THE NEWS
It's HallowE'en again. This year we have gone kinky. A man in a gimp mask and an Edwardian dressing gown pinches the derriere of a "lady" in a see-through lace dress, whilst a PVC witch tries not to look! Another day at Antoinette's....
Here, at Antoinette Costume Hire, we have always put a lot of thought into our window displays. Each display has a costumed theme. The Window dressing showcases the types of outfits that can be put together. Inspiration comes to Antoinette with the help of seasonal events or just design concepts.
In 2011 we had our successful shoe sale on Ebay - about to be repeated before Christmas. We thought of dressing the mannequins as famous shoe people. We considered Carrie Bradshaw, but then chose Nancy Sinatra, famous in the 1960's for "These Boots are made for Walking". Once she was done, we turned to the couple in the other window and started thinking of Cinderella and Prince Charming. Deciding that perhaps those costumes would be too domineering for the window we rested upon Prince, as in the Purple one, and Cinderella, as in "Cinderella Rockerfella", and another 1960's pop star, Esther Ofarim. Window designs kind of evolve....
Also this year we did "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in January. We raided the local woods for branches of trees, and it being winter, none of the leaves were still attached, so Antoinette sent her elves into the park to pick up large brown oak leaves. Once we had assembled our "wood" and added green glitter to it, the mannequins became Titania, Bottom and Puck.
Since the shoes, we went all 1969 and had a "Peace and Love" festival window, which was followed by Romans. Building a Villa and then squeezing it into small spaces was way harder than knocking together a few protest signs!
One of our fave tunes of the summer was JLS and Dev - "You make me Wanna" (Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh). This inspired our swimwear window, complete with pics of the band and lots of silver O's floating about. Randomly, Ottowan's disco hit "D I S.C.O" crept into the same window. We awarded ourselves full marks for the obscurity of that display!
In our Window Gallery, on this page, you will see images of some window examples. Enjoy!
THE HISTORY
Once a little village, the Sydenham/Forest Hill/Crystal Palace neighbourhood was once a sleepy woodland.
Once Crystal Palace and the railways arrived though, everything changed. Large houses were built all around what is now Crystal Palace park, and Forest Hill as a neighbourhood was created. Sydenham had a busy high street, and our terrace, High Street Buildings, was built in the 1890's, as a department store.
Some of the oldest houses in the district are near to us, dating back to the 18thC. Sydenham Wells Park, around the corner from us, is the site of the reason there was originally building here at all, as spring water was discovered there, which, it was believed, had healing properties.
Many famous people have lived in this neighbourhood over the years. Once Antoinette has finished her local history bedtime reading we will be telling you a little about them.
Shopping streets always go through highs and lows, as the economy fluctuates, and sometimes entire districts move, due to convenience and demand. Sydenham's centre moved. As houses were built all down the long hill from the Crystal Palace to Bell Green, and the population density increased lower down the hill, shops were needed in Sydenham Road, and it is to here that Sydenham town centre re-located. The stations, which so often are hubs in themselves, at Forest Hill and Sydenham, became, in the 20thC, the "centres" of each district.
The High Street was no longer the main street of either Sydenham or Forest Hill, and eventually the road became "Kirkdale", from Sydenham station all the way up to the top of Sydenham Hill, a distance of more or less 1 mile. Antoinette Costume Hire and High Street Buildings are about half way along. From Sydenham or Forest Hill stations we are about 10 minutes' walk.
There are some very good businesses in Kirkdale Village, near to us. Also in High Street Buildings are Avalon, an antiques shop, "Alhambra", a Spanish fancy goods shop, A French bakers, "Labonne", and a useful pharmacy. We also highly recommend "Behind the Boxes" an Art Deco antiques specialist, a piano retailer, and one of the best restaurants in the area, "That's Amore". Across the road is "JH Skincare Clinic", where you can go and have a beauty treatment after you have chosen your costume from us.
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