Saturday, February 28, 2009

Trim Reflections


Whilst out and about on our travels in search of vintage treasures for the website, we come across so many wonderful and fascinating finds that it is often hard to resist their appeal, and this in turn, leads us into different areas of vintage and collecting. One such area which holds a great fascination for me is vanity, grooming and beauty. This covers a vast and diverse range of pretty items, so there is plenty of scope for building collections and displays.


When I came across this beautiful Victorian Y & N Corset advertising mirror at a recent antiques fair I couldn't resist its rarity and simple beauty...

...with its delicately etched glass lettering and original heavy wooden frame. Women today have a significantly different life from those in Victorian days and one of those contrasts is in the way we dress. My research on the Y & N corset revealed it was really rather innovative in its day, being heralded as 'the most comfortable corset ever made'.

But I have to wonder just how comfortable it was. History has documented the terrible damage to women's organs, which was attributed to the long-term wearing of the restrictive corsets and ladies would often faint because they were unable to breathe properly!

The Y & N corset was revolutionary in its day and its 'diagonal seam' gave the corset extra strength and created a more pronounced hourglass figure. It featured a heart-shaped bust and was popular for evening wear and cleavage enhancement! I don't doubt it was still highly restrictive for women and having never worn a corset (honestly!) I can only imagine how it must have felt to wear one.

So, given the emancipation of today's Western women, many vintage vanity and grooming items are not only desirable and decorative objects, they are also a reminder that things were very different for our female ancestors.

A Special Thank You!

We would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone who has emailed us or left a comment with regard to our new-look website. We were overwhelmed with the response and consequently have been working very hard packing and posting for the last couple of weeks! We are continuing to add new stock and are delighted to reveal that we have also been lucky enough to obtain some real beauties for the textiles section - these will be finding their way onto the website in the coming weeks. Thank you all once again and don't forget you still have time to enter the prize draw (see post below.)

Saturday, February 14, 2009

An Anniversary Celebration for Valentine's Day!


We are delighted to announce that today is the 2nd Anniversary of the Vintage Home online shop! It is thanks to you all that our little shop has grown and grown over the past couple of years and although we know you love the individual style of the website, in celebration of our anniversary, we have revamped the website and given it an all-new look, plus there are two new exclusive additions to the shop - and a free prize draw!

Of course, we are continuing to bring you the most gorgeous vintage treasures as well as new features, even more beautiful images - and a home page with a different flavour to it each time you visit or refresh the screen - try it and see! Yes, Mike has certainly been very busy over the past few months and created an altogether and rather different look to Vintage Home!

As well as the varied vintage selection of goodies, we are thrilled to offer our very own bone china mug! This has been designed by us and is exclusive to Vintage Home. The pattern is based on a 1940s wallpaper...

...handmade in England using fine bone china...

...and traditional printing methods.

Plus, there's another exclusive; an all-new design of mouse mat...

...fresh and pretty polka dots on blue with pink rosebuds!

This pattern is based on a 1950s fabric which we have treasured for years but simply haven't been able to bring ourselves to cut up for use in sewing projects. By the way, our ever-popular Victorian roses mouse mat is still available too!

As always, we've been busy finding some truly amazing vintage delights and, along with many more, they have been added to the shop today, including these lovely ladies...
...a 1930s French mannequin head...

...a 1920s decorative box...

...and a delightful Victorian chromo.

As a thank you for your custom and comments over the years, we have put together a rather special box of indulgent goodies and would like to invite you to take part in a prize draw.

We thought it would be fun to make it into a little 'treasure hunt' with a Valentine's connection - click HERE for details of how to enter - you can also leave a comment on this post and, if you have the time, I would really love to hear what you think of the new website!

We hope you enjoy the new-look website and we look forward to bringing you even more beautiful vintage treasures for many more years to come! Happy Valentine's Day!