Getting Gatsby

A couple of weeks ago my college hosted their annual midsummer ball for all of us students to attend and for which a vote is taken earlier in the year to establish a theme. This year was 'The Great Gatsby' and my excitement levels rocketed to 100%.

I really wanted to prove to myself that I could create a classy 20s look without spending a huge amount of money and without going down the commercial flapper dress route.

My first port of call in my search for 'the Gatsby look' were the vintage shops of Norwich, but although the original 20s dresses I found there were beautiful, there was nothing that had that sparkle that is a must for an end of college shindig.

Walking back down Magdalen street, where my favourite vintage shop 'Retreat' is situated, myself and my Mum, who I was with, instantly had our eyes drawn to a mass of black sparkle just inside the door of a charity shop.

It was in fact a long, black, Mark and John By Gopal, completely embellished, pure silk evening dress, and at £7 how could I not? It was however a large, too big as it was for me, but after a couple of tucks under the arms, it had a very much 20s look to it; reflecting the styles at the time which were more 'straight up and down' than figure-hugging!

 

 

Customary 'in front of the hedge' photos

  

With the ball being outside on the college lawns, something with a bit of warmth was also much needed and so I went back down the vintage route and initially started looking for a black fur jacket - to no avail. They were either too big, too long, or too 'dull' - I thought the fur would need a little bit of sheen to it in order to compliment my dress.

Worried I wasn't going to find anything in time, we returned to Retreat, where just that morning a crushed black velvet cape with a scalloped edge had been put out. Although it was undated, I was told it was no later than the 50s and it definitely had the classy Gastby look to it that I so desperately wanted to achieve.



I added a pearl and diamanté brooch to secure the cape asymmetrically

I finally teamed it with my trusty suede-look heels from Barratts (although a T-bar shoe would have been more period specific, a night of dancing called for comfort!), diamante and pearl earrings, and tah dah...

  

  

Do I blame my brother's bad photography or my bad posing for this?


 

It was a great evening with Charleston lessons, casino tables and an obscene amount of dancing.


For those interested, Retreat Vintage are on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/RetreatVintage