Spadina Museum Archives

I love Twitter, yes I do! It’s my go-to place for a roundup of all the vintage things I love, like vintage history, fashion, lifestyle, images, and videos.

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite Twitter Profiles that I follow and I think you would enjoy as well. Here you go!

1. M&S Archive (Marks & Spencers). Canada used to have M&S stores when I was a child and I remember they were quite popular for some time. I have a strong memory of visiting a store in London, Ontario and always wanting these chips they sold that were in the shape of French Fries with a salt and vinegar taste. Mmmmm they were good! Sadly the stores closed up shop in 1999 here in Canada but are still going strong in the UK. Yippee! I love stopping in when I visit and I still look for those chips 🙂 Anyways…M&S has a really super Twitter profile, that is filled with some of the best vintage ads, images and stories from their long history and I find myself always smiling when I see them appear in my feed. Here is one of the recent goodies they have posted:

M&S Archive. Marks and Spencers Vintage history

2. Toronto Archives. If you follow my blog you might have noticed that I “cite” the Toronto Archives on a regular basis for many images I share here. It’s a wonderful resource, online and offline for lovers of Toronto History. Their Twitter Profile is filled with many different kinds of vintage images on many different topics. It’s a must follow for anyone interested in the yesterdays of my home.

3. Comet over Hollywood. This profile is perfect for classic movie fans and I think almost daily I “heart” Jessica’s content. From reviews on classic films, to images of the actors and actresses who starred in them, there is always something of interest to check out.

Comet over Hollywood Jessica Pickens Twitter

4. TCM (Turner Classic Movies). I love my classic movies, so following (and watching TCM) is a regular activity in my home. Just like Jessica’s account above, TCM shares lots of great content about the movies and the stars who were in them.

5. Dancer on Film. Now this is not always vintage clips but a majority of the time they are. I love dance, so having little movie dancing clips (from many I have seen) appear in my news feed everyday fills me with joy.

Here is the clip posted above (LOVE THIS MOVIE!!).

Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) Elevator Dance by zocomoro

6. Vintage Everyday. As you know I love vintage images and Vintage Everyday feeds that passion with images from so many different eras, topics etc. It’s always fun to see what they post.

vintage everyday blog twitter account banff 1960s

7. WowHaus. Finders of cool architecture, hip houses and the odd bit of design currently up for sale . They focus quite a bit on Mid-Century Homes (one of my favorites) and post images and links to all the homes so you can dream or buy!

8. Tammy Francis-Author. Some of you might remember Tam from my ‘Behind the Scenes Interview with The Girl in the Jitterbug Dress‘. Well Tam also has a fantastic twitter profile, where she scours the internet and Twitter for awesome content to share with her followers. My favorite recent Tweet is the one below, on 53 of the best movies from the 1940’s. How many have you seen?

Tam Francis Girl in the Jitterbug Dress Twitter

9. Retro Roadmap. Every time I’m on their website or on their twitter feed I have wanderlust and just want to jump in my car and start checking out all the cool Retro spots Mod Betty has documented.

retro roadmap vintage diner — Source: Retro Roadmap

10. Spadina Museum (Toronto). The Spadina Museum is a 55 room mansion faithfully restored to the 1920s and 30s with historic gardens & events. It’s stunning and I have been lucky to have attended several events there over the years (Gatsby Garden Party for one). Their Twitter profile is wonderful and filled with vintage recipes, images, history tidbits, 1920’s manner tips and so much more. For anyone who enjoys the 1920’s and 30’s this profile is for you.

And that is a list of some of my fav Twitter profiles. Hopefully friends you found some great new ones to follow, and if you’re not on Twitter what are you waiting for? 🙂

Liz

This past Sunday I attended an event called ” The Gatsby Garden Party” that was run by the Spadina Museum right here in Toronto. It was a lovely afternoon filled with music, croquet, lemonade & ice-cream, Charleston lessons and a tour of this outstanding historical house (I might do a future blog post on the house and the family as this house was really amazing).

The day turned out to be so beautiful, hot but sunny with not a chance of rain anywhere and lots of people came out in full 1920’s style, which I was really glad. Nothing worse than going to a 1920’s party and being the only person IN 1920’s clothes 🙂 I wore a 1920’s reproduction dress from Unique Vintage that was actually my mothers and a 1950’s hat (which looked very 1920’s) from Cabaret Vintage. I received many many compliments on this dress and it was truly beautiful BUT due to the weight of the beads after 4 hours my shoulders were feeling the pain (ahhh what we do for fashion lol). That’s okay I felt fantastic in it and when I danced the beads spun around in the most magical way and I truly felt like I was a part of the Gatsby world.

Here I am out front of the Spadina House.

1920s Gatsby Garden Party at the Spadina Museum in Toronto, Canada. 1920s dress from unique vintage.

Recently I have a joined a Meetup group to meet vintage like-minded ladies and our recent get-together was at the party. I have to say that if you are looking to meet people who share the same likes/interests as you that coming to events like this or joining “Meetup” is a good place to start. These ladies are fantastic and so nice and I am really looking forward to doing more things with them.

Here is a pic of our little group…

Gatsby Summer party at the Spadina Museum in Toronto Canada. This group would eventually become the Toronto Vintage Society.

As mentioned above there was live music at the event and one of the bands that played is a favorite of Swing Dancers in Toronto, “Combo Royale“. Their style according to their website is “Old-Time Foot Stompin Jazz” and that statement is really true for when you are around them you can’t help but clap, sing, dance etc. I love the band and I have also become friends with a few of the members as well 🙂

Combo Royale at the Gatsby Garden Party in Toronto 2013.

As well as music there was Croquet. I really wanted to learn how to play this game but the sun was pretty hot and I was starting to melt so I had to pass this time around.

Gatsby Garden Party in Toronto-Playing croquet.

Here is an awesome picture of the back of the Spadina House and I did not realize that when I took the picture that this very handsome and well dressed man was in it lol! Clearly he thinks I’m taking a picture of him with that perfect pose, when I was really focused on the house. But I’m very happy he did pose because I love this photo even more now.

1920s Gatsby Garden Party at he Spadina House in Toronto Canada

Here I am with a fellow swing dancer (whose names escapes me). Her outfit was outstanding and I think she might of also won the costume contest.

1920s outfits at the 1920s Gatsby Garden Party at he Spadina House in Toronto Canada

The museum was kind enough to let us tour the home as part of the activities of the day and boy oh boy was I glad I did, for this house is truly a masterpiece (and very well restored). The early 1900’s-1930’s décor was drool worthy and I became slightly obsessed on trying to figure out how I could move in here without anyone knowing lol!

Here is a window from the front foyer…wow! Pssst…can you see the animal in the pic? It was a stuffed wolf that welcomed you when you walked in and boy did it look real!

Inside look at the Spadina Museum in Toronto, Canada

Front sitting room (sorry for the blurry pic).

The wallpaper in the house was so incredible and I think I spent a lot of time staring at it and talking about it (my husband was pretty sure I had gone crazy lol), but don’t you agree that it is pretty awesome wallpaper?? According to the guides when the house was given over to the city in the 1980’s they discovered that the Austin family were a bit of hoarders and kept everything, from grocery receipts to….wallpaper swatches! So when the restoration/replication started they had an easy job when it came to recreating the wallpaper. Yay for antique hoarders!

antique wallpaper as seen at the Spadina Museum in Toronto, Canada

This was the closet in the main bedroom, so envious on the size! My closet is an Ikea wardrobe 🙁

Inside look at the Spadina Museum in Toronto, Canada - Walk in Closet.

Vintage dresses on display in the closet of my dreams (see why I wanted to move in).

1920s & 1930s fashions seen at the Spadina Museum in Toronto, Canada

Another Wallpaper shot 🙂 AND the most lovely pictures of the owner and her two daughters (I believe).

Close up of the pictures. Look at the hair? Beautiful.

1920s photo of a family member who lived a the Spadina House in Toronto in her 1920s hairstyle.

OMG! Everything about this photo is outstanding. Hair, clothes, pose..wow! Love 🙂

1930s photo of a woman who lived at the Spadina House in Toronto, Canada.

I sadly did not take a lot of pictures of the inside of the house because I think I was spending too much time gawking and not picture-taking lol! So you will just have to visit Toronto and see it with your own eyes (it is worth the trip trust me). If you do visit you can pop over next door and tour Casa Loma as well.

Here I am at the end of the day in front of Casa Loma.

Gatsby 1920s Party in Toronto, Canada the Spadina Museum. 1920s dress from Unique Vintage.

Have you attended any Gatsby like parties recently?

Liz 🙂

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Unique Vintage are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Tag: Spadina Museum

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