I LOVE LIMOGES

I have a slight obsession with Limoges jewellery.  Limoges is a type of porcelain produced in France from the 1700's (& replicated in America) and is usually decorated very beautifully; you can get everything from plates to minitures, but it's the jewellery that I'm really in love with.  I'm no expert when it comes to antiqiues, and have no idea what's what; I've done a bit of research into what the different stamps mean but I tend to just go with the ones that I think are pretty as I'm using them as fashion accessories rather than collectables.   There are numerous designs available but lots of the jewellery tends to feature these lovely little romantic scenes, such as a French man serenading his beloved...if only!!

my limoges and frilly collar combo

This is my favourite necklace,  which always gets lots of compliments when I wear it. I like to team it with blouses, especially this one with the frilly lace collar which creates a really vintage look.

Limoges broach, necklace and ring at Mad Elizabeth Vintage

 My love for limoges has also spilled over into the shop and here are a few of the bits we've got in at the moment.  If they don't sell I'll happily keep them.

STYLISH CUSTOMERS

We have had some very stylish ladies pop into Mad Elizabeth Vintage today so I took the opportunity to snap some of their wonderful outfits.

Tweed jacket - perfect for Autumn

Beautiful little details

 

 There is no doubt that this is a very stylish Autumn look and I really love the little bits of detail like the cute little bows and collar on the blouse.  Tweed jackets are right on the money in this season but the additional detail of plain fabric on the front and rear of this one make it extra special.

Statement cardigan and lovely accessories

fluffy boots!

The first thing that stood out to me about this outfit was the statement cardigan with it's bold design on the front and back.  The additions of the gorgeous handbag & horseshoe necklace make this an all round great look.  I'm lusting after those fluffy boots too!

Laced tied around handbag is a sweet little touch

subtle clashing patterns on scarf & skirt works really well

 There is so much going on with this outfit from the fur coat with the vintage scarf over the top to the polka dot tights.  This girl has got accesorising down to a T with the use of beautiful jewellery and little touches like the lace tied onto her bag.  I absolutely love the skirt too, can you believe it's from Primark?

TODAY I'M WEARING...

Here it is, my very first outfit post!  As I said previously, Amy from Vintage Reflection has been on at me to do this for a while so she will be very pleased with me.  In this post you are getting two for the price of one as I've aslo included Heather's outfit from today too!

My favourite part about my outfit is without a doubt the sheepskin coat, which I got from the lovely Clare from Second Hand Rose at a vintage fair in Birmingham last year.  I didn't take it off all of last winter and I predict that this year I will be sporting it on a daily basis once again.  If you ever find yourself in Worcester I strongly recommend a visit to her shop, she has some amazing vintage pieces and her prices are always fantastic too.

I'm wearing:

Coat - Vintage (Second Hand Rose)

Shirt - Primark

Shorts - Vintage

Belt - Primark

Boots - past season Urban Outfitters

Bag - Vintage (charity shop find)

The blouse Heather is wearing is one I picked out at a Vintage Fair at the weekend. I brought a few home with me as they were such a good deal (£5 each or 5 for £20).  This isn't actually the one I had in mind for her as it's not her usual style but I'm sure you'll agree it looks fab on her and the lace collar is such a lovely little detail.

Heather wears:

Shirt - Vintage

Skirt - past season H&M

Bag - Vintage

Watch - Mad Elizabeth 
Shoes - New Look

MAD ELIZABETH PICKS

I thought I'd do a quick post to share some of my favourite things in the shop at the moment (nothing wrong with a bit of shameless self promotion right?).  I often want to keep a lot of the lovely stuff we get in but thankfully it doesn't always fit or isn't my style, otherwise we would have a very empty shop.  The things I've selected here are all fairly smart and ladylike which is a look I've never been able to master, except for weddings, but even then it has been a struggle and I've never felt like myself.

Wool felt hat £12 - Mad Elizabeth

We've had a few felt hats in and I think they are the perfect winter accessory.  Unfortunately, being short and having a small head means that any hat like this seems to look too big for me so I'm going to have to stick to smaller wooolen ones. 

Embroidered Floral Bag £18 - Mad Elizabeth

    I love the pretty floral embroidered detail on this bag and really wanted to keep it for myself but in reality it's too ladylike to go with anything I wear.  The other reason I decided not to keep this bag is that I don't get on with bags that I can't put over my shoulder, I barely function when I've got both of my hands free so if I had to hold a handbag too I would certainly struggle.

Fur stole £40 - Mad Elizabeth

The final piece I've selected is this real fur stole.  A make-up artist recently carried out a shoot using some of our collection and we teamed this with a red dress to create a glamorous 1940's look, it looked gorgeous with the hair and make-up and I will be sure to post the images on here when I get hold of them.   Whilst I do not condone the use of real fur for fashion I would  rather see items such as this be recylced than dumped in a landfill somewhere.  Sadly there is still a demand for real fur out there so perhaps this could be solved by encouraging the recycling of vintage furs instead, or maybe I'm being a bit too idealisitic?

FIVE POUND FINDS

Last Sunday we had a stall at the Leeds Town Hall Vintage Fair.  This is one of our favourite vintage fairs to attend, not because we ever make much money but because we often come home with lots of goodies for ourselves.  There are over 60 stalls rammed with stunning vintage finds and there are usually a few that are really cheap, hence why we love it so much.

Last weekend, when I was about to leave the fair to go and open the shop, I had a final browse on my way out and was so glad I did when I came across this vintage nautical Jaeger Jacket for £5! Yes £5, I couldn't believe it either!  It was the perfect fit and I've already got an outfit in mind for its first outing.

     I also got these lovely little suede snow boots for £5.  Ok, so they are not the most stylish footwear on the planet but they have never been worn and the label says "by appointment to H.M. the Queen bootmakers" so if they're good enough for royalty they are good enough for me.  They are aslo wool lined and waterproof so I'll have toasty toes this winter.

      I bought a couple of dresses too which will no doubt be making an appearance on here at some point.

VERSACE FOR H&M

On 17th November the highly anticipated Versace for H&M collection will be available.  It all  looks pretty amazing and as promised the designs take heavy influence from those of the 90's when Versace was highly coveted with the price tag to match.  This time round it's a lot more affordable which no doubt will mean swarms of Fashionistas camping out to get their hands on it, even in the middle of November.  I am half tempted to join them, anyone else?

Versace for H&M £69.99

I don't think the Versace designs are very "me" but they've definitely got the wow factor and I would love to get my hands on some of the pieces.  The dress above caught my eye straight away, It's on the verge of being hideous and tacky (and some of you may think it is) but I'm still a little bit in love with it, which is what makes it quintessentially Versace.  You can check out the full collection here on the Vogue website.

After seeing the new H&M collection I had to go hunting for some images of some genuine 90's Versace and came across Zone7Style Blog featuring items from their online shop aswell as some fab retro Versace images like the one above.  I seriously suggest checking out this blog and clicking on the Versace label and then gaze in wonder at the pictures of some seriously amazing clothing. Here are a few of my favourites...

Vintage Versace Istante Silk Print Vest from Zone7Style

Vintage Versace Print Skirt from Zone7Style

Vintage Versace Sun and Palm print jacket from Zone7Style

The jacket is stil available to buy from Zone7Style if you've got £250 to spare! I wish I had!

ANTIFORM LAUNCH PARTY

A few weeks ago we had a party instore to celebrate the launch of our new concession Antiform. Their stuff is unique, absolutely gorgeous, made right here in Leeds and fits in really well with the vintage clothing we sell.  They even designed some Mad Elizabeth exclusives which are available in the shop now.

Photo by Alex Coley

 

Photo by Alex Coley

On the night we offered exclusive discounts, beer, wine, cake and had live music from Sponsored Birds.  It was great to see so many people in the shop enjoying themselve (including myslef - I was a bit worse for wear the following day when I had to come in and clean up).

Photo by pigbaby

Photo by pigbaby

Heather & I with Lizzie from Antiform
Photo by pigbaby

   






































I was way too busy on the night to take any photos so this lovely lot are courtesy of Alex Coley and Pigbaby, you can check out more pictures from the night here.

A CHANGE IS BETTER THAN A REST

When I initially set up this blog it was to capture the amazing street style I was seeing on my jaunts up and down the country.  At the time I was spending every weekend travelling to vintage fairs here there and everywhere with my partner in crime Heather and decided to start a street style blog in an attempt to document the wonderful outfits I was seeing.  These days we are a lot more static, infact we have opened our very own vintage shop called Mad Elizabeth in the wonderful city of Leeds, and whilst we are still selling our wares at plenty of fairs we are often flying solo whilst the other one stays in the shop, so trying to run a stall and take street style shots is near enough impossible.

As you can see I haven't posted for about a year so I thought why let a perfectly good blog name go to waste and have decided to pick it back up again but with a different angle.  I am still planning to have an aspect of street style as I do love it so, and we are never short of well dressed people coming into the shop to snap, but I also plan to talk about our lovely little shop and other adventures on the blog too. Amy from the wonderful Vintage Reflection is always on at me to start blogging my outfits so I will try and do a bit of that on here too.

No doubt Mad Elizabeth is going to be mentioned a lot on this blog so I thought I'd start off with a picture of the shop (& me)  which was taken by a professional photographer for Leeds Corn Exchange where our shop is located along with lots of lovely independents.