Bag pr0n

Ooooooh, feast your eyes on this baby. In my post about Vintage Sunday, I mentioned buying a cheapie bag, but I didn't talk about this little extravagance, bought from Scarlet Vintage. Frankly, any accessory that costs more than most of my dresses (NB: I'm a stingebag and a charity shopper, most of my dresses don't cost that much) deserves its own post. So here it is, a stunning suede one made by Riviera. I'll be saving this for special occasions. And yes, I will be painting my fence later this summer!

I think what really drew me to it was its dramatic shape, framed with bold brass. That and the fact that it has a little tortoiseshell-backed mirror inside, which I'm told has always been there, although it's different in style to the bag. No matter, I like it!

Although it's from the 1950s, I think the bag will work really well with my dieselpunk day outfits at Waltz on the Wye, and it's roomy enough for things like hotel keys, purse, lipstick and all the other gubbins I'll be carrying around.

Scarlet Vintage also had this incredible dress, cotton printed with images of Venice, for sale at the Secret Tea Party. It was sold to them by its original owner, who bought it early in the 1960s – so, a wonderful example of how '50s' styles did carry on over into the early 1960s. Want it? They may still have it, if you're lucky...