F.D. style sense makes a comeback

 A long overdue post. In fact I wrote it last week but I never got round to taking photos and then posting it. I haven’t bothered with the photos, but you can see what I was thinking last week. Obviously, what I wrote in the end has not taken much effect.

I feel rather pleased today. Why? Because for the first time in AGES, I went shopping AND actually managed to buy some new clothes! I thought I’d lost all of my style sense for a while, but it seems that it is far tougher than I believed.

The most success I had was when we ventured down to the Big Yellow Vintage Shop - which I think most either love, hate or aren’t too fussed by (personally I love it). I hadn’t been there in a while, so I dragged my friend down (kicking and screaming… well, not quite, she didn’t mind). The people in there seem quite nice - the lady complimented me on a skirt I picked out (£6) and the man was telling me about the bags (it apparently takes very little for me to think people are pleasant) which was helpful seeing as I was looking for a bag (£8 - yes, I probably could’ve gone to a charity shop and bought one for £2.50, but that is beside the point).

All in all, a successful trip for me. And it’ll be beneficial for readers here because it’s given me some renewed fashion inspiration which may equal better posts.

History is a mystery

I love learning about the past. History is a subject which really inspires me, though I hated taking history gcse because I’m terribly slow when it comes to writing essays (the time is just not enough - an extra 15 minutes was all I needed). Nevertheless, I still love learning about history because it is the foundation of the present day and I find it incredibly interesting.

For some of that time when I was meant to be ‘revising’, I actually started reading this book that I have on my shelf - “Fashion - The Century of the Designer“. I’d often glanced through it, but I’ve never actually sat down and read it. The history of fashion is something that I do not know much about, which is terribly sad because it is rather exciting. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to finish reading it because after reading up to the 1960s I thought it was best to start doing some revision otherwise I would actually fail (and I didn’t want that)

Fashion as we know it, is a fairly new concept. But all throughout history people have dressed in beautiful clothes. As I was browsing amazon uk for a link to the above book, I came across this book “Four Hundred Years of Fashion“. I can’t formulate an opinion as to whether it is good or not because I have not bought it, but it does look most interesting. I think I will indeed have to buy it to read.

Fashions past are the inspiration of many many collections. And there is no stopping people bringing past concepts into their own styling. I’ve always thought that incorporating different ideas is the way to go - no boundaries, no limits.

The past week

I’ve been appauling with updating recently. I don’t really have much of an excuse either. I suppose the biggest fashion news this week was Kate Moss for Topshop collection being released. Honestly, I am not going to bother doing any posts on it because frankly, I don’t find much of it appealing. You can of course check out various other blogs (such as Fashionologie and Catwalk Queen) for sufficent coverage if you are a Moss fan.

I on the other hand, have been celebrating a birthday and consuming more than I normally do (in the way of shopping not eating).

I’d rather buy things from shops in the sales or when they’re reduced. And Topshop’s buy one get one free offer means I have aquired 4 different garments.

A small browse of Urban Outfitters also saw these shoes (pictured) coming into my ever so small collection. When shoes are reduced from £35 to £9.99, you just can’t say no, even if you can’t walk in heels! At least now, I can learn/practice before the school prom in June (oh yay, what fun… that was sarcasm).

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?

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.

Is it vintage?

Recently, I was pondering what exactly is vintage clothing. I know that it’s basically old clothes, but I mean who actually says “yeah that’s vintage” and “no, that’s just old crap”. According to wikipedia, generally, it’s clothing over 25 years old - fair enough, that seems about right.

But then, if you are on the prowl for vintage garments, isn’t it better to go charity shop trailing rather than going to a vintage shop, to buy clothes originally from said charity shop, at a marked up price. It’s easier to go somewhere where someone has already purchased things, claimed they are vintage and is selling them in one place, I know and for the lazier out there, this is the preferable solution (this is me - although to be fair, there’s only one charity shop in Birmingham city centre and I dislike roaming around Sutton on a Saturday because it’s infested with mini chavs)

I’m not being negative about vintage shops - I do love vintage shops. But it struck me the other day (whilst trailing around a vintage shop incidentally) that half the things in the place were from a charity shop. Obvious I know and had realised this before, but more so the other day (I think it was shopping on my own-some that did it). I don’t quite know what I am trying to get at in this ramble, but I just wanted to ponder it. I mean, vintage is basically a trend really (although the actual garments defy trends in effect because they are so old that they don’t follow current trends - I think this is one of the appeals of vintage) and when I told my auntie that things from the 80s can be considered vintage, she was shocked (because the 80s/90s were her eras).

Some people hate the idea of vintage (more so with Asians I find - this is why I am abnormal) - the idea of wearing someone else’s old clothes (someone even once said to me “but you could be wearing a dead person’s clothes”), they’d much rather have some that isn’t preowned. I can understand this view, but I personally prefer to mix it all up - bit of vintage, bit of high street, bit of diy/customised (designer is way out of my £10/week budget though), you get the drift. I think someone with good style (not saying myself because I am yet to develop my style being a humble teenager) is able to utilise any available resources (be it vintage, diy or designer) to create a look that is truly them.

Personally, I still have a division between “vintage” and “old” and the way to differentiate is to ask the question - would I wear this? And would I wear it in a new and updated way?

*Edit* Blimey, that was a long post - haha, it’ll make up for my lack of postings this week.

I can only blog about what I know

Birmingham’s latest trend - vintage boots and black tights.

I only wish I had a photo for you.

Observations of the day

The random things that I noticed whilst in town:

1. It really is much easier than I thought to return items to shops.

2. The entire of Birmingham’s population must have turned up on Thursday because I overheard the sales woman telling someone else that by the end of the day the entire stock of the Viktor and Rolf collection had been sold.

3. Sports world (or something similar) sells YSL. I don’t actually care about this because a- I don’t shop in sports shops and b- I don’t buy designer clothes and c- YSL doesn’t particually interest me. But it was a random observation I had.

4. Not a great deal of the yellow vintage shop’s items are great. I think it was just the initial reaction at the size of that place.

5. The stalls at the flea market are nice and mostly filled with vintage clothes and jewellery etc. I was planning to get a stall in Decemberish to sell some stuff, so I am glad I went and had a look. Also some friends of mine have a stall, which I did not know until recently, which was nice to have a look at.

6. Birmingham and especially the Bullring are brilliant at 9.30am because it is not seething with multitudes of people and it’s peaceful to walk about. Plus you don’t feel as if you are going to be robbed or anything because it’s the morning as opposed to the evening.

Vintage superstore

In just a short walk from the Bullring in Birmingham, you come to this magical place. The new vintage shop, selling well everything vintage!

It’s been open about a month and it is quite possibly the biggest vintage shop in Birmingham city centre (urban village and yo-yo being the only other two I can think of currently). It sells clothes, bags, hats, shoes, belts, jewellery and possibly a whole lot more (didn’t have a good look) filling everyone’s share of vintage clothes.

I had a short rummage around (I think a good hour or two is needed to really browse) and did purchase a jumper/waistcoat type thing (hard to describe, but nice) for £8. But I wanted much of the shop!

shop window & shoe wall
If you live near Birmingham and happen to be in the centre at some point, I recommend a rummage around. I’m sure you’ll find something as it’s blooming massive.

Jealousy

I confess, I get envious when people have cool clothes from the 70s or 80s (or something) from their mother’s waredrobes. I have often try to raid my mum’s waredrobe for things that she doesn’t wear, that are cool and vintage. Alas! My mother does not possess anything worth stealing.
I asked her the other day, “Do you have any clothes from when your were in your teens/20s?” She said “No, I never really bought many clothes and whatever I had was in Dida’s (Grandma) house, until your auntie cleared it out” This makes me sad.

As promised

The Charity Shop Boots