DRESS UP TO GET DOWN!

Stone Cold Dead in the Market - Louis Jordan and Ella Fitzgerald

We love this track by two of our faves - Ella and  Louis (the other Louis) - so much that we decided to play it on this week’s Peppermint Candy. What could be better than a light-hearted song about murder? We love it. And we’re not the only ones. The Victorians loved a bit of the macabre and mourning wear became hugely popular after Prince Albert’s death in 1861. Mourning clothes have inspired many pale-faced, teen-angst, bedroom-bound Gothic fashions ever since (have you been to Camden recently?) - not least the Gothic Lolita subculture in Japan. But high fashion has also been known to succumb to the Dark Side, especially the blood-red Dior gown above inspired by the bloody French Revolution. We’d happy wallow around in faux-grief in these dramatic beauties, especially while listening to Ella’s calypso-tinged diatribe against domestic abuse.

Pictures above: mourning dress and hat (1870s); Dior evening dress inspired by the Marquis de Sade and the French revolution (S/S 2006); Kazuko Ogawa Gothic Lolita dress from Japan (A/W 2008). All from Gothic: Dark Glamour at the Fashion Institute of Technology

DRESS UP TO GET DOWN!

Lullaby of Broadway - Andrews Sisters

We love Lullaby of Broadway, a song about the joys of staying up partying until dawn. Even though it was written back in 1935 (winning an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1936) its sentiments are still totally relevant today: is there anyone alive who hasn’t done a Walk of Shame at one time or another?

For a Walk of Shame to be truly successful one must be wearing a proper party outfit, the more flamboyant and outrageous the better. You definitely don’t want to be mistaken for a commuter whilst leisurely wending your way home at 8am. However in our opinion the clothes are really secondary to the makeup. Morning-after makeup is a look all it’s own and can even be a fashion statement, as proved by the Chanel and Dior catwalk pictures above. And we’re sure you’ll agree that it’s better to be caught in your make up from the night before than after having spent a full 8 hours in your own bed sans slap. Katy Perry take note…

Hear the Andrews Sisters’ version of Lullaby of Broadway on our Peppermint Candy show this week.