Lili’s Ladies of the Year 2014

Tags

amanda suter, Aurora Galore, cabaret, coco dubois, Frisky & Mannish, joanna woodward, ladies of the year, laura corcoran, sophie mason, the lilis, Vintage, women

It’s the second Lili’s Ladies of the Year (or the Lili’s as I have affectionately and slightly egotistically named them!) it’s a time when I reflect over the year and give a virtual high-five to women in my circle who are doing amazing, creative or just good old stirling work!

This year has a definite performing lean – this has been my busiest performing year yet and so it only follows that the women I come into contact with are from that world. The list is by no means exhaustive, I’m surrounded by incredible women who are all in charge of their business.
Working in the creative arts sometimes feels as though you are on a boat. Times of flying along with the wind in your sails followed by what feels like tides of doldrums and becalmed non-activity. It’s learning to ride the swell and keep your head down that gets you through. So, women, I give you a round of applause, which admittedly is just me clapping alone in my kitchen whilst a bemused dachshund looks on, however it is a round of applause nonetheless.

So, the Lili’s this year go to:

Aurora Galore
Watching Aurora Galore make waves in her ‘Year of the Weirdo’ has been joyous. From globe-trotting to award-winning, Aurora has been doing awesome things both onstage and off. From her make-up vlogs and her creative costuming to her fierceness and fearlessness onstage, it has been a bumper year for Aurora.

A woman of many skills, her fan dancing has to be seen to be believed and this year she has been passing those skills over to other performers in her sold-out fan dance workshops.

In June she won ‘Most Innovative’ at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend in Vegas with a performance of such ferocity and kookyness that it left the audience open-mouthed and on their feet.

If you get the chance to see her live in 2015, do, she’ll knock your socks off.
[photo: Aurora Galore]

Joanna Woodward/Coco Dubois
As a host, I rarely get to work with other hosts and I have to watch their careers run parallel to mine on various social media. At the tail end of this year, I got the chance to work with Coco at the Black Cat Salon des Artistes having wanted to work alongside her for ages. We were down an act and she stepped in at the last moment after her show was unexpectedly cancelled and she absolutely killed the audience, who quite rightfully gave her a standing ovation. She is a performer who manages, successfully, to have a foot in both cabaret and musical theatre. As I write this blog, she has just started rehearsals for a new West End production of ‘Beautiful – The Carole King Musical’ having already appeared in the hugely successful revival of Sondheim’s ‘Merrily We Roll Along’.

As well as having an astonishing voice, she has also been an outspoken voice for mental health and size issues on her blog, which is both emotional, honest and truly gives a glimpse into the, at times, fragile psyche of an artist. As well as writing, singing and hosting she has also been nominated for a London Cabaret Award this year.

 

So cabaret’s loss is musical theatre’s gain – for a while – I hope she’ll come back!
[photos: Andrew Nash & Lovany Manson]

Amanda Suter
I’m a complete vintage addict and Amanda Suter is one of my favourite vintage dealers. If I had to pick one place to get my fix in 2015, it would be Butchwax Vintage. Her stock is divine, like seriously world-class, A grade, stunning vintage. I’m never more thrilled than when a glorious piece she posts in her Etsy shop is not my size!

From gowns made for Persian royalty to frocks from Hawaii and everything in between, she is my go to gal for beautiful pieces that make me smile. She has an amazing eye for vintage that is unusual and rare as well as just downright divine.

Looking at her gorgeous clothes really does bring a smile to my face and I’m always enjoy it when she lists her new things and there is an internet scramble for the choicest morsels! Her parcels come beautifully packaged and wrapped with love and I’m always excited when one drops onto my doormat. I urge you to look at her fabulous Etsy shop.
[photos: Amanda Suter]

Sophie Mason
Three years ago, I started my variety show, AFVS, at the Edinburgh Festival. I was in the early stages of being pregnant with my son and I was aware that my lifting, carrying and people organising abilities were slightly compromised! I decided to take on an intern for the Fringe and I put the call out. I sifted through a raft of applications and one caught my eye. It was from a teenager from Dundee.

She didn’t have much experience, she hadn’t worked in cabaret but something kept bringing me back to her email. I decided to interview her and adored her immediately. I was concerned at her age so decided to take on a different chap and offer her work experience for the month. It was the worst decision ever, the chap turned out to be utterly incompetent and Sophie saved the day after day after day! She learned quickly, was efficient and awesome to be around.

She is amazing at organising, wrangling performers and keeping everyone (including me) on the straight and narrow. Since then, she has become a fixture of our team and even though she is now studying stage management at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, we can’t imagine doing a variety show without her. Once she’s graduated, I’m sure she’ll be fighting off offers of work and I will be thrilled to see her doing amazing shows.

Laura Corcoran/Frisky
Miss Corcoran has had a rather fabulous year, a sell-out season of a brand new Frisky & Mannish show at the Edinburgh Fringe with her partner-in-crime Mannish (Matthew Floyd Jones), followed by a very successful tour and directing the Elaine Paige show and national tour.

 

I have been lucky enough to work with her regularly at the Cafe Royal for the Salon des Artistes and her powerhouse vocals and inspired interpretations never fail to make me applaud very loudly. Her rendition of Florence & the Machine’s ‘Girl with One Eye’ remains one of my favourite interpretations of 2014. When Frisky goes freaky it’s fricking fabulous.

I look forward to working with her more in 2015 – hurrah for sisterhood.

So those are some of the ladies who inspired me this year. I can’t wait for 2015 and to be inspired again by all the creative, clever and funny ladies with whom I get to pass time. See you next year!

Love Lili. x

Lili’s Life Through a Rosewood Tinted Lens

Tags

burlesque, cabaret, Cafe Royal Hotel, coco malone, Dusty Limits, London, rosewood hotel, sammy dinneen, scarfe's bar, variety, Vicky Butterfly, Vintage

There is a huge trend in London at the moment for what has been termed ‘luxury cabaret’. Many of London’s finest hotels boast their own resident cabaret show, including The Savoy and The Cafe Royal Hotel. Now one of London’s most glittering five star hotels has tossed its gilded cap into the ring with ‘Cabaret at Scarfe’s’ which is just starting the second month of its residency under the expert hand of one of London’s finest cabaret singers, and someone of whom I am immensely fond, Mr Dusty Limits.

The venue is akin to something you may find in one of the stately homes of England, a drawing room from an earlier time. Glitteringly dark, bedecked with velvet and displays of glass-domed butteflies. The fire flickers welcomingly, drawing you in with its soporific glow, inviting you to fill your glass and relax into the bosom of friends. Dusty’s aim was always to create something that felt like the post-supper gathering at a country house weekend. Not a show but a party, a collection of friends. With that in mind, the cast mingles freely before the show, sharing drinks with guests and creating an atmosphere of louche decadence. When Dusty takes to the floor to start the evening’s entertainment, the crowd is already warm and welcoming which makes it very easy to slip into the show.

Curated by Dusty, the performers are plucked from London’s finest; Vicky Butterfly bedecked in downy white feathers, the delicious musculature of Sammy Dinneen, the velvety honey drenched voice of Coco Malone and I; I sing a bit.
In a space not naturally designed for performance, the show emerges from different parts of the room, Sammy upended on a table, me seated on the bar amid glasses and bottles and Vicky Butterfly stalking the aisles in her glowing cloak. I hope that the audience feel included and enveloped by the proximity of the performers. It is quite an astounding thing to have a semi-naked hand balancer mere inches from your face, his toes threatening to dip into your champagne.

As any good party should, the night gradually grows in debauchery and crapulence, with the hosts ending up close to the floor, or on it, indeed whilst the strains of the the Lorde song ‘Royals’ are played by the incredible musicians, Michael Roulston, Jonathon Kitching and Tom Mansi. More recently, I have found that there has been a glorious return to live music in cabaret shows and that is a delightful thing. A backing track can never replace the comradery of having real live people playing real live instruments playing music with you. It would be a wonderful thing if we were to see a complete absence of shows with track, although I realise that this is utter pie in the sky.

The show ends and dancers, beautifully attired in vintage clothing, take to the floor as the band play Irving Berlin. The crowd watches enraptured and transported to another time and place, a place of decadence and debauchery, where echoes of those Bright Young Things resonate still.
Join me at Scarfe’s Bar next Sunday for the next one of these amazing evenings, meet me by the fire, bring champagne.

Love Lili.
x

Cabaret at Scarfe’s
Rosewood Hotel
Doors 7pm, show 7.30pm
Buy a ticket HERE

 

 

 

 

 

Lili Sings Songs at a Sing-along Song Show

Tags

Carradine, Champagne Charlie, cockney, east end, London, sing-a-long, Tom Carradine, Vintage, Wilton's, Wilton's Music Hall

Last month, I had the pleasure of an evening out at Wilton’s Music Hall for a new night called ‘Carradine’s Cockney Sing-A-long’. It’s rare that I get an evening out without working as much of my spare time is given over to child-rearing or sleeping, so it was a complete treat to hop on the train and saunter through the backstreets of the East End to find myself in an alleyway, outside Wilton’s; London’s oldest surviving music hall.

I ducked inside, welcomed in from the Autumn chill by the warm glow and the excited chatter. Seated at the piano was the ever dapper, and beautifully turned out, Tom Carradine, resplendent in a vintage suit with one of the finest handlebar moustaches ever seen in London. Beside him, cabaret’s cheeky charleston chap and co-host, Champagne Charlie perused the song sheet.

I ordered a glass of champagne from the divine bar keep (always a huge plus point for me – lovely bar keeps!) and scanned the song sheets to see what musical delights Mr Carradine had up his well starched sleeve. Like me, he is a connoisseur of vintage and rare songs and his attention to detail is pretty, bloomin’ flawless.

Soon it was time to start and we raised our voices in song. The packed bar made a motley choir of champagne saturated voices singing together in joyful chorus. If you don’t know it, just mumble until you get to the chorus, or take a well-timed glug of your drink. The more you drink, the easier it becomes as the inhibitions with which you are fettered drop away like descending scales. The line up of songs had something for everyone; War Songs, Cockney Classics and no Cockney sing-a-long would be  complete without an obligatory ‘Oliver’ medley and enough “‘Ave a Bananas” to keep enough the most dedicated ‘mockney’ happy!

This is not a show. It’s almost an anti-show. It’s a gathering of friends, in a shabby East End bar, singing songs. In this time encapsulated by the solitude of technology and the reliance on television, it is a tonic for the soul to be transported back to a time of community and such simple pleasures as lifting your voice in song next to a complete stranger, linked only by the shared knowledge of these old melodies that have seeped into our public consciousness.

The singing finished, and I skipped off into the night to catch the train, light of heart and step. To paraphrase and translate from the poem by Schober, ‘An die Musik’, I was indeed transported to a better world.

The next ‘Carradine’s Cockney Sing-a-Long’ is on the 11th of November. I shall be there ready to sing songs and celebrate the joy of community singing – I urge you to join us. Entry is free (although there is gratuitous hat passing – so bring your gold coins!)

Love Lili
x

Carradine’s Cockney Sing-A-Long
Wilton’s Music Hall
Grace’s Alley
8pm
FREE!

[photos courtesy of Carradine’s Cockney Sing-a-long]

The Show’s The Thing (or how Adelaide Fringe created a Siren)

Tags

adelaide fringe, cabaret, gown, jema hewitt, ralph bogard, siren, songs, Vintage

When I started to gather songs for ‘Siren’, I wasn’t sure what I was creating. I knew I had to create a new show, ‘War Notes‘ and ‘Songs to Make You Smile‘ have both almost had their day (although, they are open for booking should you be so inclined!). So I knew I had to create something. Now, I work well under pressure, so given a year of procrastinating, moving sheet music from pile to pile and then arranging the piles into alphabetical order and then rearranging them chronologically I started to form the basis of an idea.

My life has been in a state of flux over the last year, I think that many cabaret performers sometimes feel the same. The work is neither consistent nor assured and although I’m often lucky to be busy and in demand, that could change tomorrow. I also had a baby, with all the added pressures and responsibility that he brings along with his toddling and giggling. My husband is often away on tour and marriage is sometimes really tough. No one tells you that when it’s all hearts, flowers and engagement rings.

So I haven’t been in the most creative frame of mind, and yet this show was booked into Adelaide Fringe way back in September. So I had to create something. Anything. I sensed a theme amongst my chosen songs, they were eclectic, but all vaguely nautical. I wanted to do something deeper, more mysterious and more enchanting. It wasn’t easy, but nothing that is worth something comes easy to you. I couldn’t find the flow, I couldn’t find the links and so a very dear friend of mine, Ralph Bogard offered to help me find my way in the darkness. And boy, did he. We worked intensively for two days and it was exhausting both emotionally and physically. We explored the song choices and the reasoning behind them and therein lay the links. Some funny, some feminist and some just plain painful. He forced me to delve deeper and share those locked away emotions and hurts that make the songs real.

I originally wanted a costume that would come apart as the show progressed and my fabulous costumier, Jema Hewitt made me the most amazing disintergrating ‘sea wraith’ dress but once I rehearsed with it, it felt contrived and I couldn’t find the truth in it. So I ditched that idea, grudgingly, let me tell you! So I was costumeless. It was a problem, as one of my techniques to bringing a show together is building from the costume. You find the perfect visual aesthetic and everything else seems to fall into place. I happened to be browsing a vintage store in Auckland and I came across this deep sea blue and green 1940’s gown. It was glamorous but a little tatty, a little fragile, coming apart at the seams – much like me (under the bravado). As soon as I put it on, ‘Siren’ was born.

Now, I’ve spent a month here at the Adelaide Fringe, it’s been really hard work but I have had good friends around to counsel. My ‘work spouse’, Mat Ricardo, has been an absolute rock. He’s been a shoulder to lean on and an ear when I needed to rant, cry or talk and we have also laughed. I think it is always hard when the material you are doing drags up from the depths of your soul the past hurts and emotions that you had locked away in a little box and buried deep. What is the quote from ‘The Go-Between’? – ‘the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there’. The past was a different country, I was a different person. In a way, ‘Siren’ has been a gift of closure of some open wounds which I had just packed with glitter and tit tape – like a cabaret war wound! It’s shown me that emotional honesty onstage can be an incredibly terrifying thing but to be able to share that with an audience and take them on that journey with you is an exhilaration. Through the show, I’ve confronted, literally, those weights laying heavy within me and reaffirmed that in my life that I have made the right decisions, no matter how painful they were at the time.

So my message this morning is don’t be afraid to use your hurts and emotional weak spots to create art. Use them, share them, allow your audience the privilege of seeing deep inside you to where those cuts are still raw. It both hurts more and hurts less as time goes on. We are so caught up in our own fear to fail, our unwillingness to commit, our emotional baggage; how freeing it is to take control of it, harness it and say “Bitch, you work for me now”.  It’s working for me, (so far, I’ve evaded the men in white coats) ‘Siren’ has grown into a fully fledged show and has been incredibly received by audiences (who have bought me gifts of songs and vintage brooches!) and critics alike and for that, I give thanks for my multiple broken hearts and wounded pride.

If you are reading this in Adelaide, you have three more chances to catch the show, get your tickets here. If you are in London, I’m coming to London Wonderground in June and you can get your tickets here.

Love.
Lili. x

Lili Wants to Make You Smile

Tags

photoshoot, richard healey, road trip, sausage dog, songs, songs to make you smile, terry mendoza, Vintage, vintage songs, What Katie Did

This week was the first time I have done a tour show since I had Rafferty. We had a show of ‘Songs to Make You Smile‘ booked in to the Swindon Arts Centre and so on Wednesday morning we were up at silly o’clock to get everything ready. In my carefree ‘old’ life, I’d sling a bag in the car and head off. Now, leaving the house, involves packing almost everything minus a kitchen sink. We decided to add a sausage dog to the equation too, why make life simple?

We stopped along the way to p p pick up a pianist! Mr Richard Healey was on keys for this show, which is always a treat because he’s bloody super. We ended up running late, which I hate, so when we made it to Swindon Arts Centre they were concerned that we had forgotten! After explanations of ‘child, dog, traffic!!’ we got to the auditorium for a soundcheck. Dickie and I have soundcheck down to a fine art, literally 3 minutes to check mics and lights. This show, we decided to chuck in a new song to amuse ourselves, (slightly risky, given that I’ve just had three months off and the last tour show we did was in November!!) so we had a quick run through of ‘Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat’ and we were happy with it.

Backstage, I threw make-up at my face, chucked my hair into an updo, ripped my dress as I dragged it on over my new best friend, my What Katie Did spoon bust Morticia corset and had 10 minutes to breastfeed Rafferty before it was showtime! So I hit the stage slightly flustered but it was fabulous to get back into the swing of things. The show was really marvellous, with a really supportive audience and the new song went beautifully, in fact, it might be my new favourite!

This afternoon, I had a photoshoot with the amazing Terry Mendoza. I absolutely adore shooting with him. We just click, if you’ll pardon the pun! We shot a couple of new costume pieces (a fabulous hat and some Elizabethan-style collar and cuff ruffs) and tried to shoot some pictures of Rafferty, who was having absolutely none of it. Every photo had him screaming or burying his head in my shoulder. After 10 minutes, we gave up!

In other news, Rafferty is trying so hard with noises. He’s copying ‘Guh’ and ‘Brrrrrrrrr’. It’s the best time wasting thing in the world.

Until next time…
Love Lili

Lili gets shot!

Tags

clothing, Deadly is the Female, Edinburgh Fringe, edinburgh fringe festival, etsy, Fashion, jema hewitt, killer curves, milady de winter, millinery, photographer, showgirl, style, Vintage, vintage lovers, What Katie Did

This week, I was lucky enough to shoot with one of my favourite photographers, Ian Treherne. It was my first shoot back after having Rafferty and I’m still feeling a little bit curvy, so I was concerned about my double chin and lack of cheek bones – thank heavens for shading and contouring.
I needed some photos for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and also for a couple of shows I’m working on so I threw together some costumes (the ones that fit me, anyway!) and went to Ian’s fab little studio about 20 minutes from my house.
Ian shot a photo of me last year which made it onto the front cover of Level 4 Magazine, a mag for local music and other artistic what-not. I adored that picture, so he was a natural choice for me. I also wanted something which wasn’t completely ‘vintage-styled’.
I find that it takes me about 10 minutes to warm up into a shooting rhythm and Ian takes a pause roughly every seven pictures or so but we soon found our way and started to come up with some really fabulous images.
I took along a dress from Deadly Is The Female, a black ruched number which when paired with a What Katie Did Morticia corset, provided me with some killer curves. I also flung on an awesome vintage statement necklace and earrings set. I imagine the photos will have a Mafia Mama attitude to them, as I was channelling ‘Don’t F*ck With Mama la Scala’!! I think that Ian really enjoyed shooting that dress and it’s really interesting how something so simple and black can ooze sexuality.
Then we shot my fabulous purple and green hosting frock which was made for me by the incredible Jema Hewitt.

It’s thoroughly boned which makes sitting down nigh impossible as is bending, turning or even just walking. This made shooting in it quite tricky, but I do hope that we got something amazing, the colours are incredible and the style is great. I wanted something which channelled Milady de Winter from the Three Musketeers and Jema created it perfectly.

Our final pictures featured the most incredible piece of millinery – a hat with a ship a la Marie Antoinette. It’s common knowledge that I adore a tricorn and this is a spectacular example. I found it on Etsy, my gosh, that site is a treasure trove of delicious handmade allsorts! I wanted to use the hat for an image for a new show I’m working on called Siren, it’s a collection of nautically inspired music. I wanted a soft but strong image with the hat centre stage and here is a sneak peek.

I can’t wait to see the rest of the images that Ian took, especially the amazing black dress and I look forward to sharing them with you, too. So for now, this blog is to be continued…
Love Lili

Lili’s Down Under Vintage Adventure

Tags

clothing, music, songs, style, Vintage, vivien of holloway

Every vintage collector has a story about a treasure trove that they have discovered, or the day they stumbled across something incredible. Mine happened at the Adelaide Fringe  in Australia in 2010.
I sing vintage songs from between 1920 and 1950 so it follows that my audiences are often of a slightly older demographic or vintage lovers themselves. One afternoon I was flyering for my show outside my venue and I was wearing a lovely Vivien of Holloway full circle dress with a big red petticoat. Two ladies stopped by me and commented how pretty the dress was, one said how she still had dresses from when she was young. She went on to say that she was just planning to put them in the rubbish, after all, who would want old dresses? Who indeed? Me. Me. Me. That’s who. I offered them free tickets to my show, if they would just pop the dresses into bags and drop them off to me at the Spiegeltent.

The following week, imagine my surprise when they turned up with bags and bags of gorgeous 50’s dresses. One of the ladies, Jean, had a mother who was a dress maker. So all the dresses were handmade and homemade in England before she emigrated to Australia. More excitingly, they all fitted me as if they had been made for me.

It was the sort of vintage treasure trove that I’ve only ever heard about from other people. Dresses of every hue, with layers of tulle and sequins. A white petticoat so stiff and big that it stands on its own in the middle of the floor. A divine late 40’s dress and matching jacket in apple green. A dress which, if I didn’t know better, I’d say was made by the amazing ladies at Whirling Turban. I was just amazed, again and again, as I pulled each item out of the bag. Each dress has been in a bag in a cupboard, so they were all in great condition. My only problem was how to get them home? Cue two extra suitcases and a huge excess baggage bill!
On my final weekend at the Adelaide Fringe that year, I had a lovely couple bring their 93 year old mother to the show. She was so beautiful, and reminded me so much of my favourite great aunt. She absolutely loved the show, and afterwards she came to tell me how much she enjoyed it. She said that she still had her going away gloves from her wedding in 1953, and she wondered whether I would like them? She didn’t think that her children would want them, and she’d love them to go to a good home where they would be loved. I almost cried at her generosity. Her daughter-in-law dropped them off to me and when I opened them I was stunned. Navy blue, butter soft suede, softly ruched at the wrist and made in France and in absolutely perfect condition, and they fitted me perfectly. So, so incredibly beautiful.
I’m planning to go back in 2014 with my brand new show that I’m previewing in Edinburgh this year (Lili la Scala Sings Songs She Likes and Hopes You Like too!) and I hope there is more glorious vintage just waiting for me.
What exciting vintage treasure trove stories do you have? I’d love to hear them.

Love Lili.

Lili’s Got Vintage Guilt at Victorian Gilt

Tags

1950s, clothing, Fashion, New Zealand, Shopping, style, Travel, Victorian Gilt, Vintage, vintage shop

My name is Lili and I am a vintage addict, I’m always searching for treasures to squirrel away into my collection.

One of my favourite places to search used to be a tiny vintage shop in Auckland. Called Victorian Gilt, it was in the very stylish suburb of Remuera. From the outside, a little shabby but once inside the shop was a veritable treasure trove of wonders. Stuffed with clothing and accessories from the late Victorian, all the way to the 1950’s, it was a heaven for someone like me! Dresses from all eras hung five deep around the walls (a moth’s dream!) and it was a tough job searching through and frequently I’d work up a glow. Everywhere I looked, my eyes fell upon 1930’s evening dresses, cabinets filled with rhinestone jewellery and piles of vintage linen. If you wanted furs, she had it. You wanted a prom dress from the 1950’s made of chiffon, she had it. You wanted a 1920’s, fully mink lined, bright orange, chinoiserie silk, full length evening cloak, she had it (honestly!).
Once last year, as I was searching, my eye was caught by a flash of pale pink, pleated satin. My heart leapt. When I first went to New Zealand, five years ago, my husband (then boyfriend) took me to Victorian Gilt and I fell head-over-heels in love with the most stunning ball gown. Handmade in the 1950’s, she was curvy and made of heavy satin in the palest oyster pink. The front was hand-appliquéd with swirls of purple and grey ruffled velvet and the skirt adorned with rhinestones and sequins. A consummate beauty, she made me feel a million dollars. Sadly, she also had the most fantastic price tag and I could only dream of taking her home. This beauty had waited for me for five years, hidden beneath several other vintage dresses. I lifted her down and put her on. She was a little dusty, and there were some areas which needed attending to, but she was as lovely as I remembered her.
Sadly, at that time, she was still outside my price range, but I was ever hopeful that I may get to take her home one day.
I consoled myself by trying on heaps of other wonderful dresses. I tried on a fabulous 1940’s coral red dress, with beautiful square shoulders and a gracefully falling crepe skirt, which I then hid at the back of a rack, so that I could go back and get it another day! I ended up taking home with me the quirkiest green dress. It’s 50s, Chinoiserie design silk and designed so that the top looks like a dressing gown, with wonderful lapels and an Obi-style belt which really nips in the waist. It’s become a favourite in my collection.

So ladies (and gents), if you do get the chance to go to Auckland, I insist you go to Victorian Gilt, now situated on Waiheke Island. Spend plenty of time ferreting around I guarantee you’ll come out with a treasure or two.
When you get there, if you are looking for an oyster pink ball gown, you are too late. My husband came home from his last visit with a very special parcel for my birthday…