Category Archives: advantage in vintage

21st Birthday loveliness

Posted in advantage in vintage, mela mela vintage, The vintage hair lounge by

My Post today is a little off topic. I normally try and keep my posts to just talking about vintage, but this time i want to speak about vintage and my love for my friends.

Last night i had my 21st birthday party. I was wearing a dress i had chosen specially for the occasion. It was an amazing 50’s ballgown, which i bought from one of my favourite vintage shops Mela Mela Vintage in Teddington. Do visit their website, melamela.co.uk they have some absolutely wonderful stuff. The ladies in the shop too aren’t pushy they really helped me to choose a dress for my party that suited me, yet was totally show stopping! I’m guessing the dress is probably an American prom dress. I reckon its probably a mid fifties piece (typical mid fifties centre back zip and the strapless style just screams this to me!) Here are a few pics of the dress from the very beginning of the night.


You may also notice i have pretty spectacular hair and make up (The lipstick is still on now!!!) i had this done at the Vintage Hair Lounge in Southampton (where i currently have some of my vintage clothing for sale) http://www.vintagehairlounge.com. Sharon and Gloria really did a wonderful job and made me feel incredibly glamorous. The look i went for was heavily inspired by the wonderful Elizabeth Taylor.

And now onto the party itself. I had an amazing cocktail party which was topped off by my beautiful vintage cocktail cabinet from Flo and Stan in Southsea, it just fits so fabulously! We drank  Mojitos, Woo Woos and Pina Coladas, they were delish and suitably alcoholic.

I have to say a HUGE thank you for my friends who travelled the 160 miles (or maybe more) to come down to Romsey for my party. A special thank you to my dear friend Caroline too, We’ve known each other 17 years and  I can’t believe she is still putting up with me! (she is the girl in the red top and black pencil skirt) All of my friends looked wonderful, and really made me feel special, and also a massive thank you to my Mum and Aunt for being Barmaids extraordinaire and making sure my party went off without a hitch!

A Spanish Senorita dress

Posted in advantage in vintage, blanes, Vintage by

I just thought i would share a few pictures of the lovely dress i wore last night. It’s a late fifties Blanes dress. I bought it about 3 months ago, but yesterday was the first time i wore it. It is made of a really lovely fine silk and the rose print is beautifully bold. I wore it with a petticoat, but i think as it is such a thin fabric it actually needs two to give it a proper 50’s look. These photos were just taken on my cameras auto setting so they aren’t the best. Apologies for the badly applied make-up too, it would appear that i tried to paint my face white : /

Vintage at Southbank

Posted in 50s, advantage in vintage, Horrockses, Vintage, vintage at south bank by


(pic courtesy of http://www.homesandantiques.com/feature/we-saw-you-vintage-southbank-centre)

On Friday I went to Vintage at Southbank and had a totally wonderful day. Mostly the day was spent chatting and spending more money than I have (all good in my book!). I went wearing one of my fave Horrockses frocks, and throughout the day numerous people asked me about my dress. I had my picture taken more times than I can count!

I did spend an insane amount of time at the Horrockses bed linen stand chatting to the lovely designer Sarah and also showing Chris Boydell what I had been purchasing since I last met her! More to come on the Horrockses bed linen in another post though…

Anyway, I just wanted to show off my purchases. I somehow managed to be quite restrained!

First off this lovely little 50’s bracelet, right up my street!

Then was this lovely ¾ length sleeved dress, I love the striped print, and I can see this being one of my more winter suitable dresses, worn with nice thick tights and a vest underneath.

Then I bough two pairs of shoes. The black pair are in need of reheeling, but the brown pair still have their original box!

And finally I bought this AMAZING dress.It’s by the brand Blanes who are one of my favourite brands of the 50’s and 60’s, and I actually can’t believe I got this dress. Last year at Goodwood I saw the dress and I was desperate to buy it, but at the time I had no job and no money, and decided that it was just out of my price range. When I saw it again on Friday I couldn’t quite believe my luck. Of all time dresses under the label “ones that got away” this is the second most regret I have ever felt about buying a dress. When I saw it I’m not joking I got a bit choked up. He remembered me from Goodwood last year too! The best thing of all about this dress is the fit. It is possibly one of the best fitting pieces of vintage I own, and I can’t quite get over the fact its mine! I think this might have to be the dress I wear for afternoon tea on my 21st! I am so happy, I can’t quite believe it.



I really did have an amazing day, but I have to say in terms of the atmosphere it wasn’t as good as Goodwood last year. The problem was a lot to do with peoples attitude. I feel that last year people had really made the effort to dress up and make a real day out of it, where as this year it was more or less just an opportunity to shop. I also felt that this year it was too focused on the young. Most people there were in the 18-25 age bracket I would say, and I didn’t feel like it catered so well to an older clientele like I felt last year the festival had. I felt this was a lot to do with the fact that the vintage marketplace was free and therefore not attracting the same kind of people who were actually interested in vintage.

I did also have quite a lot of issues with what was on sale. I picked up some pieces I loved but yet AGAIN it was a fair dominated with poor quality 1980’s rubbish, and slightly tacky vintage repro pieces. Unfortunately it is this type of vintage that is diluting the whole meaning of vintage. The word vintage suggests a certain sense of QUALITY and finesse, yet more and more vintage I see can be seen as nothing more than poor quality second-hand clothing.