That feeling you get when...

... you see that the photographer has uploaded every single unedited test shot to Flickr... in high res.

:p

Mark Fiddian would never do that, and he shot and styled this photo at his studio in Cambridge last January, so yay ;)

What do you think? Please comment over on Facebook!

Dirty Polaroids by Steve Prue feat. Lady Allura's Latex & Fabulously Fetish shoes!

I'd like to share some DIRTY Polaroids Steve Prue took of me in New York, wearing (in some cases) Lady Allura's Latex and Fabulously Fetish heels, plus a pair of earrings I found in a vintage store in Manhattan :)

This was the point in the shoot where I really let my "trashy" side out to play! Not sure if any of these pictures will end up in my portfolio, but they were fun to shoot... click the images to see full-size versions.

Super excited about viewing an apartment in a gorgeous historic building tomorrow that has its own library, courtyard and dungeon!! Well, okay, the "dungeon" is listed as a "wine cellar", but it can be multi-use, right? ;) Send positive thoughts for me, because I could make some great pictures/ movies to share with you there if I do buy it :D

Thank you everyone :')

The last couple of weeks or two have been full of challenges, mostly related to losing over 3 grand's worth of stuff as mentioned in my previous post, but at the same time, it has been a unique opportunity to discover how wonderful my friends, family and internet friends/ fans really are. I truly don't feel like I'm scrabbling desperately to create a silver lining here- it's right there and all sparkly-like.

Apologies if you already saw my glittery fairy flowers on Instagram :)

One stranger in Leicester fucked me over, but many, many strangers, acquaintances, friends and family from the UK and USA have appeared out of nowhere to help me :') Totally unexpected and amazing.

Thank you so much everyone for the hundreds of likes and shares on my last two blogs about the break-in- just seeing that people "cared enough to share" helped me, as did all the sympathetic pm's and emails. Just... all the feels :')


Going through that depressing list in my "mayday" blog...

• I had enough non-modelling clothes at home to tide me over on a day-to-day basis, except for jumpers and cardigans, which I probably won't need for another month anyway, and underwear, because my laundry bag got stolen for some unknown reason. I was so depressed for the first couple of days that I just lived in my dressing gown- the one that didn't get stolen, that is (along with my slippers!).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  My mother appeared out of the blue like Superman and took me for a hearty vegan lunch with local cloudy cider, and then on a shopping trip to Bristol Cabot Circus. Thanks to her, I now have a full quotient of big black knickers (my favourite kind), beige thongs and tee-shirt bra for modelling, Bare Minerals makeup brushes, natural foundation, natural lipstick and lip-liner for commercial work (luckily I keep my trusty red lipstick and liner in my handbag, so I still have them), MAC Red Chestnut Pro Longwear Waterproof Brow Set, lots of stud earrings, a pearl necklace and some new rings, as all my costume jewellery was stolen. Thank god for Primark. The MUA in Bare Minerals felt so sorry for me that he gave me a sparkly new makeup bag to put my new purchases in :D and the MUA in MAC gave me a free mascara :D I actually hugged them :D
• Ivory Flame came with me to get my 
• My luscious supportive boyfy got me a new diary identical to my old one :') It feels so good to have it "back"! I like a big A4 hardback unlined notebook so I can get creative in it and write/ draw in it anywhere :)
• All the cash I lost has come back to me in the form of unsolicited donations and the buying of "shoot vouchers" from friends, family, photographers and fans. I will never forget this, you guys :')
• I got a new big suitcase out shopping with Ivory Flame in Leicester the day after the break-in, and the nice man in the shop gave me a fiver off, so it was only £25. It's not nearly as posh as the one that got stolen, but much prettier- retro white polka dots on a navy blue background, and waterproof, which should come in handy.
• My favourite studio/ indoor location messaged me out of nowhere to offer me free use of the place to help get me back on my feet :)
• I've also been getting what I call "Red Cross packages" in the post- a big bag of floaty fabrics and pretty sheer hand-me-downs in soft colours from Ivory Flame, so I'm back firing on all cylinders for art nude work, and with new pieces to play with, all road-tested by Holly, at that! :D
• Holly also put me up in Leicester, fed me, watered me, hugged me, held my hand, found a safe place to stash the car with no window overnight, came with me to get the window fixed the next day, came with me round all the sketchy Cash Converters/ "we buy gold" type places in Leicester (dee-pressing) giving them lists of stolen stuff to look out for, and actually made posters to stick up in the car park where the break-in happened! Thanks to Magpie Photography for texting me to suggest going round all these pawnbrokers; I probably wouldn't have thought of it.
• The lady who bred my cats posted me her spare sat-nav, so now I can definitely get to any shoot, anywhere again. Praise Jesus!
• Sale in Boots yesterday = I now have an almost fully functional makeup kit again! I bought nine eyeshadows, a set of Ecotools brushes, face powder, an eyebrow pencil and an eye liner pencil for like, £43!!! then got a free mascara (another one!) and free highlighter cream, and a voucher for a free lipstick. I'll use it to get a dark red wine colour, and wait for my order of blushers and concealer from Bare Minerals to arrive, and then I will have a full makeup kit again! And this time, it will be almost 100% vegan natural products, rather than MAC (except the eyebrow gel and the free mascara). I think if I feel good about the products I'm using it will show in my pictures :)
• I just ordered the remaining makeup I need online from Bare Minerals- two blushes, one vintage peach and one natural pink, concealer, and free samples of yet more mascara and a free £18 lipstick :*
• Wonderful Paul Carr in Newcastle gave me his spare Nikon D70 and lens! Now boyfy and I can go ahead with our plans to create a members-only area filled with cool videos on anitadebauch.com when we get our own place :'D Apologies again for blubbing down the phone at you, Paul! xx
• I found the same laptop as my old one refurbished on Amazon for £79 inc P&P. Lucky for me, I like cheap laptops.
• Lady Lucie has lent me a cool "catsuit"- an actual latex cat costume! I can't wait to buy a giant ball of string and shoot it :D I also ordered a new pair of black latex leggings before I left on tour, which have now arrived, yay. And I got a bottle of baby talc, a jumbo can of rubber shine spray, as well as a new giant can of hairspray, hair mousse and volumising powder.
• Two other designers messaged me out of the blue on Facebook to offer to make me new pieces to replace some of what I lost, one British and one American :') So, so touching. I don't know if they want to be named here, but I'll be getting some kickass photos for them and pimping them like mad when I have the outfits, for sure :')
• Another fellow internet model (don't know if she'd want to be named) posted me some of her hand-me-down modelling clothes and a set of hot rollers, which just so happened to be identical to the set that got taken! So now I have a full hairstyling kit as well as a full makeup kit for my shoots and I'm back in action :D
  
  
  
  
  

Okay, so I'm probably never going to be able to replace the designer bags, but I feel like it's worth having them replaced with supermarket bags for life atm for having my eyes opened to the kindness of strangers that's everywhere :) Thanks to my parents, boyfriend, "sisters" and fans, I'm now able to make a living again. I'm kicking ass and taking names. I'm driving all over the country with my awesome new shoot wardrobe in Tesco bag for life bags. I'm me again!

One love x

"There can be no #beauty without #happiness." - Christian #Dior #uglygirlsguide #priorities #me #life #smile #quote #inspirationalquote #redhead #1960s #fashion #fashionphotography #modelphotography #vintagefashion #60sfashion #leather #gloves #leathergloves #operagloves #gracekelly #christiandior #Repost @rob_ellis_ with @repostapp ・・・ Anita on a London walkabout shoot. If you watch the latest mission impossible film you may recognise the location #retro #60s #happy #chic

A photo posted by Anita De Bauch (@anitadebauch) on Aug 11, 2015 at 4:26am PDT

STOLEN LATEX! Please like and share.

Following on from yesterday's blog, that hundreds of people have liked, shared and messaged me about, here is a list of photographs of the stolen latex couture.

My car was broken into sometime during the afternoon of Tuesday 4 August in the SiP car park on Richard III Road in Leicester, along with several other cars, the police now tell me. I was on my way homewards after two weeks of touring, so I had almost everything I own in the car, and almost everything I own was stolen, including all my latex. They smashed their way in through the driver's window, I'm guessing to steal the satnav, and ended up stealing everything from the boot as well. They've pretty much taken everything I have, including everything I need to earn a living.

Losing latex really stings, not only because it's expensive, but because each piece is handmade to fit. Hours and hours of time, expertise and creativity go into each one. Each unique piece has its own story and becomes more and more a part of you the longer you own it.

To make it far worse, four of the outfits weren't even mine- I was borrowing them from Pandora Deluxe to shoot them for her while I was on tour. They were worth £800 all together and I'm so sorry they never made it home :'(

If you see any of this stuff anywhere, e.g. for sale on eBay or in Facebook groups, please call Leicestershire police on 101, citing crime reference # 15000073696, and email me on contact@anitadebauch.com.



STOLEN:

• FOUR unique Pandora Deluxe latex outfits: a black and white checker-board appliqué lingerie and stockings set, a dusky pink skater dress, a light blue and navy blue 60s-style bikini, and a red mini dress with leopard print trim on the cups
• Black Murray & Vern latex catsuit
• Black gloss PVC underbust tightlacing corset by Heavenly Corsets
• Union Jack latex overbust corset by Cathouse Clothing
• White and black latex two-piece by Shh! Couture
• Black latex two-piece with metallic purple frilly trim

1. PANDORA DELUXE black and white checker-board appliqué lingerie and footless stockings set. It is labelled Pandora Deluxe inside. There is only one of these sets in the world, so if you see it- it's the stolen one!
   
   
   
   
   
2. PANDORA DELUXE dusky pink skater dress. It has adjustable black straps, a zip up the back, and is labelled Pandora Deluxe inside.
   
   
   
   
   
3. PANDORA DELUXE light blue and navy blue 60s-style bikini (big pants!) with small gold buckles, labelled Pandora Deluxe inside.
   
   
   
   
   
4. PANDORA DELUXE red mini dress with leopard print trim on the cups. It has fancy straps over the chest, a zip up the back, and is labelled Pandora Deluxe inside.
   
   
   
   
   
5. MURRAY & VERN full-length black latex catsuit, size small. It is labelled Murray & Vern on the inside back of the collar. It has a single zip.
   
   
   
   
   
6. HEAVENLY CORSETS black gloss PVC underbust tightlacing corset- i.e. with very high quality steel boning. It has a steel busk front and black lacing on the back, and a hot pink Heavenly Corsets label inside. As far as I know, there is only one of these in existence as I had it custom made, so if you see it, it's almost certainly the one that got stolen. I think it closes at 20".
   
   
   
   
   
7. SHHH! COUTURE "white" (cream) latex Stormtrooper-inspired two-piece with black geometric pattern. The top has a black zip up the back. This was custom made for me when I won a competition.
   
   
   
   
   
8. CATHOUSE CLOTHING Union Jack latex overbust corset. It has a steel busk at the front and white laces and a modesty panel at the back. I think there is a Cathouse Clothing label inside, but I can't really remember :(
   
   
   
   
   
9. "White" (cream) fully fashioned seamed latex stockings. They are imperfects (an experiment on behalf of the designer). Size small.
   
   
   
   
   
10. Black latex two piece with metallic purple trim. This was a gift and I don't actually know who the designer was. It's quite thick, tough, good quality latex, and quite big in the chest for me.
    
    
    
    
    

What can you do to help

I don't want or expect handouts, but some mutually beneficial options for helping out are:

• Please like and share this blog on Facebook and Twitter and +1 it on Google (there are little buttons to easily do this at the bottom of this blog entry) and if you are subscribed to my blog, please forward this email onto your contacts in case any of them spots anything online! Pandora Deluxe has successfully caught thieves and got stolen items back in the past using this method, so fingers crossed it will work this time and we'll get at least something back.
• If you are looking for beautiful quality, comfortable latex couture, now is the time to order from Pandora- please bear in mind that Pandora Deluxe is available to take your order 24/7 here.
• If you are interested in either becoming a latex model or improving your current modelling career without an agency, now would be a great time to order a copy of The "Ugly" Girl's Guide to Modelling. I'd be happy to sign it if we ever meet!

Thank you so much again to everyone who has helped and been in touch. I honestly can't thank you enough. I hate feeling dependent and can't wait to be back on my feet and self-sufficient again, working my butt off like I usually do!

Lots of love to you all,

Anita x

Mayday, mayday. Please like and share.

I've had a bit of a shit week.

My car was broken into in the middle of the afternoon in the SiP car park on Richard III Road in Leicester on Tuesday 4 August while I was having lunch with Ivory Flame. I was on my way homewards after two weeks of touring, so I had almost everything I own in the car, and almost everything I own was stolen- from my laptop, camera and satnav to weird stuff like tampons and my dirty laundry o.O but not my dry cleaning. Go figure.

They also stole all my latex, and FOUR Pandora Deluxe latex outfits that I was borrowing, which makes me feel even worse. It's bad enough losing everything without losing someone else's stuff too. I'm going to do a separate post about the Pandora Deluxe latex that I hope everyone will share in case the thieves realise what they've got and try to sell it online.

As well as my personal clothes, books, diary (as in personal diary where I write my private thoughts, not scheduler), over £1000 in cash payments from shoots that was hidden in the lining of my suitcase (the whole suitcase was stolen), souvenirs, art nude bag of fabrics and floaty dresses, MAC makeup collection, I also lost:

• Canon 70D camera and 18 - 135mm STM lens
• Dell Latitude D630 laptop and charger, serial # 179-703-983-35
• TomTom Start 20 satnav, car charger and window mount
• A Louis Vuitton canvas shopping bag in the original green print
• A black French Connection clutch bag with gold stars embroidered on the front (full of costume jewellery for shoots)
• Dior J'Adore perfume, 100ml bottle
• Hot pink leopard print Betsey Johnson shopping bag with pyramid studs and shiny black handles and trims
• FOUR unique Pandora Deluxe latex outfits: a black and white checker-board appliqué lingerie and stockings set, a dusky pink skater dress, a light blue and navy blue 60s-style bikini, and a red mini dress with leopard print trim on the cups
• Black Murray & Vern latex catsuit
• Black gloss PVC underbust tightlacing corset by Heavenly Corsets
• White and black latex two-piece by Shh! Couture
• Black latex two-piece with metallic purple frilly trim
• Black latex and lace cut-out gloves by All You Need is Gloves

I'll update serial #s of the other tech items if and when I can find them. In the meantime, if you happen to see any of this stuff floating around the Midlands, call the police directly on 101 citing incident report # 6170408 (I'm getting a crime ref # sometime today so will update when I have that). crime reference # 15000073696.

They smashed the driver's window in completely to get inside, which was £75 to replace. Trying to remove all the broken glass so I could drive it was not fun.

I imagine they broke in for the satnav and then went through the boot while they were there, as nothing else was "on show".

They left my Fabulously Fetish shoes and boots and my Playful Promises lingerie collection, thank christ, so we can definitely assume they weren't girls ;) It felt awful to find all my beautiful lingerie scattered around in the broken glass though. The thought of a stranger smashing their way in and rifling through all the lingerie in my suitcase is just horrible.


Why this is so incredibly fucking bad

They stole the main things I need to make a living: my makeup, hot rollers, laptop, satnav, latex and art nude stuff. This is making it difficult to book work to earn everything back.

They stole half the money I made on my tour, which I really need to replace the other stuff they stole. I literally didn't even have any underwear until my mother bought me some from Primark yesterday afternoon >.<

Most of the stuff they stole is basically irreplaceable. Personal things, like my diary; and all my jewellery, designer bags, fabrics for nude work etc were absolute bargains that I won't find again.

I am personally gutted because this tour was the final one needed to finish off the house deposit fund and buy my first place- it was just heartbreakingly disappointing to realise that I'm not going to be finally looking at houses and getting my own place, finally settling down and making proper roots here in Somerset.


If you want to help...

I don't want or expect handouts, but if you would like to do something for mutual benefit right now, it would be hugely appreciated.

• If you are a photographer, designer, website producer or other client looking to book a model, now would be a really good time to book me for fashion, beauty, bodyscapes, simple art nude work, pin-up, boudoir, bondage, foot/ shoe fetish and vintage glamour shoots. Have car, temporarily have Ivory Flame's satnav, will travel Monday - Sunday! Email contact@anitadebauch.com.
• If you are a model and can recommend any photographers in NYC or SE Asia/ Australia I could get in touch with for work, I can in turn share my contacts over there.
• If you are a fan and you like feet and/ or nylons, now would be the perfect time to order some of my worn stockings. They all come with a free signed photo. If you would like to order other personally worn items, please email me on contact@anitadebauch.com.
• Give me a little like/ follow/ share on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The more people who follow me, the more likely it is that at least one of them might book me for a shoot, or pass me on to someone who will.
• Don't ask me about insurance. Whatever question you have to ask about my insurance can be succinctly answered with the phrase, "they're useless bastards." Ditto car park security, and quite probably ditto police (we'll see).
• Share this post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or anywhere else you can think of, and +1 it on Google. All the little buttons to do it are below. If you are subscribed to my blog, you will be receiving this by email, which you could forward to your friends (please).

Many thanks to everyone who has already helped, offered to help, or is continuing to help. I hate being a burden, this is really not like me at all, and I can't wait to get my independence back and be me again.

Lots of love,

Anita x

A photo posted by Anita De Bauch (@anitadebauch) on Aug 1, 2015 at 7:15am PDT

#Stonehenge #wintersolsticeSH 2014. Happy Yule to my Pagan friends :)

I visited Stonehenge for the first time today, for the dawn Winter Solstice celebrations. It was too dark to apply lipstick!

I left the house at 5am to be there in plenty of time for the sunrise at 7.45am, armed with torch, water bottle and my freshly dry-cleaned "fur" coat, which had been in storage in a plastic bag all summer, and I just sewed a new collar onto last night to make it even cosier.

I'm not religious myself, but I did think it odd that Stonehenge must be the only religious site in the UK where people are barred from entry 363 days of the year. I can't imagine say, Christians putting up with being barred from going into Paul's Cathedral. "WHOSE Heritage?"

Similarly miffed that the BBC News report has spelled "Pagans" with a lower case "p" and "Druids" with a lower case "d", even though I'm pretty both are official religions in the UK. Do they also write "christians" and "muslims"? Can't be bothered to check.

Anyway...

Today was one of the two days a year we all get to go right into the stone circle and touch the stones! I'd never seen the place before and was so impressed at seeing the enormous standing stones close-up. Stonehenge was already old when the Druids first started using it!

c. 8am. Hippies. Hippies, everywhere.

Today there was a modern Arch Druid called Rollo leading a fun ceremony of wishing peace on the world, and then others were invited to take the floor. My favourite was a grey-haired and briskly cheerful Enid Blyton schoolteacher-looking lady in tweeds, boots and a sensible hat who sang an Ancient Egyptian power-word song about dead ancestors while doing a "ghost hop" (bouncy dance). YES MATE. I love the Westcountry.

There are some nice photos on the Guardian website, if you're interested: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2014/dec/22/winter-solstice-2014-celebrations-at-stonehenge-in-pictures

After the sun had risen and the show was over, I had a sudden urge to call Nan and wish her a happy Solstice (she tends to get up early). I told her I was at Stonehenge and she said I was on the spot where my grandfather proposed to her in the 1940s! That really added an extra dimension to the whole experience.

We drove over to Old Sarum, but there's really nothing left to look at, so we drove into Salisbury and had an all-day veggie breakfast with large soy cappuccinos at a place called Boston Tea Party, which was utterly overwhelmed with customers, presumably Solstice-related, as the staff seemed baffled.

Too tired to go to the Wiltshire Museum after having got up at 4.30am, so came home via Tesco to buy apples and red wine. Early night tonight.

Happy Solstice/ Yule to my Druid/ Pagan friends :)

Anita x

Festival Tips for Retro Chicks: REAL Festival Fashion, Glamping on a Shoestring, Hair Without Hot Rollers, Eat to Look Like a Peach & Easy Retro Festival Skincare

A couple of years ago, I grabbed a copy of Vogue at an airport to read on the plane. Summer was coming and it was full of summer fashion articles, including one about "festival fashion", which included recommending buying an 8 grand pair of lilac raw silk trousers for Glastonbury Festival.

Yes... really.

I meant to write my own guide in response to this insanity on behalf of the fashion industry, and here it is: five GENUINELY useful, tried and tested by me over the last 12 years, won't leave you weeping in the mud over the corpse of your 8 grand raw silk trousers, festival tips for retro chicks.

Enjoy the summer, save money, and don't die inside every time someone tags you in a Facebook photo!

Here's how:


1.  REAL Festival Fashion

Land Girls in Leighton Buzzard

Camping at a festival is not the same as camping with your family in a nice campsite in Cornwall when you were a kid. Assume that it will rain. Assume that you won't have access to clean showers. Assume the toilets are going to be almost unuseable after Day 1.

For once, keep it simple rather than extravagant. You can still look stand-out, head-turningly fabulous, I promise.

• Big sunglasses are beautifying and hide a lack of eye makeup! I believe Dita has just brought out a range. If you are short-sighted, have your optician fit the frames with your prescription so you can see the stage clearly.
• Leather and denim never seem to look dirty. Bear with me. Tight 50s jeans chafe when they inevitably get wet, so 1940s-style wide-legs are best, in black or dark blue denim. Biker chick jackets come in a range of colours and have been in style for rebellious rocker chicks since the 50s. You can make them look more feminine by getting one in a pastel colour, or a colour to match your lipstick, and pairing it with a different pretty silk scarf each day. You could also switch the jeans out for retro capris, or chino shorts in olive or tan, for a real Enid Blyton vibe- just don't bring anything white or made of delicate fabrics that will suffer from being saturated in grime for five days. Do a little research into what the Land Girls were wearing in WWII for further inspiration.
• Be prepared to get very cold at night and very hot at lunchtime. Cardigans are better than coats because they're easier to carry when you get too hot. BANK Fashion carry a good selection at reasonable prices. Wide-leg trousers can be rolled up and down.
• Don't wear a onesie. It may seem all cute and festival-like to be wandering around in a shapeless babygro with cat ears attached to the hood, but it means you have to more or less get naked every time you use a Portaloo, which believe me, will be worse than any kitty litter tray.
• Don't put your wallet in your pocket unless the pocket buttons or zips closed. If the wallet doesn't get nicked, it will fall down a toilet.

2.  Glamping on a Shoestring

The cruel dream

 Can we bear the idea of camping in anything other than a boutique tent? Can we bear the idea of spending extra money on our three-figure ticket for the privilege? Eek. Let's try doing it ourselves...

• Bring a bigger tent than you think you'll need. My rule of thumb is that a single lady needs at least a three-man tent, a couple need a four-man tent, and so on. Being cramped is not elegant! Camp uphill to avoid flooding and away from the path (noisy) and toilets (smelly).
• Decorate your tent- but not with candles. Fire, tents and drunk people don't mix. Make your tent more attractive and easier to find with ribbons and bunting. Tying bunting around the guy ropes will save you tripping over them when feeling your way home in the dark. Block white shows every last

  

  The Free Candle iPhone app

  smudge of mud, drop of red wine and hint of grass stain! A throw with a dark pattern makes a great "carpet" for your tent by day, which you can layer over a light duvet to keep you warm at night.
  
• Know where your towel is. A nice champagne, truffle or mink-coloured bath towel can be used for getting dry, as an extra blanket at night, or for sandbagging the front of your tent against the rain*cough* GLASTONBURY *cough*
• Light your tent with a warm, flattering, romantic glow with a solar-powered "fairy jar" or two. No-one looks good in bad lighting! You can also download the Free Candle app to your iPhone, to get the look of a flickering candle in your choice of colour and style that you can blow out when you're done. If you're sharing a tent with friends, why not get everyone to download the app and enjoy a safely candlelit tent? Bring a solar-powered phone charger so you don't have to queue for hours to get your phone charged up.
• Bring a double airbed, even if you think you'll be sleeping alone. It feels far more luxurious, and besides... you never know. Keep a condom in that buttoned-up pocket of yours.

Nan in 1945. Check out those victory rolls!

3.  Hair Without Hot Rollers

Now we get to the frontline of maintaining glamour in the face of extremely unglamorous circumstances.

Setting hair in waves was essential for any self-respecting woman in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. My grandmother would never have dreamed of being seen at a dance with straight hair, and that was during the blackout! So, what are our options if we don't have anywhere to plug in our hot rollers?

Battery-powered curling tongs? Imo, they just don't work.

Rag rollers? There's just no way I'm stumbling into my tent at 4am after partying for 16 hours straight and then patiently setting my hair in rag rollers before passing out. If you can do it, then more power to you! but I can't in good faith recommend it here.

Instead, let's just assume that we're not going to be able to curl our hair. So, arrive at the festival with a freshly washed, coloured and trimmed 'do, a can of dry shampoo, and some hairbands and grips, and settle for a simple daily style that you can do without a mirror, for example:

"Thank fuck I didn't rely on rag rollers"

• -  a chic 30s chignon
• -  cute Wizard of Oz/ 1940s pigtails
• -  a bouncy 50s sweater-girl ponytail, worn high on the head and tied with ribbon
• -  all of which can be wrapped in one of your pretty silk scarves when your hair gets to the point where dry shampoo can't save it
  

If your hair is naturally straight, you could even get it cut into a chic 1920s bob beforehand, if you're feeling brave! Short, sleek hair was considered very sexy for party girls in the 20s, and just needs a quick comb to smooth it into your daily side-parting. This style works well with a rounded retro fringe, which can also help hide any breakouts you might get on your forehead from eating deep-fried festival food.

Which brings us neatly onto...


4.  Eat to Look Like a Peach

"What was that about block white?"

Flawless skin and a neat silhouette are two things I love and associate with the "vintage look". Unfortunately, festival food works against me on this by bloating me out and giving me spots. Living out of a burger van for days on end is not ideal.

Most festivals these days have at least some healthier alternative food outlets available, such as falafel carts, smoothie bars and vegetarian joints. Having the odd £3 greasy bag of chips is part of the festival experience, but if I eat nothing else, I look and feel exhausted by Sunday morning!

To add insult to injury, festival food is overpriced because the traders have a captive market. You can offset this a little by at least providing yourself with a healthy, delicious breakfast in bed each day:

• Your favourite fresh fruits
• Coconut water- it's a natural hangover cure and better for your belly than Lucozade
• Nakd bars- the only ingredients are raw fruits and nuts, and they can replace breakfast cereal :)

You can also tuck some little snacks into your bag to take with you on your daily adventures:

• Bottled water or coconut water
• Make your own trail mix out of raw nuts, raw seeds and dried un-sulphured fruit
• Half a dozen or more chlorella tablets give you a quick kick of quality protein
• Cups of hot water are usually free, so bring caffeine-free teabags for tasty and comforting re-hydration. My favourite is peppermint, which perks me up and helps me digest the burger van food I inevitably end up eating!

Monday morning on the campsite

5.  Easy Retro Festival Skincare

• Another important way to maintain flawless skin is to put on a high factor sun cream before leaving the tent each day, no matter the weather or your skin tone. Festival weather is notoriously unpredictable and raw, burned skin is never glamorous! (Ditto antihistamines, whatever the pollen count predictions for the weekend are, so you don't rub your cat's eyeliner off when your eyes get itchy from all the grass.)
• As well as getting your hair cut and coloured, be sure to get a full body wax and a mani/ pedi before you leave, so you don't have to think about them when you're there. A 20s-style short, dark manicure is best, to disguise muddy fingernails!
• Lay a clean silk scarf over your pillow at night to minimise facial lines
• Bareskin Beauty Illuminating Facial Serum is made from natural, old-school ingredients and is both a base for makeup and a damage-repairing night cream, to maintain a Golden Age of Hollywood starlet complexion 24 hours.
• A jar of coconut oil is my other secret weapon! You can use it as body lotion, lip balm, hand and foot cream, eyebrow gel and after-sun, and if times are really hard, you can even use it as toothpaste for a couple of days. It will be solid in cool temperatures and runny when it's warm- don't worry, this is normal! It doesn't need to be refrigerated.

Have I missed anything, vintage gals? What would be your best tip for looking as good as you feel at a festival?

Anita x

Behind the scenes video of a Gordon McGowan wedding photography workshop in a castle from 2009!

I don't often get to see actual videos of myself modelling, let alone to see what the hell I was doing at photo shoots five years ago! So weird seeing myself with black hair! Thanks for forwarding me this #ThrowbackThursday movie, Richie :)

TIP: To be notified when I post new junk in this blog, just submit your email address in the right column of this page (just above the Fabulously Fetish badge) :)

Just realised that I have no idea what happened to that vintage teal wedding dress I'm wearing. I guess I must have sold it o.O

Flying to Finland for shoots tomorrow afternoon after a shoot in London in the morning... must go and pack my suitcase. Check out my new bespoke Fabulously Fetish boots! Built from the ground up around actual moulds of my feet in apricot patent leather ♥

I love how tiny they make my tootsies look ♥

Old photos: four generations of De Bauch women from the 1920s to 2010s

I guess I'm a matriarch at heart because I'm way more interested in tracing the women in my family than the men, even though my dad's side is technically Italian nobility (they built the Tower of Pisa and if a couple of people died I'd technically be able to call myself Countess De Bauch).

Women's lives are more interesting to me, I have floor to ceiling shelves of photo books and biographies of women I admire and I love looking through old photo albums that have been passed down from my mother's side.

 My mother: bilingual pro folk singer and guitarist, Bachelor of Art, DIY expert

My mother's mother's mother posing for a photo in 1920s London: she was a lift operator in Selfridges

 

My mother's mother (my Nan) modelling in the 1940s 

 Me and my darling Nan at her place last summer

Happy Mother's Day :)

PS Mom if you're reading this, I'm still going to be posting #NakedSundays on Twitter and Tumblr today. Soz.

nine inch nails at belsonic :D aka i wear my sunglasses at night

long blog alert!!!

I don't know what happened to the capitalisation in this post; i'm feeling really sleepy today and just letting the ipad put them in wherever it thinks :p

just got back from a mental 36 hours in Belfast with my boyfriend, our photographer flatmate dan and our lighting engineer friend john! We left home at like 5am so we could be in belfast early to check in at our party hostel and get the drinks in before seeing NINE INCH NAILS!!!

We went to a bar called voodoo for vodka and soda with lots of lime wedges for me and beer for the boys that was like a dark red cave inside with a voodoo shrine behind the bar :) it's fun to be the only girl sometimes :) then to the hostel for makeup and further vodka and then to custom house square for ****NIN!!****

People kept coming up to us on the way because john looks like kerry king :)

i wore the same outfit i wore in the jessie j video: black fishnet top over black bra with comfy canvas bondage trousers, but my old steel toe-capped dms instead of 5" heels because i knew we were in for a long night of running around being silly in belfast :D

red lipstick and my giant round sunglasses all night because i left my normal prescription glasses in london so needed my sunglasses to see!!! I looked like a right fake rockstar with sunglasses + bondage pants + battered red leather biker jacket, lolllllz. Too many people at the after party tried my sunglasses on.

Anyway the gig was AMAZING. LITERALLY THE BEST SHOW I HAVE EVER BEEN TO. SO VERY FUCKING HAPPY ABOUT THAT :D :D :D Sooo worth the flight!

The crowd was small and everyone was super friendly and the light show blew my mind. It was super trippy and perfectly expressed the music and the band were perfect as always! Trent is so hot these days too!! We just raved solidly for the whole set, which was good and long!!!

last song before the encore ('hurt')! we were actually way closer to the stage but this video is far enough back that you can see all the pretty liiiiiiights woooooooo!!!

After the gig some people were going to some club called limelight (NOT slimelight, haha!) but we veered off to this pub/ club doing an ebm after party called hudson's, which was definitely the right choice as it was awesome music and awesome people! apparently they were expecting about 80 people as it was midweek but hundreds turned up :p

Dan went to bed, liam and john roamed the pub together occasionally bumping into me but i was off on my own chatting to people for the most part about lots of random things, not that i can remember all of them, lol.

the dj (fritz) played revolting cocks for us at the end of the night, and actually mixed it in so the hardcore of ebm dancers didn't notice, lol. he then got into some weird long-winded discussion with me on the way out about blade runner, which was all very confusing and mysterious O.o

I do remember chattering away to this irish guy who looked like trent reznor/ flea from the chilli peppers about god knows what (i only remember the look of fear on his face) when john came bounding up with the crucial information that his mate knew somewhere nearby where you could see a family of wild seals. WILD SEALS!

English kerry king running towards us raving about local seals scared irish flea even more, he was well relieved when his mate came back from the bar, LOL. Amazingly they did invite us back to their hotel suite when hudson's shut at 2am but i had to say no as irish flea had to be up at 7am for work... Craziness!

 photo from my shoot in brighton i had two days later inserted here to break up all the text :p new dress, new red-soled shoes!!

I asked the bar staff but apparently nowhere in belfast is open after 2am so we were like LUSH now where the fuck are we going to go?? Then john remembered that our hostel supposedly had an all-night common room/ bar so we headed back. Apparently everyone else staying at the hostel who wasn't ready to sleep had the same idea so we had our own little after after party. We don't need other people to have fun!!

I went to bed at like 5 so i could get a couple of hours' snooze before spending a horrible day lurking in the darkest, quietest pub in belfast until it was time to slope back to the airport with our sunglasses on and fly home.

Despite drinking GALLONS of water, i still wasn't really sober and got the right eye from airport security! We did look like a bunch of deep fried freaks: zombie crew in weird black clothes we'd slept in with crazy hair, and sunglasses indoors.

I got the full pat-down because of the 90 million buckles on my bondage trousers setting off the metal detectors and they went through my handbag with that drugs microphone sensor thing as well! No dice, suckers! I'd have to be a pretty dumb drug dealer to actually LOOK like a burnout when carrying drugs! If i was really going to be a drugs mule i'd dress like a fucking librarian!

Anyway, we got on the plane okay, fell asleep, got on the train from gatwick into london, slept on that, slept on the tube, got home, made kim snyder's detox tea, just about managed to drink it all before more beauty sleep for shoot in brighton the next day!!

All the water, sleep and detox tea paid off because i looked fine for a latex/ alt fashion shoot on location on brighton pier and in an old-fashioned sweet shop the next day :) the photos look really good, yay! here's an outtake from the sweetshop in lady lucie latex (apologies if you already saw it on facebook!):

 

i love my life!

The photographer, sean mccormack, was awesome, and we were even joined by one of his photographer friends part way though who was also super lovely. I also needed to repair my bank account a bit so the shoot was good timing ;)

on brighton pier in my new dress :D

On saturday i met up with the gorgeous roswell ivory for dim sum and flowering jasmine tea at ping pong soho (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!) for her birthday and to celebrate her getting her steampunk novella published! Will be getting a signed copy of that when it's out, yep!

Ping pong gave us free champagne to celebrate with! :D

 celebrations with roswell ♥

Then we did a bit of shopping in liberty/ selfridges/ h&m (where everything is 90s now, even the dj)/ primark. I bought two my little pony tops for some reason :p one is going to get customised and worn with bowler hat and leopard print leggings for my next clubbing outfit i think, hmmmmmMMMMMMmmmmm! i think my next clubby outing will probably be to see the bug in shoreditch!

love modelling, love fashion, love latex, love doing my own makeup, love nighttime adventures and music and running around on trains and planes in various states of intoxication for all the fun times :D

*MWAH!*




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