Secret Vintage House Sale

Had a really great weekend in that I found this gem of a surprise... my mum had luckily heard from a friend about a secret antiques and vintage fair, held at a house near to where I lived. We popped along and spent a lovely few hours in the afternoon browsing round this gorgeous home opened up for people to look around. Packed to the brim full of vintage pieces (all very reasonably priced), it was nice that it was displayed in a homely setting. Like a child in a sweet shop everything caught my eye and I ended up buying a sweet paper-mache hand-painted jewellery pot, a floral painted umbrella stand (which you can see below) which is an ideal bedroom bin and a couple of silver vintage band rings. 

The atmosphere was lovely and sociable and everyone was very welcoming, with teas and cakes in the front room too, with an option to give a charity donation to the MS society, I believe they raised quite abit, and there is truly nothing better than shopping and giving at the same time. 

A week in outfits

I don't usually like to post photos of myself a) because I not particularly photogenic and never can find a photo that I can at least tolerate and b) I don't think my clothes or style is that exciting or interesting to showcase. With many blogs, that I look at, that do 'outfit looks' so well, I would rather leave it to the experts. So you may be asking, why the sudden change? Well it just so happened that at uni a tutor remarked that if he thinks back to when he first saw me in year 1 to how I dress now in my 3rd year there has been a big change. Personally not knowing wether to take it as a compliment or not. Personally I cannot see much of a significant difference. I guess I have always liked to change up my look every now and then and can one day be wanting to dress quite biker-ish with a leather jacket and all saints tee, to the next feeling abit more well 'Vintage' - since deleving into the world of vintage and what it has to offer: uniqueness, quality and nostalgia, I must say it has been slowly creeping into my everyday wardrobe, with my growing love for vintage bags and accessories. 

So to document this I got the bf to take some photos each day (yes hence the quality) and he even typed up the product descriptions below, bless him. So here it is a 'mini' week in outfits

11 Top comps for 11.1.11

Readers may know I love a good competition or giveaway, and what have you got to lose? and as the cliche saying goes you have to in it to win it! 

So here are my 11 Top comps for 11.1.11 

1. Being a fashion student this is not merely a competition it would complete my life long dream (well since a teenager that is) to work at one of my favourite magazines Elle. This opportunity is one of rarity and rare that intern and paid position is infact in the same sentence... so what are you waiting for get signing up  and submit a 200 brief piece on the S/S 11 trends + a CV before 28th Jan. I have read through a few of the current entries casted my vote and I must say some of them are pretty impressive. Why am I not entering?... well there is always a catch 'Applicants must be over-18 and finished with full-time education' :-(   http://intern.elleuk.com

 2. OUTNET - Designer wears at 60-70% off my kind of site. Although on the search for a laptop         case this giveaway caught my eye... the clock is ticking so get your entries in soon. 

Frock&Roll Vintage gem - Q&A with Owner and founder

Happy that I had finally discovered a vintage gem in Reading, (my hometown) I immediately headed on over to the gorgeous Frock&Roll boutique on Watlington Street, (just opposite the Royal Berks Hospital). I was also lucky enough to be able to catch up with the ever so lovely owner and founder, Ali Redfern, who was able to fill me in on the details of how she came to open her dream shop...  

I understand Frock&Roll opened it’s doors in July of this year, what made you choose Reading as a location for your boutique?

I chose Reading because I felt there is not that much in the area of a vintage nature, so there was a natural gap in the market.  Also, Reading is my home town so I had lots of support from friends in starting my venture.

Left: Founder and Owner Ali and friend Claire.


What was the inspiration behind Frock&Roll?

I had been thinking about starting the business for a good few years.  I had always worked for large companies and wanted the challenge of working for myself.  As I was passionate about vintage clothing and liked working with people I felt Frock&Roll would combine my skills.

One to watch for 2011 - Ella Purnell

Here's a sneaky peek behind the scenes look at a shoot with the impeccably smart and talented young actress Ella Purnell - I was lucky enough to accompany fashion Stylist Elle Korhaliller on the shoot with  über talented photographer Jessie Craig last year.

Baby your a firrrrrrrework!

This New Year was quite a last minute decision after going for a meal we jumped on a train to London to watch the fireworks - never seen them before apart from the obvious on TV and reading on the website that was the best place to watch... that was not going to put us off.

They were indeed pretty amazing and the mile long one way system sure did help to walk off the Christmas junk I had been indulging in. I have never seen so many people apparently over 250,000 turned up to watch and it was a great atmosphere a New Year to {actually} remember.