We’re sharing the best ever Forties beauty secrets

It is time to indulge in our favourite past-time and hark on back to the Forties when bright red lipstick and pencilled-on-tights ruled the roost. It is no secret that we are still in the midst of an ugly recession. Our modern-day beauty regime is constantly attacking our bank balance, and as new products and treatments are introduced – from eyebrow threading to spray tans – there has to be a point in which our hungry eyes allow our glossy lips to finally say ‘NO’.

Though we can normally always find an excuse anyway, there really has never been a better time to go vintage. And no, we don’t mean heading to our local thrift store to have a good old rummage. We’re talking vintage beauty. Amy Duncan has all the Forties beauty secrects you’ll ever need to know.
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The woman who dresses Nigella Lawson, Beth Ditto and Led Zeppelin: Vivien of Holloway

The Vivien of Holloway Forties and Fifties reproduction clothing store above a Kentish Town motorcycle garage has long been an institution for vintage enthusiasts across the country and beyond. Having just opened a long awaited second store on Holloway Road, Rebecca Hoh-Hale catches up with Vivien on her film and musical muses, dressing Led Zeppelin and plans for the future.
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Down the rabbit hole – a Sixties fashion story

Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end!…Our Alice in Wonderland fell down the rabbit hole and encountered a bunny girl, a mad hatter, a cat woman and a beauty queen – in a world inspired by Sixties vintage.

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Twenties key style elements: fashion meets leisure

Think Twenties fashion and plenty comes to mind: short, fringed dresses in loose fitting, sensuous fabrics, silhouetting willowy, boyish bodies. Cloche hats covered bobbed hair and framed flirtatious eyes and narrow, knowing brows. It was a time for Bright Young Things, a new partying set free to be young and frivolous and to Charleston ‘til their legs buckled.

The flavours of the age were expressed in fashion, and the Twenties had plenty to offer to the young, impetuous and anxious to experience a new world now emerging from The Great War. Rosie Cowling has this story.

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Ten essential vintage beauty products

There are thousands of brilliant cosmetics out there if you’re after the essential vintage feel, and more importantly, look. Martha Hayes has chosen ten of the best, so treat yourself!
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