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Dublin delights

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Last week one of my best friends got married in Dublin. This meant I was lucky enough to spend 5 days in the wonderful city. Today I’m going to share with you some of my outfits, and some of the fun things myself and my frineds got up to whilst we were there.

We arrived on thursday afternoon. After dumping our cases in the thoroughly nice hostel we headed to temple bar to check out Dublin’s pubs.

We started off with dinner in a lovely pub just off temple bar. They were playing fab live music in there. Me and my friends made the most of posing in the quirky settings.

Then we headed off to make the most of Dublin’s bars. In my case a lot of Irish ale and citder were consumed.

This led to me looking like this in the morning.

This also meant i seemed to find it too difficult to dress myself, hence help was required with petticoats!

On friday it was ever so chilly but we still made the most of wandering round the city and checked out things such as the art gallery and a number of the churches and cathedrals.

Despite the fact we are all 22 and 23 we larked around jumping outside trinity college!

On friday evening we we to the pub across the road for dinner. Another tasty meal was had!

Saturday was wedding day. The wedding was just outside the centre of Dublin, and the castle where the reception was held was absolutely stunning.

With one of my oldest friends Caro. We will celebrate our 20 year anniversary of knowing each other next year.

 

The beautiful bride entering the church

The bride with some of our stunning friends : )

In typical Irish fashion we partied until the we small hours of the morning.

My dress for the day was a mid 1950s Horrockses with amazing scalloped hem. I wore this with a pair of 50s cream court shoes and carried a beaded 30s handbag.

On Sunday we had quite a chilled day and spent the morning wandering around Dublin flea market that has a really cool vibe to it. Lots of bargains to be had!

On Sunday night we went to a stunning restaurant in the city.

On monday it was time to go home, but we made the most of the day with a trip to the guinness store house. An informative day, and a tasty guinness to finish it off. The view from the guinness bar was amazing!

Big thanks for my gorgeous friend Natatsha for getting married. She looked so stunning on the day, it was completely emotional, but at the same time lovely to see the first wedding of a group of friends I’ve mostly known since I was 11. Also much love to the lovely girls I spend 5 days wandering around Dublin with. It was great to have a few days of fun with some of my favourite people : )

Come and join me at Farnham Maltings on 2nd June

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Drum roll * I am excited to make a little announcement on le blog today about a vintage fair I am going to be at!
 
 
Come and join me on the 2nd June for a day of vintage fashion and frolics at Farnhams maltings. Not only will I be giving a little talk and compering the fashion show, but I will also have a stall selling some delightful goodies. I’m trying to make sure I bring a little bit of something for everyone along, and will be coming armed with vintage fashion and accessories from the 30s to the 80s. All carefully selected. I’ll definitely be bringing two sensational 60s suits, some amazing 70s maxis and a few of my old favourite cotton 50s dresses. So do come and say hi! It looks like being a very fun event.
Not only will there be a varied selection of stalls offering the best in vintage, but there are also a number of other events happening through the day including workshops and makeovers.
My stall will probably be something like this! (This was me at the festival of Vintage in Epsom last year)
 
 
Tickets are just £4!
If you see me at the fair do come and say hi! I will be typically attired in a crazy 50s dress- I promise!
 
Find out more about the fair here

Sale of the Horrockses brand name

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A few weeks ago I stumbled across a rather interesting piece of information that it has taken me a few weeks to formulate properly into a post, the sale of the Horrockses brand name. As regular readers of my blog will be aware Horrockses garments are one of my biggest passions, but I mostly focus on collecting those items that were produced before 1964. Understandably though, with the resurgence in popularity of vintage items by the brand I was intrigued by the sale of the brand name, and the bigger consequences there could be for both the collectability of Horrockses dresses, and also how a parent brand may use the name.
Horrockses dress with print by Alastair Morton 1950 © Liz Tregenza 2012
Firstly, a little background on the history of the changing hands of the brand name post the period I collect- I concentrate here on “Horrockses fashions” rather than simply “Horrockses”. The first sale of the Horrockses brand was in 1964 to Steinberg and Sons (Owners of Alexon) who secured the royal warrant for the brand[1]. The label continued until 1983, before it was eventually discontinued. I know towards the end they attempted a revival of the 50s look dresses, but this was unsuccessful. I’ve never seen one of these I have to admit though. This is just something I have heard about, but I would love to see one if anyone has one! The Horrockses label then laid relatively dormant until 2011 (used only for very basic bed linen on the whole). I can’t work out from a quick bit of research who owned it in this period, but I am sure I was told it was Dorma at some point down the line… I know they had the rights for Horrockses cottons for bed linens etc, just not sure on fashion. This seems plausible as Dorma was bought out by Dawson international holdings in 2005, who currently own the brand name. The reason for the sale of the Horrockses brand now is due to Dawson international holdings going into administration last year. From my scant knowledge of IP (digging into the 1 module I sat during my first degree here!) It appears that the tradmemarks that Dawson international hold covers the likes of cosmetics and furniture as well as the areas that Horrockses bed linen/ Ulster Weavers kitchen textiles currently operate the brand under . Dawnson international holdings also hold the trademark for the brand that covers textiles for fashion. [2]
Horrockses dress by Pat Albeck- c. mid 1950s © Liz Tregenza
Original Horrockses prints have since 2011 been used for a limited collection of bed linen based on a number of original prints used for dresses, two of which I own (and love!). Personally I think this is a great way of re-using the original prints, without stepping on dangerous territory, but I am wary about the latest sale of the brand. My fear stems from how a brand may use the Horrockses name. Creating a new range of dresses based on Horrockses originals, in my opinion, would devalue vintage dresses and also cannot live up to the originals. This is partially due to manufacturing standards today and the fact that a key part of what made Horrockses such a distinctive brand was their use of fabric, and superior quality and advanced finishing techniques used on the fabric. Subject to modern manufacturing new Horrockses would loose their meaning. This is not simply personal elitism about the re-creation of the items, and not wanting others to have the same, I just feel that the “carbon-copies” which are likely to be produced will de-value the reputation of the brand as a whole.
A selection of Horrockses from my personal collection © Liz Tregenza 2012
Revivng brand names has a chequered history. Chelsea girl for River Island is an example of how this can be done relatively effectively I believe. Whilst the Ossie Clark London brand is an example of a heinous crime. Others, such as the numerous relaunches of Biba have had a mixed reception. Again though I step back to one of my biggest bugbears, why can’t we design anything new? Referencing the past is fair enough, but the way in which it is done is often disrespectful of past designs/ designers, and also what the companies stood for. I think producing homewares based on the original prints and styles is much more acceptable- I really hope that whoever buys the brand goes down this route, and doesn’t try to re-create the dresses.  Information on the internet suggests that House of Fraser are interested in acquiring the brand.[3]I wonder if they are considering attempting a similar revival to that of the Biba brand from a few years ago, or whether they would be considering something totally different for the brand.
Close up detail of a print by Margaret Meades 1953 © Liz Tregenza 2012
I am also intrigued as to how the sale of the brand name relates to the prints themselves. Does this sale equate to a sale of the prints too? Would they have free reign to use any Horrockses prints they want? Or would the new buyer be restricted to copying original vintage items they can source? Horrockses employed numerous freelance print designers, so this in itself could be problemous. This is undeniably an area that I don’t fully understand, but needless to say I am intrigued by.
Metis parters who are dealing with the sale of the IP have called for bids of £50,000 or more (seems cheap to me!). Bidding for the brand closes on 2nd May…so lets see what happens.
http://www.metispartners.co.uk/FileAccess.aspx?variationId=240
And to whoever buys the brand, if you are after an expert on the company with around 75 original dresses you are looking at her ; )

[1] Christine Boydell, Horrockses fashions: Off the peg style in the 40s and 50s p.176
[3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/10007915/Horrockses-up-for-sale.html(why this article uses a pic from madmen in beyond me…just saying)