Ballgowns, Burlesque & Boys

Beautiful ball gowns, burlesque babes and buff boys all took to the catwalk this past weekend to raise money for charity.

Over £1000 was raised for ‘A Way Out’ who help bring hope, freedom and wholeness to at risk women and young people in the Teesside area.

The show started off with a bang as burlesque dancer Mademoiselle Boo took to the stage and treat the audience to a sparkling performance as she sashayed and chassed to ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.’

Charity Fashion Show

Whether you’re a vintage rocker, a pin-up Princess or if you simply love a bit of buttercream frosting then A Way Out’s Charity Fashion Evening is the hottest event for you.

Join us at The Hub at Teesside University on the 21st April at 7pm for a totes amazeballs event including fashion shows showcasing the hottest vintage, eveningwear and wedding gown trends, fiercely funky nail art and more giveaways then you can shake your monochrome manicured mitt at.

Listen to the podcast from A Way Out ambassador Sarah-Jane for more information about the Charity Fashion Evening…

For up-to-date information about the event and to find out how to get tickets RSVP on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/362746003744939/

Bringing hope, freedom and wholeness to at rick women and young people, A Way Out’s vision is to educate, support and empower the most vulnerable and at-risk women and young people in society, to live healthy, happy and whole loves, free from poverty, addiction, abuse and harm.

Geek Freak.

One drizzly Sunday morning myself and the Bex-meister managed to somehow get ourselves to Newcastle and this time we didn’t end up nearly getting ran over on the Tyne Tees bridge.

The reason why we pulled ourselves out of bed at the ungodly hour of 7:30? (well 7:30 for me, she didn’t wake up till half 8 and we were meeting at 9! – IKR, everybody go tut at her) – was to go too my idea of Heaven – an AFFORDABLE vintage fair.

Once we got in to Northumbria Uni’s SU my head was all over the place – there were far too many sparkling sequins, fantasys furs and ditsy daisys for my eyes to take in! When I die – hopefully before I get old – and get sent up to the pearly gates I hope God will let me shop in this wonderful place with an unlimited amount of money and have Drew McIntyre walking behind feeding me cupcakes for the rest of eternity.

A weightlifting cat.

*puts on The Rock’s voice* Finally, Chantal has come back to the world of charity shops.

After an extra long hiatus in which I couldn’t get myself over to the wondrous charity shop-filled high street (and also widest incase you didn’t know) of Stockton-on-Tees, I at long last took my rip-off white converse back into one of my favourite places in the world with a belly full of Burger King and a pocketful of potential dream buys.

I ran off to my absolute numero uno CS as it likes to close at random times every time I go there and you never know whether it’s going to be open for another 2 hours or closed 40 minutes ago. Thankfully it was still open, I rummaged through the beyond messy rails (they really need to sort that shop out) and my happiness soon turned to disappointment when I couldn’t find anything I liked as I didn’t fancy owning a deflated puffa jacket or a tan 3/4 length leather coat.

A girl can never have too many…

No not shoes or diamonds (well I would like diamonds) but in this case its fur coats and quirky bags.

Yes bizatches I’ve done it again, I Chantal Jade Taylor-Lauper-Phoenix have managed to hunt out and buy two wonderful vintage fantasy fur coats.

The first find was a beautiful sleek black coat and whenever I wear it I like to pretend I am either A) Padfoot (aka Sirius Black as a dog) or B) Moony (aka Professor Lupin as a werewolf) – either way I am a canine from Harry Potter.

Charity Chic extraordinaire – Part 1.

Oh boy, what an absolutely brilliant Charity Chic time i’ve had this week.

It all started with my seasonly trip to Darlington with the BFF’s, I was hoping that the Oxfam where I bought my fantasy fur coat last year would be stocked up with them seeing as its coming in to the Winter but to my dismay there were only rails of ratty pleather jackets. Perhaps on our next trip when it’s closer to Christmas they will – WELL THEY BETTER DO! – or Oxfam will have me to answer too, and when I get angry, I am worse than The Hulk (as in the Marvel character not Hogan.)

Anyways, the less said about my anger issues the better. So we waltzed through the bjillions of charity shops Darlington has to offer (almost as many as Stockton if you dare believe it) looking for a few choice items we needed/wanted.

Charity Chic #4.

Things I missed about England while I was on holiday:

1. Gypsy-Lady

2. Benny

3. Facebook/Twitter

4. Wrestling

5. Charity Shops!!!

So as soon as I got home after I kissed and cuddled both Gypsy and Benny, went through two weeks worth of Facebook and Twitter and caught up on all my wrestling I headed out to the charity shops.

It seems that because I was away lots of great items built up and there they appeared all sat waiting nice and patiently in the various shops waiting for Chantal to come along and give them a brand new home.

A Vintage Goldmine.

While in Italy, my dad and I were simply riding along on our bikes on the way to the beach so I could  get to my daily routine of topping up my tan so I no longer resembled Sheamus, reading Bret Harts autobiography (easily 5*’s) and telling people who came round trying to sell stuff to get away.

We had to bike down the market streets as I’m prone to getting ran over on roads that have cars and oh boy i’m sure glad I did. There I was cycling around with my cute little basket carrying a bouquet of flowers when I spied the dress of my dreams.

Mom jeans

First off I shall apologize for my horrendous roots (I can’t afford a full head colour atm) and pained expression (it was sunny) in the following picture.

Friday 7th August.

Mrs T necklace: £2.50 – Primark
Clock necklace (which I personally brought into fashion): £2 – Redcar car booty
Stripy naval top: free – my mam’s wardrobe
High waisted jeans: £4.50ish – Ebay
Nude lace-up sandals: £8 – Primark (I don’t even like them though!)
‘Paul’s Boutique’ bag: £25 –  Bank [aka market stall]

Oh, how I adore my [mom jeans] high waisted jeans but oh they are extremely annoying and hurty. I had to buy a size 6 as my waist is impossibly tiny but my hips were made for birthing. So the ability to breathe and be comfortable in these jeans from the waist down is near much impossible! But I do love wearing them so I can live with the pain while walking around in public, but as soon as I get somewhere private its off with her head the jeans and straight into my sweat pants I go.

Charity Chic #2

While waiting for Primark to open this morning – yes I got into town that early, but only because I get the bus home from my boyfriends when he goes to work, i’m not one of those dorks who go to town early for the sake of it. So I went on a hunt around town for a bacon butty (there wasn’t any) and came across one of my favourite charity shops which was open thankfully (before you ask I am not going to tell you which one it is.)

As usual I went over to the dresses part, because last time I was in here I found a BNWT asymmetrical striped dress from Topshop for only £3.99! But to no avail there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. However, I turned around to go somewhere else or another and there was a whole rail of vintage goodies and all for normal prices!