The Ladybug’s Jamboree Dress Up: Summer Jamboree Day #2

With Summer ending just a couple days ago, I really felt that I needed this post to refresh this beautiful summer that started with this amazing experience- The Summer Jamboree in Senigallia.

I only spent the first weekend there before flying to Sicily: in my last post I showed you my outfit for Saturday and today it is my last outfit… Sunday evening.

Unfortunately; Sunday wasn’t as good a sunny day, but we managed to find a way to enjoying the day by visiting Marilyn Monroe’s expo first, then going South to get some great bargains in the Southern Marche outlets (ok, I bought a Miu Miu clutch!).

But we came back to Senigallia just in time to enjoy the night, but really enjoy it! We had been around the market to meet old and new friends, but we also drank beer and danced all night long! It was really great!

And this is my second outfit: I wore a polka-dot dress that I bought in Humana Vintage in Milan, I think it is from the ’80s but it has a ’50s flare that I liked! I added the same shoes (Swedish Hasbeens) and bag (Divas Vintage) from the previous outfit, but I added something new: a beautiful handmade hairband that I got from Bebop a Hairbands, a lovely English lady who makes beautiful headbands with a ’50s inspiration. I fell in love with this one with the ’50s cars and purple dots, I thought it was the perfect moment!

Another piece that caught a lot of attention that night was this amazing pair of ’50s frames that I bought some years ago from Auntie Aviator during my first visit at Pop Up Vintage Fairs in London. I would love to meet her again when I go back to London because I really believe that she has the greatest frames in London. These are a one-of-a-kind piece of art; every time I wear these glasses people stop me to ask me where I got them (which happened during that night many times!).

By the way; I was going for a “Pin Up” touch with both outfits. Did I make the mark?  Tell me, which outfit you prefer, day one or day two?

The Ladybug’s Jamboree Dress Up: Summer Jamboree Day #1

After my first experience at Summer Jamboree last year the only thing that I had in mind was going back again this year! Yes, because my first year was more like my year of satisfying a curiosity: I didn’t know exactly what to expect and though everyone talked about it, I wanted to see for myself. I enjoyed it very much, but I wasn’t prepared (neither my mood or mode) for the full ’50s immersion… but this year, I was ready!

I not sure what I can say about the Summer Jamboree to add to its allure… I mean, who doesn’t know it? I did an article this month on Vintage Shopper giving a bit more detail about these great and magical 10 days in Senigallia; so if you really don’t know what I am talking about you can read it all here.

I spent the first weekend of the Festival in Senigallia and I must say that I enjoyed it even more than last year: first of all the weather was great and I could enjoy the beach where part of the ’50s show happens during the day, plus I was very into trying new outfits for the event.

This is my first outfit, the one I used for the Saturday night when I enjoyed the Ben E. King concert.

I decided on this floral dress from the late ’50s that I bought in New York at one of my favorite vintage boutiques: Hamlet Vintage. When I tried it on everyone in the shop said that this dress was made for me! And I think it really was because it fits my shape almost perfectly and even if I have a few more kilos than when I bought it, it still fits lovely! The dress is an original piece from the ’50s, but all the accessories are reproductions, except for the bag.

I am wearing my adored Swedish Hasbeens sandals and this amazing headpiece made from Nicoletta of Shabby Chic who told me that she made it thinking of a lovely hair piece for the Summer Jamboree! I guess I wore it for the perfect event then!

My bag is a bit younger… or older, depending on your perspective (I think it may be from the ’70s). It’s a beautiful find from the Divas Vintage store in Ljubljana I picked up some time ago.

The Ladybug Takes a Gander at the ’50s: Front and Center at the Une Nouvelle Vie Catwalk in Milan

This story starts last summer, during my visit to the Summer Jamboree in Senigallia: one night, while walking among the crowded streets of the city center, a lovely stall that sold Besame Cosmetics caught my eye. I was so surprised to see this in Italy that I had to stop and talk to the lovely blonde lady who was selling it among amazing ’50s dresses and accessories. This is how I met Antonella, the soul of Une Nouvelle Vie: we started chatting about our passion for vintage, especially the American style style of the ’50s, her trip to the States fifteen years ago and how she fell in love with this vintage era. We enjoyed our conversation so much that we decided to keep in touch and meet again.

I, indeed, got very excited when she invited me to the catwalk she prepared for her temporary exposition at the beautiful Spazio Epicuro in Milan. Une Nouvelle Vie will be exposing and selling her beautiful creations at this lovely venue until the 31^st of December, and to celebrate that she organized a beautiful catwalk with an aperitivo last Thursday.

Let me tell you, straight away, that I was very impressed with the location: Spazio Epicuro is a cultural center where creativity, fashion and quality meet in one place. Two floors of expos of different talented artists (I also spotted Colazione Da – the bakelite artist! – creations!) and a special vintage corner on the -1 floor.

I enjoyed the catwalk very much and for many reasons:

First of all the clothes and accessories, sometimes recreated from vintage patterns, were all done with great attention to quality and detail. The amazing mix of vintage and retro inspired, ’50s pinup and classy “Mad Men-ish” woman really amazed me! At some point I realized that I wanted them all!

From work-wear to cocktail dresses, the woman that the atelier Une Nouvelle Vie presented is classy and sexy, glamorous and creative, ironic and fussy all at the same time.

Part of this success also comes from the models on the catwalk: mostly friends and customers of the atelier who represented perfectly the beauty of the awesome average woman, the same woman that Antonella wants to dress. “I want to dress and make happy every femininity and body shape,” she declared. Beautifully styled by Antonella’s stage hand (who also took care of hairdos and makeup), the models gave good life to the creations.

For more information you can visit Une Nouvelle Vie site: www.unenouvellevie.it.

You can see a couple pictures that we took during the show here. But you can see them all on our Facebook pages by tomorrow. Don’t forget to have a look and give us a LIKE!

For the occasion I wore Everybody’s Buying Vintage vintage blouse, Zara pencil skirt and XC-Xacaret platform shoes. I added a patent black clutch from Dappa Boutique (one of my favorite vintage boutiques in London) and an handmade retro inspired fascinator by the London designer Emin & Paul.

The Ladybug Accepts the Call of Summer Jamboree 2013: Senigallia By Night

For those of you who never heard about the Summer Jamboree, it is definitely the most important, famous and amazing Italian Festival of the American culture and music of the 1940s and ’50s. It started 13 years ago and year by year it attracts people from all over the world, all ages and cultures in a beautiful festive atmosphere which I enjoyed during that weekend.  Ten days of music, costumes, clothes, accessories from the ’50s… you almost have the feeling of living during that era.

I was surprised by the massive amount of people walking around the streets of Senigallia on Saturday night, moving from a stage to another places in some of the central squares of the village to listen to the best Italian and International Americana artists, or dancing rock ‘n’ roll or just shopping vintage and retro clothing in the many stalls all along the lovely streets of the town. From neophytes to aficionados, everybody tried to honor the Festival by wearing something ’40s/’50s, rockabilly style! I was completely amazed by the crazy quantity of events, concerts, parties: Hawaiian inspired parties, Burlesque classes, vintage car expo and even a Johnny Cash expo!

During the day, the beaches are full of adorable pin-ups in their ’50s bathing suits- enjoying the Adriatic sea and the town is a desert (only me visiting around apparently!), but when the night falls everything changes and that’s when the party begins! It is impossible to describe the amount of people invading the streets of the city center, but the atmosphere is magical! I also managed to buy some little things (a beautiful Laura Ashley dress at “Fermata d’autobus”  a lovely seller from Livorno  and a pair of vintage “’80s does ’50s” sunglasses from Punti di Vista… you will see them both worn here soon!). And for sure it was great to say cheers to my friend Marco from Opherty & Ciocci who brought some of his amazing stuff as well.

I decided to KISS… “keep it simple & sexy,” yet inspired: I wore a simple one strap black body top by Topshop and a long black skirt from American Apparel; I added my new vintage Prada black sandals and then I went for a touch of red and a touch of retro! A vintage red clutch and a beautiful red orchid hair-clip that I picked up on Ebay! …Red lips (Armani… my new favorite lippy) and nails (Chanel Dragon) and a pair of amazing original glasses from the late ’40s found in Reggio Emilia from Tabatà Vintage.

The Ladybug Accepts the Call of Summer Jamboree 2013: Senigallia by day

I know it may seem strange, but this year (for the first time) I finally managed to spend a weekend in Senigallia for the Summer Jamboree.

We will talk in more detail about the event in my next post, but let me tell you that it was one of the most amazing weekends I’ve ever had!

As the weather didn’t seem nice, I decided to spend my first day hanging around Senigallia and visiting the lovely village instead of chilling at the beach (which I did the day after at the Conero as I told you last week!).  …Even if after lunch I decided to take some pictures at the famous “Rotonda sul mare” and walk all along the Riviera Adriatica of Senigallia.

The entire area is surrounded by beautiful sunflowers, so I couldn’t resist the temptation of getting pictured among these beautiful flowers that were taller than I!

For the occasion I am wearing a H&M floral playsuit, a pair of golden Miu Miu gladiator sandals (very old but seriously my favorite sandals!) and a lovely headband from Traffic People London.

I added my beloved Dior ’80s does ’50s cat sunglasses and a vintage red clutch bought on ebay some years ago!

The Ladybug Brings Hawaiian Style to Beautiful Conero Beach: “Buon Aloha”

Definitely, one of the smartest decisions I made this summer was to take multiple short holidays. This had two great advantages: I traveled a lot and I felt as if I were always on vacation even during my “work breaks!” We’ll talk in more detail next week about the Summer Jamboree that I attended a few weeks ago in Senigallia, but for now let me just say that this was a great occasion to become aquainted with a region of Italy that I wasn’t very aware of: Marche.

During the day my friend and I decided to visit the famous area of Conero. With its beautiful white sand beaches and turquoise sea, it was a drastic contrast from the Northern Adriatic Sea that I knew of from my University years (I was an aficionado of the noisy Riviera Romagnola!).

I took inspiration from the Hawaiian inspired parties of the Summer Jamboree for this beach outfit. I’m wearing a hibiscus printed dress (from an old Kate Moss for Topshop collection), my Ipanema flip-flops and a white hibiscus in my hair! I completed the look with a one of the finds from last month’s Serravalle Outlet shopping marathon: a pair of ’50s inspired Prada sunglasses from last year’s collection! I hope that you like the simple yet funny beach outfit and the amazing landscape!