Das Experiment

Don't bother buying new clothes.

Just dye your hair.

It's like getting a fresh wardrobe full of new gear.

Boom!!

Not enough eye poppin' colour for you?

Check out Daniel's flippin' awesome Marina FINI jewellery giveaway - yeeeeewwww!!!

Desiree xoxo

Remember What I Said About Pink?

Well, I kind of dyed my hair a shade of flaming hot fuchsia today.

Johnny Cash earrings - custom made by Create Beautiful Beads

1980s sequinned top, purple necklace and bangles - thrifted

Frida necklace - handmade by darling Tamera

Silver dangly necklace - from hornacious Helga

1950s girdle worn as a skirt - Etsy

Leggings - Black Milk

Shoes and rings - craft markets

I have some incredibly HOT wenches to live up to ... I'd better not let the side down!

Beautiful Jet of Idee Fixe

Scrumptious Krista of Peetee's Palace.

Her Right Hotness, Clare of Miss Simmonds Says, can rock pink, lavender, red and platinum blonde.

Zandra, Queen of Rhodes.

Scarlett's hair looks good enough to eat ...

So does Helen's.

I love this tart.

This pic is blurry but shows my true hair colour ... well, the one I got out of a tube.

The culprit ... it's SO easy!!

Today I celebrated four years of sobriety with a passionfruit cake and of course, pink-hair-does-vintage-curls.
There's a bit of cake left, fancy some?
Desiree xoxoxoxo

Beryl the Peril

My Nana's name was Beryl.
One of her secret nicknames was Beryl the Peril, which seemed to suit her.
If she'd ever found out, we would have been given a mighty tongue-lashing from that tiny woman who drove her 1960s Mini Cooper, well into her 80s, like an absolute demon.
She died a natural death a few years ago, at almost 100.
I can't say I loved her, but I admired her tenacity and spunk, spending most of her busy days fending off would-be thieves and no-goods apparently dead set on ripping her off.

I've seen a photo of her as a schoolgirl, not long before she married and started a family in Invercargill, New Zealand (knocked-up-at-16-to-devastatingly-handsome-motorcyle-tearaway).

She looked a right "sort" and there's something about these pics of me wearing this original 1920s silk frock that reminds me of her.

Beryl approved of a woman in a modest frock.

I got to know Beryl best during the 1970s and right up until her death in 2006, she was absolutely mad about wearing and surrounding herself with bright colours.
She frequently boasted about her thrifty shopping habits, of buying most of her clothes from op shops, flaunting her fluorescent red and green pairs of crimpolene "slacks" to the world.
She knew she looked fabulous and no-one was going to argue with her.

But I always felt there was something about her that teetered on the edge of maniacal religious sectarianism and pant-less table-top dancing.
In fact I know she would have approved of my frockage and forgiven my saucy glimpse of lacy scanties.

Beryl would never in a million years have approved of a bottle-blond slattern with her roots on display.
But she would have been glad I had a clean hanky and giant clips to "keep your hair off your face".

1920s silk frock - Niddie's Rag & Bone Shop

Johnny Cash earrings - made by Mallory of Create Beautiful Beads

My wedding wrist corsage from October, 2011

Vintage tapestry bag and bangles - thrifted

1940s snakeskin handbag - vintage shop in NZ

Suede shoes - found

Beryl, you were a very strange woman and a scary grandmother, yet a tough and fascinating person.
I don't miss you, but I do think about you this time every year, as you lay in peace beside your own mother.
Baci,
Desiree xo

Early One Morning While Makin' the Rounds, I Took a Shot'a Cocaine an' I Shot My Woman Down.

Unwelcome phone call at 7am: "Hello this is pathology and we need to take some more blood".
Great.
Thanks for that.
I wasn't gonna just roll out of bed and drive down there straight away, those persistent vampires could jolly well wait until I got myself suitably tarted up for the occasion.

 Such inconveniences require comfort, colour and enough layers to make it interesting for the blood suckers ... "oops I dropped my hanky, oh there goes my glove, darn the clip on this bag, hang on a sec I need to fix my lippy, no they're not tattoos they're leggings."

 I adore my leather pony brooch from Em of Vintage Sweetheart as part of Lakota's Jubilee Special Swap:).

 Frilly cotton bloomers ... just because.

 Vintage hat - gifted by lovely Nelly

1950s coat - eBay

Men's t-shirt - Kmart

Bloomers - cheap online shop

Van Gogh-print Leggings - Black Milk

Shoes, bag, gloves - thrifted

Earrings - gifted by Queen Helga

Johnny Cash cameo necklace - gifted by my beautiful Phoenix

 I have a photo of The Phoenix aged 23 and he looks just like this ... Johnny's doppleganger.
It's interesting how my hubby ages very similar to the way Cash did ... raaaooooowwwwwwww!!!

Oh yeah, I'm hooked on Instagram ... come and say hello at desireedares if you're really bored and have nothing better to do.

Baci,
Desiree xoxo