Real Bride: Pretty, Pretty Pearls!

We're loving gorgeous bride, Michelle's, retro style photo's from the Vintage Photo Company.
They really show how perfect her Dirty Fabulous crystal and pearl headpiece went with her beautiful wedding dress.
Thanks so much for sharing your photos Michelle and congratulations to you and your new hubby!

Retro Vibes on The Red Carpet

Red carpet events offer the ultimate opportunity for celebrities to up the glamour stakes. Recently there's been a slew of vintage style looks as many stars take inspiration from the past for their killer red carpet outfits.

From old Hollywood to 70's disco, vintage styling is so hot right now!

1930'S VIBES 

Image of Alexa Chung via Style Bistro

1940'S VIBES

Image of Natasha Lyonne via E! Online

Image of Yara Shahidi via E! Online

1950'S VIBES

Image of Devon Windsor via Style Bistro

Image of Tori Kelly via Style Bistro

Image of Charlotte Le Bon via Style Bistro

 Image via E! Online

 Image of Regina King via E! Online

1960'S VIBES

Image of Emma Stone via Style Bistro

Image of Ellie Kemper via E!Online

1970'S VIBES

 Image of America Ferrera via E! Online

Image of Michaela Watkins via E! Online

Image of Kerry Washington via Style Bistro 

1980'S VIBES

Image of Abigail Spencer via E!Online

Image of Gwendoline Christie via E! Online

Film Fatale Presents - Iche Liebe Dich

The highlight for any vintage loving maven has to be a Film Fatale event. They are totally immersive and dripping with fabulousness! 
Themed attire is essential which really adds to the authentic feel from these nights. Even for those not into vintage, Film Fatale events are completely rocking on an epic scale. You don't need to live and breath the world of vintage to revel in a Jay Gatsby style party!!! 

This weekend as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival, Film Fatale presents Iche Liebe Dich in the Spiegeltent.
Don your suspenders, fishnets and bowler hats...It sounds like Saturday 24th is going to be one helluva night:

Journey back to 1930s Berlin for cabaret in the truest sense of the word – tongue-in-cheek, provocative, hilarious and pure entertainment. Brought to you by Film Fatale, Ich Liebe Dich Cabaret! is everything we love about cabaret with an added postmodern twist. 

Travel back in time to the heyday of the Spiegeltent and the Berlin cabaret scene for an evening of classic cabaret, aerial dancing, traditional and avant garde burlesque and dance ensembles set to a soundtrack of hot jazz, cabaret solos and modern-era songs with a bygone-era twist. Ich Liebe Dich Cabaret! will be a decadent celebration of 1930s Berlin — the hedonistic era of dark glamour.

Tickets €28 on sale now

Steal Her Style: Dress like Grace Kelly!

1950's pale green floral satin brocade cocktail dress

1950's faux python box bag with gold enamel clasp

1950's Weiss crystal large brooch 

A lady who needs no introduction; Grace Kelly will always be the epitome of style and the original inspiration for #STYLEGOALS!

Throughout her career Kelly's wardrobe remained classic, chic and lady like. She was never brash or bold in her clothing but was always absolutely flawless in appearance. She is one of the most revered celebrities for her natural flair for fashion in a time when style assistants hadn't been invented!

Yo can shop our Grace Kelly inspired pieces by appointment in our beautiful boutique or on Open For Vintage

Real Bride: Feathers and Flourishes!

Ooh there's nothing that makes us happier than seeing one of our real brides on their wedding day!
Sinead chose a stunning slipper satin gown with form fitting silhouette that had a floaty chiffon outer layer.
The beautiful bride made sure she could change her look on her wedding day with a couple of different cover-up's that suited her Dirty Fabulous vintage wedding dress perfectly.
For a touch of warmth Sinead had one of our super glamourous feather capes. It's such a stunning piece that hopefully she'll get lots of wear from!
A button back, lace bolero then added an elegant finishing touch.

Congratulations to Sinead and her hubby on their wedding! Thank you so much for sending us in your photos.

If you'd like to share your Dirty Fabulous Vintage photos send them to hello@dirtyfabulous.com, we can't wait to see them!

A Summer Sojourn: Can We Go Back Please!!!

We think it every year...."where did the summer go?". For us this year was no different and it went by in a flash. What was different is that we can categorically say that we had the BEST HOLIDAY EVER!!!

It's hard to believe it's September already and that it's taken me this long to tell you about our hols but it's been a busy few weeks in Dirty Fabulous HQ. 

It was a hectic year all round so what was needed from a holiday was total rest and relaxation and not much more... and boy did we get it! So where did we go?

THE DESTINATION

We went to the beautiful areas of Nantes and Augé in France.

Our family holiday was a big one which consisted of 6 adults and 5 children, a nightmare for some people but it really worked for us!

We flew into the city of  Nantes and I can't say enough about this wonderfully artistic and chic city. It is 'city break' heaven. The flight time alone with everyone's favourite budget airline was an unbelievable 1hr and 15 minutes for us from Dublin.

For our two nights in Nantes we stayed in the Oceania Hôtel de France which was super central, just off a beautiful square and on one of the most desirable shopping districts. The staff were completely wonderful and made us feel so welcome. We particularly have to give a shout out to Alexandra who treated us to the finest cocktails in the bar and was a whole lot of fun!

Le Passage Pommeraye was very close to our hotel

The Green Line

One of the most fantastic things about Nantes for tourists, is the green line that runs through the city in a circuit and passes all the major attractions (there are a lot!). I can't believe all major cities don't have this. It was such a handy system and meant it was pretty impossible to get lost.

The shop fronts and decorations were super quirky, often whimsical, and gave the city a real artistic feel.

Coolness everywhere you looked in Nantes!

On to the big one now....

THE MOST AMAZING HOLIDAY HOUSE EVER

We needed a lot from our holiday house and we were worried our expectations were too high! With 11 people it had to be large enough to have "space in our togetherness" as we liked to refer to it! After that the most important thing was the pool and oh my did the house deliver on that.

We booked La Vieille Ferme du Monteil after I came across it on my favourite accommodation site; Sawdays. It was just over one hour and 15 minute drive from Nantes but it is closer to La Rochelle if you wanted to fly into there. 

The owners of the house Elaine and Charles are absolutely wonderful. They were on hand to answer every query we had and they really made us feel like the house was our home for the week. Their warmth and openness completely added to our blissful relaxation.

We were welcomed to our house with some tasty nibbles and a brimming basket full of goodies.

We were in the pool at least 3 times a day!

When we weren't larking around in the pool we made use of the many games that were available such as badminton, table tennis, endless board games and there was even a sandpit for the little ones.

There were several games of badminton!

The beautiful pond on the grounds of the house

Totally posing for the picture but aren't the windows fab!

The interiors were sophisticated and beautiful. Elaine's flair for decoration and style was evident everywhere in the house. 
It was hard for us to get a picture of it without any of our own family clutter but you can see more on their website.

Lots of lovely lounging areas to enjoy the incredible weather at any time of the day.

THE OUTINGS

Niort:

This was a town we knew very little about had decided to check it out as we were on the hunt for a brocante. Niort is super fashionable and chic. It has fabulous outdoor spaces and architecture which were perfect for our group of all ages. It was such a pretty town (with the best ice-cream in France apparently) that we visited a couple of times, best of all t was only about half an hour away from our house! 

If it had been a girlie holiday we'd have happily lost many an hour wandering around it's quaint streets and gorgeous boutiques.

Coulon:

Another ridiculously pretty village that was very close to our house. Our visit here was the only thing we'd planned to do on our trip. We hired two flat bottomed boats and navigated the stunning canals. We had the boats for about an hour which was hard work for the rowers in each but if you had the arm power and no children it would make a lovely excursion for an even longer time.

 THE FASHION

The weather was a glorious 25-31 degrees throughout and although we spent many days in the lightest clothing possible, we did manage to get dressed up on a couple of occasions!

]

Yes, Caroline did indeed dress as a pirate for our boating excursion, much to the delight of the other boaters on the canal!

Our beautiful niece Tillie made all the ladies of the holiday their own vests. She's such a little star!

We're already planning our next visit as we think it would be pretty impossible to beat the perfection of this house and the french hospitality we encountered.

Luckily you don't have to wait until next summer to visit as Ferme Du Monteil are starting to put on hen and foodie weekends for 2017. 

Prices start at €165 per person and include Accommodation for two nights,  Champagne and amuse bouche on arrival followed by a two course supper and Sunday Brunch which is amazing value for a hen weekend!

We'll have another post coming up soon with some great hen party ideas and I'll go into more detail then. This has already been an epic post and I'm sure you have to get back to work/making the dinner/walking the dog/planning your next holiday!