Holiday season is well upon us and we couldn’t be more excited!! It’s the time of year when you find yourself searching for that outrageously sequined dress for your office Christmas party, buying Starbuck’s coffee just for those famous red cups and shamelessly dancing along to Madonna’s Santa Baby while swigging eggnog. But more importantly, it’s the time of year to celebrate the people in your life that make you most happy; to spend time with loved ones and make memories that will last a lifetime. Here are some of our fav Christmas images through the decades. We wish you the happiest of holidays and hope that Santa brings your everything you wished for!! Cheers to a fabulous New Year.

Xx Rag&Bow

Last week, we had the chance to interview the beautiful fashion design student/model/blogger Breeny Francis!! We hung out with Breeny and photographed her in her favourite vintage pieces. Her fashion blog, Doll's Scrapbook is full of stylish news and fashionable wisdom so we definitely encourage you to visit it...oh and make sure to follow her on Twitter!! Scroll down to read our interview with Breeny.

Outfit 1- Dress: vintage store in Whitechapel, Brown loafers: charity shop in Barkingside

Outfit 2- Green jacket: vintage store in Whitechapel, Black shirt: H&M, Cream skirt: Top Shop, Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

Outfit 3- Vintage beaded jacket: Rag&Bow (!!), Dress: H&M, Shoes: Linzi 

The Interview:

Name- Breeny Francis
Occupation- Student at LCF BA Fashion Design/Model/Blogger
Who inspires you the most- People, cultures, and areas...the Indian culture at the moment. Also other people’s style- if I could I would go around with a camera and take street style pictures all day.  
Why did you start blogging-  Mostly to get involved, getting others involved. I've been getting a good response. I like critiquing and analyzing stuff and stalking models...
If you could interview ANYONE, living or dead, for a blog post who would it
be- My god, Abbey Lee Kershaw.. I love her!
Never leave the house without- uhh, my phone
The most coveted piece you currently own- My Jeffrey Campbell's
Favourite vintage piece- My black knit dress with gold studs and fringe at the top
If you could have one superpower it would be- To fly! I hate walking
Guilty pleasure- Cheese croissants
Personal style mantra- “It’s not what you wear, it’s how you wear it”

Outfit 4- Sequin dress: Vintage store in New York, Shoes: Ebay 

Outfit 5- Brown trench: 123 in Brick Lane, Shoes: Ebay

Founder Hazel and her intern Sydney road-tripped it to Birmingham (rocking out to Beyonce the whole time) on Tuesday to attend Clothes Show Live, the UK’s largest fashion & beauty event featuring celebs, catwalks, music acts, makeovers & 500+ fashion outlets!! We loved the Vintage section of the fair and were absolutely thrilled to stumble upon the Tatty Devine stall! Oh and seeing George Lamb really put the icing on our cupcake :)  Enjoy our pictures of some sweet street style we saw and that gorgeous little surprise at the end.

We LOVE Tatty Devine!! 

We were flippin bursting at the seams to unleash our sparkles and party season collection on the discerning vintage customers of Judy’s Saturday vintage market. It proudly took over London’s historic, Old Spitalfields Market last weekend gleaming with Christmas lights. 

We were next to the BEST neighbours in the world, the newly launched Smash Bang Dollop™, cupcake cake vendors selling the most gorgeous baked fancies. We loved their fresh branding and 100% dedication to perfecting the art of baking; with flavours such as mince pie, spiced pumpkin and green tea with raspberry! Fear not as you can order their cakes (delivery available in London) for your event or birthday. Also share the love and follow them on Twitter and Facebook www.smashbangdollop.com. 

In honour of the 90^th year anniversary of our most beloved brand here at Rag&Bow, GUCCI has opened its first ever Gucci Museo (that’s Italian for Gucci Museum) in Florence, Italy. Last weekend, our intern Sydney made a journey to the fashion mecca to bask in all its glory- 3 floors of sheer Gucci brilliance complete with a gift shop, library and bar (of course).  Each room generated a different theme which highlighted the work and innovation of Guccio Gucci and the Gucci brand since its existence. Her favourite room was“Flora World” which is an intricate part of the Gucci history dating back to 1966 when Princess Grace of Monaco commissioned a floral scarf for herself designed by famous illustrator Vittorio Accorneror thus fashioning Gucci’s iconic Flora print. Enojy the pictures below!!

Guccio Gucci outside his store 

A vintage Gucci advertisement highlighing the "Flora" print

The Gucci Cadillac Seville...we would definitely drive that. 

The Museum!! 

Another museum shot..."Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten" #WordsToLiveBy 

Gucci truly exemplifies chic femininity and sexiness...WE LOVE GUCCI!!!

Our founder Hazel was lucky enough to attend the fifth Test Presents held at the Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green on Wednesday, 16th of November. The exclusive screening featured a speical preview of the Yves Saint Laurent documentary 'L'Amour Fou' a film that explores the relationship between St. Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge and highlights the vast art collection that was ultimately sold at Christie's after the designer's death. Designer Danielle Scutt indroduced and discussed the topic with Alyn Horton, the creative director of Test. For an amazing interview Horton did with Glass Magazine regarding the evening, click here.  Notable attendees included designer Holly Fulton and filmmaker/director David Weissman.  Take note of the 'Dragon's' armchair pictured below. It was bought for a whopping $28 million (!!!) at the YSL auction at Christie's featured in the film. $28 million for a chair? Just a LITTLE out of our price range... Needless to say, it was a brilliant night filled with delicious cocktails, fabulous people and interesting film! 

The feature film!

That really, really, really expensive chair...

Interested in attending the next Test event? (you should be!)

'The Night Porter'

Introduced by Roksanda Ilincic 

Tuesday 13th December, 2011

Door open at 7:00pm, screening at 7:30pm

Tickets are £5 and must be purchased in advance

Click for details and to purchase tickets!!

Huge NEWS X Factor contestant Amelia Lily wore a Rag & Bow 1950s vintage lace dress customised by X Factor stylist Laury Smith on tonight’s show. She sung her heart out wearing our amazing piece and looked as Tulia said 'very glamorous' singing the 80s classic , China In your Hand' by T'Pau. We will be adding special pieces similiar to the dress Amelia wore on ASOS Marketplace, make sure you follow our boutique to be the first to know when they arrive. Vote for her now to keep her in the show 0901 61 61 605 TO WIN!!

We love a fellow vintage innovator which is why we were most pleased to be celebrating Vintage Seekers first birthday at the wonderfully resplendent RIBA institute on London’s Portland Place. Vintage Seekers source some of the world’s most premium vintage artefacts from wine to watches making them accessible to all via their faultlessly designed website. 

The tone of the night was set beautifully as upon arriving we were greeted with the site of the iconic Jaguar E-Type. We swept up the grand staircase feeling like a Von Trapp child about to enter a gloriously elegant ball. We walked into the gallery space and saw many recognisable faces including our vintage muse Charlotte Dellal, Bip Ling, Gemma Cairney, Cara Delivgne, Savile Row crush tailor Patrick Grand and author Henry Conway pictured with Hazel below.

We felt like we had gone back in time walking into the main space and being presented with a wealth of design classics. Items on display included vintage Dior dresses, an Andy Warhol ‘Mao’ screen print, iconic David Bailey fashion photography and mid-century collectible furniture. We drank Champagne and the ubiquitous vintage tipple, Hendricks Gin, but we were ecstatic when served Port and Whitfield cheese, truly delicious and ever so decadent. We felt like we were at an intimate (if admittedly) grand dinner party, rather than just being moments from Oxford Circus. We danced to Rat Pack Jazz provided by the Ronnie Scott band no less which left us wondering how the multitude of looming Xmas parties are going to top this!

The first Friday of every month, Tate Britain puts on the perfect evening of art, music, food, drink and this time- a little lesson in fashion history! The event which took place Friday, 2nd of September called Restless Times: Art in Britain 1914-1945 highlighted the artistic creativity during times of great uncertainty and hardship between the two world wars. 

Our vintage maven Hazel brilliantly fused the eras of the Bright Young People circa 1920s & 1930s London (cue Great Gatsby socialite Daisy Buchanan) with New Wave Club & Pinups of today by creating 2 life-sized cut outs, one from each period, and providing a dress up box of ‘New Wave Club Dandies & Pinup’ clothing from our vintage collection! Event-goers were able to dress up and pose in our era-inspired cutouts while having their photograph taken. Check out the pictures below and see how everyone had a swingin' good time! 

Huge thanks to costumer designer and Central Saint Martins grad Charlie Watkins who helped us fashion our subverted take on the classic 1930s confectionery seller dispensing bags of provocative thought and wisdom...Fun! 

All photo shoot images taken by Sam Wilcox and Martin Seeds. Big thanks guys- they came out amazing! 

We were SO delighted to be asked back to participate at West London’s best boutique flea market, Kensal Flea!! We loved showcasing some of our amazing pieces from our fabulous A/W vintage clothing collection alongside other incredible local makers.

Kensal Flea, a boutique flea market at Paradise by way of Kensal Green, specializes in art, vintage fashion, retro homewares, bespoke jewellery, second-hand designer fashion  and furniture. Check out our pictures below from the event (especially the phenomenal Photoboth Out of Order picture of Hazel)!! 

Louise, street style blogger from ASOS looking fabulous in her new Rag&Bow jacket!!

Our founder, Hazel posing for Photobooth Out of Order...Stunning!

Kensal Flea is a wonderful way to support local businesses, enjoy live music, chow down on delicious treats (Who doesn’t like Tim Payne’s pies?) and add a lot of pizzazz to your vintage clothing collection. Kensal Flea ended up raising more than £1,000 which will be donated to Contact the Elderly and Brent Samaritans…Keep a lookout for the next Kensal Flea hopefully taking place next March!!