Bring Your Own Bar (booze free post)

Everyone here knows I like things fancy, what a lot of people might not know is that I'm a long standing straight edge girl, and that means I also like my music fast and loud, and living my life sans all recreational drugs. Which of course (and you'll be surprised how often I've had to clarify this) means no booze.

This in mind people might be surprised at my latest purchase, a portable bar set! I ran into this little beauty on Etsy the other week, and knew I had to have it. Now before you all yell "sell out!" here's why this might be one of the best buys I've made in a while...

As an adult when you go to a party there will always be a careful selection of alcoholic beverages, beer, wine, spirits, and on the non alcoholic front, there is usually what ever the kids drink left in the fridge.

Now I like my soda sophisticated, I still want an exciting flavor that isn't run of the mill come cocktail hour, I still like fanciness, I still like to walk around sipping some exquisite drink. I just need to bring my own.

The set is obviously perfectly portable, the retro style goes well with my outfits, and the gleaming gold lids and velvet interior just scream after dark decadence. Into each bottle I can mix up a cordial of syrups, juices and bitters to bring along up to 4 fantastic drinks mixes. The shot glasses on top are just the right measure for the amount of syrup needed to make a standard glass of soda, all it needs is to be measured out into it's own shot glass, poured into a highball, add the club soda, and BAM! No more Sprite at a cocktail party!

The bottles can also hold the mixes at home as part of my drug free cocktail bar, score!


(another nice side point as a straight edge girl, is that buying a set like this vintage, not even the cash spent on glassware goes towards any part of the liquor industry)

New Affiliate Club!

There's been a lot of shop talk lately, but I promise there are several soda posts in the works at the moment, and all kinds of other goodies!

Today's news is pretty exciting though!!! We've just launched the Vivcore Affiliate club! If you have a blog or website you can now sign up for an affiliate account and receive your own personal link to our store, and through that earn commission from any sales made when someone follows your link and places an order.


As well as commission we'll also be doing exclusive offers for affiliate club members to help you spread the word and as an extra "thanks" for helping us grow and supporting our labels!

You can sign up here to join :)

Instant Accessories Wardrobe!

If the dress can make the girl, then right accessories make the dress! One of the elements of vintage style that really define the vintage look,(especially in the 50's early 60's) it is the trend towards matching suits of accessories.

Matching jewels and matching small goods always really pulled together an outfit. Wearing vintage in this modern age it is very tricky to be able to find these perfectly matched sets, especially in small fabric goods, but it is a wonderful and effortless way to make any dress a polished ensemble!

Chose a color accent to play up in a print dress by choosing an accessory set that matches a detail in the dress, or pull a look together top to toe by color blocking accessories that match you shoes along with a solid color dress (different colored sets can really make a simple dress look different in almost endless ways, a great way to stretch a limited wardrobe on a limited budget!)

Get the look

Whilst jewelry can sometimes survive together in sets, fabric items rarely do, but as always that's where repro comes into play! The new "Pretty You" collection on in my shop is made in this old style only new, so you can indulge in this vintage trend today! The flirty little flower brooch, scarf, hair bows and whimsy are all hand made from scratch in the exact same fabrics so they are all a perfect match in color and texture. Sometimes it's possible to marry a few vintage items to look like a set, but there are always discrepancies in the texture and color (especially with white accessories since they age very differently making all kinda of different colors). It's possible to build your own set from the collection items, and the nicest thing to me about them is that they can turn any lone dress into a finished outfit!

The collection is based on a set from one of my 1963 catalogs to make it as authentic as it is cute!


Follow here to pick up the set and get the look!

Vintage Catalog ♥

I have a new love in my life, I feel it could be a lasting affair, this new love? Why vintage catalogs of course! I recently picked up a handful of of them as inspiration materials after scouring the internet for images during my latest webdesign adventures. Each one has been a musty trove of ideas on a surprising amount of my job duties!

Photography/Blogging
The most obvious is of course the clothes themselves, so much inspiration has started to come out of these in terms of design, but also other things I hadn't really thought about. One thing that has struck a surprising cord is the models themselves! The styling of course is great, but also the poses! Models stand a different way in a lot of the garments because the clothes themselves took a subtly different carriage to show off the designs, full skirts, curves and general feel of the time all shop up in different ways on the models.

Web Design

I love reading the copy on a lot of the items too, you can get a great idea of what was important to each catalogs demographic from the way each product is described. Add onto that the layout, typography and graphics which are so great, and these have played a large part in my latest site re-design! One of the main reasons I picked up my first catalog was to help with the shop re-design and to hopefully make internet shopping as retro friendly as possible.


Home Decorating (not work but...)
I know a lot of folks out there like to indulge in some retrofication of the old homestead too. I've probably spent hours going through the home sections of the bigger catalogs for furniture/decor inspiration, it's just a shame we can't just pick up the phone and order those awesome curtains!

Good for Giggles
It's true too that not everything old is cool, I got a few giggles out of some of the photos/products that time has just not been kind to, things for example like the faux fur hat that doubles as a wig

I'll admit that some of them have a fusty "I've been in an attic for 50 years" smell that is less than fun on the allergy front. but adding some primary sources to my "library of awesome" is possibly worth a sore throat or two.

For an easier peek inside the world of flea market catalogs there are a few collected books out there that do just that from Amazon

Keep em Separated

Showing a little extra love to the separates sections this week, and taking it one step further even, and introducing our first pair of trousers to the site!


The Joy of Separates

A great way of filling your wardrobe on a budget is through separates. They are so versatile you can mix and match them almost endlessly! The blouse from your favorite dress set can cut a smart impression with our brand new Sailor pants, and the skirt gets a whole new feel when pared with a new blouse!

New Designs!

Sailor trousers are a perennial pin up favorite, and we've just added our version to the site today! The high waist makes your legs look longer, and the wide leg is flattering on any body shape. They are as comfortable as they are chic! (I road tested these in Montreal, and they are the best pants I ever wore!)

The Sweetie blouse Is a great way to coordinate your new sailor trousers or any pencil skirt. The loose shape makes the waist look smaller when tucked into a retro high waist skirt or pants, and the all round ruffle adds a great touch of femininity and finishes off that playful pin up look!

Click here to visit the new items, and other separates!