Vintage bandwagon losing it’s wheels?

Well, I’m back! Whether that pleases you or not I have no idea.

There was an interesting post on Style Bubble today about a Times article on vintage clothing. (on a side note: I do love the way Susie presents things on her blog - you can tell she is genuinely interested and a true blogger because she updates often with useful things)

It’s a bit tricky really, because I’m not about to deny that I am unfortunately one of those people who probably only really got into “vintage” when it became a more mainstream craze. I am only (almost) 16 so you know. In all honesty, if it hadn’t been some sort of craze, it probably would have clicked eventually. I mean I used to buy things from charity shops to alter when I was 12 anyway, so it’s not as if I’m being one of those vintage thrill seekers as it were.

So in that sense, I would be a complete hypocrite if I started saying that it really annoyed me that it became a trend to own vintage clothing. And a hypocrite I do not wish to be. But I would like to clarify, I have never once thought that vintage clothing was the pathway to individuality.

Sure, vintage clothes can contribute to personal style, but it’s always HOW you where the clothes not what the clothes are. That’s probably why I don’t buy fancy designers. Although the quality may well be amazing (it should be), to me, it sometimes seems a bit extortionate to charge so much money for a single garment - it’s not the clothes themselves that give someone style, it’s the way the person wears them.

I agree with Susie in that sense, but in favour of the Time article, I do wish that vintage as a trend would go away. I can only imagine how much money vintage shops have made over the past few years. I’m not surprised if many people have jumped on the bandwagon and bought into the trend. I’m sure the number of websites/ebay stores selling vintage has increased over the past year alone, not mentioning actual shops. The thing is although I do wish the trend would go away, it seems to be one of those situations that as soon as it’s been introduced to people, it’ll be difficult to erase it. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem whatsoever with “vintage” clothes or with people who genuinely love to wear “vintage” - I myself have found that the clothes I always seem to turn to are things I’ve robbed from my mother (if she’s planning on throwing them out, I see no problem in this) as opposed to things I’ve purchased from a shop.

I suppose it’s just a question of what people want. As long as there is demand, it’ll be a trend. However, trends come and go like the blink of an eye and soon enough there will be something new. Maybe it’ll be the complete opposite - futuristic anyone?

Get the thrift on

Sometimes I forget the sheer wonder of charity shopping - then I remember.
(Note to self: Have a charity shopping spree rather than complaining about lack of money.)

The only thing with charity shopping,  is that loads of other people are doing the same thing because of their desire to be ‘different’, - resulting in a) nothing good left for you and b) everyone actually having a similar style. The world works in strange ways.

Shopping in Birmingham

I’ve been sort of like a zombie this past week. I was helping out backstage (doing make-up urgh) at the school opera thing and although I didn’t do a lot, for some reason or another this week has been packed. Thus the no posting-ness.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while, so I thought I may as well really. From all the posts that I’ve done since August, there is one which constantly seems to have the most views. As a result, I’ve been thinking about compiling a list of good shops in Birmingham (UK), because although I often dislike the city, it does actually have quite a bit to offer. (If you know of anywhere I haven’t mentioned in the following post, feel free to leave the suggestion in a comment)

High Street
Of course, there are all the typical high street shops…
Topshop, H&M, Dorothy Perkins, Mango, Oasis, Primark … I could go on, but you’ll find them mostly in the Bullring and the surrounding area.

Vintage shopping
As I posted before, there is the big yellow vintage shop, which is big, but there are also loads of other great places in the city. There’s Yo-yo (they don’t have a website as far as I can see, but this shows you where the shop is) and Urban Village (which has moved from the custard factory to china town I think) which are both really good. Then there is the Saturday Flea Market, which is every Saturday at the Custard Factory, that’s really nice because it’s loads of different sellers. I also recently discovered that there is a vintage stall in the Rag Market (Saint Martin’s market), I did feel it was a bit pricey considering it was in the market (where I think everything should be cheap), but it had some okay stuff. Of course, the Custard Factory does have a few other little shops in it which do sell some vintage as far as I am aware.

Charity Shopping
This is the one area that the city centre does fall down, because I think the only charity shop it has in it is Oxfam. If you venture out of the city centre, I know that Sutton Coldfield has a couple of charity shops, as does Wylde Green and Erdington has tons of charity shops.

Other random places
When I was younger I used to go to Oasis Market. I was never a goth/punk/grudge etc type person, but for some reason I did go there a bit. For someone who is into the whole alternative scene (you probably already know it exists, but nonetheless), it’s somewhere to go.

The Rag Market (Saint Martin’s market) and the indoor market are pretty good for crafty folks as there are tons of fabric stores, haberdasheries, wool shops etc.

That’s pretty much all I can think of at the present moment. I realise this post isn’t incredibly useful to someone who doesn’t live in the Birmingham area and if I’m not too zombie-like again this week, I post something of use.

The big craft weekend- step 2

Gather the required materials

This would be a big pile of old clothes and material which I have accumulated from my family, the charity shop fandango yesterday and purchased from places such as the rag market in town. Obviously, I am not going to be able to make this all into new things just today, but it’s good to have a large quantity to fulfil random moments I feel I wish to craft and particually for coral stars.

Now for all you lovely people out there, I would say if you don’t want to make a lot, look for a couple of pieces from charity shops or ask friends and family for any old clothes. Then you can recreate them into something fantastic and new. Alternatively if you want to start from scratch and you are comfortable with sewing, you could get a sewing pattern and some material. If you are a beginner, I would say, start with simpler things such as customising a t-shirt until you are more comfortable with making something harder. You don’t necessarily need a sewing machine (although it helps) and hacking things up with scissors always works (my first creation was an accident. I had cut a hole in the side of a t-shirt and it looked a bit daft so I cut some more holes and it looked ok)

I don’t know whether that is any use, but I tried. The next posts will be the monstrosities that have been made. Looking forward to it!

The big craft weekend- step 1

Be inspired.

I have decided to have a big ol’ crafting session this weekend (and possibly into the week) as it’s something I haven’t been able to do in a while. I have gotten a few ideas from craftster and the november issue of vogue as well as thinking myself.

Tomorrow, my friend and I are going to all the charity shops (thrift stores) in the near vacinity to pick up as much as physically possible (well I am) that can be reworked, revamped or re-something-ed.

Next installment will be tomorrow! (hopefully)

As promised

The Charity Shop Boots

I’m back and ready to chop that brick

I have been in Devon with mon amie for the past week, so no posts! But I am back and ready to be in full swing (lucky you haha).

Whilst in Devon, there was a bit of charity shop browsing and I came across some lovely brown, slouch boots. Naturally, I forked out the £15 for them (I had spending money so all was good). I shall post a photo a bit later.

I LOVE charity shop shopping because you can get some good stuff, well, some needs a bit of modifying and tweaking, but you are certain that no one else would have it. We also went into this vintage shop which was lovely, although I was rather scared of the fur items because I think it was real and that is a bit urrgh really.