Way Back When ...

As a little girl, my mother had a beaten up old black clutch bag crammed full of worn, old, family photos.
Like this one of me aged about two, in a red and white gingham bikini. 

I remember spending hours crouched on her bed with the photos spread out on the white chenille bedspread.
One after another of my long-dead or ageing relatives "appeared" before me dressed to the nines for special celebrations, picnics, days at the beach or just showing off a swell new hat.
I was recently given a couple of old photos by my mother, which combined with Seven Style Notes' vintage pics of her gorgeous grandmother as a young lady, inspired me to start digging about for pix and get some lovely vintage looks on board.


This is a shot of Mum and Dad on their wedding day in November, 1945.   
Dad was 21 and had  just been released from a four-year imprisonment in a WWII prison camp.

Mum and her two glamourous sisters used to visit the prisoners bringing them reading materials and food.  
During the war, the three girls used to sing live on the local radio and were nicknamed New Zealand's own Andrew Sisters! Love it!!  
I can still remember the brocade fabric of her beautiful gown. She made it into a bed jacket when she was pregnant with me, but not before my older brother and sisters got hold of the precious dress  a few years earlier and played with it in the paddock, leaving it in a muddy farm drain for a couple of days!!
This is a shot of my mother's parents, Beryl and Bert in 1941.

I'm guessing they were at a family wedding judging by their clothing and the fact that they were photographed together.

They had divorced a year earlier you see, so I guess they were putting on their happy faces for the day.

Grandad's wearing motorcycle gauntlets to ride his precious 1921 Indian Scout motorcycle.

Nana, in her jaunty little hat, was a milliner and loved her headwear.  Hmm sounds familier;).