A bit steamy..

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Who remembers the Railway Children?
One of my most vivid childhood terrors is of a steam train barrelling through a tunnel where I am hiding, or running me over whilst I am tied to the tracks.
Never mind that steam trains died out well before I was born – these fears lingered thanks to Penelope Pitstop and the like.

Now I am a vintage girl I appreciate the merits of a steam train. First and foremost of course it is a dress up opportunity.
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I chose a bit of a mash up of 1930s and 40s.. An original brown 1930s eyelet dress and brown hat with a vintage opshopped cardy, very old crochet gloves and my vanity train case.
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The Steam train in question is at Paekakariki, a little North of Wellington, and today was their open day.
Built in 1910 it is regularly taken out for excursions and its carriages are in pristine condition.

I went with my friend James. He is a vintage geek too – but for boy things, so was in seventh heaven, going on about lathes and bandsaws and all kinds of things. To be honest, I just wanted to soak in the prettiness and pretend I was catching a train to see my sweetheart.

So much geeky fun. And a cheap day out!
I am super keen to take the train to Art Deco weekend in February – this is the train that goes up.
I did mention to the lady working on it that I would have to take at least 5 suitcases – which she helpfully told me was fine – they have a luggage carriage.
Sorted then!

A Magazine Editor? Me?

So somehow, a little while ago, I became a magazine editor.
Luckily I didn’t have to bear the shock of this alone – as my two friends are in the same boat.
We have learnt many and varied things:
That you can run a magazine almost entirely over facebook, with a few face to face breakfast meetings thrown in once an issue.
That only one editor can have a nervous breakdown at a time.
That poor designers don’t respond well to 3 screeching females on the morning of a deadline.
But most importantly we have learnt how generous and resourceful a community can be.
Glory Days Vintage Lifestyle Magazine is written mostly by contributors throughout the country. All of them have an interest in some part of the vintage lifestyle and each and every one of them have put in hours of work, voluntarily, for the sake of the magazine.
We have been so lucky to find such talented writers, photographers and designers. As editors our job is easy, a bit of organisation here, some marketing there, and almost like magic each 3 months a magazine appears out of the ether.
Another thing we have learnt is that there is no shortage of stories. They just keep coming. It seems like every time you tell a person that you have a vintage lifestyle magazine, another story comes out. Somebodies grandmother was a WW2 pin up, another’s a model in the 1960’s. You find a vintage printer complete with printing press from the 1890s, or a man who makes his flatmate have dinner with complete Victorian place settings.
It is amazing that whatever you put your mind to you can manifest, and that whatever you say you are you become.
A magazine editor? Who would have thought. But I am, and I love it. It feels like I am helping fashion a community out of a wacky group of people. We have known about some of us previously but the revelation that there are a whole HEAP of us oddbods out there with a penchant for the past has been a revelation.
It’s not like a dry history lesson but more that the past comes to life through what everyone is doing.
I feel this very strongly when I am doing a vintage styling. It feels like a ghost saunters up and whispers in my ear,” a little less eyeshadow and go easy on the blush there missy.”
I’m sure that the World War Two reenactors get the same feeling when they set up their tents in a local park, and so does the Dreamstress when she is sewing up her stays.
Maybe it’s that we all want to be remembered and by remembering who and what went before we are trying to manifest this wish. Or maybe it’s that when we look to the past we see some long lost glamour and intrigue.
But regardless of why we do it, we have a story, and Glory Days is dedicated to telling that story. We will hunt that story down and not let it go until we have emptied it of all its hidden secrets.
If you have an interesting story please email me at editors@glorydaysmagazine.com
I promise we will treat it well!
www.glorydaysmagazine.com

Burlesque Babes

Showgirls are wonderful. There is nothing more beautiful than the female form artfully covered up with feathers, rhinestones and glitter.
And of course all of the above make for amazing photos.
So Jenn Hadley and myself teamed up with Miss La Belle to run a “Burlesque Babes” photoshoot.
Designed for new showgirls to practise getting their game on for the camera and to start their career with some great photos.
We turned St Andrews on the Terrace conference centre into a jewel encrusted den of iniquity. The poor toastmasters were having a meeting next door, and were quite intrigued by our door sign and screams of laughter. It was all very irreverent but oh so much fun.
The best thing about photoshoots is the mix of people. Because we aimed for new dancers we had a few girls who are not that used to getting their kit off for the camera. It is so lovely to see these girls slowly warm up, they get their hair and makeup on – confidence building as they see how beautiful they look, then they watch other women – of all shapes and sizes prance around in a few wisps of material and the odd pasty or two.
Then it is their turn in front of the camera. Enter Miss La Belle.
Grace, for those that don’t know her is one of the most inspirational people in the Burlesque scene in New Zealand. I have had the pleasure of working with her for a few years now, and I can honestly say that she tops them all. She brings something to photoshoots that is impossible to replicate.
She has a way of making women feel instantly comfortable. She finds their sexy and brings it back, coaxing them into the most unimaginably uncomfortable positions, whilst making them laugh, then look like sex kittens, then laugh again.
If you can feel comfortable with your body in front of the camera you can start to feel comfortable in your body throughout your life, this is the true magic of Burlesque.
Once you are instructed by Grace, you will never forget. Her quote for today “ When you are getting false eyelashes on look at Claire’s crotch”.
The other fantastic thing about photoshoots, particularly Burlesque ones, is that I can push my styling to its zenith – creating dramatic looks and movie star hairstyles. In the immortal words of Amy Jansen Leen “more is more”.
This is something that I am getting better at. My natural tendency is the purist vintage look, easy on the eyes, and all about the lips. But as Max Factor knew, the camera needs lots of help, so I am pushing myself to up the dramatic. To this end I am attending a class by Ellie Kat this week, how to apply drag queen makeup.

As you can see from the photos we had so much fun. It was like a big girly pajama party, with lots of opportunities to ham it up in front of the camera.
If you are interested in our next shoot please contact us at book@jennhadleyphotography.co.nz