The Populaire Review:

I promised a review of Populaire, and here it is:

Since I spent most of this film drooling and sighing over the incredible costumes, this review will be short and sweet. The story is relatively simple. A young Audrey Hepburn type in the form of Rose Pamphyle (played by Deborah Francois) lives in rural Normandy with her sister and father in a small general store which has a new typewriter on display in the window. Rose waits until her Father and sister have gone to bed before trying it out for herself and over the coming weeks, teaches herself to type.

Fast forward a few months later. A Don Draper type,  Romain Duris is trying, unsuccessfully to appoint a new secretary at his insurance offices in Paris. A gaggle of hopeful wannabes gathers, including Rose, who is scorned for her country style and demure ways. Duris, as Echard, begins to interview the hopefuls and during a call, discovers the Rose has a rather noisy talent for typing. Strangely enough, he hires her and invites her to work with him as a project to turn her into a typing champion. (My Fair Typist, perhaps?)

Rose agrees and moves into Chez Louis where she gradually falls in love with him. After failing at the first regional trial for typing incorrectly, Echard sets her to work with a new typewriter and teaches her to type properly. Rose paints her nails to match the keyboard and shortly after a rather awkward confrontation with Louis, she enters the regional trials again, succeeds and makes it to the National Championships, where the former champion, a fiancee of the heir to the Japy dynasty  is forced to admit defeat.

 "Don't mess with me!"

Rose strides to fame as the face of Japy typewriters with the aptly named Populaire model taking centre stage.

"I love my typewriter. Really, I do!"

Louis watches on helplessly as she learns independence and refuses her love when she declares it openly. Hurt and rejected, Rose retreats to New York to compete in the World Championships where she claims victory over her American opponent, Susan Hunter. Echard rushes up on stage and the credits roll as they share a sweet kiss and bow in front of the audience.


Populaire is truly a wonderful film, and I'd recommend any vintage fan to see it!
Now please excuse me whilst I go to source a pink typewriter...

Holly x

Vintage in Paris!

It is easy to think of elegance, glamour and scandal when someone mentions Paris, it's something that comes naturally with seeing films like Midnight in Paris (which I have yet to see) and reading about the exciting exploits of Bright Young Things in the 1920s.

This however, was my second trip to Paris and I have to say, that it is suffering in the current economic climate. This is obvious from the amount of people begging on the streets and sleeping rough in the cold tunnels of the Metro, which looks to be the shape of things to come :(.

 
 

Still, I was there to enjoy the delights of shopping in the main city and with this in mind, I started what I could only describe as a vintage-shop-crawl (rather like a pub crawl) around the streets of Paris. I started at La Gallerie Lafayette which currently has a vintage concession in the centre on the first floor, and spent ages going through the rails to find something that wasn't 80s! Eventually I found two jackets I loved, but since the budget was to be tight for the three days, I decided on the cheaper one, a sweet Tricolon 60s jacket in orange-red with black buttons, an almost match to my lovely red Jonathan Saunders coat (Debenhams best seller 2012)!




Next I went to my favourite shop from the previous visit, Mam'zelle Swing near Hotel de Ville which has some amazing stock. Although the owner is very French, she is friendly and if you explain what you are looking for, she will find it for you. I must have tried on at least 12 dresses in the shop before deciding on a gorgeous French silk navy 50s blouse with orange buttons and a lovely mustard coloured bow blouse.




The Lovely Mamzelle Swing shop!




After trawling around the various thrift stores, including Frip'Star which is more of a jumble sale than an actual vintage shop, I was becoming desperate to find that one special item that would define Paris.

It took a long journey to Pelleport, an area located just outside Paris, and a very helpful resident of the town to give us directions to Goldymama Vintage. We arrived just as the evening was drawing in and the area around the Metro was quite intimidating, so we decided that if we couldn't find it down the road where the resident had suggested we would turn back.

Thankfully our efforts were rewarded. We headed down the darkened street where most of the shops were closed and then just as we rounded the bend in  the road, Goldymama appeared like a beacon, in full retro splendour with bright lights and rails and rails of beautiful vintage!


 

 You can find Goldymama at:

http://www.goldymama.com/boutique/index.php


I couldn't wait to start and immediately pulled dresses from rails, dumping them in my friend's hands as I scoured for special items to try.

Of all the dresses and skirts I tried on none of them seemed to have that 'wow' factor. I was very disappointed, I had been so sure that we would find something amongst the many tempting pieces in the shop, but to no avail. My friend who speaks fluent French was able to ask the owners for the right items and one of them whisked her way around the stockroom, pulling out items for me. It took several attempts until my friend called out:
"The lady's got a 50s blue check dress for you."

I groaned. I was imagining the sort of dress from the 80s in a large gingham print, but this was something else.

I drew back the curtain and gasped at the sight of the dress. Typical 50s style with a full skirt and sailor collar I immediately knew that it would fit and that I would have to buy it. This was the item I had been looking for. I tugged it on and paraded around the shop. For some reason petticoats in France are quite ruffled which makes it difficult to determine the actual style of the dress, but nevertheless I bought it. I then asked to try the dress with a pair of shoes, and with the help of my friend's translation skills the lady brought out a pair of petite typical Parisienne shoes. They looked to be quite old, in a gold colour with sensible heels. I couldn't resist them as they fitted me perfectly, so I purchased those too.

I kept my purchases to a minimum after that but I would definitely recommend Goldymama and Mam'zelle Swing to any vintage fashionista looking for that one special purchase from abroad. Just be aware of the changeable weather, and wear sensible shoes!


Holly
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