A thirties tea party with a thirties dress!

As mentioned before, my Dad has just turned 80 and celebrated it with a lovely tea party last Saturday, inspired by the tea parties his mother used to hold when he was young. Here's a clip from our family films of one of those tea parties of old, this one on the occasion of my aunt's christening;

I just love all the glorious hats all the ladies are wearing. Compared to that long gone sunny day it turned into a rather rainy day on Saturday, so we all stayed indoors. But it was still a truly lovely day, and included speeches full of fascinating anecdotes from a school friend he has stayed in contact with his whole life. My film edit of the family cinefilms was projected against the wall and made a nice talking point, and I got to see lots of people from his and our families past again, which was really nice.

I chose to wear an original 1930s dress to match the theme of the day (bought in Islington a couple of years ago at a vintage shop that's sadly now disappeared). I was nervous about wearing it because it's quite hard to wear - unforgiving on the figure, and as with many thirties dresses of this style, difficult to wear a bra with! It was also quite dressy compared to what others would be wearing, which made me feel self conscious. However, I got lots of compliments and felt great wearing it.

The dress is pale blue lace over a blue satin lining. It has the most amazing back and arm features, so very typical of the 1930s.

Luckily it also comes with a jacket in the same lace and a pretty peplum effect, which helped me feel less self conscious about my figure.

None of the photo's of me in it from the front without the jacket were terribly good, this is the best of the bunch!

The lace is terribly delicate - or at least the netting it is set on to is. There are already several holes in the netting, and pulling it on and off is a delicate maneuver - there's no openings to help you get it on, and every movement feels like you might tear it. I gave myself a complete heart attack during the party when, clambering over a chair, I managed to put my heel through some of the lace in the hem! Luckily, it's very hard to spot holes in the net as it's virtually invisible against the satin, and I hadn't damaged the lace itself.

I'd like to get some more pictures of this in better light - a nice sunny day perhaps - to show of the delicate colour and lace much better. I will just have to find some lovely garden party some time soon, now spring is on the horizon!