Wednesday 30 October 2013

Halloween part II

Happy Halloween folks! I know a lot of you will be doing nothing today as it is not an Australian tradition, and I'm sad to say that I will be joining you in not celebrating this year. Unfortunately due to my own stupidity I sprained my knee on Monday and have been housebound ever since. So today instead of dressing up and going to work in my custom made Spider-girl costume, I will be on the couch watching Once Upon a Time and consuming my body weight in carbs. Ok, so enough of the pity party.
I thought to lighten to the mood I would share some photo's from last years Halloween celebrations instead.


 
Day one of Halloween celebrations I dressed as a Pam Am Sturdiest. Last year Pan Am the tv program aired and I was totally addicted, if you can find a copy I highly recommend it. Unfortunately it was cancelled after one season (like all good shows) so I thought it would be fitting to be a plane crash victim as homage to the show crashing and burning on the US ratings scale. The burn was achieved using Mehron liquid latex with tissues over the top to create texture. I added another layer of liquid latex and waited for it to dry. I then used the Mehron 3 colour bruise kit to create depth and shadow before covering the whole thing in scab blood.

 
The result was quite icky, I made a child cry unfortunately.
 
 
 
 
 On the 31st I wore my 50's Beetlejuice costume. Each year I like to do a classic costume and then a 50's version of a costume. I got the dress from Bettie Page but as it was an old design I had to track it down from one of their retailers in Canada (such an ordeal). I had to have this dress as it was perfect and there was nothing with vertical striped last year, unlike this year when Pinup Girl Clothing released the most perfect outfit for Beetlejuice, you can see it here. Anyway I digress. The stockings are from Leg Avenue and the wig is actually a 20's finger wave wig I teased up and added black regrowth to. You can't really see it in the photo but it has flies and spiders glued in it. I really loved making this costume, the only problem was my face paint kept coming off around my mouth from talking all day so I was constantly reapplying.
 
 
With my lovely bride Lydia.
 
 
 
Luckily for me I had a chance to dress up on Friday before hurting myself on Monday. Since I spend so much time and money on my Spider-girl costume I had no time to make another outfit so I just borrowed our Snow White dress from work. The wig is the same one I used last year for my Pan Am outfit I just trimmed the fringe into bettie bangs and teased up the roots so it was a bit more Bettie Page like. It turned out quite well and was easy to work in too.
 
 




Gotta love a bathroom selfie.
 



"The Evil Queen is here?"


So that pretty much wraps us Halloween for me this year. Hopefully I am better by the weekend and can dress up and still wear my costume, it would be a shame for it to go to waste. What is everyone else up to this Halloween? I'd love you hear about your costumes.



Until next time,
Your friendly neighbourhood Red Velvet Rosie.
 
 

Tuesday 29 October 2013

Dames of Distinction

On Sunday I had the pleasure of going to the Dames of Distinction Soiree at the Mitchell house in the city. Having lived in Melbourne for 5 years and even worked in the CBD for some of them I was shocked that I have never noticed the beautiful art deco building standing proudly amongst of the hustle and bustle of the city.





It seemed fitting that such a marvellous building should house the newly opened lingerie boutique and hair Salon Dames of Distinction, which is situated on the first floor right near Circa Vintage. Once opening the door to the boutique we were greeted with lovely bright tea pots containing Pims (my favourite) and sweets I haven't eaten since my childhood.



 
 

 
 

 
 
The store itself is adorable, filled with lovely art deco furniture as well as books and images that create a welcoming mid century feel. And most importantly it hosted some of the most beautiful vintage and reproduction lingerie I have seen in quite some time. I spent a lot of the afternoon gasping over the lovely range from What Katie Did and Rago, the two reproduction brands Dames of Distinction stock. And the best part was they have a wide range of sizes available so we plus size girls can always find something beautiful to take home with us. And if they don't have an item in your size, they are happy to order it in especially for you. How decadent! 
 
 



 
 


The boutique also offers vintage hair styling as a service for those of use who haven't mastered our victory rolls yet, and considering how hard it can be to achieve mid century styles, their price list is very reasonable. The hair salon also stocks styling products such as setting spray, pincurl clips and rollers. They even sell all the products your would need in a handy little kit that I almost ended up leaving with me.








 
 
 
 
Due to self control that even I was amazed by, I managed to leave the boutique with just a pair of pink seamed stockings from What Katie Did, I couldn't resist the subtle and femine pink line travelling up my leg. However since leaving Dames of Distinction I can't stop thinking about this lovely long line bra from Rago as well as the peach girdle from What Katie Did, I think I might be heading back to Mitchell House sooner than expected. 
 
 


 
 

 
Dames of Distinction is open Tuesday - Saturday and is located at Level 1, Mitchell House 358 Lonsdale st Melbourne. I highly recommend a visit to all lovers of vintage as it truly is a treat for the eyes and the body. For those of you not located in Melbourne you can visit their online boutique, Betty and Ginger, for all you undergarment needs.
 
Until next time,
Your friendly neighbourhood Red Velvet Rosie. 



 

 

Friday 25 October 2013

Armageddon

Last week I had to pleasure of going to the 2013 Armageddon Expo here in Melbourne. For those who aren't aware, Armageddon is a weekend in Melbourne where lovers of Sci Fi, comic books, Anime, tv and pop culture can come together to shop, dress up and meet some of the stars of their favourite programs. This year saw members of the Doctor Who cast, Supernatural and Red Dwarf come to Melbourne to give talks and meet the fans. Pippen from Lord of the Rings and Luna from Harry Potter was also in attendance. I wasn't really going to meet the celebrities as they didn't really interest me much, what I really wanted to see was the costumes, and boy I wasn't disappointed.


 
 Lee Loo Dalas from the Fifth Element
 
 

 
Victorian WonderWoman
 

 
DeadPool Army
 
 

 
 Ok a bit of back story behind this photo. I heard from out of no where a kid screaming "Mum! Mum it's Spider-man! Mum!" Then this kid grabs Spider-man and drags him to his mother and gets his picture taken. He couldn't get the grin off his face. So freaking adorable!
 

 
 Alien, with tote bag.
 

 
 Optimus Prime.
 
I also couldn't miss pass up the opportunity to get my geek on so I opted to dress as Poison Ivy based off the animated series. There was no way in hell I was going to squeeze my fat ass in a leotard so I opted to modify my Ava dress from Pinup Girl Clothing. I took me a lot of hand sewing (I even used nail polish to paint the seems of my stockings green and gaffa taped leaves to my shoes) but it finally all came together.
 
 

 
 Hair and Makeup before the wind got a hold of me.

 
 



With retro Joker



 
Fighting crime with Batman and Robin, they even brought the 1966 batmobile. THAT YOU CAN HIRE IN MELBOURNE!
 

 

 Old Biff from Back to the Future was there guarding the time travel machine.


 
 

 
 
 
Even if you don't think you're that into pop culture I would still recommend going to Armageddon, it's such an unique experience and the people involved are so lovely. I can't wait to go to Supernova next year for some more dress up fun.
 
 
Until next time,
Your friendly neighbourhood Red Velvet Rosie. 

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Halloween Part I

When floating the idea of dressing up for Halloween with my friends I am often reminded that Halloween isn't "really a thing" here in Australia. Well since I work in a costume shop 80% of the time (the other 20% is spent wallowing in the fact that my degree is currently collecting dust and not being put to good use) I often forget that dressing up on October 31st isn't a priority. During the month of October my life becomes governed by all things bloody as I dress the populous of Melbourne who believe that dressing up on All Hallows Eve is really just the bees knees. Because of this I also turn into a zombie due to lack of sleep and extended working hours to try and dress the above mentioned populous, but lets not dwell on the negative and focus on the positive, shall we?
This years Halloween began with decorating the shop in lovely horror related gore, this task is always my favourite.



 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A start of a new Halloween season also means all the gory makeup products we get to play with. Since zombies and the undead are very In Vogue this year we have had to learn how to do basic special effect makeup to teach the kind folk of Melbourne. Warning, the next photos are gory.
 

 
  

 
 
 
 



  


 

 
 
 
I also got to play with the new line of vampire teeth. Didn't really get that sultry undead look down pat, I guess I'll have to kiss that dream of being an extra on True Blood goodbye.
This time of year also means I have an excuse to wear spooky theme attire which gave me the perfect excuse to buy the new Monster print skirt from Pinup Girl Clothing.
 
 


 
 
 
Having been a fan of Pinup Girl Clothing for many years I am always blown away by their new collection in Autumn, they seem to raise the bar each year which always leads me to sticking my hand into my wallet and parting with all my coin. This skirt was no exception, as soon as I saw it I had to have it. The print is amazing and bright featuring all the classic horror villains in cute cartoon form. The only downside to skirt was that I found the fit a bit off due to the large band at the top. I think this might be due to my waist to hip ratio rather than a design fault from the manufacturer. I would definitely recommend the skirt for all those looking for some extra spook this October.
 
Well that's all for now folks, stay tuned for Part II of my Halloween update where I'll be looking at last years costumes and what I have come up with for this year.
 
 
 
Happy Halloween!
 
Until next time,
Your friendly neighbourhood Red Velvet Rosie.