Loving Boudoir Girls Galway!!!

Recently Caroline and I attended one of our great friends hen parties in Galway. It was a stylish, relaxed and laid back affair set in the The Raddison Blu Galway. The weekend was made extra special by the lovely Natalie from Boudoir Girls who took pictures of the whole group within the theme of Desperate Housewives.

Boudoir girls arranged for everyone to have their make-up done whilst we sipped bubbles. The whole event took place in a fabulous private room in the hotel in front of a roaring fire and Christmas tree.

Whats not to love!?!

Below are a few pictures of Dirty Fabulous dresses in attendance and some perfect group pics.

The bride to be absolutely adored the whole afternoon and has the photos as a keepsake for such an important event.

I couldn't recommend Boudoir Girls enough! There wasn't one person in the group who didn't love their photo, even Caroline who's worst nightmare is spending an afternoon having her picture taken raved about it and as you can see from below her picture is gorgeous!

Caroline wearing her vintage fire engine red satin party dress

I'm wearing a 1950s ice blue satin halter-neck prom dress embellished with sequins

Dirty Fabulous 1950s green/blue satin brocade wiggle dress

Desperate Housewives eat your heart out!

 Housewifey fun and frolics!

A lovely memento for the Hen of the whole group

1960s Cooooool!

Oh this is good, it's very very good! Makes me want to time travel back to the swinging 60s, don a teeny mini, rock a pixie crop and trot around arm in arm with a stylish bad boy!

Sweetrider from best day productions on Vimeo.

Thought I'd share this super stylish video from the 'Modfather' shoot which featured some Dirty Fabulous retro frocks and accessories. 

Something a little different for two Dirty Fabulous brides...

An Evening Affair

Claire wore her Dirty Fabulous 1950s yellow tulle prom, bespoke emerald green hair piece and green beaded bag during her wedding abroad. I absolutely adore the colour combinations. The whole look is super fun!

1940's Sophistication

Elaine was the epitome of vintage elegance on her wedding day with Dirty Fabulous 1940s lace wedding gown and full length veil. 

Christmas Gifts good enough for Elizabeth Taylor!

Elizabeth Taylor's passion for beautiful jewellery is world renowned and well chronicled. Elizabeth worked and saved from a young age to buy her first pieces of costume jewellery. After she married her first husband Mike Todd she began collecting more exquisite pieces as Mike would use any occasion to bestow a diamond encrusted gift on his new wife! Her collection grew, vastly, as did the number of her marriages. Richard Burton in particular showered the great love of his life with the worlds rarest and most spectacular diamonds.

Elizabeth believed herself to be the temporary guardian of her jewellery collection. She knew one day it would be  auctioned off to other lucky collectors, indeed the most recent auction of her amazing collection took in €89 million, a staggering figure!

Now as much as we all would have loved one of these fine pieces unfortunately the prices are way beyond us mere mortals, but luckily, Dirty Fabulous has your back!

Like Elizabeth we love the sparkle, and whereas Elizabeth's were diamonds and emeralds ours are rhinestone but they still look stunning.

 Below are a few of our vintage necklaces, brooches, bracelets and earrings from the 1930's to 60's that evoke the glamour of Elizabeth Taylor.

The prices range from €80 to €160

An elegant piece of jewellery that you have spent time choosing for the one you love makes the perfect gift for Christmas.

For any more information on our vintage jewellery or appointments call on 01 6111842 or email info@dirtyfabulous.com

Rose Lawless: The Dazzling Cabaret Revolution!

The hilariously entertaining Rose Lawless is back with a Christmas Cabaret from December 17th to 22nd in The New Theatre.

We're huge fans here in Dirty Fabulous and can't wait to see what Rose Lawless has up her sleeves this year! Tickets are available from The New Theatre and are a friendly on the festive pocket €15.

Vintage dress is encouraged and there are lots of prizes throughout the run for best dressed, Dirty Fabulous will be there on the 20th to help with the judging.

Now...what to wear?

Oscar The Hypno Dog

I love dogs...I love this poster...I pretty much love everyone involved with this album...This is so up Dirty Fabulous's street that after we've reluctantly moved on from the Christmas music in the shop we will be serenading you with this! The album is available to download now from Itunes or pop into a store and buy it the old fashioned way!!!

To raise even more money for Dogs in Distress a benefit event will take place on Friday 14th of December in The Working Mans Club in Dublin.

Tickets are €20 and are available from Ticketmaster.

The night will feature some very special guests and some very special donated prizes for the audience to get their mitts on, including a mint condition pair of ivory kid leather Christian Dior 3/4 length gloves from Dirty Fabulous.

I've had my eye on these since we sourced them and I have to say I'll miss them desperately but my loss is Dogs in Distress's gain!!!

Christmas Vintage Life

1950's De Paul red wool beaded cardigan €140

1940's sheer ivory pleated blouse €180

1950's plush black fur stole €260

1960's full length black brocade coat with rhinestone buttons and trims €640

1950's plush black fur stole €260

1950's Red satin wiggle dress €240

1950's Suzy Perette black taffeta prom dress €380

1950s shelf bust ivory tulle dotted gown €690

1940's sheer ivory pleated blouse €180

1950s cream fully beaded one shoulder wiggle dress €520

1940's dark mink cape €320

Dirty Fabulous featured in an utterly smashing festive edition of Vintage Life Magazine styled by Carmel Daly.

Vintage Life is packed full of retro fashion and beauty articles along with fascinating vintage tit-bits! We have just signed up to a subscription but you can buy them in Easons on O'Connell Street, Dublin.

The whole look is gorgeous and the red head model has more than a look of Bette Davis! 

For your Christmas party outfits and gifts call us on 01 6111842 or email info@dirtyfabulous.com for an appointment.

The Vintage Sessions on Saturday 8th of December

Now here is a something worth checking out!

Irene O'Brien and Ruth Ruth Griffin present The Vintage Sessions which takes place on Saturday 8th at The South William Space . 

The day begins at 11am and runs right up until 7pm with discussions on vintage fashion in Ireland and style icons, complimentary retro hair and make-up styling, vintage shopping and more!

Dirty Fabulous is fully booked with appointments that day but we hope to pop over for some oogling and chats.

Definitely not a vintage event to be missed!

Tickets are €15 and include a mini retro make-over...total bargain!!! For tickets email  thevintagesessions@gmail.com 

You can find The Vintage Sessions on Facebook

 https://www.facebook.com/TheVintageSessions

and Twitter

https://twitter.com/VintageSessions

Damn Fine Broads

For your amusement and entertainment I have selected a bevy of vintage Hollywood leading ladies. Each woman has led a really fascinating life and I will probably return to them individually in future blog posts, it feels wrong to say so little about such larger than life characters in this post but I don't want to overwhelm you with information!
Instead I am giving you a taster menu, including some advice and observations they delivered and suggestions of movies to catch their fabulousness in!!
There's nothing better on a cold dark evening than to light the fire, open a bottle of red wine and settle in with a classic movie.

These are not ladies to mess with!

Let's begin with the sassiest broad of them all, my personal favourite, the one and only......

Mae West

“Love thy neighbor -- and if he happens to be tall, debonair and devastating, it will be that much easier.” 

“Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.” 

"Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution."

Check her out in "I'm no Angel" 1933

Katherine Hepburn

"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun"

Absolutely hilarious in "Bringing up Baby" with Cary Grant 1938

Bette Davis

"Everybody has a heart...except some people."

Please Santa, I would like Bette's outfit, I've been mostly good, mostly...

Watch her in "Dark Victory" 1939 

(starring alongside George Brent*, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald & Ronald Reagan!)

*George Brent hailed from Roscommon and fled Ireland with a bounty on his head having served in the IRA during the war of independence 1919 - 1922. He was highly regarded by Bette Davis and starred alongside her in 13 films.

Joan Crawford

"Love is a fire, But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell"

Watch her in "Letty Lynton" 1932

(The dress above, designed by Adrian for the movie "Letty Lynton", was copied by Macy's in 1932 and sold 500,000 replicas across America!)

Judy Garland

"Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of someone else."

Check out the fabulous gowns in full technicolor in "Meet me in St. Louis" 1944

Jean Harlow

"Must I always wear a low cut dress to be important?"

"When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas."

Lauren Bacall

"I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that"

"You don't always win your battles, but it's good to know you fought"

Watch her in " How to marry a millionaire" 1953

 in one of her more comedic roles, 

co starring Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable and some really awesome fashion!

Ingrid Bergman

"Be yourself. The world worships the original."

"Happiness is good health and a bad memory."

You can catch her in the classic "Casablanca" co starring with Humphrey Bogart
but if you have seen that already you should definitely watch her in the Hitchcock thriller "Notorious".


I hope you enjoyed this post and you manage to catch some of the movies I have suggested.
Pour yourself a glass of wine, switch off the laptop and your phone, get cozy on the sofa and relax,
you won't be disappointed!!

xxx Caroline xxx