Maxi Dresses Maxi Discounts

Oh yes. The ASOS Marketplace sale has begun! Like eBay, it's one of those sites I'm constantly browsing as there is new stuff being uploaded all the time from individual sellers, new designers and vintage boutiques from around the globe. Though it's getting chilly, the sun is still shining and you don't have to get your legs out to keep wearing pretty vintage dresses. Here are my favourite vintage maxi dresses from the ASOS Marketplace sale.

Blonde Fox bring you this polka dot maxi at a very tempting 50% off

Blonde Fox have done it again with this hella kooky Pineapple print maxi.

Bohemian Rose Vintage striking bell sleeve blue maxi Now, though we are vibing maxis right now, this would make a corker of a mini dress too...get the scissors out!

Preserved Vintage have a lovely range of vintage, but this 70s maxi stood out to me. I love the orange floral detail. Oh and the price - 25% off! 

Red Rebel vintage have a fair few interesting pieces in their boutique and in their sale. I have chosen two, the first is this white embroidered baby.

The second from Red Rebel vintage is this "autumn fruits" maxi. The colours are stunning, my eyes were immediately drawn to the foliage and flowery pattern, I love it. 

Sample have reworked this black velvet maxi with back cut-out detail. Bit too cheeky for me perhaps, but it's still gorgeous! And it's under £17...

So there you have it. Surely we've shown you a reason or seven to hop straight over to the SALE section on ASOS Marketplace. It ain't just maxis, there's a whole virtual sale warehouse to explore!

Ta-rah! 

Gina x

The Birmingham Vintage Fair

Birmingham, sweetcheeks, did you have a lovely Vintage Fair day? We certainly did. I spied so many goodies so I'm here to share them all with you. Sadly I was too busy meeting and greeting over 1200 stylish vintage fair customers to go and buy anything. Boo!

At our fairs, we have a wide variety of retro and vintage clothing, but what's the difference? "Retro" is often referred to as clothing from the 70s to the early 90s whereas "vintage" is 60s and earlier. At our fairs we always have a great selection of both, these are my favourite 50s dresses from our traders in Birmingham. I particularly love the floral beauty in the bottom right hand corner, and it was silk!

More and more dresses! These nautical numbers will never date with polka dots and candy stripes from Curious Cleo. I especially love the long sleeves, perfect for cooler days.Then you can cover up in a snuggly faux fur to take you from Autumn to Winter.

There is always a great selection of brooches at vintage fairs, but these birds really caught my eye, big and small!

Just a few more of my favourite picks from our Birmingham. I still can't get enough of pussy bow blouses! This one would look amazing with a black leather skirt. These blue and gold shoes from So Boho vintage are so very special, they look like they've jumped straight off a Topshop shelf. So interesting to see how the past massively impacts on the present.

Talking of variety, we had everything from leather shoulder bags in perfect condition from Rose Tinted Vintage to pretty teacup sets from Vintage Reclaimed. We had rows and rows of vintage jewellery as well as customised sweaters from Dolly Anna Does. Something to please all of you lovely little fusspots!

So there you have it guys, Birmingham had it going on. So will Northampton and Norwich this weekend! Shall we see you there? Got any specific finds in mind or are you coming for a good old rummage?

Gina x

Jen's "Make Do And Mend" update.

Hello Vintage lovers!

Well, it’s one month into My Make Do and Mend Year, and I know you are all desperate to know how it’s been going…

For the uninitiated, My Make Do and Mend Year is a challenge I have set myself to buy nothing new for a whole year (with a few obvious exceptions, like pants.) It started on the 1st September this year, and so far I have been making, making do, mending, thrifting, re-loving etc with gay abandon. Overall, it is going really well and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself.

Possibly the best way to summarise the month’s goings on is to split them in to Making, Making Do and Mending.

Making

• I have made 2 children's birthday presents, both very pink!

• A previously undiscovered love of charity shop clothes! I have loved a good rummage around the bric a brac sections of charity shops for ages now, but never really looked much a the clothes, and was always amazed by other people’s finds. I have a wardrobe full of perfectly functional clothes, but have still felt the need to buy 4,yes 4, new dresses. Having never really been a dress person, I am now a convert, and can often be seen sporting cutting edge fashion dresses… And they were all less than £5 each, so that’s ok. Isn’t it..?

 

Making Do

This is a very exciting category, as it’s just stuff I’ve decided not to bother replacing or trying to fix! 

I bought some second-hand boots from E-bay, which when they arrived weren’t quite what I wanted and I certainly wouldn’t have bought them if I had seen them in the shops. The temptation to re-list them and try and find some better ones was strong, but after some soul searching and consulting the good people of Facebook land (!) I decided to suck it up and Make Do.


Mending

This has been the biggest learning curve. I’m sure not so much stuff used to get broken! Or maybe if it did, we just threw it out (gasp) and didn’t really think about it, or if we mended it, I wasn’t so conscious of doing it (because I wasn’t blogging about it I guess)

• We have instigated a ‘Fix-it box’ where all the poorly things go while they are awaiting fixing. I was being driven mad by everything just being left in random places (usually windowsills, bizarrely) waiting for new batteries or a little TLC. So now it all goes in the box, and if it is too big to fit in the box then a note gets put in instead. It seems to working pretty well so far.
• I have sewn a patch on a hole in hubby's jeans.
• And it’s kind of not really mending and not really making do, but I embellished a charity shop jumper with some buttons to hide a grubby neckline!


All exciting stuff…

The hardest thing has been losing that instant mentality. If we need something, for example, we all currently need new slippers, instead of just popping out to Tesco’s or wherever and getting them, I have been scouring charity shops and car boots, and have yet to find any, so I am even contemplating making some (does that make me a bit mad…?)

The best thing has been discovering new skills, like learning to patch trousers, and that very satisfied (verging on smug) feeling you mend something!

You can read all about what I have been up to in far too much detail on the blog:

http://mymakedoandmendyear.wordpress.com

or you can find me on Facebook by searching for My Make Do and Mend Year, or you can tweet my @makeandmendyear

Thanks for reading!

'What Katie Did' Giveaway

Oh me oh my! Aren't you all so very very lucky? 

Leading faux-vintage lingere crafters What Katie Did have teamed up with The Vintage Fair to give you the chance to win one in ten pairs of gorgeous dotty back-seam tights or stockings.

Retro back-seam hosiery adds a touch of vintage glamour to any outfit, whether you're playing it safe with tights or going to town with stockings and suspenders. The beauty of these babies lies in the pretty polka dots, an fun way to add a print to a simple dress or work getup. Personally I'd go with a pussy-bow blouse, a pencil skirt and a red lip, classic secretary! "How do I win?" I hear you cry, well, keep scrolling.

To be in with a chance of winning one of the precious ten pairs is to head on over to the What Katie Did website and fill in your details by clicking below.

ENTER HERE!

Let's face it, you'd be flippin' mental not to!

Competition closes on Thursday 11th October.

Good luck!

Gina x

The Pussy Bow Blouse

While we were at The York Vintage Fair we noticed that our fashion forward traders all seemed to be cottoning on to one very retro trend that comes back on to the catwalks year after year. The pussy bow blouse. The blouse began life in the 30s and "bigger the better" appeared to be the rule of thumb, just like Grace Kelly in the photo to the left.



The majority of the pussy bow blouses you'll find at our fairs and in vintage shops will be from the 70s. This was the decade when the blouse had it's heyday when paired with big bell bottomed trousers. And not just on women! Think Bowie and Mick Jagger and those ruffled shirts.  Often known as a "Secretary blouse" it's not a shock that the cast of Mad Men are often seen in pussy bows and that they look elegant teamed with a pencil skirt or became features on many 70s dresses.

Here are my favourite blouses from our fairs, not only can the classic cream blouse bring vintage sophistication to your wardrobe, experimenting with prints and colours brings your outfit up to date. Of course, you can find countless variations on the pussy bow on the high street, but the neck lines are often lower and don't quite have the same retro look to them.

We hope to see you in Birmingham or Loughborough this Saturday 6th October! Will you be wearing your pussy bow blouse?
Gina x

The York Vintage Fair

Oh York. You've not had the best time have you? Just look at those river banks! But at least you had a sweet looking Vintage Fair to put those smiles back on your faces, eh? 

The Guildhall was home to a fabulous host of retro and vintage clothing and accessories for the day. The boys have been very lucky recently, just look at all the jackets, shirts and jumpers Minimum Mouse had to offer. Itchycoo had a rail of kooky dresses and this polka dot dress probably won't be around for much longer. And did your Nannan have one of those clocks too?

 Jeny & Amber always have a really great selection of vintage lovingly hung up in colour order, it takes some of the rummaging pressure off of your shoulders! Shirts were everywhere at our fair, and these guys had a fab selection in bright colors, classic and quirky prints as well as cute collars that would look brilliant poking out of a cable knit jumper.

Oh for a smaller waist! This hand made shift dress from Jeny & Amber catches my eye everytime I see it, you might not be able to see on the photo but the gold tear drop pattern actually follows a rainbow colour scheme as it goes down the dress. It's absolutely gorgeous, and such a sweet tag too (and price no?).

There are always an array of statement pieces at our fairs and these three from our York Fair don't disappoint. That little black velvet number - and I mean little(!)- will see you through this winter. But if you want to be turning heads in the office, you definitely will in this mad 80s suit jacket. I'm always a sucker for a 60s/70s printed dress, so this shift is just up my street.

Syd and Mallory add to classic vintage items, they chop and change, cut and sew and create unique clothing for the modern vintage lover. Find them on ASOS Marketplace or in The Forum in Sheffield.

 Well, that's me done. I think I'll be needing a brew. If only I could have one in this particularly pretty tea set from Nest Vintage. And a cream scone. I'll be seeing you all again in Birmingham on the 6th October, or Loughborough on the same date. Are you coming? What are you going to be keeping your eyes out for?

Gina x

The Sheffield Vintage Fair: Grand Old Ukes

We had a double whammy this weekend in Sheffield and in York, keeping it strong and northern. To make sure that all the new Sheffield freshers knew they were definitely in Yorkshire, we had special guests The Grand Old Ukes of Yorkshire entertain the crowds in the Town Hall in our homeland of Sheffield. The Grand Old Ukes are Duncan and Bassy, two of Sheffield's finest musicians (no, really). After queuing up to see them at this years Tramlines festival, I couldn't squeeze in the venue to see them so went and watched a proper band. But you know, whatever. 

We caught up with the boys before their various sets to see what one earth they're all about...


Who are you?
We are The Grand Old Ukes of Yorkshire. Sheffield's second favourite Ukulele band.


OK. So what do you actually do?
We play all your guilty pleasures, think TLC, Celine Dion, B*Witched, now think Ukulele, and 
finally think Yorkshire and you'll be pretty near! We also run Team Building days which are great
 fun! You can find out more about those at our website which is hidden within this sentence. 


Why Ukuleles of all the instruments in all the world?

Why Ukuleles? It was all we could afford! Plus, Bassy has gout so any instrument where you
need to use your feet is out.

Our customers are stylish folk, what will you be wearing to The Vintage Fair?

We will probably be wearing our self promotional band tour t-shirts. The tour dates only go up to
 May 2012, so that counts as retro right? Aside from finding clean trousers/sarongs we will 
DEFINITELY be wearing Marks and Spencer underwear. There is no alternative for comfort,
 support and style.

Here are the boys in action...are you quite ready?

You can find out more by following the boys on Facebook and chatting to them on twitter @Grandoldukes1

Do you want to entertain the vintage loving crowds at any of our fairs? Get in touch...

info@thevintagefair.com

x