Last week I told you about my fashion doll, Petite Blythe. Well, I’ve enjoyed making little dresses for her so much that I’ve decided to reopen my Etsy shop and start selling them. Three dresses, all handstitched from cotton, are available now at introductory prices from www.etsy.com/shop/cathryncook:
Blythe photo by Gina Garan
Years ago, when I was studying photography, I came across a book of photographs of a doll named Blythe. A striking thing of beauty with large eyes and numerous outfits, she had been photographed on many different adventures. This struck a chord with me, not only for the novel photography project idea, but also for the doll itself and her fashions. In more recent years I’d seen Blythe crop up on ad campaigns, such as Sony, and I wondered if she was available to buy. Here’s what I found out…
Blythe was originally launched in 1972 but only lasted a year on the shelves, as children found her a little scary. Years later, Blythe was rediscovered and collected by Gina Garan, who photographed her ‘girls’ in various original and home-made outfits and published the book ‘This is Blythe
I fancied having a go at photographing Blythe myself, so I ordered a Petite Blythe on eBay, which seems the only place to buy from in the UK. She arrived on Monday and I enjoyed making two little dresses for her! Her model name is ‘Running Deer’ and she arrived wearing a Red Indian style outfit – check it out below, along with the two dresses I made:
A couple of things to note if you’re considering purchasing a doll: the larger size has colour changing eyes, so there’s more flexibility for changing her expression, plus there is a much wider range of clothes and accessories available on the market. However, she’s not cheap – Petite Blythe is a smaller and cheaper alternative if you’re on a budget (you’ll need a good macro function on your camera though in order to get those close-ups!!).
She is definitely great fun to photograph and if you’re interested in fashion, photography or making dolls clothes, I’m sure you’d have fun with Blythe too! View more of my Blythe photos on Flickr here.
When I left school and went to study Art & Design at college, I discovered a passion for clothing and accessories. I wanted to stand out from the crowd and show off my creativity! The only problem was, of course, that I only had a part time job at Mark One (MK One as it is now) and most of my cash was spent on bus fare or driving lessons! So I discovered charity shops…
I remember my first purchase being a vintage faux-fur coat, which was fantastic value and kept me warm at the bus stop too! From then on, a friend and I would raid the high street charity shops near our college once a week and try to find unusual, vintage and designer items at bargain prices. Nothing amazing to report, but we certainly had enough clothing and accessories to keep us looking funky for two years of art college!
The pattern continued into University, where my most memorable find was a 70s red leather biker jacket that’s still in my cupboard today! When I came home from Uni and finally got my drivers license, I started to visit local car boot sales and built up a fantastic collection of vintage handbags, necklaces and bracelets! My trophy find being a beautiful genuine Mulberry handbag at the bargain price of £10 – I nearly passed out with the excitement!!
Even though it’s been several years since I stopped being a student, I still can’t resist the lure of the secondhand bargain! I work in a creative Marketing role, where I am lucky enough to still be able to dress in a creative manner (although no more fur coats!) – shopping secondhand allows me to keep a bigger wardrobe at a lower cost, so I can afford to be versatile. Not only that, I love that it means I’m unlikely to bump into someone else wearing the same or similar items of clothing!
Recent charity shop finds include a Chanel silk scarf and a Radley handbag! Of course, nowadays it’s become popular to shop vintage and there’s less out there from the 60s, 70s and 80s – but half the fun is in the thrill of the hunt!
Here are some of my treasured finds:
Last weekend was my birthday and I am happy to report that I was totally spoilt rotten!! I finally got my hands on those yummy Vivienne Westwood Anglomania Melissa Shoes (brown bow flats) – thank you hubby :O) I was also treated to two Trollbeads from my Dad – black armadillo and 3rd eye chakra – which looks stunning on my black/gold/purple combo! A friend also sent me a beautiful artisan bead, a reddy purple armadillo that is just gorgeous and my Mum gave me a rather scrummy iPod shuffle in a lovely aqua colour! Very spoilt indeed…
My birthday celebrations included a LOT of eating, seeing Toy Story 3 in 3D, visiting Lord Snowdon’s ‘In Camera’ photography exhibition and spending a day up in London. I visited the Neal Street stores of Crocs and Filofax and bought a beautiful vintage laboradite and silver ring in the Covent Garden antiques market! I will blog reviews of the two stores and my fabulous new shoes in the near future – keep an eye out!
As I’ve been offline for a week I thought it only fair to treat you to two Trollbeads combos! The first is to complement a fantastic vintage amber necklace I found at the car boot sale this morning. It’s also partly inspired by the tribal theme that’s all over the fashion magazines at the moment – hope you like!
Clockwise from Flower Lock
The second is more playful, inspired by the orange dress/purple leggings combo I’m wearing today – I teamed it with my most precious gold and silver beads to give it a classy twist…
Clockwise from Mexico lock: Fairy
A couple of months ago, I blogged about my experience with Melissa Shoes (you can read it here). Now that I’ve worn them some more, I felt it only fair to give you a little update…
You might remember I tried out the Neon in Mostard (yellow) and Hello III in Purple Flock:
The Neons are still my favourite, they’re really comfy and so easy to walk in, both when wearing tights and without, I think because of the support the ankle strap gives. They’re a real conversation piece too – the colour is fab! The only discomfort I get when wearing these is at the balls of my feet after long periods of standing – if you’re used to wearing heels a lot of the time I don’t think you’d have this problem.
I braved wearing the Hello III pair out for a night of dancing at the weekend and was a little worried about the problems I’d had before with a blister where the strap meets inside the shoe. As I mentioned before, I used a blister pad over that area and I managed to dance for 3 hours straight without any rubbing anywhere – a miracle!!
Girls, I’m seriously impressed with this brand (and no I don’t work for them!), I think it’s the first time I’ve ever had heels that don’t rub anywhere and are genuinely a joy to wear. I’m not saying you can wear them for hours and hours on end without any pain, but they’re certainly the closest I’ve ever found in heels! If you have any other tips or brands to recommend, please leave a comment and I’ll continue my search!
In the meantime, I’m eagerly awaiting my birthday next month, as I happen to know my lovely husband has hidden away a pair of these beauties:
These gorgeous Ultragirl Bow Flats were designed as part of a collaboration by Melissa Shoes with Vivenne Westwood called ‘Anglomania’ – I just had to have a pair – can’t wait! Look out for my full review of those in a couple of month’s time…
In the meantime, why not check out some of the range and other Vivienne Westwood shoes on Amazon UK here…
Crocs are currently running a project about their wearers Around the World - fans have been invited to send in some words about their experiences so I submitted mine. Today I was featured as the first story of the series, representing the United Kingdom!
My love affair with Crocs has only been alive for just under a year, but already I have seven pairs! It all started on holiday last year in Cornwall, on the South coast of England….read the full story here.
Like my Alice Crocs (pictured)? Check out the colours available on Amazon UK here or directly from Crocs below
I’m guessing if you’re reading this you either like my posts about shoes and Trollbeads, or you like my photography…so to make it easier for you to find what you want you can ‘Click to view only posts about…’ in the right side panel.
To make it even easier when you’re viewing my photos on Flickr, I’ve created two collections – one for Fashion (mostly Trollbeads, Crocs and other shoes) and one for Photography…
Click to see the Fashion Collection here
Click to see the Photography Collection here
If you’re also on Flickr let’s link up – just send me a connection request!
I’ve always been into alternative dressing, from back in the hippie days at school, through a good five years of wearing only black in the ‘goth’ days and nowadays just wearing whatever makes me smile! I like anything bright, vintage or anything that’s just a bit unusual…so last year I was delighted to find the fabulous www.whatkatiewore.com blog. Blogged by boyfriend Joe, Katie wears a different outfit every day and is pictured on the site in all her brightly coloured fabulousness!!
Last month I was delighted to be featured in the ‘What You Wore’ section – check it out here. Want to know where I got the outfit from? Check it out…
Storm umbrella from TKMaxx, gold leather jacket from Oasis, mushroom dress from New Look, Pretty Polly tights from TKMaxx, purple ‘Bayswater’ shoes from Mulberry.
I am a massive fan of Trollbeads jewellery and I have lots of fantastic colours but there is one combination that I never take apart…
This neutral bracelet goes with just about everything and is full of beads that mean something to me, such as the daisy, my 1st wedding anniversary pressie from my husband, gold ‘endless’ that was a leaving gift from colleagues at my last job and the artisan at the back right, which a friend had made especially to complete this combo ;o)
Clockwise from Mexico lock: fairy, stopper, artisan, letter G, alabaster amber, chai bud, space, black squirrel, around the world, ooak amber, daisy, ooak amber, gold endless, glass stone, small planet, jasper, alabaster amber, letter C, brown armadillo, lucky knot (and a safety chain).
