COOL CUSTOMER - ALICE

The lovely Alice came in today to purchase some denim shorts and I couldn't resist getting a picture of her fab outfit.

Alice - head-to-toe vintage!

vintage accessories

She was head-to-toe in vintage so definitely a girl after my own heart; I own a vintage shop and even then I sometimes struggle to wear an outfit made up of entirely vintage.  I love the docs and the way Alice has clashed the tie dye t-shirt with the bold printed shirt worn as a jacket.

MALAGA

At the start of September I went to Malaga to visit my friend Lorena.  I'd been to Malaga before but only for a couple of days so it was nice to explore the city properly.

It was great to be somewhere with a local as they know all the best beaches, places to visit and most importantly the best places to eat and drink.  One of my favourite places was El Pimpi Florida, it's a small typically Spanish bar that get's very busy, we had to get there early at 9pm to ensure we got a prime position at the bar (this was the earliest time we ate during my visit).  We drank wine, ate some delicious food and sang and danced to the Spanish music, lots of fun!  The barman even gave us a free bottle of wine when we paid the bill... only in Spain.

fun times and good food at El Pimpi Florida

Malaga is a great place to go in the Summer, it's a beautiful city and has beaches too so you get the best of both worlds.  The city itself is nice to wonder around as the centre itself is fairly compact,  it's worth checking out the newly redeveloped port area too as there's lots of nice bars and restaurants.  If you do venture to the port walk all the way to the very end bar (I can't remember the name), if you go on a Thursday the fantastic sharing plates are two for the price of one and the beer is very cheap (more local knowledge).

Alcazaba de Malaga

Me and the view from the Alcazaba

Another Alcazaba view

The Museo de Picasso is a MUST for any art lover.  It is full of over 3,800 pieces of Picasso work, all in chronological order which I really liked as you can see how his work developed over the years, there is also a section devoted to the artist himself which was really interesting.  Another highlight was the Alcazaba de Malaga, this old fort is beautiful to walk around and has amazing views over the city, coast and mountains.  The beaches aren't the most beautiful, but they are easily accessible from the centre which is a bonus, The Malagueta beach area is also great of an evening as there are lots of bars and restaurants where you can grab a cocktail and watch the sun go down.

on the beach

having a paddle

VINTAGE YVES ST LAURENT TRAPEZE DRESS

Our shop, Mad Elizabeth Vintage, is all about providing quality vintage and reworked clothing at affordable prices.  We aren't the richest of girls ourselves so we always try and think about what we'd pay for something when we are pricing things (probably why people always comment on how cheap some of our stuff is).  However, for the first time ever we ended up with an amazing designer piece in our possession... a vintage YSL dress!

70's Saint Laurent Rive Gauche dress £240

sooooo much fabric!

The dress is AMAZING, there is so much fabric on the dress which gives it loads of volume, sadly I am far to short and curvy to be adding more volume with clothes so I couldn't keep this gem for myself, I'm sure you'll agree it looks amazing on our model Ezra though.  It's from the YSL 'ready to wear' line, Saint Laurent Rive Gauche and we believe it to be from the late 70's.  It's a real statement piece, I just wish I had the figure to pull it off myself.  The dress is currently available in our  ASOS Marketplace boutique.

AMSTERDAM FISH EYE

I thought I'd share some of my fish eye film photos from a trip to Amsterdam in February.  It was a while ago but I wasn't blogging at the time, so here they are (only 5 months late)! 

en-route

the glamorous arrival 

There are so many beautiful things to take photos of in Amsterdam and our first day there was really sunny, unfortunately I didn't capture any photos of us swanning around the canals as I ran out of film and forgot to put a new one in my handbag.  That'll teach me to take pictures on the plane and of the plane, I do quite like the one out of the plane window though!

we loved the beds a bit too much

broken and about to get on a boat

boat fun

The first night there was pure hedonism and so we struggled to get out of bed the following day.  As terrible as these pictures are I think they pretty much sum up my trip to Amsterdam.  After spending most of Saturday in bed, we dragged ourselves out of our hotel room and onto a boat for a tour, which was really interesting and meant we got to see lots of the city.  I really want to go back and explore the place properly. 

unintentional double exposure

This last photo is of my friend Beth having a bagel in a bookshop on our last day, unfortunately I must have been too broken to even wind the film on so it ended up as a double exposure with Heather in a bus stop in Leeds a few weeks later. Better luck next time eh!

MAD ELIZABETH ON ASOS MARKETPLACE

As well as having our shop in Leeds Corn Exchange we also have an ASOS Marketplace boutique with an ever expanding collection of vintage and reworked clothing.

70's prairie dress & black maxi dress with lace sleeves, both Mad Elizabeth available from ASOS Marketplace

70's Aztec dress and pink crochet folk dress,  both Mad Elizabeth available from ASOS Marketplace

I'm not sure if it's the impending festivals we have coming up but I have personally gone a bit mad for anything with a folky 70's vibe at the moment, so loved shooting all these dresses on our gorgeous models Laura and Georgia.  We're trying to squeeze in as many shoots as possible so we can keep the boutique fresh.  You can check out the boutique here and if you follow us you'll be first to find out about any offers and when new stock is available.  We've also got a sale on at the moment with up to 50% off some of our stuff so even more reason to have a look.

KOOPLES COUPLES

I'm not generally a fan of magazine adverts (who is?), but I make an exception for one brand in particular and that's The Kooples. I am OBSESSED with their adverts! The reason for my obsession is the coordinated, beautiful and impeccably stylish "real" couples that feature in them. I say "real" because granted they are genuine couples but lots of them are also models (I discovered this when I found out you can read interviews with them on the Kooples website).

Beautiful Kooples Couples

Skull lace detail 

I've always admired the simplicity and sophistication of continental fashion but it isn't exactly me, I'm too much of a vintage loving scruff.  The Kooples collections have beautiful tailoring and attention to detail, such as the little skulls they work into the lace.  Maybe as I get older (and hence more sophisticated) I wouldn't mind sporting this sort of look... especially if there is a handsome French bloke in the equation too.

DOUBLE HIP CLUB @ WAX BAR

Every month Wax Bar in Leeds plays host to The Double Hip Club.  I try to go along when my diary and finances allow as it always proves to be a fun night with great 60's music (all vinyl might I add)!  I took my fish eye camera along a few months ago so thought I'd share them with you on here.

Helen, Aviva, Nadine and Heather @ Wax Bar

DJ Marko

Although you can't make them out that well from these photos there were some seriously good retro outfits in the room, Marko (the DJ) was wearing a rather awesome jacket which Heather liked so much that she pinched it and was wearing it for a while.

yummy Jever

I'm not much of a beer drinker but whenever I'm at Wax Bar I always have a Jever beer as they are pretty tasty and come in a big chilled glass from the freezer!

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA FOR H&M

The next designer brand in line to collaborate with H&M is Maison Martin Margiela.  I am intrigued by this collaboration and can't wait to see the collection in November as the brand is a lot more obscure and less well known than previous brands such as Versace and Marni.

wig coats! Maison Martin Margiela 2009

Back when I was completing my Masters in 2010, Amy from Vintage Reflection and I went to the Maison Martin Margiela exhibition at Somerset House with our tutor and I remember being completely blown away by it.  My memory isn't the greatest but it was completely different to anything I'd seen before, I recall clothing painted with white paint and a coat made from wigs (don't think that will be making it into the H&M collection but you never know).  Although some of the stuff I saw at the exhibition was bizarre and Margiela is often described as avant garde, when looking at some parts of the current seasons collection the clothing could be described a simplistic with a twist if that makes sense?

Maison Martin Margiela leather-trimmed mesh and perspex boots £675 from NET-A-PORTER

Maison Martin Margiela chiffon overlay leather biker vest £1,355 from NET-A-PORTER

As with all of these designer collaborations I very much doubt I'll actually be purchasing anything but I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what they come up with and how they will translate their obscure designs for the high street market.  What are you expecting from the collection and do you think you'll be making any purchases?

HANGING OUT WITH AMY

Back in March, I went down to London to visit Amy, my stylish and vintage loving friend who I met on my Masters course.  I started a new roll of film on my fish eye camera whilst I was down there and have only just got around the developing it so here are a few of my pictures.

cocktails at Barrio Central

    On the night of my arrival we went for happy hour cocktails at Barrio Central in Soho, I was boring and stuck to Mojitos but they were yummy and the happy hour price tag made them even more appealing.

Amy @ Lavish Habit - start of film d'oh!

enjoying the sunny window @ Lavish Habit

double exposure of my empty plate and tasty cakes on  the counter

The rest of my visit was very chilled and it was nice to just relax, catch up and hang out together. We went for coffee and cake at Lavish Habit in Balham, even though it was a while ago I can still remember what I had; a latte and a chocolate brownie (both delicious).  Lavish Habit isn't just a coffee shop, they also sell unique jewellery, clothing and most excitingly for me they have an entire downstairs area devoted to retro homewares... heaven! My fish eye photos aren't the best but Amy took some great piccies which you can check out on her blog here

Pub lunch fun with Coco 

Yummy pub lunch 

On my last day we went for a stroll and had a pub lunch, we even found a pub where we could take Amy's dog Coco inside, what a cutie!  

PATTIE BOYD

Although my personal style can often flit from decade to decade, 60's fashion will always remain my all time favourite.  I'm a huge Beatles fan which I think is what first spurred my love affair with the decade.  I've recently finished watching the Beatles Anthology DVD, which is full of interesting commentary and loads of performances and videos, some of which I hadn't seen before.

Pattie and George  - image from www.pattieboyd.co.uk

   In the promo video for Something, from their 1969 Abbey Road album, it was Pattie Boyd, wife of George Harrison, that really grabbed my attention.  She was no doubt extememly beautiful but she also had that quintessentially 60's look that I absolutely love (it's no surprise that she was model), I had to add a few pictures of her to my style inspiration board on pinterest.

Pattie Boyd - Images from www.fanpop.com

Pattie and George - image from www.fanpo.com

YORK

Yet again, this is a very belated post but I wanted to share these photos as they were taken in the beautiful city of York and include some of my first attempts at double exposures on my fish eye camera.  The photos were taken earlier this year, I can't remember exactly when but I know the weather was freakishly warm & sunny for that time of year.

double exposure York Minster

sisterly double exposure

I spent the day with my little sister, Sophie, who lives in York. The photo above is an attempted double exposure of the two of us whilst we were having a picnic at the back of York Minster, the more I look at it the more confused I get about what's what!

After our picnic we retired to one of our favourite York haunts, Coffee Culture, which is a fab little independent coffee place with lovely staff, delicious coffee and tasty food. Another one of my attempted double exposures was a complete fail, I was hoping the heart wouldn't be so prominent and that you'd be able to see Sophie's face but alas she ended up with a giant white heard for a head.

STREET ART FASCINATION

Generally when I go on a city break I like to go and check out some of the main attractions but one of my other favourite things to do is simply wonder the streets and see what I come across, it helps get a feel of what a place is really like.  I have a particular fascination with street art, and I find it equally as interesting to go and scope out this sort of thing as I do looking around an art gallery.

I visited Madrid (again all the way back in November, sorry for the epic delay) and these are a few of my favourites that I snapped as I wondered around, these were taken in the Latin Quarter which is jam packed with street art, well worth a look if you're ever there.

AN ATTEMPTED COMEBACK

We've been so busy with all things Mad Elizabeth that my poor blog has been completely abandoned since November... I'm ashamed. Anyway after a fairly unproductive week I think it's about time I attempted some sort of comeback.

ginge

Here I am with my ginger hair (it's been like this for a while now but since I haven't been blogging it never made it's blog debut). This piccie was taken on my lomography fish eye camera which I mentioned in my last post (all the way back in November).  I've been experimenting with it lots so I'll share some of the results with you in a later post.