A Big Thank You. 

Thank you to all who were able to make it down to Anita’s Vintage Fashion Fair, Mother’s Day Special on Sunday, It was great to see you!
I received a fantastic amount of support for the event from friends, family and peers and cannot thank you all enough!  

On March 20th 2011- AVFF hosted their 7^th Year Spring Fair at The Battersea Arts Centre (BAC). It was a fantastic success with guests, trade buyers, designers (and even some celebrities) able to sample the delights of the vintage fashion from the wide selection of exhibitors. 

Offering a unique shopping experience open to all appreciators of vintage fashion while paying homage to Mothering Sunday. Mum’s indulged in the delights of vintage fashion and were treated with some well-earned pampering. Sharing in the memories of yester-year, the styling team recreated the cherished looks from beautiful old photographs, truly a nostalgic journey for all.

Retro Photo booth. by Lulu & Mimi
As special features, there were styling and pampering from “LULU & MIMI’s” vintage hair & beauty, photo-booth team and the chance to pick up expert alteration tips from the lovely mother & daughter duo at “Recycle & Sew”, who specialise in restoring and restyling vintage clothing of all eras. 

Recycle & Sew

DJ Duo Truckin' Laura's  www.myspace.com/truckinlauras

The lively atmosphere flowed with the soundtrack of live music by Retro DJ duo Truckin’

Laura, & the Vintage Café did a sterling job in serving the delicious Afternoon tea and the extra special Red Nose Day cupcakes.

Vintage Cafe & Cupcakes

To those who were unable to make it on this occasion, fear not as AVFF will back with yet another fair brim-full of vintage treasures at The BAC on May 22^nd.

Mother's Day Special Vintage Fashion Fair

The Enchanting BAC

I find Battersea Art's Centre (The BAC) one of those buildings which is truly and utterly charming... Everytime I visit I love the relaxed yet creative atmosphere... intrigued about the beautiful building I decided to look into it's history abit more:

Background of The BAC:

Battersea Arts Centre is what used to be Battersea Town Hall. The town hall was built in 1893 by Edward Mountford. The grand hall was designed for ‘recreative entertainments of a high class for the people’ (BAC 2011).  It hosted early silent pictures, astronomy lectures with lantern projections and organ recitals. It is still used today for weddings, fairs and performances.

In 1965 the building was threatened with demolition and a local campaign was formed to save the building, resulting in a Grade II listing and a new community arts centre. The building is still very much on a journey from town hall to 21st Century home for creativity. BAC’s environment continues to evolve, with each new artist who walks into the building and sees potential in the spaces and stories that they hold.  

I had to take a few phone snaps of it's quaint display which was put together in conjunction of their main show The Red Shoe... which unfortunately I just narrowly missed out on seeing although deeply wanting to go, it had fantastic reviews. The beautiful set, which was homed near the cafe is enough to make anyone want to see the play... especially the ingenious hanging red shoes. 

I advise anyone to pop by The BAC and check out the the architecture inside and out of this mesmerizing building... 

www.bac.org.uk

Mother Like Daughter

At a loss at what to do for your Mum this Mother's Day?... I often am, it usually ends up with flowers often picked up last minute, choccies or dinner, well this unique pre-mother's day vintage shopping experience has really got me excited...

Combining all vintage aspects; shopping, crafts classes, vintage cafe and retro photo-booth all under one roof it sounds the perfect day out for Mum and me. Luckily the fair does not fall directly on Mothering Sunday and therefore you can treat Mum with a shopping day out and then your are able to wear your new vintage finds on Mother's Day allowing another member of the family treat you all to dinning out for lunch... well that is indeed my plan.   

You may also recognise the photo used in the promotional flyer above, see here for a  hint,  It is my beautiful Grandma, she is indeed my style inspiration and what is nice is that Anita's Vintage Fashion Fair are inviting guests to bring along their own photo-muses for the styling and beauty teams to help recreate these cherished looks, a nostalgic journey for all. 

  

For this Mother's Day Vintage special there is also the opportunity to treat mum by booking a pampering and photography session or a personal stylist via info@vintagemarketplace.net to receive complimentary entry to the fair, a free glass of bubbly and a gift bag. 

AVFF, Spring Fair Details:

Date:  Sunday 20^th March 2011

OPENS: 09:30 AM             CLOSES: 4:30 PM

Location: Battersea Arts Centre, Grand Hall, Lavender Hill, London, SW11 5TN


Tickets can be bought in advance or on the day. Please see the website for details: http://www.vintagefashionfairs.com or Call 020 8325 5789

Stylish Reading Vintage Fair Shoppers

Now who says that Reading doesn't have flare, style and panache? These stylish and very lovely shoppers all attended the 2nd Reading Vintage Fair...

Vintage-trade Mother's & Daughters 

Mother's and daughters connected to the vintage scene L.R: Betsy & Lola Mother duo, Jill Barron & daughter of http://www.butterflygirlvintage.com/ and Georgina and Mum supplying endless support for her daughters vintage venture http://www.georginasvintage.com/

As you may be aware the Mother & Daughter vintage shopper has been a strong running theme throughout my project and watch this space for details of an event I am planning with strong links to Mum and daughter, or indeed vintage shoppers. 

Some More lovely Mother and Daughter(s) and even a very young gran and granddaughter at the end (right). 

Vintage is loved by many and is often a family affair, you often will see three generations of vintage shoppers, which is lovely to see families spending time together and sharing in their passions.  

Stylish Print Individuals 

From L>R: Gorgeous Anna from Betsyand SueVintage, Stylish twin no.1,  The Lovely Ali from Frock&Roll, Sarah from Dolly and the Clothespegs, and an expert individual clashing prints to the max.

Vintage Shopping duo’s 

How fabulous are these pairings L>R: Natty Dressers Vintage, Chalston Jive duo Hilda Davidson, Jeweller & friend, immaculately dressed friends and the vintage twins.   

Above: The vintage shoppers, from early teens to young professionals these vintage shoppers style stand out from the crowd.... how incredible does the lady far right look with her amazing pink hued hair and Vivienne Westwood patent red bag.

Last but by no means least… The Stylish Indivduals

From L.R: Two vintage shoppers, The Butterfly girl herself wearing a hello kitty necklace from spitalfields and playing dress-up with a vintage cap and Mustache kit. Vintage stall holder and the 'lady in red' Heather from Betty's Boutique. 

The Second Reading Vintage Fair

Sunday 27^th Feb – The second instalment of Reading’s vintage fair, arrived once again in the Town center bar, The Purple Turtle.

After January’s success the fair trebled in size this time round and had a great selection of local vintage sellers and creative individuals selling their wears across two floors, a vintage pop-up teashop in the courtyard local live musicians providing the soundtrack to the day. 

I was there once again to show my support and met some lovely people. The crowds are really embracing this new wave of vintage to hit this humble town, I say humble it is apparently one of the largest towns outside of London… so we are very thankful that local vintage sellers Georgina Webb of Georgina’s Vintage and Anna Spedding of Betsyand SueVintage were hot on the case and are now the proud founders of Reading’s monthly vintage fair.

As I spent most of the day there socialising, shopping, researching I have many, many, many photos and therefore this post has had to be split into two, The Vintage shoppers at the fair and the fair as a whole which you can see below.  

To find out more and see future dates see: www.thereadingvintagefair.com  

Please see some of my photo's from the day below, click more below to expand and to see further images...

Fetching Headwear: A/W 11 Trends

Watching many of the A/W11 shows have me lusting for may of the items already, with the mercury dropping once again despite it apparently being spring, I have been depressingly digging out my old knitted and fur headwear however I feel now I could I very much do with any number of these hats... 

Animaltastic headwear 

Left > Right: Anna Sui, Burberry Prorsum, PPQ and Marc Jacobs

Wether it is woof woof, meeeow or moooo, headwear is set to take a life of it's own and embrace the fun and quirky. 

Walk Like an Egyptian 

PPQ, Central St. Martins Raffaele Ascione, PPQ

Pharaoh or Pope inspired headgear is a prominent feature, the geometric lines add a simplistic yet sky-high modern take on the hat, have a feeling we may see these in many editorials to come.  

Head Sheaths 

The headwarmer is less sinister than a balaclava and what with our winters often diving below freezing this seems like a practical fashion option. A spectrum of colours, shapes and textures there is a head sheaf for everyone.

Lucky Lipcote Draw

Lipcote in Urban Outfitters  www.lipcote.com

...now you know how big a fan I am of Lipcote, well,  I couldn't contain my delight when I heard they were introducing a new fragrance in Urban Outfitters stores and online - same fantastic fixing power yet with a gorgeous vanilla sent! Not only do I have one of these little gems, but also another 3 to giveaway to you! 


To get your hands on one of these new heavenly vanilla scented Lipcote presented in beautiful packaging designed by David Downtown, all you need to do is leave a comment below (with a means to contact you via your blog or email) and state what would be the perfect accompaniment to your Lipcote? What are your favourite things? 


See my polyvore example below. 


To gain up two extra entries to the prize draw be sure to Like Lipcote on Facebook and Follow @LoveLipcote on twitter. Mention in your comment below if you do so. 


Winner's will be announced on this blog, The Hideaway and on The Lipcote Facebook Page on 16th March and will be contacted by email. So get your entries in by midnight 15th March... Good Luck!!   

These are a few of my favourite things! by Zara K

Triumph or travesty Livia Firth Eco/Vintage Oscars dress?

There has been a bit of a twitter uproar, to say the least in regards to Livia dress at the Oscars. A keen purveyor of ethical & sustainable fashion, Colin Firth's wife has undertaken a 'Green carpet challenge', whereby she will only where items considered ethical or green which she then documents on her Vogue Blog. From can-ring-pull bags to fully customised items, her dresses and accessories of choice for such prestigious events have always stood out and represented her moral angle. 

For her imminent Oscars dress, consideration were in full swing months before and the designer of choice was East End Gary Harvey renowned for his sustainable collections. The Oscars being, one of the most esteemed events of the year and The Kings Speech predictably taking center stage, all lights and flashbulbs will be bountifully facing in her direction, her dress was always going to be a focal point and a major notch in her green-carpet challenge. 

A selection of the 11 vintage pieces used to make Livia's dress.

So who are you wearing?.... The question asked by Journalists doing the rounds on the red-carpet on Oscars night...

The concept behind her dress as Livia revealved, "Eleven dresses in one, vintage/thrift/charity shop buys all from the era of The King's Speech", At first I must say I thought wow what an incredible idea and to link it with the decade of The King's Speech (1930's) is a nice touch and then.... as I mentioned before the flood of shocked tweets asking the question how could she?.... how could she butcher 11 vintage dresses just just make one? 

If this was 20+ years ago most people would of not battered an eyelid if someone decided to cut up some vintage pieces, but now with the histieria that surrounds vintage and the rarity of finding garments which age such as the 1920's/30's pieces you cannot deny why people objected.  Yes indeed she looked extremely beautiful however I also cannot help but think that what is now going to happen to this one dress? I cannot image her donning such a stand-out piece again for any awards ceromony so has this now one dress made of 11 to promote stunistainbility infact reversed the idea by the lack of wear?  

I also think the design lends itself more so to that of a wedding dress, which in my eyes would be an item to treasure and pass down generations, and therefore the idea or remodeling 11 other dresses would of been a worth while task in that case. when I first heard her renounce the origins of her dress I assumed they may of been 11 well-worn, unusable 1930's dresses which were then transformed into a wearable piece, to me that made perfect sense however when I began to explore her blog and discover that some of the dresses appeared to be almost immaculate, it seemed such a shame cut away from the original/classic design and instead create a rather generic looking 'wedding-esque' gown... I would love to know what you think or feel in regards to Livia's choice of Oscar dress?

Vintage in it's original form did feature on the Oscar carpet elsewhere, and although not as prevelan or as memorable as say Julia Roberts Vintage Valentino (2001) moment and Resse Witherspoon intricate Vintage Dior gown (2006), this year there was still undertones of it... see below the gallery of vintage starlets.