zondag 30 augustus 2015

My summer continued




Just a quick update of some of the things I've been doing lately (the well documented ones ;)):

After moving into my new apartment the vintage group I'm part of, Club Interbellum, made a trip to Jachthuis Sint Hubertus in the national park Hoge Veluwe.



This hunting lodge was build for  art collector Helene Kröller-Müller by the famous Dutch architect Berlage in the 1910's.


Next to visiting this marvelous house we had a picknick looking out over the lake in front of it.
We went by bike from a trainstation nearby.



After our visit some of us cointinued our journey to Radio Kootwijk a fabulous Art Deco structure in the middle of nowhere. It was build as a radio transmitting station for communicating with out former colonies (now Indonesia).





The desolate location makes it all the more impressive.




We biked to Apeldoorn and took a train bakc to Amsterdam. In total we cycled about 50 kilometers that day, but trained cyclist as we Dutch generally are I did not even feel a hint of sore muscles the next day ;) The only thing that could not stand the bikeride were my pincurls.....

I had several visits of friends who wanted to see my new dwelling. Most of them combined with shopping trips.


On one of them I found a yellow wool bathing suit. It is from the brand Porolastic that made wool bathing suits from the 30's through the 60's. Crazy features are two plastic triangles sewn into every cup that cover your nipple whem cold and give a bit of a conical shape to your bust....

This had to be tested ofcourse. So I went to the beach with my fab friend Martine.


And contrary to my expectations it did not sag after I swam!



Yellow being the theme collor of that day I wore an Hawaiian shirt with funny novelty print. It is actually a man's shirt but looks just as well on me. The shirt is made from rayon and probably dates from the 40's or 50's. I found it in a thrift store where they put it with the womens blouses.



Then I threw a housewarming party together with my new roommate (and good friend) Annemarie who will live with me for the first few months. More on the outfit in a later post. See how we match? The dress Annemarie is wearing dates from the 50's and used to be mine. As did not wear it that much and it looked better on her I gave it to her at some point.



Then another trip with  some people I know from Club Interbellum. One of the members had generously invited us to his wonderfull home in Roosendaal,where we had coffee and saussage buns which is a custom in that part of the Netherlands.





Afterwards we went to Antwerp by car. We got a guided tour through Berchem a part of Antwerp that was built arount the turn of the last century from another member of our group who lives in Antwerp.



Our guide knew many of the stories behind the houses. He also brought us some  traditional Atwerp cookies in the form of hands. This goes back to the myth of the Roman soldier who hacked of the hand of the giant who demanded monney when people crossed the Schelde an threw it into the water. This event is supposed to be the namesake of Antwerp. Hand werpen (throwing a hand in Dutch) became Antwerpen.



It was a rainy day so I took a spare hat that could stand the rain as I did not want my straw one to get wet (but I reeeaaalllyy wanted to wear it ;)).



 
Martine and I bravely battled the weather otherwise known as 'death to all hairdo's.




More on my dress in the next post.

Last weekend I got a shorter haircut about 10/15 cm shorter. Even though it is still quite long it is the shorterst I've had it in 20 years. When I curled (wet) it with three rows of pincurls it trurned out so nicely!

 
The second day it was about shoulder length after brushing:
 
 

That weekend I also made a walk with my father on the Lochemseberg.

 
This tower was built on the highest point to look out in the 1890's, it rather looks like a rocket ;)

 
Such beautiful villas (sigh)

 
 

This weekend I went on a 'camping' trip with my friends of Club Interbellum. You can see my packing list visualized in the picture below.



Not everybody slept in a tent though, I shared a room in the farm next to the camping site with 3 other softies who did not feel for sleeping in a vintage tent (I might have considered it if I had an old tent).


Are they not a stylish bunch?

I wore my favorite dress of this summer a late 30's/40's cotton I bought on the internet. When it came I was dissapointed because it had quite few weak spots and holes that had not been mentioned and needed work, but I grew to love it so! Combined with a straw hat I think might be from the 40's (not entirely sure because it is in such good shape).



In the train I still had my pincurls and scarf in. This did not show because of the hat. Rather beautiful light.



We visited Giethoorn, also called the Dutch Venice because of its cannals and bridges.



The (naughty) child in me awoke in the local museum ;)





The next day we were supposed to go swimming, but plans changed as the weather forecast for the end of the afternoon was pretty bad and we wanted tot get home before trains might have gotten stranded. I wore silk shorts (probably early 90's but the right look, made shorter by me) and a 40's blouse with the same hat and purse. My canvas shoes had just the right vintage look although they were bought at H&M


 



This is a recap of the last 6 weeks. More clothes in a next post.















dinsdag 11 augustus 2015

Two dresses from the Waterlooplein flea market



These two dresses are recent wardrobe additions (a next post will cover some others). I bought them a few weeks ago at the Waterlooplein fleamarket at my favorite stall. I've been comming there to buy my vintage since 2008 and found many a wonderfull piece of clothing. It is one of the best places to buy vintage from the 30's through 60's in Amsterdam, but you have to be there at the right time as the stall is not always open.

When the stock is new, usually every few monts, I go and try on a great many dresses an end up buying several most of the time. This time I bought two dresses.

 
 

The first is in a deep shade of red with a  white novelty print of dots and an unidentified shape that reminds me of an elephant  or a snale (but that's not quite it, so if anyone has any ideas?). It probably dates from the first half of the 1940's.





The dress features puffy sleeves and a ruffle just below the waist, combined with the cut of the bodice this enhances the female shape in the best possible way ;). When I was walking towards the stall I saw it hanging there I knew I had to have it. Luckily it was my size. I'm already so in love with it. One of those dresses you can wear for almost any occasion, and it is not even black!



The second dress has a large floral print in pink, white and black. It is from the late 40's or early 50's given the cut on sleeves. This dress needed some minor work before it was ready to wear. I started by giving it a good soak and letting it dry outside.




 
 
The kind of thin and fluttery rayon the dress is made of often becomes a bit course after washing. Only after ironing the fabric becomes its soft self again.
 
 
 
 
Some of the lining of the sleeves had come loose so it had to be reattached.

 
And as the dress was a bit to big for me in the waist I added two darts in the back to make it fit better.
 
This is the result:

 
Just look at that lovely neckline!

 
A very easy out and about dress :)

 
They were both hanging on a rack in my bedroom  before they got into my closet so I could look at them for a while :)