The Sour Parts

Recently I worked with Sourpuss Clothing to produce a shoot along side my daughter wearing a newly release set of items. We got to strut our stuff on the river side in the Bee Mine dresses for both Mama and daughter. Margaux is quite the diva and was incredibly hard to shoot... but all her unrealistic demands aside we managed to capture a few great shots that I truly treasure.














It's been hot as Hades here and these pinafore style dresses are super lightweight material so they have quickly become go to staples in our summer wardrobe. But honestly my main obsession lies in the cute little bumble bee cardigan that pairs with the dress.  The little bows at the cuff??? Are you kidding me with this cuteness! Margaux loves the sweater too, but she is going through a princess phase at the moment and only wears dresses and proclaimed to me "Mom! Im a rockabilly princess!" Ha!
The whole thing reminds me of the mid-50s Family Circle magazines, where the fashion ads always featured a mother in a fabulous dress with her daughter donning matching threads. I think its a trend that would be lovely to revive!

Blushing

Recently I was contacted to review two lingerie lines, and share them with my lovely readers. I know many vintage loves also follow blogs such as the lingerie addict, and love the idea of classic looks, even under your clothes. Therefore, I accepted the offer, and present my consensus of Blush and Hot Milk.
For Blush Lingerie I test drove a very cute ecru bra set, which was super cute. This particular piece was not as vintage inspired as other pieces form their line. I was just excited that it fit true to size, which is always an iffy part of online ordering. Each piece is very beautiful, and well made. The price on some knickers is a little steep for my budget, but there are some great bras I would certainly buy, as they are quite reasonable. Plus, Dollhouse Bettie stocks them in plentiful supply, so we know they must be good!
The second line, Hot Milk, caught me slightly off guard as its a maternity line... and I am not currently with child. But having had kids, I suppose I could offer my opinion on this matter. This set was blue and had bows and ruffles.. the works. I mean, based on cute factor alone, I wish I would have had these when I was growing people. But the material is amazingly soft, and has so much stretch, you could literally sleep in it. The only down fall is that each piece is so adorned that there is nearly no way you could wear it under a T-shirt or thin skirt. But really, who cares, they are so stinkin' hot. Im not gonna lie. I wear this bra often.. shhh don't tell.

Rose Red

Not to detract from the BP Oil Spill post, but I thought we could use some fun news too. I don't want to get sucked into the hopeless terror of not being able to do anything, so I am trying to think happy thoughts about other things in my life.
I again modeled for Shristi Studios, this time an amazing red dress with built in crinoline! You can order off her site right now and get a discount using code "CONTESTG"
I won the contest over at her blog, so I should have a new dress coming in the mail. I wonder who else won... was it you?

On the note of winning things, I will be having a small (late) giveaway for my 600th follower this week! I am also putting together one for my 700th follower which is right around the corner. Thanks to all of my awesome blog readers! You guys are excellent.

Little Black Dress

There was a break in the rains today, though very brief. I was able to model at least one of the dresses that I was sent from Shristi Studios / Silk Bella. I hate being a slacker, and am usually pretty prompt, but the weather here has made it nearly impossible for any outdoor photography.

At any rate, I modeled this very soft, very lovely black number. I got to pair it with my favorite 1930s topper hat.

If you want to see the etsy listing go here and heart it so I look like people like me! Just kidding, but seriously, go check it out.

Dismantled Fashions, and Me.

I am excited to share my pictures from Vorpal Images for Dismantled Fashions. I had so much fun doing a retro style shoot, where I could be...myself. Normally when I model I steer clear of vintage and retro styled shooting, but I realize now how much I love just being me.
I had fun playing around with my my vintage accessories and styling it with Dismantled Fashions. I hope you like them I am in love!

You can click to enlarge to see the full view on any of those images.

To give credit where credit is due, the dress and bolero are by Dismantled Fashions.
The clutch wallet is by Trophy Queen.
The Hair clip is by Lucky Cupcake Hairclips.
The red sweater is mine, and the sweet shades are mine, purchased from Bombshell Bettie's.

Meet Nicole Katherine Designs...

Here in the US, we have a problem. I don't know if this problem applies to countries abroad, but here all of our working class, blue collar jobs are being shipped overseas. What used to be American jobs, paying a living wage, are now jobs that children and adults of china(or other..) work for pennies a day. This subject is very important to me. We spend a lot of time here in the Metropolitan House buying products still made in the USA, or fair trade foreign companies.
I encourage anyone I meet on the street, to buy from your own country, keeping jobs and living wages flowing in your own country. This has spurred a vintage, buy "locally" series in my mind.

The very first thought that came into my head for this series, Nicole Katherine Designs. Nicole makes wonderful vintage inspired pieces with a rockabilly flair, and employs sew houses here in the States. She says someday she may consider Foreign markets, like Mexico, but would like, "to participate in a community building program by giving jobs to a community in need and then making a donation to help add something positive to that community."

I emailed Nicole to see if she would share some insight on the world of fashion, clothing manufacture, and juggling a busy schedule. Below is what we got in return!

Nicole, what got you into the world of fashion design?
Believe it or not, I grew up in Montana. The major demographic of Missoula, Montana-- outdoorsy types, many with forestry jobs, or retired hippies and the children of the retired hippies-- you have very limited selection when it comes to shopping. So, given that the style in this region is lacking, plus I'm short and curvy (or used to be) I decided to start making my own clothing.

I learned how to sew from one of my aunts and my grandma. When I first started sewing, I would buy patterns that had a similar silhouette to a dress or outfit I'd seen in a punk or indie magazine and I'd make alterations to personalize the pattern to look similar to what I wanted to imitate in the magazines.

I enrolled in the Art Institute in Seattle for the fashion design program. Unfortunately, I dropped out after about 2 quarters, went on to major in three things after that and eventually got my BA in Writing and Literature. But, designing and sewing stuck with me.
I kept designing, practiced pattern making until I nailed it with near perfection and I started a small clothing line called Betty Buccaneer in 2003 or 2004. I moved to SoCal and my small clothing line Betty Buccaneer became more popular... Since I wanted to become more serious about taking my line into a professional direction I returned to FIDM to major in Apparel Manufacturing Management, and I changed the name of my line from Betty Buccaneer to Nicole Katherine.

What are you reasons for staying Made in the USA?
First and foremost, to ensure that human rights in the workplace are being upheld. If they're in question, I can call someone to check up on it to make sure that I'm not having my clothing produced in a work environment that is exploiting it's workers.
Most Americans don't understand just how horrible work conditions are in other countries, and the lengths some of these factories go to get cheap labor.
There's a reason that tshirt only cost $.50 cents to produce... either the workers that made it are working 12 hour days and are being paid below a livable wage (even for their country), children were basically sold to a company to work off debts... or the workers are not getting paid at all and are victims of human trafficking. Human trafficking is NOT limited to the sex industry.

Secondly, I love my country and I want to support its workers and do my part to contribute to rebuilding our economy.
did a lot of research to find the sewing contractor that I currently work with. I won't lie, I wish that the prices were cheaper, but at least I have a clear conscience knowing that all labor laws are being upheld and there are no exploited workers producing my apparel.

How do you juggle all the stress and work that must come along with owning a clothing line?
I honestly don't know. I have to take it one day at a time. ere are days that my business drives me to tears and I think of throwing in the towel and doing something else, anything else...
But, in all honesty I couldn't do it without the help of my family and the grace of God. I've also been fortunate enough to make friends with some very incredible people who have been a major source of support.
I know that I'm doing a lot, but for some reason it doesn't feel as overwhelming as it should. It does take me longer to do things than, say a company with several employees, but I'll get there eventually. I think most people got their start the same way that I did. It definitely takes sacrifice.

I think I'm one of the lucky few that can say that I feel complete in my career, family life, and spiritually. And, considering I'm a mom, that says a lot. I don't know many mom's that are blessed enough to juggle career and family to the extent that I've been able to do it. But, then again, I took only one week off after having a baby and my son has been part of the chaos since his first week of life!

Where can we buy your stuff?
Well hopefully within the next year my clothing will be available in more shoppes... but, for now the main place to buy is www.bettybuccaneer.com.
The sailor outfit, Armada Belle, is available at My Baby Jo in Culver City, CA. They also have a website www.mybabyjo.com.
There are also dresses for sale at Pinup Parade in England. They also have a website, www.pinup-parade.com.
And you can find my clothing at Minuteman Aviation in Missoula, MT for sale in their shoppe.
***


You can also keep up on all the Nicole Katherine news on Myspace and Facebook!

Laced.

Shot by Vorpal Images, Click to Enlarge.

I had the immense privilege of modeling with Vorpal Images again, this time for an amazing Corset maker, named Jill Hoverman. Her corsets are to die for, made of exceptional quality, and a relatively small price. They are made to order, so you get exactly what you want. I loved the one I wore, the other model's corset was extremely beautiful as well. I wore the Victorian era riding corset. I even got to wear an amazing headpiece, jacket and jewelry by Liaison. Everything at the shoot was lavish and divine. I wish I could have kept it all!

The day of the shoot I came down with Swine Flu, so I was a miserable wreck and wanted to cry the whole day. I am glad I stuck it out, because the shots were amazing! I am so excited to have them in my portfolio. Vorpal never ceases to amaze me with their amazing talent.

Atomic Daylight

This past week I had the lovely pleasure of modeling clothing for Jamie of Atomic Daylight. I froze my buns off shooting with photographer Mike Larremore on location in Portland. It rained us out within 30 minutes. Because of this, we were only able to get a few shots, but I like what we accomplished in that short time.
here is one of my favorites:

(click to enlarge.)
Shot by Mike Larremore, Clothing by Atomic Daylight.

For modeling her line I got to pick an item I wanted from her shop, which was a super nice surprise! I picked this cute Victorian inspired jacket. I could not pass on all the lace.
My hair looked awful the day I wore it, so you get a headless shot of Twila! But you get the idea. Its darling.
Here is a shot from Atomic Daylight's official site line of the jacket:

Shot by Danger Ninja for Atomic Daylight. Model is NOT me :)

Lost at sea..

This is why I have been posting so infrequently lately, I am the head organizer for this event here:

(click to enlarge.)
This is not the final edition, just what I have so far on the Flier.

I am helping a friend who owns Box Wine Betty put on a fashion show fundraiser for Children's Cancer Fund. If you live in the area, you should come its going to be amazing fun, with pin-ups, burlesque, and bands! So, pardon my lack of posting, I am working hard for a good cause!

Makings of a Model.

I have been focusing a lot of my energy lately as to where I want to go in modeling. As it stands I do not model often and it's only for entertainment. But once I got myself into it, I fell in love. I have so much fun and best of all, "me time."

Now my focus is making myself a persona, and getting the right contacts, networks, and friends.
I think I have settled on "Twila" for my name. Twila actually is sort of my nickname around here, and I feel better not having my real name in the public eye. I also feel that Twila has a nice vintage feel to it, and is not that common.

I suppose my next focus is creating a website, and building my modeling resumé. Under the guise of Twila Lune, I hope to move more fully into modeling for clothing designers and participate in more fun fashion shows. Wish me luck darlings!

Here is a shot from a shoot a while ago with Michael Jones, that was supposed to be used for a swing dancing class flyer. I am not sure what became of it, but here it is.

Shirt: Modern
Jumper: 40s from Etsy:CheepVintage
Shoes: 40s from the Urban Eccentric
Hair and MUA by Me