Bows & Braces Vintage Fair

I recently attended the Bows & Braces Vintage Fair in Lymington, which takes place about 4 times a year.

I do love a good nautical theme and I am working on buying more navy dresses.

This hat is lovely and I think it works well with the rest of my outfit. 

This girl had a lovely 1950s dress and jacket, which her Mum made for her from a vintage pattern.  I am desperate for a 1950s dress with matching jacket/ bolero but I can't find any in my size and price range!

This fair was pretty good and unlike some other fairs, all the items were authentically vintage (or antique in some cases.)  I bought a darling vintage hat which I honed in on as it was on a hat mannequin!

I also bought some pretty flower screw-back earrings.  I have a big collection of clip-on earrings as I used to wear them a lot when I first started wearing vintage.  These days, however, I find them to be too uncomfortable and sometimes too over-the-top with my outfits so I prefer smaller screw-back styles.  The only problem is, they are much harder to find!

The Fair also had a 'Best Dressed' Competition and I happened to win!  I was really pleased as it means I have won £20 to spend at the next fair, which will take place in August.  I am sure that it won't be too difficult to find something to buy!

Dress: Vintage (Etsy)

Hat: Vintage (Etsy)

Bag: Vintage (Etsy)

Shoes: Vintage from the Hand Picked Vintage stall at The Southampton Vintage Fair

Gloves: Vintage from a Fair (can't remember which one!)

Afternoon Tea at Rhinefield House

These are some photos from Mother's Day back in March.  Those in the UK know that this March was ever so cold, hence the coat! 

We celebrated by having Afternoon Tea at Rhinefield House which is in the New Forest.

The first few photos were taken outside my house and I managed to brave the cold to enable some photos of my dress!  This is a 1940s dress purchased from Dethrose Vintage on Etsy - it is one of my favourite dresses as it is so easy to wear and isn't as "fragile" as some of my other 1940s dresses.  You can also see my 1930s/ 1940s suede heels which don't come out often because I'm afraid that they will get ruined.  I also love a good tilt hat (sorry for not getting any close up photos of this hat - I will try harder next time!)

A word on my coat - I find it quite difficult to purchase vintage coats online and managed to purchase this coat at a fair.  With the tie belt done tightly, it fits quite well.  After the summer, I will be looking for more of these types of coats - it got worn a lot this winter!

It was delicious! 

Coat: Vintage (Vintage Fair (I think it was one of Judy's Affordable Vintage Fairs)

Dress: Vintage (Etsy)

Bag: Vintage (Etsy)

Hat: Vintage (Etsy)

Shoes: Vintage (Clobber Vintage in Boscombe)

Gloves: Vintage (Etsy)

Cardigan: Zara

The Southampton Vintage Fair

I attended The Southampton Vintage Fair just over a week ago and it happened to be another glorious day!  For those in the UK, you are probably familiar with The Vintage Fair company, who run events all across the country.  I have been to a few of the Southampton fairs and they have been pretty good - usually about 50 traders and there is usually a stall selling cakes and  drinks and music acts.  I managed to spend nearly 2 hours looking around The Guildhall with my friend Sarah.  Although there tends to be a lot of 1980s-90s traders, it is worth attending for the dozen or so pre-1960s traders.

There was also a vintage ice cream van outside - how cute!

This is the stall for "Hand Picked Vintage" - I have seen them at previous fairs and they do have some great shoes (there is a pair of mint condition 1930s peep toes which I had tried on previously but unfortunately they are just a tad too long for my feet!)  I bought a pair of blue 1950s pumps this time.



Another trader with an awesome selection of 1940s-50s hats! 



When we left The Guildhall, there was a wedding taking place at the Civic Centre Library and the wedding car was this crazy hot rod!  We took some photos outside the Civic Centre but we did not stay long enough to see if the Bride and Groom were in vintage attire.

This is one of my favourite summer dresses.  It is just so easy to wear and as it is quite full, I can wear my vintage petticoat underneath.  I am not keen on crinolines but I have a petticoat which has three layers of tulle and gives added fullness without being too over the top!

Yesterday, I attended The Oxford Vintage Fair.  I had never been to this particular location and had heard good things so was keen to attend and have the fair coincide with a day out in the beautiful city.  However, I was very disappointed with this fair!  Not only was there really poor organisation (there was no queueing system in place, which meant that those who got there early did not go in first; they also opened up late) but the quality of the traders was really poor - mostly 1980s-90s with very few traders selling quality pre-1960s items. 

When I spoke to one of the traders that I have seen at most of the fairs that I attend, she said that a lot of the good traders have stopped coming to these sorts of fairs as there isn't the clientele who want to buy pre-1960s vintage, so instead the fairs are now catering for those wanting to buy later items.  This is fine if this is what you are after but it is not good news for me as I enjoy attending these fairs to get hold of 1930s-1950s items which are more difficult to buy online (shoes, hat, etc.)  There are a couple more Vintage Fairs to attend this month before things go quiet fair-wise during July and August so I am hoping that the next two events that I plan to attend (The Bows and Braces Fair in Lymington and Southbourne's Shake and Stir Vintage Festival) are worthwhile.

Dress: Vintage (Etsy)

Headpiece: Vintage (Etsy)

Necklace: Vintage (Etsy)

Gloves: Vintage (Fab Vintage, Winchester)

Shoes: Rocket Originals

Bag: Vintage (Etsy)



Total outfit lust!

OK so I just had to share with you some Etsy outfits that I am currently lusting over (but won't be buying because they are either over my budget or not in my size!)

Fab Gabs is an Etsy shop that I know a lot of other bloggers love.  I hadn't bought anything from there until recently because most of the dresses didn't seem to be my size but now they seem to have a lot of dresses that are more or less my size!

http://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/153077384/vintage-1940s-dress-femme-fatale-black?ref=shop_home_active

Oh my word this dress is amazing!!  Look at that see-through lace panel - a bit too scandalous for me to wear but I love it anyhow and would love to see how the person who eventually buys it styles it!

http://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/152571692/vintage-1940s-dress-fantastic-silk-crepe?ref=shop_home_active

What an amazing print!  Although my favourite era is 1950s, there is something about these 1930s/ 1940s rayon/ crepe novelty print dresses that totally gets me every time!! 

http://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/152562918/vintage-1930s-shorts-rare-high-waist?ref=shop_home_active

Do I even need to say anything about these shorts?!!  They are beyond adorable.  The only reason they are not already mine is because I am not too sure on the sizing with these types of vintage shorts.

Oh and I am totally envious of the model's hairstyles!  It makes me wish I had long hair.

On a positive note, I did recently purchase this dress, which is now on its way to me:

This is from Sweet Bee Finds on Etsy.  Usually, when I purchase items on Etsy, I think about it for a little while, email the seller to double check the condition and then eventually decide I need it in my life.  On this occasion, I bought it immediately!  Sometimes there is just no hesitation and you know that if you don't buy it right away, someone else will.  I am sure this will feature in an outfit post in the near future!

I will be doing more of my own outfit posts very soon because I do have a few to share with you and I also have quite a few vintage events/ fairs that I am attending in the coming weeks.

Lymington and New Forest outing

This is the third post from my Bank Holiday weekend outfits.  I live on the outskirts of the New Forest which means that when the sun comes out, driving around the Forest is an easy option!  On the Bank Holiday Monday we drove to Lymington, Beaulieu and Tanners Lane. 

Although it was sunny, it wasn't as warm as the previous days, so I thought that wearing this circle skirt would be a good idea because it is quilted and not ideal for hot days out.  I just love the print on this skirt!  I only have a few circle skirts because I tend to buy more dresses than separates.

Just to demonstrate that it is a circle skirt!

In Beaulieu there is a great classic car dealership with some very nice cars!  There were some on display outside so I could not resist a photo opportunity.

Skirt: Vintage (Etsy)

Blouse: Topshop

Shoes: Rocket Originals

Cardigan: Zara

Bag: Vintage (Etsy)

Necklace: Vintage (Vintage Fair - can't remember which one!)

Sunglasses: Ray Ban Clubmasters