So pass this onto friends and maybe you, or they, could have an early Christmas present. Or maybe you know someone who would like a mannequin for Christmas.

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Click HERE to go to the page.

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Good Luck, Julie x

New Mannequin Added to the Retro Collection

Is it possible to become addicted to buying fabric?? I keep seeing gorgeous fabrics and think "Oooh, that would look great on a mannequin!" and then just have to buy some. I have an ever growing stock of fabrics and am slowly working through them to add new mannequins to the site.

I discovered Alexander Henry fabrics a few months ago now and just love his bold designs! This one is called 'Inked' and I think the scale of the design is just right on the mannequin - I'm really pleased with how she worked out.

I have some more of his fabrics in the collection and am now working on making them up into mannequins. It is so difficult to get a sense of scale when it is just a picture of the fabric, so I must get the mannequins in this collection completed. You can see more pictures of 'Inked' by following the link below:

http://www.vintagestylemannequins.co.uk/item_270/MTO-Inked.htm

If anyone knows of any more retro styled fabrics that they think would look great on a mannequin, then I would love to hear your suggestions!

Don't forget, that if you 'like' my facebook page you will be entered into a free giveaway draw. Full details to be announced tomorrow.

Click HERE to go to the page

Have a lovely rest of the week! Julie x

Fabulous Facebook Giveaway!!

To celebrate the fact that I finally got around to adding Vintage Style Mannequins to Facebook, I am launching a

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FABULOUS FACEBOOK GIVEAWAY!!

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To be entered into the draw and have a chance to win all you have to do is 'like' the page. I haven't decided what to give away yet, but the more 'likers' the page gets, then the more fabulous the giveaway will be!

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To go to my Facebook page, just click the picture below.

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I will confirm the details in the next few days.

Good luck! Julie x

Vintage Style Mannequins on Facebook ... at Last!!

So finally, today I got around to making a Facebook page for Vintage Style Mannequins. It's still a work in progress, but I'm so happy that I have made a start. With lots of orders to complete, it has been hard to find the time and so I set aside today to get the job done.

Click on the picture if you would like to take a look and I know I will be so excited if I get some 'likers'. If there is anything you think would be helpful to add to the page, your comments would be very welcome!

Have a lovely weekend, I think we are forecast some good weather!

Julie x

Male Mannequins - The Pin Stripe Collection

I've always thought that a pinstripe fabric would look great on a tailored male mannequin - very classic! I'm looking forward to finding new fabrics for my male mannequins and I think stripes suit them very well.

You can see more of the male mannequin collection here:

http://www.vintagestylemannequins.co.uk/category_53/Male-Mannequins.htm

Just a quick visit today as I have a couple of orders to finish off for tomorrow - better get back to it.

Julie x

The Old Corset Shop - A World of Wasp Waist Mannequins

I was browsing the internet last night and came across these wonderful old pictures of corset shops. I love old pictures and sometimes they don't seem quite real somehow. But this picture was only a moment in time for the ladies above and once the picture was taken, they went on with their daily lives. I wonder who they went on to serve that day, what their families were like and what it was like inside the shop.

The pictures above and below show corset departments on large department stores. Just look at the space and feeling of openess! How lovely to have the time to sit at one of the chairs at the long counters and be shown different corsets and look at the models. You can see all the boxes stacked behind the counter. I love the thought that some of the wasp waisted mannequins I have sold in the past may have started their lives in such a way. If only they could talk - what stories they could tell!


I love the picture below! Look at the curves on those mannequins. It is no wonder that so few of these kind of wasp waist mannequins remain, as they were usually covered in silk and were intended for daily practical use - not really a good combination for longevity!


If you are looking for the kind of female wasp waist dress forms you see above, then my new range of new wasp waist mannequins might be for you. See the new range here:

http://www.vintagestylemannequins.co.uk/category_56/New-Wasp-Waist-Mannequins.htm

I have some exciting new mannequins coming soon, which hopefully I will be able to complete this week. I love working on new projects, so I should probably get back to it!

Speak soon, Julie.