Ship Ahoy! Back from the Queen Mary Art Deco Festival

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We’ve safely docked from our 1930s transatlantic cruise!  This past weekend was the 7th annual Queen Mary Art Deco Festival in Long Beach.  It was a wonderful time, and so fun to see so many Art Deco fans from around the world in one spot.

The weather for the weekend was absolutely glorious, which made going to the top deck of the ship the first place we wanted to be.  Not only is the Queen Mary an absolute treasure of art deco, it’s the perfect place for time travel.  It’s easy to immerse yourself in the era with such wonderful surroundings.  They have added some great deck chairs to the top deck to make the ship board experience complete.  As someone who would have been very ill on a real crossing, I love that the ship is firmly planted- all the benefits of a make believe crossing back in time without the seasickness ;)

My husband and I were able to attend two events on the ship this year- the Grand Art Deco Ball with fantastic 1930s by Dean Mora and His Orchestra (they played some of my favorite 30s tunes!), and also the Art Deco Tea Dance.  We had previously only attended the tea dance so it was a great treat to be able to attend more of the weekend.

Of course, I packed more outfits than I actually wore, but I was so happy to be able to wear the  outfit above- a vintage mid 1930s two piece dress which has been in my collection for years.  I paired it with an old store stock hat I found at the Paris flea market a few years ago and new two tone spectators which were bought on Ebay after a lead from Nabby of This Old Life.

My outfit for Sunday was this sailor dress I made from vintage plaid fabric with vintage button accents.  The collar is new white cotton piqué trimmed with red braid.  The belt was bought at a thrift store and the shoes were new from Ebay.

The biggest highlight of the weekend for me was finally getting to meet Jill from Tea with the Vintage Baroness and Adeline’s Attic.  I just love her to pieces!  She is just as charming and sweet in real life as she is on her blog.  On Saturday Jill, Beth from V is for Vintage blog, Beth’s husband, my husband, and I got a chance to take advantage of the beautiful weather, nice ship, and good company to spend a relaxing afternoon together before the ball, which is when most of these pictures were taken.  We also got to meet the amazingly talented Kim on NudeeDudee in person on Saturday.   I was so glad to meet her and her beautiful new daughter.  Of course, they were both perfectly attired in Kim’s creations!

Beth is a stellar seamstress, and she made her entire ensemble on the photo on the left.  It suits her to perfection and the fit is amazing!  And she made the matching hat from the Sporty Toppers pattern.  Whee!  Looks so cute!

I love the photo on the right because I feel like we’re in an old travel ad ;)

I wish I had taken more photos of events and such- it was such a nice time seeing friends-  many of whom I didn’t get a single snapshot of and regret not pulling out the camera more!  The event is fantastic and a lot of the proceeds go to ship restoration, since it’s paired with the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles.  We’re so thankful to have this lovely old ship to be able to visit, but hearing the music and seeing folks dressed in period attire is really something else- it’s a neat experience and we are thankful we were able to go to a few of the events of the weekend.

You can see Beth’s post on her blog about the weekend here, and Jill’s post about the weekend here.

Comments

22 thoughts on “Ship Ahoy! Back from the Queen Mary Art Deco Festival”

  1. Wow! Perfect clothes, as usual. Just beautiful. I stayed on the Queen Mary last Spring and adored everything Deco about her. I should have been born somewhere between my Great-Grandmother and Grandmother’s time. How I wish everything were as elegant as that ship – and your clothing.

  8. Truly enjoyed this post, and seeing familiar faces from the blogging world/twitter! Of course I swooned over the clothing as all I can swing is taking clothing I find today and making it work as much as I can to achieve the feel…was fun to see the clothing in that setting!

  12. Oooh! Looks like you had so much fun! But really caught my eye were your snazzy shoes; you always pick the best accessories for your outfit, Lauren! :)

  14. What beautiful photos! It looks like it was such a fun event; I can’t even begin to tell you how jealous I am! I love your sailor dress; what pattern did you use to make it?

    p.s. The shoes look perfect! :)

  15. Okay, I officially need to move to the West Coast so I can do fun things like this! I’m a particular fan of the photo of you in the plaid sailor dress leaning from the ropes – classic.

  16. Wowza, that just looks like such a fun event! I love all the outfits of you dapper ladies, and particularly love that one of you in the sailor dress hanging onto the ropes. Too perfect for words!

  17. I *thought* I recognized you & your lovely clothes in one of my friends photos from the Art Deco Ball. Looks like a perfect setting!

  21. Great post! Thanks for all he details and pics. I usually cringe, at least a little, when I see sailor suits or dresses, but yours is VERY cute. I love that you were able to make it with period fabric. Like the shoes too!