OI have had a busy and fun start to my new year and so I thought that I might do a little post to update you about some of my activities. And I have a few pics to share.

Let me start off with my trip to London. I have been fortunate to make regular visits to London, usually during the month of January for a round of intense theatre activities, lots of museum visiting and in general loads of fun stuff. I won't go into all of my activities but I will mention some things that have to do with fashion. The Victoria and Albert Museum had a fantastic exhibition on costumes from the movies. It just ended about a week ago. There were so many great iconic costumes on display, the background info was quite detailed and the presentation was very hi tech. This was just marvelous. There were a couple other costume exhibits on but I missed those. I visited two retro clothing stores, Collectif and Vivien of Holloway. I got great service in both stores. Collectif was having a sale on so I bought a dress for only twenty pounds, about $32. And I found a darling hat. V of H has great British made retro fashions. I would say that their prices are a bit higher than PUG. But they have very good quality merchandise. I bought a red Forties style dress there. My favorite shopping experience was at the London Vintage Fashion Fair which seems to happen every few months. It was a snowy Sunday morning but worth trudging through the snow to get to Hammersmith to the venue. There were maybe 30 to 40 vendors. I managed to get some great deals on jewelry including a wonderful art deco pin. I found some unique tribal art from Afghanistan and Mali. And I found a vintage dress from the Forties at only twenty pounds. Here is a photo of some of the vendors:

Oh, one more thing I will mention. In the West End there is a new production of the Fred Astaire movie musical, Top Hat. The songs, the dancing, the acting are all top notch. And the costumes, Thirties style, are to die for!

I have been back home for a couple of weeks now. And I have already had some wonderful vintage fashion experiences. This past weekend in Santa Monica was the Vintage Fashion Expo. It is held there twice a year and is in San Francisco twice a year. There were lots of vendors, lots of room to explore all the clothing and jewelry and it was not overcrowded. That may have been because it was Super Bowl Sunday. I was joined by one of my PUG sisters Ms Auburn Hills. Although we'd chatted online before, we had never met. It was so nice to meet her and spend time shopping with her. I did not buy anything at the Expo. I found the prices a bit too steep for my taste. But it was still great fun to attend. And it was a great excuse to get into vintage mode. Here is one pic of Auburn Hills and one of me:

OK, I have one more experience to tell you about. On Saturday night I went the OC to the Boers Museum. They are having a special exhibition on costumes from the movies. It was not nearly as extensive as the V&A's but it was still quite good. This exhibition features only costumes made by the British Costume firm Cosprop. There are some wonderful costumes on display. My personal favorite was one from the film Mrs. Dalloway. I have a photo of it. One more thing, there was a cabaret review by a group doing songs from Hollywood musical. And the performers wore costumes that were actually worn by stars in the movies. It was great!

Before I go, let me tell you about something upcoming. The FIDM museum in Downtown LA has a presentation of costumes from the past year's movies. It is done every year. This year's exhibition will start on February 12th. Admission to the museum is free. And parking in their lot on Saturdays is free also. This is a must see in my opinion.

http://www.fidmmuseum.org/exhibitions/upcoming/

I hope you have enjoyed reading about some of my adventures. Stay beautiful PUGsters!