Author Archives: liztregenza

Amsterdam museum of Bags and Purses

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I fully intended this to be a delightful post about vintage shops in Amsterdam, but unfortunately i found the vintage shops severely lacking. Yes, Amsterdam had lots of cool independent shops, but almost all of the vintage stores were incredibly samey offering little other than what i would refer to as “student vintage” (printed shirts, novelty jumpers, cut off levi’s…that kind of thing). So instead i’ll offer a review of one of the museums I visited whilst I was there, and boy it was good.









Amsterdam Museum of bags and purses


This delightful museum is located in one of the imposingly tall canal houses that cover Amsterdam. The handbag museum not only contains amazing bags and purses but is also housed within a completely stunning building.


The museum itself is spread over 4 floors. You start at the top and work your way down. Starting with 16th-19th century bags and purses on the 4th floor ( here there were some truly show stopping early examples including beaded reticules and pockets). On the 3rd floor is 20th-21st century handbags with some of the most jaw dropping art deco bags I have ever seen and a crazy collection of lucite bags too. The 2nd floor is a temporary exhibition space which currently is “out on the twon” showcasing a delightful selection of shoes, bags and hats. All of the shoes on display were loaned by Northampton shoe museum, making me even more desperate to go! The museum finishes on the ground floor with a great shop which sells some spectacular designer handbags.






One of my favourite pieces in the collection




Leather clutch ‘Normandie’, France, 1935

First-class passengers received this clutch on the maiden voyage of the Normandie, the most luxurious cruise ship of the time which sailed from Le Havre via Southampton to New York.

Another highlight. I remember seeing one of these in black go for crazy money on ebay a few years back.






Leather handbag, Annemarie of France, France, the 1940s (20th century)

Fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli caused a stir in the 1930s with her surrealistic fashion accessories and bags. From the 1940s, the designers Enid Collins and Anne-Marie of France started designing striking bags.



I would highly recommend a visit to this museum. Not only do they have some amazing objects on display but the showcases are fantastically well laid out, allowing you to really see the items on display and there is text available in English.




If you want to find out more about the museum this is their website
http://www.tassenmuseum.nl/en

I’m talking for Winchester fashion week

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Just wanted to let everyone know about a little talk I am doing for Winchester Fashion Week in under two weeks time!

The talk will take place on Wednesday 13th June 3pm at Winchester Discovery centre

I spoke last year about fashion in the 1950s and had a great time at Winchester discovery centre. I’m hoping this year will be just as good.

Here’s the blurb

FASHION ON THE RATION

The 1940s saw World War Two take over peoples lives in Britain. But what did the war mean for fashion?

Come and find out more about fashion on the ration , the types of clothing people wore during the war and the global effect of World War Two on fashion.

For more info on Winchester fashion week click here

Tickets (which are free) can be acquired here

I’ve also got a few more talks coming up, so keep a look out and I’ll continue to post when and where I will be talking!

Investigating Sportaville

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So, The latest acquisition to my vintage collection is this COMPLETELY crazy novelty print skirt. O.k. so it is a bit immature, but that kind of makes me love it more.

The skirt is by the brand Sportaville, and I actually have a number of pieces by this brand (5 skirts and a pair of shorts if memory serves me correctly). But this is one of those brands that I know almost nothing about, yet I am completely intrigued by. I have trawled the internet on numerous occasions trying to find out more about the brand and have come up with almost nothing, bar details on a seemingly unrelated company that started in the 1980s. The quality of their garments is fantastic though, and each of the pieces I have had has been fantastically made, suggesting to me that these were expensive pieces in there day. Not only that Sportaville garments seem to use some of the wackiest most imaginative prints I have seen. All of the garments in my collection certainly are a bit mad, and any I’ve seen but not managed to acquire have been equally crazy (wine labels, records, galleon ships and townscapes are amongst some of the themes)

 My fist sportaville skirt bought for the princely sum of £5 if memory serves me correctly way back in 2007 or 2008 it has “confetti” by Sportaville printed around the hem too





My Sportaville shorts. These provide a great talking point when drunk as they are covered in shipping signals. I always find it hilarious to read my shorts to people. The best one to say when drunk though has to be “I have sprung a leak and require immediate assistance”. Ho ho ho.

What i find even MORE intriguing is that they seem to have been using some of the same fabrics as Blanes.  This skirt sold by tasty vintage features the IDENTICAL print to a Blanes dress from my collection. The description of the fabric suggests that even this was the same. Now, the question is, where the two companies related, or as i think is more likely did one copy the others prints?

Sportaville skirt from Tasty vintage ( no longer available)
 http://www.tastyvintage.com/product.php?id=159&tastyvintage=0291a6fd7e5c92b073da8d3b14b824f6

My Blanes dress…look familiar?

So, do you know anything more about Sportaville? If so please do get in contact, I am totally fascinated by the brand and would love a bit more information about who was designing these fabulous prints.