Vintage Fashion

OK, so I fully admit, up until Summer time, I'd never really been interested in vintage. To me, vintage was a nice word for old. And vintage stuff always seemed to have that funny smell. And everytime (ok, once) I went into a charity shop, I could only ever find old ripped granny jumpers from Marks and Spencers.

But in Summer, I went down to Chichester (just outside London) to a Vintage Fashion Festival - "Vintage At Goodwood". And loved it!! Ok, well I loved  the clothes, the style, the atmosphere. Did not love the camping, but that was only to be expected.

While I was there I snapped a few of my favourite vintage looks....

There were also some fantastic catwalk shows that I got to see. Here are some of my favourites from the Oxfam collections:

My favourite show was 'Fashion through the ages by Brix and George Lamb". And no - it wasn't just because of George Lamb - to be honest I don't get the attraction there... his hair is grey?! The duo told the story of their lives through clothes, showing the different styles they were into at different stages...

I think what made the festival was the graphics and images surrounding it. The atmosphere was really amazing, and they had vintage models walking around to snap photos with. There were also vintage cars, vintage stalls for shopping, vintage food stalls. They even had fashion workshops, and tons of bands playing - from old school (Earth, Wind and Fire) to up to date (The Noisettes and Sophie Ellis Bexter).  My friend Lilidh and I modelled as "Vintage Victoria's" in the VIP tent, meaning we got free entry and staff wrist bands (see below!!)

We also got our hair and makeup down in a 1950's style. It's actually really easy to recreate yourself, all it takes is some black liquid liner, defined eyebrows, and deep red lips. Think Dita Von Teese meets Christina Aguilera meets Amy Winehouse. Minus the drugs and alcohol.

I haven't got round to buying anything "officially" vintage yet.... however I got this hair bow at the festival, and recently bought this River Island dress, which I think has a very vintage feel to it (and the added bonus that no-one else has worn it before :P)

As I say, I am now converted to vintage, and will be looking around for some great vintage pieces. And always, I'll post them for you to see. So watch this space....