The Festival of Vintage in York - when I go shopping crazy (by my standards)

This weekend I, with TheVintage News, made my way up to York from Brighton to cover the Festival of Vintage.  I'd been to the Epsom edition of FOV last year but sadly didn't have any money then so was unable to pick up any goodies.  This time however, I'd put a little money aside so I could splash some cash (in the end I spent less than £70 but I felt giddy with extravagance nonetheless!)

Rather than tell you about the event (you can watch the newsreel when it comes out for that) I thought I'd show you a few of the things I bought.

Oooh, what could they be?

As some vintage fairs (especially ones as large and well curated as FOV) can be quite overwhelming with the sheer amount of nice stuff on offer, I decided to give myself a list so I actually bought things I wanted!  My list consisted of: a dress to wear for my birthday night out (where I will also be judging a twist competition, you know, as you do), a handbag, a novelty brooch and some cream gloves.  As you can see below, I did pretty well!

From instagram, where all the photos live...

The main thing I wanted to find was a dress for me to wear for my birthday next month.  I found an amazing English-made suit by Meredith Couture (and originally sold at Alexandrine Couture in Nottingham - nice to get some vintage that's not from America!).  I think it's late 1940s or possibly early '50s but I'm not completely sure.  It's a velvet halterneck wiggle dress with a matching hip length jacket.  The burgundy velvet is complemented by some cream lace around the collar, pockets and the neckline of the dress.  From the same stall I got a cream beret which as luck would have it, matches perfectly with my new outfit...

 

I assure you my nails have gold tips and (for once) aren't chipped

 

I've been needing a new handbag for a while, I only have one and it's bright red so doesn't go with a great deal!  I found this gorgeous cream one from Raiders Vintage, I just love the shape - the crochet ties in nicely with the suit (I can see an outfit forming...)

I saw a (quite expensive and not really worth it) fan brooch earlier in the day and thought, 'wouldn't it be nice to have a fan brooch, considering I make fans'.  And lo and behold, I found this one which was even nicer.

As I was just as I was about to leave, I spotted a plastic box full of bullet bras (at Dreamdate) and was lucky enough to find a black Triumph beauty in my size.  I think it's probably '60s, Triumph changed to Triumph International in 1959 but I can't find out anything more about the exact model (Exquisit Plast. anyone?)

And just as an aside, after I'd interviewed the lovely Anastasia from V&OAK magazine, I was flicking through the latest copy and I saw not one but three pictures of one of my fans!  I painted it a few months ago for Naomi Thompson and Liz Tregenza's upcoming book (another in the hugely successful Style Me Vintage series) and had forgotten all about it so it was a lovely surprise to see it in print.

 

 It was lovely to meet some of you in York.  Who else was at the Festival of Vintage?  Did you pick up any bargains?

And a gratuitous shot of my mug

*I did a photo shoot today wearing most of my new purchases, I'll post a link as soon as they're ready!

Vintage Nation and Emma Duggan photography

Apologies for the quite substantial gap since the last post, we've been very busy in the office launching the new website which went live yesterday.

This was originally meant to be a post about Vintage Nation at Brighton Racecourse, but as it was quite a while ago, I have quite forgotten what I was going to write.  Organisers and sponsors included Judy's Vintage Fair, Hairport and Crabbie's.  I do remember there were some fantastic bands that day (including old favourites the Swing Ninjas and Mr B) and another friend of ours, Simon Webster, was one of the DJs that day.  I also interviewed the members of Bad Bad Whiskey, a brilliant skifflebilly band who I’ve seen a few times around Brighton (playing gigs, not just lurking).  Have a look at the newsreel if you'd like to know more as I've not really put anything here!

Anyway, what I thought I’d write about was a lovely photographer who took my picture (along with 30 other attendees).  Her name was Emma Duggan and she was one of the nicest photographers I’ve had the pleasure to work with.  Emma was choosing a few people whose outfits she liked to record for here website.  When it came to my turn,  Emma told me exactly how to pose, which is such a relief when you don’t like having your photo taken!  Anyway, here are three of the pictures she took of me. 

Featuring our lovely (working) postcard camera and my recently lost card case (if anyone at the Chap Olympiad found it, I would dearly love to have it back – it’s full of my business cards so you should know it’s mine). 

My outfit for the day mostly came from my mum – I was wearing a ‘30s-style pink dress from the 1980s, a russet suede ‘Hunters’ jacket from the ‘40s that the mater bought in the ‘80s.  I picked up the shoes from a charity shop for a couple of pounds and the gloves, I think I bought at a previous fair at the Racecourse.

If you'd like to have a look at more of her photos from the day, or would just like to look through her work, have a look at her blog here.  Thank you to Emma for the lovely photos - and for sending them to me by the next morning!

And what did we see... we saw the sea

The first time we had been invited to Portsmouth for a vintage event was for the inaugural Victorious Vintage (albeit on the second of two days) which was held at the Historic Dockyards.  As we arrived we saw that it was already quite busy, and there was more than enough to occupy the thousands of people through the gates.

There were three stages (including an acoustic stage) which played host all sorts of many bands.  However, the more ‘vintage’ singers had to perform in the smallest of the three stages, inside Boathouse No. 7.  I felt this was a shame as most of the rest of the event (stalls etc.) had maintained a ‘vintage’ theme, yet there were no swing or big bands that I saw (there was a rock ‘n’ roll band who played at least one song from ‘Grease’).  The headliners were Dodgy and The Lightening Seeds – big in the ‘90s but a slightly odd choice for this festival.



With Betty from Betty Blue's Loungerie

We had a few quick interviews with Betty from Betty Blue’s Loungerie (her siren suits are absolutely gorgeous), Katie Vale and Annie Andrews (who we also saw performing).  The day didn’t have a particularly ‘Jubilee’ theme, but I’m not sure if that was deliberate or not.

With Katie Vale the milliner

Annie Andrews performing

It was nice for people to be able to see some of the most important ships in British history without having to pay upwards of £20 a ticket (although this option was still available if you actually wanted to see inside the HMS Victory or HMS Warrior).  Incidentally, I found out yesterday that when my granddad was in the Navy, he was stationed (if that is the correct term) on the Victory in 1949, ’50 and ’57 - which is rather impressive and also explains why I spent a fair amount of my childhood looking round those very ships.  There were a few well dressed people (not as many as I was expecting) and here are a few I photographed.

I wore a blue and white striped sunsuit I picked up for £18 in Lewes.  I was hoping to be able to take off the white Broderie Anglaise skirt I was wearing, but alas it was a little chilly.  My shoes were from Marks & Sparks and the hat I made myself.  I was quite pleased when someone thought it was an original!

 

We bumped into Naomi Thompson
on her home turf in Pompey



All in all, I think it was a good day out, with a particularly interesting setting, but a few more clothing stalls (definitely more for men) and a little more thought with regards to the bands playing (‘Three Lions’ doesn’t strike me as particularly ‘vintage’) and Victorious Vintage will hopefully be an annual event and can come back much stronger next year. 

Victorious Vintage - Jubilee on Her Majesty's Ship

A few weeks ago (on a much sunnier day than this), I accompanied Naomi Thompson and Fleur De Guerre to a photoshoot aboard the HMS Victory in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.  The reason for the photoshoot is an brand new vintage event that is happening over the Jubilee weekend - Victorious Vintage.

The festival will take place at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard (one of my favourite places to visit when I was growing up) on 2^nd & 3^rd of June between 10am-10pm each day.  Unlike many other large scale vintage events, entrance to the festival will be completely free (although I think you still have to pay to go on the HMS Victory, HMS Warrior et al.)

There will be everything you could want from a vintage festival, with performances from lots of bands on the various stages (including headliners Dodgy and The Lightning Seeds - a little bit '90s I know).  Annie Andrews will also be performing, as will local dance groups putting on Charleston and Land Girls shows.

 

So that's the music and dance covered, now onto the style.  There will be stalls, not just selling clothes but also other vintage goodies.  If you find something particularly gorgeous, be sure to put it on as there will be people searching the crowds and awarding 'Best Dressed' prizes.  To complete your look, there will also be a Vintage Salon (run by LeKeux events) so you can get your hair and make-up done to perfection.

If, after a long day of grabbing yourself a covetable frock or must-have set of china, you find yourself a little weary, you can take in one of the classics which will be shown at the Action Stations cinema.  If all that shopping and watching bands has given you even more pep, there is also a Laser Quest on site!

I’ll be there (along with the rest of the Vintage News) so there will be footage of Victorious Vintage later on in June (probably not of the Laser Quest though!)

Have a look on www.victoriousvintage.co.uk if you'd like to know a bit more.