All The Madmen

Today at Beatnik I had a bit of a Mad Men moment.  I was wanting to dress the window and I found a lovely turquoise sixties dress and thought this is just the colour that looks fabulous on Joan.  Which in turn got me thinking about Peggy and how she really is the true leader of style in that programme at the moment.  I mean who needs curvy sexy Joanee when you've got smart pussy cat bow peggy cooking up a storm at the copy desk.

As for Don and Betty, well don't get me started.  They are as troublesome off screen as they are on.  I had a hard time finding a suit to fit Dons masculine figure, but after I stopped myself throwing his silly arms across the shop in frustration I finally found one that was just about ok. The same goes for finding a trilby to fit his big head. 

Betty is sitting pretty in a lovely cream fifties dress with red piping and a matching jacket 

While I was getting mad at the mad men I listened to Kate Bush ( this album ).  I know I should have been getting groovy with Ella or Doris but I've just gone mad for Kate at the moment.

Oh! You Pretty Things

I was lucky enough to see Laetitia Sadier, the singer from Stereolab, one of my favourite groups, performing from her new solo album.  She was good, I mean more than good, she was effortlessly groovy, super cool and funny.  She had a fabulous haircut and sexy french accent and let me tell you that I would take any one of those two features in a blink of an eye.      There were ignorant people milling around the bar at the back of the room blathering on and on and making a general racket over her performance and so she stopped and shouted to them (in her cool french accent) "shut ze 'ell up, thees isn't ze internet or somesink, you are not at a zoo'.  She then carried on playing her lovely music.

Enough of music and frivolity let's get down to shop stuff.  It may be dark and dreary outside but it's the opposite inside Beatnik.....

Some pretty stuff to lift the dampened (if you live in the uk) spirits

So far so pretty, and then, thanks to Sas, my friend and partner in retro delights, she discovered and uncovered in equal quantities, a magnificent mountain of scarves.  

This photo does not do them justice, it doesn't even begin to convey the ludicrous amount there is, or the pretty patterns, the hand rolled edging, the playful prints, the ones that are worth quite a bit but we still sell them at a ridiculously cheap price. They're all there in that big scarfy pile and I love them.

And some more

Oh, I also found this lovely coat hanger

Frank Fidkin the taylor.....  How lovely it would be to have our own wooden hangers engraved with 'The Beatnik Emporium  Fashion and Vintage Southampton'

Hmmm....

She comes in colours

Colour, it's been on my mind.  I think partly due to the autumn show that's been laid on for us this year, but mostly because I've joined yet another flickr group, run by Emma over at Silverpebble.  The purpose being to post some photos of colour that will spread a little colourful cheer for the next few months ahead.  I'll drink to that.




Post Halloween and things are getting back to normal (well as normal as things get in Beatnik).  Which gives me a chance to look for a splash of colour.  I'm spoilt for choice......

While choosing which colourful things to take photos of I listened to Midlake and the new Belle and Sebastian, which is the musical equivalent of a good autumn soup.  I mean that in the best possible way.  

Splashes of colour not just in the shop........

If your day seems grey

Head over to

here

for a quick colour fix

Timestretched

The clocks have turned back an hour and we're all having to get used to the idea that it's getting dark by late afternoon . Halloween has been and gone in a spooky blur.  I fully intended to take some photos of our customers in their scary and not so scary costumes but I didn't get a chance because Beatnik was so busy.

Now it's back to normal I can hopefully get some decent dog walks in and grab a last chance to see the autumn colours, but not after tea because it's dark.

Katy and her ridiculous stick

With time rushing by as it has a habit of doing it made me think of  this song.    I remember playing it very loud when we first moved the shop to our current location. It was the night before we opened and we were madly trying to unpack and put clothes on rails, everything was everywhere and I was feeling stressed, although the word stressed is an understatement, and even putting the words completely and utterly before it still does not convey how I was feeling.  The song played and I stood still. I listened to the lyrics and the melody and thought, you know, I think everything is going to be ok. It really is that kind of song.