How to Vintage-ise your wardrobe - Look 2

Today, I scraped my my fringe and two pieces of hair at either side up with pins into three mini-quiffs.  I twisted the rest in the French way at the back, looped a silk scarf around my neck (bought from Rokit in Covent Garden for £5), slipped on my favourite gold Greek sandals and teamed it with the French Connection draped top I found in the sale for £15 (reduced from £45).  The silk bag was purchased on a trip to Thailand a couple of years ago. Hope you like it.  Click on the picture to see more detail.

How to Vintage-ise your Wardrobe

So we’ve all agreed that vintage clothes are cool. Julia Roberts was seen wearing a stunning vintage Christian Dior dress at the Oscars that helped catalyse the frenzy for vintage clothes. But for the average girl whose wardrobe is made from, mainly modern day, how does one introduce some vintage feel without looking like we’re heading for a fancy dress party?

I went to the Clerkenwell Vintage Fashion Fair on Sunday and picked up a few items to vintage-ise my wardrobe. I thought I’d show you how I managed it with a few key pieces.

Here i'm sporting: a 60 year old pair of pedal pushers with a gorgeous daisy embroidery around the waist and pockets, a pair of Fred Perry pumps, a pale turquoise shirt originally from H&M but purchased from a charity shop at the bargain price of £2.80 and earrings from Kei vs Ivy.   I'll create a few looks with these pedal pushers and the other treasures I found.

Vintage Bridal Bliss

 

On my internet travels recently, I was halted mid-stride by the perfect dress for a bride.  Based in the States, this site does exactly what it says on the tin - vintage for posh girls. Not only that, but there are some stunning pieces in their collection for us non altar walkers.

So if you're not content with merely wearing something that you know is from a by-gone era and cannot be equalled in style by anything hanging on today's rails, these dresses hitch it up a notch with designer and one-off pieces not to be ignored.  Take a look at some of these little numbers.

Oooo.  If only my wallet were deeper. Although, with the exchange rate, everyone's a winner!

Check it out for yourself at www.poshgirlvintage.com

 

The Big Swish? More like the Big Miss

Last week, I went along to really check out what all this ‘swishing’ business is really about.  Having received an email from My Big Wardrobe.com who organise The Big Swish, a roadshow of events where girls not only swap clothes but can also benefit from free beauty treatments (courtesy of Dermalogica) free makeovers and massages, I had extremely high expectations of my £6.50 ticket. 

On queuing for some time in order to register for the event, then queuing again to drop off my clothes followed by another queue as we waited to be allowed into the event, it quickly became apparent that this event wasn’t all it had been made out to be.  The function room in the basement of The Long Acre played host to a number of rails of clothes, crammed together so that it was difficult if not impossible to see the items of clothes as on the compere’s announcement, ready steady swish, a swarm of girls descended on the rails in a manner not dissimilar to the footage you sometimes see on the news of starving people clamouring for food parcels in disaster zones. 

Without even looking at the clothes, many grabbed armfuls of stuff from the rails which has already been stripped of anything truly decent by the VIP ticket holders who had been allowed to enter in advance of the pauper ticket holders.  I was lucky to spot an All Saints shirt dress which had been passed over, probably because the colour was more appropriate to Winter, a puffy pink skirt, and a couple of basic tops.  I went away with half the amount of stuff I took with me which actually didn’t bother me so much as the fact that I got nowhere near any of the gorgeous tops I’d seen hanging on a rail.

To be honest, it was an exhausting experience, battling to get to see clothes before they are snapped up by greedy girls in a cramped room.  Not fun.  But from talking to a couple of girls in the queue, it sounded as there are people who are taking this seriously. 

“That was my top,” said the girl behind me in her Essex accent.

“Oh, really.  Cool.  I’m a bit disappointed actually as I didn’t get as much nice stuff as I hoped but I guess that’s the risk you take.  I brought 15 items and took away 7.”

“What?  No.  You need to take all your items.  That way you can take the stuff you don’t want to another clothes swap and get things you do like.  In fact, I’m buying a £20 ticket next time so I can make sure.”

So it seemed that you could have people coming along, bringing rubbish clothes but spending £20 on a ticket and snapping up some of the best items before the others get a look in! Clothes swap?  I think not.

It certainly wasn’t my cup of tea and a long way from the relaxed, fun, warm vibe that we had going at the Cherry Picked Pop Up Pamper Parlour, if I do say so myself.

Since when did vintage have to be old?

Most of us are probably familiar with the typical junk shop/house clearance shop/bootfair experience by now.  Trudging around in the hope that we might find some treasure stuffed away in a corner somewhere or finding a tarnished silver pot and trying to imagine whether it really would fit in with the rest of your truly modern decor?  Well, there's a great little shop in Battersea that has already dealt this this issue, and well and truly stamped it out.

You'll find beautiful vintage furniture and accessories that have been made over to delight any modern girl's abode, and all at very reasonable prices.  Check out Julie's shop on Battersea Park Road.  You won't be disappointed!

www.newvintage.co.uk

A first time for everything

Hey girls

So, it's all a bit nerve wracking this end as I enter the last 72 hours before the event. It's all been a bit of a learning curve but it's all coming together now; the goody bags are being assembled (trinkets for the first 20) and the cupcakes will be in the oven tomorrow. I hope that you've all bought your tickets and sorted the clothes you want to swap for the clothes swap corner. If you can drop them into the venue some time between now and then, we'll all be extremely happy bunnies.

So, I did actually have some news and wasn't planning to simply ramble on. Frocking Fabulous will be hosting a pop up shop in the mini-market and just look at the beautiful summer vintage dresses our lovely Helen will be teasing your purses with.

Additionally, Kei vs Ivy will be offering wonderful jewels to adorn yourselves with along with Accessorise-Me who'll help you update your handbag.

You can also get on the pamper production line where for only £50 you'll be pampered into a princess and take professional photos away to show off your new look.

Oh. And apparently, there's a name for this kind of party. It's called swishing?

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Love and Cherries

Nicola xxx

Life’s Instructions – Dalai Lama

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve risk.

2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three R’s: Respect yourself, Respect others and take Responsibility for all your action.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules, so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

7. When you realise you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open your arms to change but don’t let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. Live a good and honourable life. Then, when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation; don’t bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge, it is a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Once a year go to some place you have never been before.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon