The Mid Century Market and my Birthday!

A few weekends ago, I turned 27 and decided to spend my birthday in London eating lots of good food and looking at pretty vintage clothes.  My birthday also happened to coincide with Bettina Scarlett's 'Mid Century Market' which I blogged about back in March. 

As it was a special day, I just had to wear one of my favourite dresses...

 
This is the Anne Fogarty dress I purchased on the Sunday at Rhythm Riot 2013 and it is such a great little cotton dress.  I'm surprised that this dress lasted until the Sunday of the weekender but I think it was because it was destined to be mine!

Giggling because there were builders doing work on the street opposite and they were somewhat bemused by my "posing"

The dress did actually come with it's own original belt which is in good condition as well.  However, it could do with being an inch smaller (and because the belt is constructed in a particular way, it isn't possible to make it smaller) so I decided to wear this nondescript black belt instead.

OK, so on to the Mid Century Market... I'm so glad I got to go to this event, it was in a great location with lots of lovely traders selling 1950s vintage and vintage inspired items.  Even though it was my birthday and I did have some cash to burn, I managed to be impressively restrained in my spending.

I bought a pair of 1950s cat eye sunglasses that I had been lusting after from Vera Mode Vintage.  It was so good to see her stuff in person and I am surprised that I managed to walk away from her stall with only sunglasses!

I also treated myself to two pairs of vintage inspired earrings from Bow and Crossbones - so many pretty things at this stall! 

Unfortunately, I only took one photo of the market but you can see how it is filled with vintage goodness!

The next fair date has already been set and it is on Saturday 16th August in the same location in Hammersmith, check out the website for more details.  I really hope I can make it to this one too.

Dress: Vintage from trader at Rhythm Riot
Belt: Vintage from eBay
Jacket: Vintage from Ballyhoo Vintage
Shoes: Marks and Spencer
Bag: Vintage from Vintage to Vogue, Bath
Earrings: Vintage from Etsy
Bracelet: Vintage from eBay
Hat: Vintage from The Little Vintage Shop, Lymington

Two great upcoming events!

Not an outfits post but an events post...

The first of these two great events is the Mid Century Market...

I was a bit disappointed that I missed the first Mid Century Market which took place a few weeks before Christmas (but I was pretty low on funds in December!)  So I am very much looking forward to going to this one and it just so happens to be on my Birthday - Saturday 12th April! 

What I like about this type of event is that it is era-specific.  I try to go to a lot of local vintage fairs and although I do find some good stuff there, the items on sale usually span a few decades (usually 1920s-1980s) which means that it becomes harder to find the items of the era I really want (i.e. 1950s!)  As the name suggests, the Mid Century Market only has traders selling 1950s era vintage and vintage inspired items, which is pretty good in my opinion!

You can find out more about this event and the other events that Bettina Scarlett does here.

The next event is also something I am super excited about...

If I was to dream up my perfect vintage festival, this would pretty much be it!  Concentrating on my favourite era - 1946-1962 - Atomic Festival really is shaping up to be the UK's vintage event of the year!  It is a two day event on Saturday 3rd May and Sunday 4th May and I have got tickets for the Saturday (unlike weekenders, you can get one day tickets!) 

Early bird tickets have sold out now but you can still get your hands on the Advance tickets at £39 per day but be quick, they are sure to sell out soon too!

Check out the website here.

Not only do both events have a lot on offer, it will be a great opportunity to meet fellow vintage lovers.  If you happen to be going to either event, let me know!

Rhythm Riot 2013 Part 2

So this is the outfit that I wore on Sunday at Rhythm Riot...

 

I expected the weather to be super cold so thought that it would be a good opportunity to wear this wool dress.  I bought this on Etsy back in the summer and I only paid £25 for it!  I rarely get to buy such bargains on Etsy.  It's an Anne Fogarty and in great condition too (something I always worry about when purchasing wool dresses online.) 

 

 

 

 

I am surprised that these photos turned out OK as they were taken after only a few hours sleep.  After staying out late to see The Royal Rhythmaires on Saturday night, I got up to go the Boot Sale at 10am (couldn't manage getting there for 9am!)  The Boot sale itself was a bit disappointing because the prices were quite high for a lot of the items.  I did buy a few things (including the hat you can see in these photos.)

 

Although the Sunday Boot Sale was disappointing, the shopping in general at the Riot certainly was not!  Living in Southampton, where there are no vintage shops and the local fairs don't have a lot of pre-1960s, I felt somewhat overwhelmed at the amount of wonderful 1940s and 1950s vintage on offer.  Everything was just amazing and so as a result, I found it hard to distinguish what I liked from what I really liked!  I didn't have a huge budget either so I didn't go crazy but I did pick up some nice items including a 1940s rayon Carol Craig dress, a 1950s brown cashmere sweater, red ?Bakelite hoop earrings and a 1950s Anne Fogarty dress (which seemed as though it was destined to be mine as I was wearing the above AF dress at the time!)  My guy also found some nice items too which he was pleased about because men's vintage is harder to find, at least where we live.

 

 

 

 

Of course, everyone there looked fantastic as well!  It was really great being at an event where people appreciated the 1940s and 1950s lifestyle - from the clothes to the music to the cars.  When I go to local vintage fairs, often, I am the only one in vintage clothes, so it was nice to see everyone in lovely outfits.  I also got to meet some lovely people as well.  I thoroughly enjoyed my first Rhythm Riot and I would definitely go back!

 

Dress: Vintage from Etsy

Shoes: Office

Gloves: Vintage from Lou Lou's Vintage Fair

Bag: Vintage from Etsy

Hat: Vintage from a trader at Rhythm Riot boot sale

Brooch: Vintage from Tamara Watts at the Clerkenwell Vintage Fair

 

A Day Trip to London

A few weekends ago we made an impromptu day trip to London.  Originally we had planned to go to Bath for the day to visit Carter's Steam Fair but the weather forecast did not look good enough to enjoy vintage fairground rides so we opted to go to London where it was meant to be a fine day - and it was!

I haven't been vintage shopping in London for some years now but was keen to check out a few of the newer shops that had opened up in Brick Lane.  Unfortunately The Vintage Emporium was closed (I don't seem to be having much luck with shop opening hours!) but we visited Hunky Dory Vintage and there was an adorable war time crepe dress with faux bolero which I would have totally snapped if it hadn't been £145!

I love the fit of the dress that I chose to wear and I was also wearing my new-to-me vintage half hat which I recently purchased from The Little Vintage Shop in Lymington - Gloria, the owner, has an awesome selection of vintage hats!

We also visited Judy's Vintage Fair which was taking place in Spitalfields and I scored a cute peach 50s blouse and some pale pink crochet wrist gloves.  I also got photographed by them as they loved my outfit and I took the opportunity to take a photograph of the girl promoting the Fair and I absolutely love the print of her dress!

We had lunch at Kua 'Aina which is a Hawaiian burger place in Carnaby Street.  I am a big fan of anything sweet potato and their fries are delicious!

In the afternoon we treated ourselves to desserts at Ladurée in Harrods - I am big fan of their macaroons.  I also had an Apple Mojito mocktail (even though it was ridiculously priced!)

Dress: Vintage from Etsy

Bag: Vintage from Etsy

Shoes: Aldo

Hat: The Little Vintage Shop, Lymington

Crikey! It's Vintage at Killerton

A few weekends ago, I attended the 'Crikey! It's Vintage at Killerton' which was held at Killerton House in Exeter.  The weather leading up to the event did not look good and I was not sure if we were going to go or not.  In the end we decided to make the trip which was a 2 and a half hour car journey.  Luckily, when we got there, the weather was ok and it did not rain though it threatened to do so!

The event was ok - I was quite disappointed with the classic car show as there wasn't that many cars there and the vintage fairground rides were for children only - not the ones that I had anticipated!  It did redeem itself by having a few excellent traders and I did buy 3 items that I love - a 1940s/ 50s brown bolero (I've wanted a bolero for so long!), 1950s pink and grey roses dress and a 1930s parasol (as seen in my last post, I have been desperate for a parasol and was so glad to finally purchase one!)

As it took place at a National Trust house, there were a lot of people there who weren't aware of this vintage event and I did get some eyebrows raised at my outfit. 

This dress is from Dethrose Vintage and I purchased it back in November.  After waiting about 10 weeks for it to arrive and a number of emails between me and the seller, I was given a refund in February.  Then in March I received an email from the seller to let me know that this dress had arrived back with her!  After 4 months of travelling the globe!  She asked if I still wanted it, which I very much did and I re-bought it and this time it did arrive at my house!  It is a lovely lightweight cotton 1930s/1940s dress and I love the cute geometric print on it. 

Enjoying an Elderflower mocktail from the Cocktail Caravan!

Dress: Vintage (Etsy)
Hat: Vintage (Vintage to Vogue, Bath)
Coat: Hobbs
Shoes: Office
Gloves: Vintage (Etsy)
Bag: Vintage (Vintage to Vogue, Bath)
Cardigan: Zara

Another sunny day!

As I was typing my last post, it was set to be a super sunny Sunday so I knew that called for one of my favourite summer dresses.  This whole outfit did look a bit like some sort of dessert but I just love it !  I also got to show off my sweater clip which my Grandma gave to me.  It is one of the few vintage items I own that have been passed onto me from family members.  My Grandpa bought this sweater clip for my Grandma when he visited Oregon in the 1950s (sorry that there is not a close up photo!)

There was an 'Art, Design, Antiques and Vintage' Market on Southampton High Street on Sunday.  I was heading into town anyway and had been recently told about this market but was quite dubious about it.  On previous occasions where I've been to markets which are not 'purely' vintage - the quality of vintage items (if there are any!) is not very good, however, I was pleasantly surprised by this one and it had many of the traders that I have met at previous fairs.  I only bought a pair of gloves (I have seriously overspent this month!) but I shall be definitely coming back to this one again! 

Dress: Vintage (etsy)

Necklace: Vintage (etsy)

Cardigan: Next

Bag: Vintage (etsy)

Shoes: Aldo

Sweater clip: Vintage (from my Grandma)