Something blue...

Got the Royal Wedding fever? Got your something old, something new, something borrow but not your something blue? Then you should enter this SWELL competition!

I'm teamed up with Adorn London, the best website for all things jewellery-related, to give you the chance to win this one-of-a-kind Royal Wedding necklace. As with all of my pieces, this necklace is one-of-a-kind.


I found these striking vintage blue stones on one of my salvaging missions, and decided they would make a perfect centrepiece – not only is it a royal colour, but it could also be Kate’s ‘something blue’! To really make the colour pop and give the necklace an extra luxury feel, I added beautiful and perfectly formed freshwater pearls. Although I mainly used vintage parts, I wanted the necklace to have a modern feel – the asymmetric look is really on trend for this season, and I like how it gives a quirky feel to my designs. This necklace isn’t just right for a bride – it’s fit for a future Queen!

All you have to do to enter our competition is:

1. Follow Adorn London on Twitter (@AdornLondon) and send us a message saying: ‘Win a bespoke Royal Wedding inspired necklace by Swell Vintage’
2. OR Retweet the competition details to your followers to have a chance to win. The more you retweet, the more your name will be entered into the prize draw. Remember to use the title: ’Win a bespoke Royal Wedding inspired necklace by Swell Vintage’ so we know you have entered to win this particular piece.

Don't worry if you don't have a Twitter account - you can still enter the competition by heading over to the Adorn London page and leaving a comment telling us what jewellery you would wear to the Royal Wedding. It's easy peasy!
For more information on the competition, including terms and conditions, visit http://www.adorn-london.com/jewellery-blog/something-blue.

Good luck, everyone! I hope you win!

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Lighter Self

Welcome back, my dear friends!

I have two things I'd like to talk to you about today:

1. I now have a whole new website for my styling portfolio! If you fancy having a look at my work so far, head over to www.frankiemurray.com. I have also made a new blog dedicated to my styling-related activities - http://frankiemurraystyling.blogspot.com. I will be writing about all manner of things over there - behind-the-scenes accounts from photoshoots, designers I have worked with or am inspired by, organisations I admire and the events I have attended. If you like that sort of thing then please, head on over. Both sites are a work in progress, but I'd really appreciate your support and feedback.

Photographer: Darren Ruane

Styling: Frankie Murray
Model: 2face Gemini
Make up: Ezme Thomas
Hat: Cleo Pettitt and Claire Strickland, originally made for ‘Aladdin’ at Watford Palace Theatre
Necklace: Swell Vintage

2. Aussie, the lovely Australians who have the power to make your hair super gorgeous and lighter, have set me and the other Aussie Angels a challenge - to lighten our lives with Aussie by de-stressing and getting healthier just in time for summer. Now, when it comes to exercise, my main source normally comes from a walk to and from the bus stop, but Aussie have inspired me to really give this a go - but I will need some help! If you have any words of wisdom or inspiration, please share them with me. I need all of the help I can get! And, if you like, you can go on the Aussie Lusciously Lighter Self journey with us. They have put together a video of handy and (hopefully) easy to do exercises which you (and I) can try out at home or even at work. I'm going to try and do them at least evert other day, so why not join me?

Aussie's Lusciously Light Videos: Part 1 from 1000heads on Vimeo.

Until next time...

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

x

Rocking it, vintage-style

Yesterday I attended the Rokit Vintage bloggers event at their warehouse in Seven Sisters, and you know what? It was bloody amazing!

I've always liked Rokit because they make vintage accessible for everyone, as it should be. Their prices are very reasonable, and I've always found their branches to be friendly and welcoming - not cold with hiked up prices like some vintage boutiques. They also embrace new emerging design talent with their Rokit Designer's Guild while still staying true to their proud sustainable ethos.

More than that, Rokit know how to have FUN with vintage! And fun was definitely had by at their event yesterday!




To say that the Rokit warehouse was like an Aladdin's cave of vintage is almost an understatement - it was more like a Haven of vintage! Boxes and sacks of vintage clothing and accessories surround the walls, stacked to the ceiling, while individual items hang from a network of rails spanning from wall to wall. They stock supply seems never ending, and makes me feel like much less of a hoarder!



We were treated to delicious afternoon tea, courtesy of the famous Vintage Patisserie. Everything was served on the most beautiful vintage china, and I have to say the scones with pink sugar were pretty damn incredible!

My chubby hand reaching for a cake...nails were done on the day by the incredible ladies at The Illustrated Nail - photo courtesy of Fashion Daydreams.

The best part of the day, in my opinion, was being allowed to try on ANY of their amazing vintage items. ANY of them. And as much as we wanted! I'm not sure Rokit knew what had hit them, but the afternoon bore a strong resemblance to a classic movie dress-up montage...but with a lot more laughing and jumping in the air.

Fiona of Save Our Shoes evoking some Kate Bush circa Wuthering Heights


Lucy of Snippets of Shiny Thoughts mixes her prints


Me wearing a floral number (that I know own) - photo courtesy of Fashion Daydreams


Sabina from Access Fashion was on a roll with her dress up look!


Kit of Style Slicker looked adorable in floral prints


Reena of Fashion Daydreams and Sabrina of The Science of Style rocking the varisty look - photo courtesy of Fashion Daydreams.


Nik, PR genius and founder of KARLISMYUNKLE does Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (styled by Reena and I) - photo courtesy of Fashion Daydreams.


Me turbaning it out (geddit?) - photo courtesy of Fashion Daydreams.

As if the millions of photos weren't enough, I also made a (very) short video. I originally started filming because Reena of Fashion Daydreams decided to put on rollerskates, and I saw the potential opportunity to make £200 by sending the footage of her falling on her arse into You've Been Framed, but unfortunately it was not to be...


The video can be seen bigger and better on my YouTube page.

I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone at Rokit Vintage, in particular the lovely Imogen, for having us and letting us run riot in your amazing warehouse like kids in a vintage sweet shop. I also want to praise the efforts of PR legend and all-round handsome devil Nik Thakkar for organising a super-fun day.

Swell Vintage LOVES Rokit Vintage (oh look, we have the same surname!).

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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