A pink vintage dress

So far it has been a week of humdrum domestic matters: leaky radiators, an old car that gave up the ghost and had to be replaced and laundry piles....so, when I spotted this beautiful, but admittedly totally impractical dress yesterday, resistance was futile.

It is pink, it is sparkly, it glows in the afternoon light and it was less than £20. I think it is probably a 1960s dress, judging by the label and style.

Even though I am not sure that I could actually wear it (all dressed up and nowhere to go!), I can use the excuse that it will probably appear in a shoot for the local magazine that I edit. Our new issue is out with our Christmas gift guide inside, and I commandeered quite a few of my vintage buys, the ones that I don't always have room to display at home, but always knew they'd come in useful.

Here is a little taste of what we did: local shops lend us their merchandise, which we then pose for them. You can see an e-magazine version at http://www.bestlocalliving.co.uk/

I love these silver shoes (above) which I borrowed from Sue Ryder Vintage and Retro in Peterborough.

No shortage of suitcases to make this shot for the children's gifts. And there is photographer Lesley Anne's lovely baby making his modelling debut.

I found some great Christmas accessories while I was putting together these pages, but I'll post about them when we get nearer to December. It still feels far too early to be considering Christmas in anything but magazine-land.