One day I was meeting Aunty London for lunch, great friend of The Aunties and an aunty in her own right. It was bloody freezing, so I left my woollies on. Red bobbly cardy, purple striped woolen hat. You get the look. Unloved and really couldn’t care.

And then a vision entered the Harvest cafe! Aunty London is fabulous! And I told her so. She said she was having a clothes issue, one I may not understand. I looked at myself. It was bad. However it wasn’t me she was refering to, it was herself!

Aunty London has started to name her clothes. Not sure if it’s a sign she is losing it, or a sign she is gaining it. You decide! Always a style icon, Aunty London’s style is vintage, classic and iconic. The names of specific items though are handed to her.

The Barry-Betty (the hat)

A beautiful wide brimmed felt number at home in the 1970s. A man in the street told Aunty London he had seen her hat at the movies.

“Oh?” she asked, imagining Ali MacGraw in Love Story.

“Yeah” the man replied, “that Australian film. What was it again? Oh yeah. The Adventures of Barry McKenzie!“

Our Aunty London was a little taken aback, but she could live with it. Then later another man approached her, this time at work.

“That hat reminds me of someone.” he said. Aunty London raised a brow!

“Barry?” she asked.

“No Betty!” he said. “Betty Davis.“

And so the Barry-Betty was born.

The Squizzy’s (the shoes)

An easy one really, so why not! The black and white numbers in 1920s stylings ring true for Squizzy Taylor. Aunty London does an Australian vintage criminal. Nice look.

The Squirrel (the stole)

Aunty London tells the tale of a co-worker asking when she was going to wear the Squirrel again. He was really happy the day she wore it, and hung it on the shared coat stand. Later in the day she returned to the coat stand to retrieve The Squirrel, and saw a large laminated print of a squirrels face sitting in the stole.

“Hope I look better in it!” Aunty London commented.

The Poppins (the bag)

No surprises here for a bag full of surprises. The day I saw Aunty London the Poppins contained a bottle of Champagyne from her mum Shirley to be given to me as thanks for a film I had sent her.

“You are her favourite!” Aunty London told me. “All she said to me was I should brush my hair!“.

Thanks Shirley. For loving me (Aunty Mod), but also for bringing us the beautifully eccentric Aunty London.

Raise your glasses folks. Oh should those be named too? The Audrey’s?

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