forever we're singing that old country song...

I went to a country and western themed birthday party recently, and thought I'd share a few pictures. There was even a bucking bronco! It was a few months ago - before I got my fringe.  Pictures were taken by my wonderful friend, Zanii.

  

jacket: Oasis
dress: Oasis (thrifted)

title lyric: Me & Tennessee - Tim McGraw

"I think it's Santa Claus!"

I felt like sharing a silly little video I made with my friend Micka, well over a year ago. It's certainly rough around the edges, but we had great fun crafting all the characters, props and sets entirely from recycled products, voicing the characters and messing around with stop motion technology. This "fun" doesn't include me burning myself four times with the hot glue gun, of course!

We created it to promote SCARF, a local company that collects arts and crafts resources and resells them to the community at low prices, serving to aid both recycling and the bank accounts of the good people of the Black Country in these difficult times. Unfortunately, something went wrong in the export and little pink squares start appearing on screen near the end (not sure what the term for this is, my technical vocab is a little underdeveloped!).

It tells the story of an author struggling to find inspiration for his new novel, until he accidently discovers SCARF's website. That night, he finds himself dreaming about a strange place called Scarfworld, where everything is recycled - even the sun! His adventures in this dream world, not to mention it's resident creatures, Duvysnuvy and Snuvyduvy, provide him with the inspiration he was searching for.

Enjoy!

Style Inspiration: The Pajama Game (1957)

Usually, I like to draw inspiration from the 1960s, but I can't help but admire the beautiful, ladylike fashions of the preceding decade. One of my absolute favourite starlets of all time is the lovely Ms Doris Day. I adore her happy, nostalgic films which make me want to step back a couple of generations, hop on a transatlantic boat and find myself steeped in 1950s Americana. I particularly like Young at Heart, The Thrill of it All, and On Moonlight Bay. One picture I did not enjoy is the Pajama Game, but I was mesmerised by the clothes!

I love everything about this screenshot! I especially adore the dress the woman on the far left is wearing, so summery! This scene is so colourful and so America in the Fifties!

Gladys wears an adorable halterneck summer dress, in pink with red trim. I love that she wore orange flats with it! Gladys, as crazy as she is, has the best wardrobe in the film, I think. Read on to see more of her looks.

Here she is in a cute grey and black polka dot dress with orange bows on the arms and below the bustline. The dress is typical 50s in that it goes in at the waist and out at the hips.

I am completely in love with Gladys' dress in this scene. It was, unfortunately, hard to get a good screenshot of. It looks more like something from the early Sixties rather than 1957! It's a slim fitting, pale pink knee-length dress with a sweet, long polka dot scarf around the neck.

I can't get over how amazing she looks in this scene, despite being drunk as a skunk! The halter neck wiggle dress flatters her figure perfectly.

Moving on to someone other than Gladys. Doris herself, as Babe Williams, looks phenomenal in a lovely white dress and teal neck scarf. I love, love, love square necklines. I don't know whether you can see, but her teal shoes match her scarf perfectly.

I think this is my favourite outfit in the film, tied with the previous image of Doris in the white dress and possibly Gladys in the blue wiggle dress. I want this dress soo bad! It reminds me a little of a 60s dress, but with the classic 1950s shape. You can't really see here how amazing this girl's hair is!

This sailor inspired dress really is so pretty. I love the collar and tie!

I can't say much for Doris' outfit, nor the lady on her right. But oooh, I do love the attire of the woman on her left! How cute is her little pink top and apron? Just below shot is her fuschia pencil skirt.

This is one of my favourite movies of all time, in terms of fashion. I've heard that Zooey Deschanel's favourite film for fashion is the Umbrellas of Cherbourg. What's yours?