Make-up on Swing Candy Fashion!

I am excited that only one day after finding a really cool line of make-up I now have it linked to my site! It has really cute packaging plus is and has some really good stuff there too! It is Benefit San Francisco check it out:

Arrogant Tailor

Today I went to a business expo here in Vancouver and was pleased to see there was a tailor as one of the exhibitors there. He does custom suits for men and women. As I have previously mentioned I would eventually like to have my own designs that people can custom order from me with choices of fabric. This tailor had a whole bunch of fabric swatches on the table and I thought it would be a good opportunity to find out where you go and who you speak to in order to get access to the swatches and fabric itself. Even with an explanation that I am not even remotely competition for him he was nothing by arrogant and rude. The only answer he gave me was that he learned it all over 20 years and how wonderful he was to do that and that I should go to Montreal. I also inquired how to contact tailors in Vancouver to make some of the clothing as my business grows to a point that I need to get extra help. He basically said that he and all other tailors are above doing something like that and, I should go to Asia so that I could get the cheap quality things made. He totally didn't get my concept. I am not going to sell cheap quality goods, nor am I going to use third world cheap or forced labour to make them. His attitude was really disgusting. You can be sure that I will never go to him for my own purposes nor will I ever recommend him to someone else.

OK, rant over! :-)

Fashion Illustration

One of my plans for my store is to design and create my own vintage inspired fashions. I have been learning to draw as a result of this so I can begin to put down on paper what I have seen in old movies and what I would like to create. As a result I have just begun learning about fashion illustration. I couldn't find a picture of the book I am working from right now. It is by Eunice Sloane, Illustrating Fashion but it is very similar to this one

Which I hope to work from as well as it was recommended to me. Unfortunately it was not in the library the day that I went.

Button to Swing Candy Fashion Site

I have finally found a good template that I like for this blog. Plus, I had a nice button made to link to my site. Thank you Rastin for making it for me :-)

My blog has moved again!

I have been trying out various blogs to see which one would work the best for me. The most recent has been Vox which had many good features but I really didn't like the inability for people to comment unless you are a registered member. Therefore, if you have a blog anywhere else, or no blog at all, you can't make any comments. A serious downfall for my purposes.

So, I have moved yet again over to Blogger. We'll see how this one goes. Definitely a plus about the comments here and it is through my google account too. Less passwords etc to remember!

Must take photos!!

The weather has been really bad here lately and way too little light even in the middle of the day to take photos. I don't use flash or any other lighting so I rely on natural light. I waited all last week and finally gave up this weekend and took photos anyway. Thank goodness my boyfriend has an apartment that has wonderful natural light and he has a tripod to use with his camera. I thing they turned out alright, but the black ones just didn't show the detail I was hoping for. Take a look and tell me what you think.


Men's Vintage Black suit Jacket


Polka Dot Tie Top


Wool Plaid A-line Skirt

Vintage Dressform

Last week when my parents came to visit they brought me a bunch of new clothing for the store as well as my grandmothers vintage dress form. My mum and I had been reluctant to use or change it as it is an exact replica of my grandmother.


Granny

I have it now as I need to have one to make clothes for the store.


Me and Granny

It is actually put on like a dress and is then pinched and pulled to conform to your body shape. I took some photos of it before putting it on myself and molding it to my shape.


my double

Dance clip found on Facebook

I am a member of a group called Lindyhop world on Facebook. I have checked it out in a little while and I just saw this clip on it today. They have some inventive moves that I thought were quite neat.

Happy Thanksgiving

I had a very productive and good weekend even though it started out rough but it ended well. (kind of like the weather here in Vancouver this weekend) On Friday when teaching for Fat City Swing I had my friend tell me some very good news that will be able to help me with the future plans of my store, which is to create my own fashion line. Then on Saturday I met on of the owners of a wholesale second hand/vintage supplier here in the Vancouver area. Just exactly what I needed at this time! Then I made progress on my business plan for a meeting coming up this week. And during all that I got to enjoy a fabulous turkey dinner :) All in all not a bad Thanksgiving weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Swing Candy on Squidoo

While searching for interesting photos on Flickr (mostly silly cats!) I came across another vintage store that is also on a site called Squidoo. I am not totally sure how it all works as you need to create something called a "lens". As I understand it a lens is essentially a profile. Yet, there a couple of different kinds. I think you could even create a store there that may be similar to the Shopify that I am currently using. I created a very simple lens to start to get the hang of it. Squidoo does have groups that you can join, which is what I saw on Flickr. Very neat to be listed with all these stores. One stop shopping :)

New Swing Candy Blog on Vox

I have my store over at http://www.shopify.comShopify.com and it is absolutely fantastic for the most part, but the blog attached to the store just wasn't what I wanted it to be. So, I have moved over here! I have set the whole thing up in one afternoon (with the exception of a button that will link directly to my store that is beyond my limited capabilities) which is quite a feat when you are not the most technically savvy :) I have added some personal photos but here is a taste of what I have to offer on my site.


60s Wool Jacket


Vintage Hat


Blue Flowers


Vintage Scarves

Swing Candy on Flickr

I have posted all the photos that are on this site on my Flickr page. Please check it out if you would like to see the photos in a larger format, unfortunately they can't be as organized there as they are on this site. Plus, there are a bunch of photos of various dances in Vancouver taken over the years by friends of mine.

There are also a couple of good groups that I belong to on Flickr:
Vintage Clothing
Fabulous Vintage Fashion
Vintage Advice
I made this!
I made this
Vintage, The Only Way To Shop
Vintage Baubles

Another Amazing Video

I saw this routine a few years ago and a friend just posted it on Facebook again. It's another Natalie and Yuval routine that I absolutely love.

Great Weekend of Dancing

This past weekend was the start of the fall dancing season here in Vancouver. Lots of the kids are back at University so it's the first time back dancing with all their friends here. Two of the venue operators here had fun events planned with bands and vintage nights. Needless to say I loved it because I could really dress up and got to see lots of other cute outfits. It really seems to change the whole atmosphere of the place when people have taken the time to look really good!

Clown Routine

I have had the rare opportunity to have both Natalie and Yuval as aerials teachers briefly. They are amazing and I think this is a very cute routine of theirs that I just saw on Lindyhop World through Facebook.

You have no idea how difficult it is to do aerials slowly so the K-flip that they do is just incredible!

Technical Troubles

I never thought that having a clothing store would mean learning so much internet and technical stuff. Somehow my frontpage was renamed and then didn't show up for about a day. Not exactly sure how it managed to rename itself but with the help of others I figured out what it was and learned how to fix the problem. Plus, I am learning with the help of Tazzu members how to make my site more visible to search engines. Lots to learn and I am sure that I will create more mistakes along the way! :)

Making Hair Flowers

I spent all Saturday this weekend making flowers to be worn in your hair. I love using them myself and haven't ever found any that I really like. I started to make them a number of years ago and have made them for friends and for all the girls on my dance team to match their shirt colour.



Rose Bobbypin


The ones on the bobbypins are very difficult to make as I use wire to make sure they really stay together and then I use a glue gun on top to cover up all the rough ends. They really make your fingers hurt after awhile!



Blue Flowers Haircomb



The hair comb ones are much easier on the fingers to make and the combs do stay in really well. They also cover a larger area so it is a nice change and actually hold a style in place and aren't there just for show.

Thank you Netphotography for the photos

As I mentioned in my previous post, my boyfriend (who is a fabulous photographer) has been helping me with my photos. He has given me guidance on how to take them myself, and being totally new to photography and with no camera as of yet, that has been really helpful. The ones that I believe are the best are the ones that he actually took and can be see on his site right now.

Taking Photos for the site

This weekend I had my mother over visiting and it was the perfect opportunity to take some photos since she could help out. I did the modeling while she helped with the lighting and adjusting the clothing for the shot. It was a lot of fun because I knew my head was not in the shot so we could make faces at each other while I did the posing as my boyfriend took the photos. He is an amazing photographer and his flickr site is well worth a visit if you like glamour photography. Here is an example of his work.



Now my next job is to continue to upload the items that I have already taken photos of as well as find girls that are smaller than I am to model the clothing that I am not able to wear. I didn't know that work could be so much fun!

Swing Candy Fashion Clothing Store Finally Open!

20s Evening Gown



I finally managed to do it! It has taken me quite a while and not just a little frustration to get this up and running. I have so much more do to but I am glad that it is at least started. There are lots more photos to take of clothing which I am attempting to have my friends, and myself, model so you can get a better feel of how they look.

60s Wool Jacket



Thank you so much Loraine for taking the time to pose for these photos for me!

Team performance

My team the Jitterbug Junkies just performed last night at Robson Square during the BC DanceSport Friday night series of ballroom dancing.



I made the tops all the girls are wearing and the matching hair flowers too.

The Beginning of Swing Candy Fashion

While some of this info is in the About me page I thought I would put some of it here too.

I started this shop because of my love of swing dancing. I have also always loved fashion from the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and some 50’s. I love the clothes in old movies and TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is a favourite of mine. I oohhh and ahhh over lots of the clothing in the movies and I am in love with the shoes! Many, many times my parents have remarked that I was born in the wrong era when it comes to my clothing tastes.

I have collected quite a bit of vintage and new made clothing, plus, since I don't fit into some of it anymore, I decided to start this online store as a means of passing it on. This way I can fuse my love of shopping, vintage clothing, swing dancing and sewing etc into one. I thought of doing this several years ago but never got around to it. Since then several people have suggested it to me again and I decided why not take the plunge.