We had fun dressing up for Halloween this week.
We did some fashion witch looks with vintage dresses from the store and hats from the rentals collection.
The first look is a flapper witch wearing a 1920s/30s black silk velvet dress with a zig-zag collar/capelet and deep V back. We styled it with some fabulous hats.
The bird hat is particularly eye catching! They were hugely popular in the U.S. and Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. More than 5 million birds were killed each year for millinery purposes in America alone. By the turn of the century, women conservationists were rallying to try and save birds from extinction and Audubon societies started to spring up. It was one of the first times a popular movement erupted in defence of the environment. Eventually, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 was passed and put an end to the worst of the avian massacres.
To our modern sensibilities, we can only imagine witches wearing taxidermied birds on their heads today!
Melanie Daniels would hate this!
Here are some vintage photos of women enjoying their bird hats.
It also reminded us of this Alexander McQueen RTW collection from 2006.
We have dubbed the second look 'disco witch'! We used a gorgeous sparkly 80s handkerchief-hem party dress with lace overlay. We paired it with a sparkly sequin hat and another pearl drop hat. We just need a black cat to complete the look!
We then moved on to TV character inspired get-ups.
Here is our Daphne Blake outfit featuring a 1980s purple chiffon pleated dress from Albert Nipon. The headscarf, neck scarf and shoes are from the rentals collection.
Daphne wanted to be both a supermodel and a detective as a child. While the former didn't work out, she always shows up to the job impressively put together. A fan favourite since 1969, it's so much fun seeing everyone's interpretation of this style icon each Halloween. Her original TV look was created by character designer Iwao Takamoto.
We have to mention Sarah Michelle Gellar's rendition in the early 2000s, with costumes by Leesa Evans. Trés Chic!
Did you know that Daphne has a Scottish cousin called Shannon Blake who is like a short-haired, less fashion obsessed Gaelic (see tartan skirt!) version of Daphne?
Lastly, we did our take on Fran Fine from The Nanny, another TV style icon. Her costumes were designed by Brenda Cooper between 1993 and '99. The designer noted in a Variety interview that Fran's look “had to be fun, witty, sassy and elegant. It was a sassy elegance that was important to me, and pushing that to the edge without tipping it.” Cooper wove in styles from the 40s, 50s and 60s to Fran's wardrobe.
Fran loved a good skirt suit!
She wore many leopard print outfits and we thought this skirt suit fit the bill perfectly.
She was also a fan of polka dots and the colour red!
Fran really taught us to have fun with fashion, whether you're going to the grocery store or you want to be the best dressed at the office! Her style is still impacting fashion trends and inspiring designers to this day and we hope she inspires you to play and enjoy getting dressed all year round!
Check out @whatfranwore on Instagram for more inspiration, as well as our own Instagram accounts @iandrummondvintage and @iandrummondcollection for more ideas on items we have in the shop that match Fran's eclectic fashion sense.
We hope you enjoyed these looks!
Happy Halloween!