Sweetheart Beret Tutorial

I love berets.  They’re chic, easy to wear, and fit just about anyone!  Here are a few of my favorite ways to wear one..

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 The “Faye Dunaway”.  Quintessential chic.

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Marilyn Monroe.  Sultry beret at a jaunty angle.

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 Nina Foch.  Simple and sweet.

Now that you have some ideas on how to wear one, let’s talk embellishment 😉  I am currently addicted to “spiffing things up” with felt shapes and embroidery and berets are the perfect medium for this type of project!  Here’s what you’ll need:

1.  Begin by cutting a heart shape out of your felt.  When you have it the size and shape you like, decide where to place it on your beret.  Once you have it where you like it, pin it in place.

2.  Thread your embroidery needle with two or three strands of embroidery floss.  Begin sewing the felt heart onto your beret with evenly spaced stitches.  You can choose to do it with a running stitch, as I have done in the photo at the start of this post, or you can use an overcast stitch.

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3.  Once your heart has been secured, use your embroidery thread to create the “arrow”.  Create the arrow point on the top, a stitch in the middle of your heart at an angle in line with the point, and complete it with the base of your arrow following the same angle.

4.You can embroider “sweet” in a few different ways.  I chose to do it freehand using a backstitch because I wanted it to have a “handwritten” effect.  If you prefer a different type of font, I would recommend printing or tracing it onto tear away stabilizer.  You can then just place it where you like on the beret, embroider over the letters and tear the stabilizer away when you are finished (be sure to keep some tweezers handy..they sometimes help to pull the stabilizer out from under the stitches.)

5.  Trim all threads and place on your head at the angle of your choice 😉

Hugs and Smooches,
D

Pin up Plan – Art of Seduction – The Siren

First up in the Art of Seduction series..The Siren.

“The Siren is the ultimate fantasy figure.  Her presence is always heightened and sexually charged.  She is a mirage..cultivating a particular appearance and manner.  She embodies the male fantasy.”



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Famous Sirens:

• Cleopatra
• Marilyn Monroe
• Aphrodite

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Keys to Character:

• Voice – Calm, unhurried, low pitched
• Body and Adornment – Everything must dazzle, but also be harmonious.  Clothing more often suggests sexuality than screams it.  Reveal only one part of the body.
• Movement and Demeanor – Graceful, suggestive, langorous.

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Symbol:
Water – The song of the siren is liquid and enticing and the siren herself is fluid and ungraspable.

Pin up Style

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Hugs and Smooches,
D

Pin up Plan Calendar Girls – Marilyn Monroe

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“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” – Marilyn Monroe 

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Marilyn Facts:

• Marilyn was born Norma Jean Mortenson, though her mother, Gladys, immediately changed her last name to “Baker”, the surname of her first husband.
• During WWII Monroe worked in a munitions factory, spraying airplane parts with fire retardant and inspecting parachutes.  It was there she was discovered by a photographer who was taking “morale pictures” for the troops and he suggested Marilyn try modelling.
• In 1950, Monroe had a small bump of cartilage removed from her nose to “soften her appearance”.
• Marilyn appeared in the first issue of Playboy magazine in 1953
• Marilyn’s role in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was originally intended for Betty Grable.
• Marilyn married 3 times.  Her second husband, Joe DiMaggio, asked her to remarry him in 1962, as he was concerned for her health and well-being.  After Marilyn passed, Joe claimed her, arranged her funeral and left a half dozen red roses at her crypt 3 times a week for 20 years.
• “I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt …it was because of her that I played the Mocambo, a very popular nightclub in the ’50s. She personally called the owner of the club, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him — and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status — that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again. She was an unusual woman — a little ahead of her times. And she didn’t know it.” – Ella Fitzgerald

Marilyn Movies:

Some Like it Hot

Seven Year Itch

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

 Marilyn Books:

My Story – Marilyn Monroe

Fragments

Metamorphosis

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How to get Marilyn Makeup:

                                                                                                                                                                     
Hugs and Smooches, D

Pin up Plan Movie Review – How to Marry a Millionaire

How to Marry a Millionaire

“All my life ever since I was a little girl I’ve always had the same dream. To marry a zillionaire.” – Loco Dempsey (Betty Grable)

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I can’t think of a more perfect “research movie” for the Pin up Plan!  Not only does it feature Marilyn Monroe (a future “Pin up Plan Calendar Girl”) and Betty Grable (A prior “Pin up Plan Calendar Girl“) along with the lovely Lauren Bacall, but the girls’ characters in the movie are models, so there is SO MUCH fashion eye candy!

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The story follows three lovely models; Loco Dempsey (Betty Grable), Pola Debevoise (Marilyn Monroe) and Shatze Page (Lauren Bacall) as they hatch a plan to try and find themselves millionaire husbands.  Hilarity ensues as the girls try to prevent each other from falling for (what they believe are) “poor, gas pump jockeys”.  In the end, the girls realize that money can’t replace happiness.

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I love this movie (thought truthfully, I love just about anything with Miss Monroe in it).  While it may seem a bit sexist to some (it was the 1950’s after all!) you need to watch it with the pre-feminist times in mind and enjoy it for the humor and the comedic timing of the wonderful actresses!

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                                                                                                                                                                Hugs and Smooches, D

The Signature Style Project – Signature Women

I have to confess..this may end up being my favorite post of the Signature Style series.  I SO admire the style of the women who have come before me!

I believe signature style falls into two categories.  The first category encompasses a signature “look”.  A little black dress, a trademark accessory, a specific color, a unique hairstyle.  The second category includes women who don’t have a specific trademark item, but who have an overall feel to their wardrobe.  Bombshell, boho, flirty, quirky, retro.

I’ll show you what I mean..

These women embody a signature “look” for me:

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AUDREY HEPBURN – Pixie bangs, heavy brows, cigarette pants and winged eyeliner

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JACKIE KENNEDY – Hair flip, Pillbox hat, Tailored suits and gloves

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GOLDIE HAWN – ..those bangs 😉

..and the following evoke a certain style “feeling” that is unique to them:

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MARILYN MONROE – Bombshell

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STEVIE NICKS – Boho Romantic

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TWIGGY – Ethereal, Whimsical

If you have an affinity for the style of one of the women listed above (or another style icon), take the time to examine what it is about their style that appeals to you so you can make it your own!

What category do you fall into?  Are you a signature “look” gal, or are you more of a signature “feel” kinda girl?

Hugs and Smooches,
D

The Signature Style Project Begins!

Marylin Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy, Bridgit Bardot..all these women have something in common.  They all have a signature style.  A look, an image, something that is distinctly them. 

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As I discussed in a previous post, while I love to dabble in many decades of vintage clothing, I want to take the time this year to create a more cohesive look that is all my own, so I’m starting the Signature Style Project.  Below is an outline of what I have planned.  I hope you will follow along in discovering what makes you unique and share your own signature styles with me!

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The project will have two phases.  Phase one will be the Discovery phase.  It will include posts on:

• Information Gathering – Using pinboards and journals to discover a theme in your style preferences.
• Signature Women – Women who have distinct signature styles and how to apply their techniques to your own style.
• Incorporating your passions – Listing the things you love and how they influence your style.
• Lets go on a Shopping Safari! – Snapping pictures of items and outfit ideas you love

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Phase two of the project will be Implementation.  It will include posts on:

• The closet clean out – Deciding what items in your closet fit your signature style, what has to go and what needs to be added.
• Accessorize – Working signature accessories into your wardrobe
• Try it on for size – A week of signature style
• Review – Tweaking your signature style and allowing it to evolve with you.

I have also created a board on Pinterest for the project, where I am also collecting ideas for the 30 day Hair and Makeup challenge (start date TBA).  You can follow along here.

Let me know if you’d like to see anything else added to the project.  I can’t wait to get started!

Hugs and Smooches,
D

It’s a Vintage Halloween!

Halloween is one of my FAVORITE holidays (costumes and candy??  What’s not to love?) and it will be here before you know it!  And what is more perfect for an amazing costume than vintage?  (the answer is nothing, my friends, nothing at all..)

Here are a few suggestions for the perfect vintage Halloween costume:

Why not wear a 60’s wiggle dress and wig and go as Marilyn or MadMen’s Joan Holloway?

How about a poofy 50’s cupcake dress or 80’s prom dress, crown and wings for Glinda the Good Witch?

A tutu, bob wig and some great 1920’s make up and you could be Louise Brooks

Everybody loves Lucy!  A cute 50’s shirt dress, a red wig and her signature red lipstick (you could even add a frilly little apron 😉

The possibilities are endless!  What are your costume plans for Halloween this year?  I’d love to hear them (and see them!  Feel free to post a picture on ConstantlyAlice’s facebook page 😉

Hugs and Smooches,
D