STORMY VERANDAH 2

Saturday's weather made for a diverse range of activity on the "verandah".

   At the 11h00 start of "trade" it was too wet and unpleasant to put stock out. We had people browsing clothes, accessories and bric-a-brac in the dining room and stock room. My son Eon had to turn my book room into a changing room. Fortunately with his assitance and my daughter Kia's help, things ran smoothly.

    

 At 13h00 when the customers had left, I spent time with Eon and Kia reflecting on the morning's happenings. The sun was out and we could get a grip on the game of croquet as my vintage set was also up for sale but did not attract the clothes buyers.  We were all in a very good mood and it was time for me to put on a second hat ... so I topped the grey felt hat with a soft feather creation to get into the Victorian spirit of the game that started in Glouchestershire in 1868. (Although a boater should have been more fitting!)

 

Here we discuss the fashion tastes of our buyers. My turquise hat may have been part of a bridesmaid's outfit in the 60's or 70's.

Maintenance man

 When the weekend's wind and rain played havoc in our neighbourhood and a roofsheet was blown off our property on Saturday afternoon, Eon was on hand to rectify the damage.
    With a B.Tech in Wood Technology under his belt, Eon branched out into being an all-rounder as far as timber construction and maintenance is concerned. He is in PE for a while, helping me restore and "beautify" our home built in 1907 by a Mr Waldeck. The latter named the house, Villa Armgard, after his German wife.
    When Eon is not working, he spends his time surfing and fishing. Here he enjoys the Algoa Bay surf at Humewood.

He is even willing to dress formally when required to model.

Stormy verandah

  Rain pelted down and the icy wind played a stormy symphony on the iron roofsheets, but Saturday's verandah sale proceeded inside our home. We put out some bric-a-brac and a clothes rail on the "stoep" and tied colourful scarves to the Edwardian woodwork to create atmosphere in the grey of the morning.

Mireille came early to ask whether the show would go on. She left to have coffee at one of our

popular Richmond Hill eateries and returned later with friends in tow.11:00 sharp the first customer arrivied. It was Melanie and she selected some sassy items.  When the rained stopped, we posed outside with her newly acquired polka-dot dress.

I am wearing a grey felt hat. My "old rose" pink jersey is a home-knitted job that I found on a "cheapie" rail

in one of my favourite charity "haunts". Two very old brooches that I bought many moons ago are pinned

strategically on flaws in the front panel of the (20-year-old?)  jersey. You can glimpse my 80's "ou-tannie"

trilobal dress underneath.

   My longstanding customer, Bongiwe (refer: Early bird catches the worm post), sent her friends to browse.

Sisters Esther and Edina Shaidi walked off with a couple of lovely items.  Here they pose with my green and black retro dress and off-white 60's handbag (made in Argentina).

Early bird catches the worm

Tomorrow is verandah sale time again, but a satisfied customer from the May launch sale knocked on my door yesterday. It was Bongiwe, who will be occupied elsewhere tomorrow.

Here she is showing off a lovely 60's soft floral chiffon "Parisian" number. The pink and grey combination called for a pink floral hat/tulle combination to complete the picture. The pic on the right is a close-up of the label that is now part of Bongi's vintage wardrobe.  

Gloves ...

Reading about the history of fashion is fascinating. Tonight I am paging through a book titled Accessories in the CHIC Simple series and would like to share some thoughts on gloves.
    According to authors, Kim Gross et al, "flirtatious or functional, gloves are the hats of the hand, they dramatize instantly, they can't help it. They're all about movement, so they tend to provoke."
     The next paragraph says how: "The dropped glove is a mating cry; the gauntlet, a call to combat. Gloves are the first thing to come off in the striptease. They're dangerously seductive, however genteel."
    Until now, I was not a glove person. Only wore them in winter and used to shun them in the garden and at the kitchen sink ...  These days I love them and also use them as a celebration "tool". To illustrate: When it was Julius Malema's birthday earlier this year, I arrived at my part-time library job, wearing a beige glove on my left hand.
   Gloves can change the hands dramatically. I have real Karoo hands and with age they have developed liver spots etc. but when I put on a pair of gloves from my colourful collection of charity shop finds, things change for the better because they conceal my aging hands.
     So I can't agree more with the authors of Accessories. "Worn as a spot of colour or pattern, they create instant style. Dowagers and debs wore them full-length to the ball ..."
  
   

Maturity takes to the ramp

Planning the Down Memory Lane afternoon was as much fun as the actual event itself.  The "kerksuster-komitee" arrived at my house 10 days before to select and fit the garments and choose accessories.
It resulted in a  lot of laughter and noise. Heinrich Cilliers' pictures, taken at the actual event on June 11, reminds me of that memorable afternoon  ...

Elna Potgieter in my 80's crimp jacket. After
nearly 30 years, this Tej garment does not
show any sign of age.

Marthie Steenkamp looking stunning in a red Trilobal
jumpsuit and Italian straw hat. Only the hat fits
me now.

Joke Janse van Vuuren wearing my
beaded 80's Garlick's dress ...
The label indicates that this brown crepe
knee-length garment was made
in Japan!

Martie Goosen stole the show in her
Foshini 80's dress with pleated peplum.
The beaded evening bag, chiffon gloves and
Lady Di hat completed the outfit.

Ronel Kotze just loved my green
cheesecloth and lace number.
I wore at my first Vintage
Verandah sale and it reminds me
a bit of the flapper era, that's
why we accessorised it with
a fake pearl headband and
soft white wrap.

Elna Potgieter on her way to the opera...
This lush green velvet opera coat
decorates the entrance to my
bedroom and I was reluctant to
remove it for the show, but it looked
stunning teamed with a Chinese fan
and my opera glasses from Camden
Passage, London (bought in 1979)

Fashion show pictures

Last Saturday's "Down Memory Lane" visuals are here and now you can view a few of my "nostalgic" dresses ...and hear the stories behind the garments ...

The little green item on the left is a 40's crepe dress with a floral mesh motif. I bought it in the early 70's at a second-hand shop in Parliament Street here in Port Elizabeth. It served as a wedding dress on Friday afternoon, February 14, 1978. Yes, I was the bride because the groom wanted a very private church wedding. The next day we had a Victorian garden party with me wearing my ouma Labuscagne's Victorian wedding dress. A beautiful satin and lace two-piece that was lovingly restored by my vriend Bettie Langner, a fashion lecturer at PET at the time.  Getting back to my R5 (!) dress, Minette de Beer is showing it off. (Take note: The dangling fur collar does not belong to the dress!).
    Shanelle Fouche is wearing the dress my late mother, Gerty Thompson, had on for my church wedding. She also wore it in 1963 - in Middelburg - to my matric farewell in the town hall. (parents accompanied their children to a farewell dinner in those days).
    I treasure these two garments ...  (the cocktail hat was a last moment addition to Shanelle's outfit in the dressing room!)

 

These two green dresses, modelled by Michele and Reinette Labuschagne, belonged to my aunt Jo (Johanna) van der Walt (nee Labuscagne - no "h" in my maiden name) in the 50's. Her husband Louis was a sheep farmer and mayor of Steynsburg in the Karoo... They attended many cocktail parties, "boeredae" and "sakekamer" dinners in the 50's and 60's. So she had a well-stocked wardrobe which her youngest sister, my aunt Hetta, passed on to me after Johanna's death in 1977.
   The velvet dress on the left was made by a seamstress in Bloemfontein and Michelle has modernised it with the addition of a  belt and boots. The "moroccaine" satin dress (right) with wide rouged collar and cuffs is a very special memory piece. I had it on when my daughter Kia was christened 26 years ago. It has a permanent place in my passage. I love to look at it on a daily basis!

 
This lovely black and white chiffon evening dress is a Jane Paris - the label Wolpe Fashion Holdings of Cape Town used for their sophisticated evening wear from 1966 to somewhere in the 80's. I was their factory model and fashion co-ordinator from 1967 - 1969 and wore this dress 44 years ago at my "passing out parade" after completing a course at the Petrusa Roodt Fashion Academy in Adderley Street, CT.
     Shane Roberts was willing to model this very special garment while I could travel back in time (what happened to my size 36?)

 
These two pics are to illustrate the age difference of the Down Memory Lane models. Cecile Laubser is 70 years older than Shane Roberts' eldest daughter ...  Cecile's dress is a dove grey crepe with floral chiffon sleeves (70/80's) and the confetti girl's dress is just a fun acquisition that I will donate to a little girl's dress-up box when I scale down one day.
     
                                                   My young friend Hein Cilliers captured all the images.









My Book Room

At age 61 my study reminded me too much of work and I threw the formal desk out and removed all traces of academic sweat, tears and the marking of journo papers, etc.
    Now I have a small oval oak table in one corner (housing the laptop) while my pink olivetti, Bennie Boekwurm toy and tortoise ornament collection lurks in the other corners.
     A while ago, a young friend and keen amateur photographer asked to use my home as a venue for a photoshoot. Andrea, a Masters PR student, was keen to pose with technology from the past (wearing one of my retro dresses) and here you can have a glimpse of her in my book room seen through Hein Cilliers' lens.

Meeting with Fine Art Auctioneer

Before the clouds lifted last week, I left home with my only precious decorative piece to meet Jean Welz from Strauss & Co. at the Nelson Mandela Art Museum.
 The Esias Bosch glazed stoneware bowl was aquired in the late seventies at an exhibition of SA ceramic artists in PE. Although I love the piece (met the artist in his Witrivier-studio in 1974), it stands out like a sore thumb among my Victorian/Edwardian/etc clutter.

The outcome of my meeting with Mr Welz is confidential. I can only say that I did not return with the Bosch-piece, so my son Eon took a pic of my two mantelpiece birds instead. Here I am wearing my cosy black London charity shop hat and allweather coat, suede gloves and Cartier silk scarf.

                       

Confidence crown!

I just love my red hat ... very fine straw from Italy and as light as a feather so I do not wear it on a windy day!
    But it is a great confidence booster and it served me well at the start of the Down Memory Lane
fashion show on Saturday afternoon. The vintage lover in the picture is Nicky Nel, an ex-student from
my PET days.
     I teamed my black coktail dress with a golden tafetta opera coat from the fifties (I acquired it in the seventies), red leather lace-ups bought at a church basaar for the price of a loaf of bread and red gloves sourced from a Newton Park charity shop. My long Lanvin silk scarf was tied in a bow to keep the winter chill at bay, but in summer it just flows ...
    Forgot to mention the specs ... love the frame and the colour. Can't wait to have my own prescription lenses fitted.

Down Memory Lane ...

The vintage event at my church went extremely well. Could not believe that the gems from my clothes collection fitted the models so well. Even some of the recently acquired items looked stunning on the models.
     Some members of the congregation exhibited their treasures and I mostly enjoyed perusing the family photographs, Victoriana and the veteran cars.

Anton van Vuuren (on my left) was brave enough to play his accordion. His 50's blue Studebaker
was parked outside and attracted a lot of attention. Johan Weyers arrived in his 60's Datsun Bluebird. He liked the clothes that I fitted him out with so much that I made an unexpected sale!
     I accessorised my 60's black beaded cocktail dress with a 50's hat (made by Fenwick of Bond Street, London), diamante choker and silver gloves. I should tell you that it was the finale of the three very quick changes I made during the compering of the show in order to demonstrate the versatility of a good little black number.
    

Wild hat

It's raining, it's pouring ... and time for me to put on a wild hat and fur collar. 

The latter being in my possession for almost 40 years. 

Hanging on the hall stand in the passage, it is a favourite for the children and 

their friends to "play" with.

On arrival at Elmarie Brink's home in Summerstrand for lunch and tete-a-tete with my part-time library colleagues.

PS:  Please don't condemn me if you are a Greenpeace-follower.
The hat is fake and the collar is merino.

Trading on the Verandah

The last Saturday in May, Vintage Verandah was "launched"... 
     I invited a few of my green friends and those passionate about vintage, retro and recycling, to peruse my "overflow". Kia helped me to set up and at 11h00 sharp Bongiwe arrived. She left very satisfied with two dresses - one green with black flowers and the other a red print - from two decades ago.
     Ten years ago we met in a completely different situation. She was my student at the former PE Technikon.

Rhodes student, Leora Jones, came from Grahamstown. She too, was a satisfied customer and I was delighted to meet her. Tom Smailes, Leora's late grandfather, was one of my Eng Lit lecturers at UPE in the Seventies. He taught me "to think in ink". 

I enjoyed the "dressing up" part of Vintage Verandah, although next time (? to be announced), I will have to

have a decent money box. Skapie, my little purse, is not the ideal place to search for change in a hurry!
    But then, who wants to hurry if you meet such exceptional people on your stoep?

so much to do

When does one realise that (earthly) life is (too) short? There are many answers to this question.
    Without going into a theological / philosophical discourse, I can name mine: too many outfits to wear, too many books to read, too many countries to visit, too many dreams to dream, too many memoirs to share with my children.
    Let's stick with outfits today. My garment collection of nearly 4 decades is getting the better of the space in my Edwardian home. Today it feels as if I have put to much baking powder into a cake mixture ... the batter is all over the place.
   Fortunately this has a fun element in store for my church ladies. We are having a "down memory lane" fashion show next weekend depicting clothes from the previous century. Presently I am matching "church" models with an array of outfits ranging from sleepwear to wedding gown! 
   Even the men are willing to show some of the fashions that made the 1900's memorable - two rather senior gentlemen collected their attire today. So on Saturday our "catwalk" will also see a beautiful paisley gown hiding some vintage underwear and a handsome man driving his 60's Datsun to church in a blue plaid jacket and nifty wide tie.