You bet I've been back to the Affordable Vintage fair!

Yup, whenever the affordable vintage fair rolls north of the border, I have to pop along and check it out: I'm looking forward to them announcing this year's dates! There's no ignoring that a lot of it is distinctly NOT affordable but, nonetheless, I love the rake and the eye candy and it's fun looking through everything. Tell that to my poor friends who are usually outside having coffee before I've even got half way round.

Last time it came round, pickings were on the slim side, but I did pick up these two dresses on a two for £25 dealio. When you think how much you'd have paid for something similar in a high street store, I figure that to be a decent bargain! Plus, with a bold print on something high street, you're sure to get plenty "she has my dress" moments.

Both are really flattering with their slim waists and, once you fire a belt over the elasticated section, they look proper lovely and girlie! I'm all for a nice floral, so these patterns are ideal and, maybe somewhat oddly, I really rather like the shiny 70's "dinnae come near me with a match" type polyester-y fabric they're made from! It's sufficiently weighty so as to be figure skimming, but light enough not to bog one down. One does not like to be bogged down.

Now, whenever I pick up a wee vintage bargain, I always get chided for not giving you an outfit shot too. I listen and, indeed, I oblige. So here's a wee shot of ONE of them. Well you don't expect me to give everything up right away, do you? I'm afraid I just ain't that kinda gal.

vintage dress, shoes: River Island, Cardi & necklace: primark, belt: H&M

Ch-ch-check it out: the necklace is too good not to get a close up. Yup, in spite of what I just said about high st statement pieces, I couldn't resist this.What, I'm fickle and easy won. It's about mixing it up, innit?

A vintage fair and some free stuff!

Today (it's Saturday right now though I probably won't post this til Monday or summat. Spreading them out, innit?) was the day Judy's affordable vintage fair came to town.

 

 Yay! The Affordable Vintage fair is a travelling, er, vintage fair that tours the land bringing affordable vintage (really, am I just stating the ever so obvious a lot here? Don't think I think you're stupid, please. I don't.) to towns and cities near YOU. (I don't know where you live). As a result, it'll probably appear on blogs-a-plenty over the next few weeks and, on account of forgetting my camera again AND on account of the fact that folk with far better cameras than mine will no doubt be bringing you it in glorious technicolour, I figured I'd just tell you a wee bit about it and show you my goodies. That is my wont.

The first dress I looked at was a beautiful full prom dress. Black with gold, almost paint, effect and little pink and blue flowers. However, a flip of the price tag revealed it to be £250. £250! Maybe if you're Posh Spice that counts as affordable but, in my little real world, that's 'buy nothing else ALL month and let the bills go unpaid' territory. Sheesh! Needless to say, I stepped the heck away from it.

And that's kind of how the fair goes - there's plenty that is affordable (sub £35ish - even then, a piece or two is my absolute max) and there are some out and out bargains, but there's also a reasonable amount that doesn't fall under affordable at all. The good thing is that there's SO much stuff and whatever your budget, you should be able to pick up some goodies. I was particularly pleased to see local vintage store (that I don't visit often enough!) Godiva in attendance (though I don't think the lovely girl was glad to see me as I bought a dress she had her eye on from the next stall!) and really happy to see From Vintage to Vogue there too. I picked up some lovely dresses from them last time (Lynda sells vintage as well as making vintage reproductions) but then couldn't remember the company name and couldn't find anything on Google either so I'm glad to be able credit her properly this time. Lynda told me she still doesn't have an online store but she does have a website and comments on her dresses have got her thinking about selling them online or to boutiques so keep your eyes peeled. Anyway, this time I picked up a wee 60's dress from her for a very reasonable £15.

It's hard to tell from the picture but it does have a very gently full skirt and nice waist. The square-ish neckline that I was dubious about is actually really flattering too!

And, if you look closely at this one, you can see the massive bow that's on the back! I LOVE the bold colorful floral print of this dress. I believe it shall be coming to my cousin's wedding with me at the end of the month.

My next find was this adorable little picture for £2. Bargain!

And look: there's a message on the back! The stall holder told me that Joanne is her friend. Sad that she got rid of the picture but I'm very happy to have it!

And this lot quite clearly isn't vintage! No, no! Lucky me got a package from the postie containing all this free goodness from Lush! Not one, not two, but NINE (I could've kept counting but we'd have been here a while and, what with my tendency to ramble, you'd have been asleep on your keyboard. If you aren't already. Hello!) perfumes! NINE! I'm sniffing Tuca Tuca (very violet-y) on my wrist just now. There was also some of the new Dirty range, including a shower gel, hair gel (used it this morning!), shaving cream and tooth tabs (??? I think they're basically mints but am a bit afraid to taste them!), PLUS a solid hand cream and a colour supplement for pale people. That'll be me then. I'm one of those nearly blue Scottish people.

If it's nice tomorrow (that being Sunday as I type), I think I'm going to get my bike out in preparation for my sponsored bike ride in September.

How was your weekend? Do tell!

Oh my goodness, I look like a proper fancy lady!

Check me out. I DO look all proper lady like! And I'm in shoes # 21 from Miss Selfridge (which judging by the reaction when I previewed them are VERY popular!). Plus, who thinks I could, like, totally be in a catalogue with all this awesome posing malarkey? I'm thinking this particular demented eye action says 'when I'm finished rocking a Nicole Richie worthy hand on hip* here I am SO going over there to smack a midget with my invisible baseball bat**'.

*I am aware that I have hips and Miss R does not

** No midgets were harmed in the writing of this blog or by me at any other time. Although a midget darn near did me a mischief when I watched R Kelly's Trapped in the Closet. If you have not seen it, watch it now!

Here's the thing - I love this look. It's elegant, it's girlie and it's completely figure flattering. So why don't I look like this every day? There are a few reasons:

• Some days I just can't do heels all day. If there's any semi serious amount of walking in my day I can't do it. It's a shock confession, I know, especially as I pass myself off as some kind of shoe princess. The fact is, sometimes I just need the flats. Or my thoroughly grubby used-to-be-white Converse. Oh yes, you'll see them all in good time.
• Often I run out of time to blow-dry my hair in the morning so instead of being all sweeping fringe it's just a messy quiff.
• I don't want to typecast myself as a retro dolly only. Whilst I love the look, sometimes I just wanna wear a too-tight-for-me t shirt dress and layer on a shit load of rock chick eyeliner!
• Sometimes I out and out can't be arsed and just want to fire on jeans and a t shirt! Although there's no harm wearing a pretty necklace too.
• And lastly, sometimes I just feel bloated and want to hide under a moo, moo. Sexy it ain't but it's the truth!

So here's what went into the mix that made this delicious little cupcake of a look (other than, of course, sugar and spice and all things nice):

Vintage reproduction dress, £30 from Judy's Affordable Vintage fair.

Tapestry shoes, £45, from Miss Selfridge

Floral cardi from Primark

Leopard Print scarf from Accessorize

Bow hairband, tights and gold heart necklace from my cupboard AKA I can't remember where they're from! I stopped wearing all my bow hairbands and general fascinator bits of action when I chopped off all my hair earlier this year but I just couldn't help feeling a big juicy bow with this look...I still think it looks a wee bit daft (like when people fire a bow on their bald baby's head to make sure everyone knows SHE'S A GIRL, ALRIGHT?! The baby invariably looks like a twat [yes I did just say that] but the parent doesn't get all insecure about their darling daughter looking 'boyish'. Get over it - it's a baby - they all look much the same for the first few months. I tell you though, what I really struggle with is the 'aw so cute noises' when it's an ugly howler of a baby. That's tough. Anyway, enough already.) but it's my head and I can do what I like with it.

Anyway, this post has gone on over long. Have a swell Sunday evening. I'm off to make some toast and watch X Factor!

Do I smell like an old lady?

Last weekend, Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair rocked up in Edinburgh and so, with the offer of affordability and old skool glamour, I trotted (does that make it sound like I'm a goat or summat?) along with my pals for some rummaging, elbowing and shopping. That's my pal's lovely finger holding the bunting down while I mercilessly snap away at it with miphone. I love a nice bit of bunting.

This time around it was hosted in a church on George Street and it was a huge improvement on the last fair which was in Potter Row students union in, perhaps, the hottest, darkest room in Edinburgh. Seriously, you couldn't see half the stuff. By contrast, it was bright and airy this time, the air fragranced only with the unmistakable must of vintage goodies. And I swear the prices were better this time too. I didn't have the forethought to actually take any pictures inside (what, I'm still new to this bloggery and not accustomed to taking pics of every friggin' thing) the venue but, let's be honest - my friend held my bag (she was skint) all the way round so I could rummage in the most effective fashion - I wasn't gonna be much for photography. Instead, I've snapped my haul for you to ooh and aah over. Does anyone really truly ooh and aah over stuff still? Except fireworks. It's quite entertaining to watch folk during a big fireworks display. Man, there are always some gormless faces to behold during that shit. Ooh! Anyway, get your ooh aahs on people! Here they are:

Ooh! So what have we here then?! First up, this awesome green maxi dress with sequined bandeau (£25). Like a magpie to a milk bottle top (milk bottle tops were shiny and metal in yesteryear kids - FACT) this dress spied me and reeled my in with it's shiny sparkly fantastiche-ness! I also love that the skirt is fuller than the image belies, skimming bumpy bits and generally flowing like a mountain stream. Plus, some woman eyed me trying it on and said to her pal 'well she HAS to buy that'. Allegedly she was not being bribed by the stall holder! The dress is from Sophie Maddocks and is by the the far more glamorous (no offence Soph!)/porn star sounding Lilli Diamond of California. I like to think it was worn on, perhaps, a cheesy cruise ship, or maybe at a West Coast keys in the bowl swingers party. I can't see any stains mind you.

Next up is this beautiful vintage reproduction dress (£30). It came from a stall called either Vogue to Vintage or Vintage to Vogue. A quick Google search turns up nothing on them and the very lovely lady on the stall did say she doesn't have a shop or anything - she just sells at fairs - actual vintage and hand made reproductions. The picture doesn't show this dress off as best it could - it's super flattering with a little nipped waist and lovely full skirt. The dress is new but was made from an original 50s pattern. The big roses on black are perfect for my working of this season's winter florals AND Prada-esque ladylike (honestly, although I love the shows and whatnot, I don't really give much of a shit about being in fashion or on trend. It's just nice when stuff you like is in and you can stock up. Like leopard print. I'll stock up again this season and wear it after the trend slaves ditch it again)- I think I'll be wearing this dress a lot!

And finally - also from V to V, is this awesome purple dress, a bargain at £12! (I bartered as I was buying two dresses - get me!). There are no tags in it so I don't know where it's from or what it's made from but the musky must tells me it's a good style vintage number. I love that it's got subtlety in the knee length skirt, long sleeves (there's a slight bat wing and exaggerated shoulder there) and demure skirt but then, BANG sequined beaded waist a mundo! In yo' face!

Ooh, here's a close up...

And finally finally, my pal had a whoopie pie and a cup of tea at the fair and declared the pie to be deeeeelicious!