Posted by: kittynation | November 14, 2008

Welcome to my blog!

Hello and Miaow!

You may or may not know me as Amrick, chief Kitty of Kitty’s Emporium!

Kitty’s Emporium is a place of wonder and beauty, where you will find everything from vintage dresses to vintage greeting cards, 1960s fabrics to 1970s tea sets! We are very much like a department store – stocking almost everything you can think of, as long as it is vintage! :)

We pride ourselves on providing eco-friendly alternatives to fashion and homeware, and ALWAYS providing you with genuine vintage items and helpful historical information about every item for sale!

We have over 10 years experience of selling vintage items, not to mention a mere 26 year long obsession and passion for all things unique and beautiful!

I do hope to update this blog as often as I can, but sometimes I might find myself too busy to write anything interesting, so keep your eyes open for updates!

Until my next post, keep smiling!

Amrick :)

Hello to you, from me!

Hello to you, from me!

Posted by: kittynation | December 12, 2009

A Merry Christmas 2009

Hello my friends.

I am sorry I have not written in such a long time.

My absence and lack of posts can be attributed to one very tiny (yet slowly growing) issue, and that is: my little Bean.

I am indeed, as I write this, 6 months pregnant, and very much over-joyed and excited to, in around 3ish months, meet my first little baby.

There’s so much I could tell you about how lucky I am to be “with” Bean, but I wont bore you with all that.

We have already got names planned, yet we have chosen not to find out if we are having a boy or a girl.

One name is incredibly American (or incredibly English, depending on how far back in history you go!) and the other is very Japanese.

So, we’ll see what happens next! It’s week 25 / 26 and I’m not looking that big so far. I have a feeling I’m just going to balloon over the next week or so.

I’ve been so busy being tired and pregnant that I forgot to share Kitty’s 5th online independent birthday with you all, too… perhaps I’ll make up for it next year by making her sixth even more special.

I am basically writing here to offer you plentiful Christmas joy for 2009 and may 2010 be a wondrous year for us all.

I leave you with two gifts, the first is the most recent photo of my little Bean in my belly.

Beany Baby

The second is a beautiful, stirring Christmas album provided free of charge by none other than Grandaddy’s very own Jason Lytle; a musician who has meant so much to me over the years. Since being a teen I have been inspired by his inimitable whimsy and Americana, and I am left feeling more than festive and moved by his recent addition to my library:
Merry X-Mas 2009 – From Jason Lytle.

To download this free album, simply visit http://jasonlytle.bandcamp.com/

Thank you to all of you, for your continued custom and support over these past 5 years. I’d be lost without Kitty, and she’d be lost without a you. Kittynation.com is my purpose, and I hope that I never have to say goodbye to my one, true passion in life (after cats, that is!).

Take care and have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Amrick X

Posted by: kittynation | December 7, 2009

With Apathy the Only Achievement Will Be Repetition

So guys! It’s almost the end of the decade! Kinda. I mean, it’s not technically over until we welcome in 2011 but we’re close enough to start to question what we have achieved in this past decade.

Come on ladies and gentlemen! What have we achieved in the past ten years? This will be the decade we all look back upon and think … what?

I think we’ve all achieved very little indeed. Considering the technological and ethical leaps taken in smaller amounts of time in previous decades.

I think I’ll personally look back on the “noughties” as the decade that common sense forgot. The decade where we weren’t quite sure what was what. Like the 1980s was apparently “the decade that fashion forgot”, it actually comes as no surprise to me that we’re finishing off this 9th year by mimicking such a tasteless era in clothing.

The noughties have been the decade of perpetually seeking kudos. The hipsters have stolen, and to be frank, pissed all-over, everything anybody in the past strived to hold dear as their own.

Young women team a pair of Jimmy Choo’s with an over-sized Def Leppard t-shirt and nobody blinks a bloody eyelid. When questioned whether Dave Allen is on par with other more… ambidextrous drummers, they simply reply “Dave who?”.

It’s like Nathan Barley was a gentle prediction of the fashion / intelligence armageddon.

Please don’t get me wrong! I am, and always have been a true advocate of people being creative and designing and wearing interesting and expressive clothes, but only if they actually have at least a slither of understanding as to what it is that they are trying to “say”.

Fashion used to be about expressing yourself through one the most basic mediums possible; your clothing. Not just mindlessly following every trend that springs up for 3 1/2 days to try and be … what? Cool? I’m not entirely sure about this myself, as most people I see, the real followers of fashion… well, they don’t look cool to me. But that’s just my personal opinion. I’m quite certain I definitely don’t look cool to them!

Everything has become a bastardised amalgamation of almost every genre and style you can think of. Hey, if it exists, then it’s pretty hip and… yeah they’ve heard of it. In fact, they are it’s biggest fan – always have been!!!

But it’s all a facade. So many contemporary, popular bands, fashions, designers and artists – their followers, when questioned, couldn’t give you a single adjective as to why they like what they like, other than it possibly being “cool”.

There’s no substance to anything anymore.

We’re all geeks, fashionistas, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, models, artists, musicians, writers, critics, crafters, web designers and actors.

Yet we’re all creating NOTHING.

Nothing new, nothing of any worth. Nothing radical, meaningful or avant-garde.

And that’s because there are very few people in this world who are truly creative, let alone creative enough to excel as (for example) an acclaimed musician who is a mean knitter and part-time actor of note.

Where do people find time to eat and sleep these days, considering they are a one-man-creativity-machine?

We’re a pretentious lot of windbags… hopefully the onset of the apparent credit-crunch and start of a new decade will usher-in a new era of common sense and creativity that I am not ashamed to be surrounded by.

Posted by: kittynation | September 28, 2009

Didsbury Vintage & Craft Fair 2009

Didsbury Vintage & Craft Fair

Didsbury Vintage & Craft Fair

Just to make a note that I will be taking part in the Didsbury Vintage and Craft fair 2009.

It’s being held at the Emmanuel Hall, right in the centre of Didsbury on Saturday 31st of October – HALLOWEEN!

I’ll be there with a huge range of vintage homewares, accessories, linens and pottery – and the free gifts you receive with purchases made at Kittynation.com still apply (whilst stocks last) so you can grab yourself a few free bangles and a brilliant free compilation CD!

(Fingers crossed we will actually have KITTY LICKS VOL. #4 ready for distribution by the end of the month, so you can be one of the first to get your paws on a copy! ;)

So please if you have time, come by and say “Hi!” – there will be lots going on and free spooky cakes at my stall, too! :D YAY!

For more information click the image above to visit the organizer’s website – Kennedy & McCall

Didsbury Vintage & Craft Fair

Saturday 31 October 2009 – 10am – 4pm

Emmanuel Hall, Barlow Moor Road, Didsbury Village M20 6TR


Posted by: kittynation | August 20, 2009

The Home-Made Book of Jibes

So, I finally got around to sorting out the scans of my high-school leaving book.

My treatment by my peers in school was pretty crap – not as bad as it could have been, but I think it could have been better, that’s for sure!
I had always felt a bit of an outsider since Primary school – and I think a lot of it stems from having an unusual name like Amrick. I’ve also never really found myself inclined towards what is generally considered cool, contemporary or popular, which left me an open target for ridicule because I the other kids didn’t always understand me I guess.

But once I got to High / Secondary school, that’s when I really felt the pain of separation that comes when you are not quite like everyone else.
I spent a lot of my latter high school years with 2 girls from my year, and we all happened to have, in varying shades, ginger hair.

As you may imagine this was yet more reason for us to be ridiculed, considering collectively we also swayed more to the side of “alternative” culture.

However, it wasn’t all bad.

Being a “swat” and hanging around with the swatty, alternative crowd meant we were actually given more freedom than the other kids – they had no idea about this though! We had the powers that they desired – being a prefect meant we were on “door duty” which allowed us to stay indoors in crap weather, to monitor who was allowed to come in and out of the building.
Also due to our good character, we managed to wrangle lunch passes to leave the school – we told the head dinner lady that we were going to a friend’s house for our lunch, just down the road – thus we got the passes.
Again, little did she know that we were running out to buy ice pops and “Millions” and reading our copies of the NME in a park… crazy days… :P

Being good pays off sometimes! :D

It’s funny, if you were to have heard rumor of me in school, perhaps you’d be given a rather skewed impression of who I really am.
A primary example is that, as far as I am aware, I am not gay. I haven’t been gay and at this moment in time, don’t intend to be gay in the future! I mean you never know… but – half the pages from my leaving book offer me such well wishes as “enjoy your life with the woman of your dreams” and “you are a transexual”.

I am pretty certain my parent’s were under the impression that I was gay until I hit 16 and finally got a boyfriend!

So, I think I’ll let the pages speak from themselves – I’ve blurred out everyone’s name and number because people change and hopefully grow-up a bit, so I don’t really want them getting schtick for the comments made over 10 years ago!

Home-made Book I scanned in the cover art of my bis “Sweet Shop Avengerz” 7″ and laser printed it on to OHP film – stapled it to a wad of folded A-4 et voila! A cheapo home-made book…

Stop Listening to Pulp

Stop Listening to Pulp

The first comment was from my then-best friend…

I.E. Computers

I.E. Computers

Home Made Book

Home Made Book

Apparently I had no friends…?

Read More…

Posted by: kittynation | July 16, 2009

Summer (Lovin’) Holidays!

I try and avoid the news, because frankly it’s one big episode of depression daily, but even with my limited televisual exposure and newspaper reading, I can’t avoid the topic of conversation of the “credit crunch”…

(or as Charlie Brooker’s show put it “MONEYGEDDON”!)

But one thing I have noticed is that people really are opting to holiday on home turf this summer rather than getting a flight to Europe (or further afield). This is due to the strength of the Euro as far as I am aware. Stories from friends are that gone are the £1 glasses of wine and pints of beer whilst on the continent, because you only gain something like 10 c on your Great British Pound…

So, it was brought to my attention a few months ago about a marvellous idea for touring your home land in true vintage style!

A customer of mine has set up an ingenious business, which hires out genuine, original vintage VW Campervans fully furnished in entirely vintage homewares, linens, kitchenalia and even board games, books and retro sweeties!

Such a fabulous idea! I love the vans!

There are two vans currently for hire : Bungle and Lola (such great names!)

Bungle is Tupperware Orange in colour, and is kitted out in glorious vintage finds in colours to match (many of which are from Kittynation.com!)
He can sleep 4 adults and 1 child, and features a pop-top roof area with double bed! (I have wanted to stay in one of those pop-top beds my entire life! Not quite sure why, it just seems quite exciting!)

Lola is quite similar to Bungle, although she is a dreamy Yolk yellow in colour – she can sleep upto 4 and has the added feature of a swing-out stove, which means you can cook both inside AND outside of the van! So cool!

Below are some photographs of these fantastic vehicles, and with prices starting from just £325 for a whole week’s holiday it’s an absolutely fantastic and unique experience at a great price!

For more information please visit www.summerlovinvwcamperhire.com and if you have any enquiries, contact the lovely Marc & Caroline on 07752 519811.

Posted by: kittynation | July 14, 2009

TEAM BLOSSOM PHOTOSHOOT!

Well I can’t quite believe it! Two lots of shoot photos in one day! I am a very pleased kitty right now!

TEAM BLOSSOM!

TEAM BLOSSOM!

Below are photos from a shoot I styled for “Team Blossom” – the English female wrestling duo Hannah and Holly.

As you can see from the delightful photographs, the stunning Hannah and Holly are in fact twin sisters – only just 21 years of age!

The theme of the photoshoot was “Pin-up” girls, and they wanted a more grown-up but not overtly sexy look for their new promotional photos, which I think I successfully managed to achieve! (you may also notice I incorporated their interests in to the shoot, as the girls love all things pink, cupcake-shaped and sweeties!)

I have to say it was the most fun I have ever had at a shoot so far, and working with Holly and Hannah was an absolute joy!
Both Hannah and Holly were the perfect models and I am honoured to have met such well-balanced, well-mannered and sincere young ladies!

All clothing and accessories were provided by kittynation, and the jars of sweets (so cute!) were designed by myself – marshmallow print lids, pink organza bows, sweeties and all!

:D

Posted by: kittynation | July 14, 2009

Classic American Motown Shoot

I have the high quality photos in from my Motown shoot with Classic American magazine!

We were basically going for a Diana Ross-esque look for the model, as the shoot was to celebrate 50 years of Motown Records and the Motown sound.

My aim was to provide very stylish and slightly formal outfits, with a good splash of colour and sassy razzle-dazzle!

After researching further, I found at a certain point, sequins were very much in fashion with the ladies of Motown – so I adapted an already beautiful blue dress by adding even more shimmer with rows of gorgeous electric blue sequins.

Secondly I decided to go with a very pretty a-line red dress, with matching pointed red silk shoes adorned with a bow.

The third outfit shows a real show-stopping Greek influenced gown, with hip sash, and neck line and sash exit finished with tons of diamante and faux-pearls – absolutely stunning!

As always the shoot was so much fun, and I am so pleased with the photos! The model featured is the gorgeous Charelle Hall (of PHA models) and I nearly cried after fitting her with the first outfit (the red dress) as she looked so amazingly authentic and sophisticated!!! :)

Charelle Hall models for Classic American

The make-up and hair preparations were by Bridget Taylor – she did an excellent job of turning our ideas into reality and from speaking to her and seeing her portfolio, she is clearly a very versatile make-up artist – you should check out her website for more info!

Credit for the photography goes to Anton Meller and his awesome studio situated just outside Stockport, close to Manchester!

All these dresses will be available for purchase at Kittynation.com very soon, if you have any enquiries about them just contact me :D

Enjoy!

Posted by: kittynation | May 27, 2009

Amrick and the Monkey

Well, I thought I’d post a few of these photos on here. When I was searching through my parent’s photograph collection for the photos used in my previous Blackpool post, I stumbled upon quite a few images which really clarify why I have grown up to be the person I am.

Firstly there is my cat-passion! Being a long-term geek and internet explorer, I am fully aware that cats were (and in some respects still are) the internet animal, the mascot of the internet you might say.
This has spawned uncountable sites dedicated to the delights of the feline race, from I Can Has Cheezburger? to The Infinite Cat Project.
Old news as they are, these sites are now a staple source of memes all over the world, and I can tell that frankly, most people are getting really bored of the comedy of cats.
Having been accused of following cat-fashion, and only joining the obsession to be down with the internet kids, I present to you a rather scary photo taken of me about 9 – 10 years of age. I decided it would be brilliant fun to get every cat item I owned and pose on my bed with them proudly. Even with a dot matrix print-out of a cat picture I had drawn on my PC.

Showcasing Cats

Showcasing Cats

No to mention the last two years of Primary school, when I decided to clad myself as a cat for Fancy Dress day. Note the subtle detail added by my mum, just incase it wasn’t clear what I was supposed to be dressed as! o_O


Fancy Dress Cat with Brother

Fancy Dress Cat with Brother

Scarlet Cat

Scarlet Cat

The second thing that struck me was the roots of my obsession with all things kitsch and fun.
The following two photos were taken when we lived in Benchill, Wythenshawe. The house is that of our then-next door neighbours, Jack and Lil, with whom I used to spend a lot of time with. I remember enjoying Lime Cordial with Soda Water and having a chat with all of their fluffy friends (none of the animals are real… they are all toys!) … along with playing simple songs on their upright piano.
But really, can you blame me for liking kitsch things spending so many of my formative years in an awesome house that looked like this?! :

Jack and Lil's House

Jack and Lil's House

Seminal Kitsch

Seminal Kitsch

As for clothing, well, my parents have always had a keen-eye for interesting attire, and this made for a fun childhood. I was pretty much allowed to wear whatever I wanted. If I happened to go clothes shopping with my parents, they would always allow me to pick items I preferred, which usually meant something ridiculously bright and flowery.
I found a funny photo of one of my most distinguished outfits; the cowgirl. I am brandishing a very tiny key, what it unlocked I don’t know.

Cowgirl Kitty

Cowgirl Kitty

And then we have the Clockwork Doll – granted, this was a costume for a party, but the dress is an original 1950s number, which I still have upstairs at home.

Clockwork Kitty

Clockwork Kitty

I can’t truly make it clear how much of a dork I was at school. Not a geek, not post-modern cool, oh no. I was an utter dork. A swat. School wasn’t a nice experience for me. Why? Probably because instead of going out and chasing the boys, I spent my time at home doing exciting things like:
1994: Installing my first Creative Labs CD-ROM drive on my 386 (perhaps a 486).

Back in the PC days

Back in the PC days

I have been very lucky throughout my life to be surrounded by various technology. This is due to my dad being obsessed, as most dad’s are, with cutting-edge gadgets and gizmos.
It was a profound moment in my life when my dad came home one day with a giant metal box with a TV on top of it. “A green and black screened TV?” I thought to myself… flicking through the pages of my newly-acquired “Ferranti International” MS-DOS 3.3 and Windows 2.0 user-guides. Two books which I still have to this day. Within a month I found myself a fully-fledged DOS-wizard… yet with absolutely no one to share my new-found love with.
I remember my dad always saying to his friends and customers “One day, every house will have a computer” and they pretty much laughed him out of the room, the idea was absurd to them!

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”  – Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

;)

We continually upgraded our machine bit by bit, adding exciting things like a mouse, sound cards, new graphics cards, motherboards and processors, until finally, I arrive here… using an APPLE MAC.

Oh dear, I have dishonoured my PC heritage, but I don’t care. I have enough experience to know what I want, I don’t have an Apple because they look sparkly or they are cool, they just let me do my work without crashing all the time. So that’s that.

Although I keep meaning to put together a 386 or early Pentium with Windows 3.1 and DOS, so that I can play all my old Apogee and Id games! I will get around to that, someday.

Finally, an explanation of the title of this post; Amrick and the Monkey.
Below is a photograph of a tiny Amrick, sitting in a pram with a LIVE monkey. Yes, it’s real! Apparently this sort of thing was commonplace in Wythenshawe! Thankfully this wouldn’t happen now due to it being pretty darn cruel keeping a monkey in North-West England, and making it sit with babies in prams… but I look pretty chuffed (and perplexed) to have had the experience!

Amrick and the Monkey

Amrick and the Monkey

Posted by: kittynation | May 15, 2009

Blackpool Update

Here I go again! I really wanted post this here though!

Whilst my mum visited yesterday, she informed me about a new Blackpool tourism advert being shown on TV.

Well, considering I don’t have a TV licence, because, I don’t watch TV – I was obviously entirely unaware about this little Blackpool-breakthrough!

I love the advert! It’s funny, it’s charming and it’s trying to come from a new angle that could only really appeal to a younger generation. Go Blackpool!

Also, I meant to mention this in my last Blackpool post, but if you haven’t seen “FUNLAND” then you better sort your life out and watch it NOW! Come on, it’s a rainy Friday! You’ve got time for “FUNLAND”.

Funland is hillarious, in a dark way, with so much League of Gentlemen humour and a brilliant take on the Blackpool underbelly.

Posted by: kittynation | May 7, 2009

Shirley Vintage Fabric Girl

Yesterday evening I decided to start a project I’ve been putting off for a while; to (shoddily!) patchwork an old 1960s eiderdown I have with my scraps of vintage fabric… I have a huge box of these bits of fabric, and once my sewing was under-way, I noticed a kerfuffle in the fabric box!

I look down a see little Shirley girl jump out with a long piece of swirly orange 1960s fabric, which she then continued to prey-upon and attack for 15 minutes! She’s a funny little kitty! :)

Vintage Shirley

Vintage Shirley

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