Swimsuits, swimsuits, swimsuits !

Call them bathers, togs, swimsuits, swimming costumes or whatever you fancy, here in Australia while the weather is roasting, it is most deffinatly swimsuit time !!!

My darling friend Brooke gave me the most wonderful book for Christmas - "The Swimsuit" by Sarah Kennedy - and I have been gobbling up its pages for the past few weeks ! Picture if you will, sitting in the shade of a big willow, beside a pretty little lake while the kiddlie-winks splash and play, I lol on my towel in my replica vintage navy and white spotted cossie, reading this treasure filled snapshot of aprox. 100 years of bathing culture. It has been a wonderful summer so far, thanks to this highly informative reading adventure........

I simply adore vintage swimsuits, but unfortunatly, have yet to own an authentic original. I have a couple of replica's, and am continuously hunting for good vintage bathers patterns to make some of my own, however, both vintage bathers and vintage bather patterns are as elusive as deep sea pearls to a person who mearly splashes at the shore ! Once again, my darling friend Brooke to the rescue - she has a couple of gorgeous vintage bathers that she has used in her photo shoots........

(Hubby and I model for Brooke in one of her darling Jantzen vintage swimsuits - above)

I can also reccomend My Sister Pat for lovely cotton vintage style one and two peice bathers. Great for swanning by the pool and looking glamerous, probably not so hot for intense training and laps !!!

In last years January edition of "Notebook" magazine, the following replica vintage bathers appeared on the cover, to my utter delight and I promptly raced out and bought myself an edition of the magazine hoping to find details of stockists. To my disapointment there was no listing of the stockists to be found anywhere in the magazine - can anyone help with this information?

And finally, something for all Wintersun, Circa Vintage and Lindy Charm School for Girls devotees to get excited about !! Appearing at this years Wintersun festival will be the following:

Ooooooh, I am so excited about this !!! I have been wishing Wintersun would include fashion parades at their festival for years and years !! Now my dream has finally come true !!! I am so delighted to see vintage love spreading more and more to fashion and cultural history, and not simply music and cars (though I love them too!!)!!! Be sure you get there and support this wonderful event !!!

Dita Von Tease looking resplendant as always !

Blonde bombshell Mamie Van Doren

I would love to hear any vintage bathers stories my friends and readers would like to share, any great shops for bathers and patterns, any advice and tips on caring for vintage bathers - please leave your comments and lets all share our vintage bathers love !!!!

First Day of Summer...

Today (December 1st) is the first day of our Australian summer...time for those who love the look of Dita Von Tease (as I do!!) to get out the broad brimmed hats, paper sun parasols and the sunscreen to preserve or English rose complexions! I am 30-something now, and I wish I had heeded the advice of my Grandma Jean away back in my primary school days. Grandma always told me time and again to cover up (hat, sunscreen, etc) whenever I was in the sun or I would end up "looking like a wrinkled old prune" - and she was so right ! But it is so much more than prevention of wrinkles and skin cancers.....protection from the sun will also prevent blemishes and discolouration that are really the first tell tale signs of an aging face. Oh to go back in time knowing what I know now !! Young girls, if you are reading this please protect your skin ! You will thank me for it one day !

There are products and cosmetic procedures to remove the signs of sun damage (think Nicole Kidman - what did she have done to remove all those 'BMX Bandit' freckles, I am desperate to know ?!!!) but at this point in time they are very expensive ($2500-$3000plus) with no real insights into long term health and safety from their use. The best cosmetic procedure once again is protect protect protect.

Personally, I don't like to go to heavy on the sunscreen as it leaves a very greasy look and heavy feel to my make up all day long - I cringe when I leave greasy finger prints on my glass sliding doors...my children do enough of that without my adding to it ! I am also quite wary of exposing my skin to too many chemicals - I once visited the snow with some friends and after putting sunblock on our faces, I reached out to wipe a dab of it off the car, and came away with sunscreen AND chips of blue paint off the car - not impressed !!!! For these reasons, although I am not into product promotion here, I prefer to use Olay SPF15 moisturiser every day - it is not too heavy, and the chemical component isn't as bad as an SPF30. For the rest I prefer old fashioned methods of hats, parasols and shade.

As you can see by the pictures I have attached to this post, people in the past have not always been aware that the sun is the primary cause of aging. Once again, Grandma was right - against all the information available at the time, she knew about skin health and I have to say, her complexion was beautiful right up into her 70's.......I only hope my grandchildren may one day be able to say the same about me........I think I will have to do something about these freckles for that to happen !!!!