Vintage Vibes
Words: Pattie Pegler
Images: Tarsh Harris Photography
It all started with a 1967 Mustang for Michelle Cahill, who won the Best Dressed title at last year’s Caroline Bay Rock & Hop.
“We are avid custom car people and we bought the Mustang then went to a show with it,” recalls Michelle. “I saw the girls dressed up in vintage dresses and I thought ‘that’s for me’. I just love that classic vintage styling, the femininity of it, feeling lady like.”
So in 2018 she entered her first pageant at North Canterbury’s Muscle Car Madness. Much of the event is a blur for her and she can’t remember what she wore. “But I do remember I had a panic attack before going on stage. I was behind a truck hyper ventilating,” she says.
From those early days she is now a veteran pageant entrant and has grown to love not just the vintage look, but also the community around it. “It’s such a nice wee community,” she says. “The other ladies are all really supportive, both online and at events. And you run into the same people at different places. It’s very friendly.”
There’s another big benefit that Michelle has noticed – a huge boost in her confidence. It is, she says, something her friends and family comment on.
Husband Stephen is one of her biggest supporters and many of her friends also give her plenty of support when she’s getting up on stage. She even has a stage name ‘Mustang Shelley’ she says with a laugh. A friend came up with it as a joke and it’s stuck.
When it comes to finding the right clothing, there are some online outlets, but the community also swap and sell between themselves. Michelle also likes to make her own accessories and has become highly experienced at doing her own hair and makeup.
For her winning outfit at last year’s Rock & Hop she searched out the classic 1940s style floral dress with cap sleeves. “I’m a creative, I get an idea in my brain and then I have to hunt it out,” she says.
She then had a hat made in the shape she wanted. The hat itself is a plain base and she tracked down the flowers from a wholesaler and created her own floral decoration to put around the band of the hat. It makes it more versatile as the florals can be removed and another accessory put on to wear with a different outfit.
Taking out the Best Dressed title was a definite high point of her pageant experiences.
“ I have been doing pageants for years,” says Michelle. “I had put so much effort into this outfit and look. It was amazing to get the Best Dressed.”
And for anyone else thinking of getting into the pageant scene, just do it, is Michelle’s advice. “Find an idea, look on Pinterest and just do it. The girls [in the pageant community] are always going to be supportive.”
