Thursday 28 October 2010

A few of my favourite finds..

A few weeks ago I was talking to the lovely Nadine from The Skinny and telling her all about the huge collection of vintage dresses I have gathered from my vintage fairs. Most of them are from the 50s or 60s and each have come from one of the many city we visit, all are from individual traders, and I make a point to snap up at least 10 dresses from each season we move our fair around the country. As these dresses become more rare to find I thought I'd share a snippet of what I have with you lovely blog readers.

So, here's a selection of my favourite dresses...

Yes Sarah this one is Horrockses but not as nice as yours..


A lovely 1950s number I picked up from our Cheshire fair..


One of my favourites, I wore it to Vintage at Goodwood this summer


A Glass Onion special, summery and perfect with flats..


This one is hand made and has the best flower print I have ever found..


Bought from the lovely Vintage to Vogue at our Durham fair..


A cheat dress as I actually picked it up in New York a few years ago..


1950s print - Marnie Fogg would be proud..


Picked up at my York fair from Tramps Gems..


Another great print and all those colours... I never wear all black!

That's all for now folks, Kieran will be signing in tomorrow to tell you all about our weekend fairs and what's coming up..

Until then,

Judy x

Sunday 24 October 2010

Rainy day in Manchester

Well yesterday Judy and crew rolled into Manchester, the rain did not stop those vintage lovers queueing inside and out ready to get their hands on some fantastic vintage bargains!!This was the first time we'd visited Sound Control and with 3 floors of vintage goodies to trawl through, I am glad I was working on the door all day!! One thing which did indeed keep me entertained (as well as you friendly Manchester folk) was the fabulous DJ! From the Jesus and Mary Chain to the Kinks, myself and my partner in crime for the day, the lovely Valentina, were bopping on our seats all day!Speaking of you lovely Manchester folks, you really are bloody lovely!! And very eager to show me your vintage goodies! I was very jealous of the snowflake jumper and mini suitcase! And then I was jealous of this giant suitcase:
And this one!!


I had wonderful chat with this vintage lover about our shared obsession - Mad Men!!! She was a Joan fan and as muh as I love Joan, Peggy is my favourite! She got this brilliant original 1960s pattern so she could make her very own Joan Holloway (I reuse to calle her Harris!) creation!

And finally these three ladies went away with bagfuls! It really was the fair for suitcases as I felt a bit sad as this gorgeous tan vanity case walked out ofthe door!


Anyways, short but sweet!! Hopefully we will be back in Manchester soon with more vintage delights!

Thursday 21 October 2010

Bethnal Green's Affordable Vintage Fair

As bags are packed, cars are loaded and all of our vintage best bits are selected for the capital, we just wanted to remind you that we will be setting up shop at Bethnal Green's York Hall this Sunday [24th] Catering for all tastes and covering all bases, we are going to be bringing you stellar stock spanning the 20s to the 80s, antiques, jewellery, intricate accessories, fabrics, haberdashery and a designer piece or two. Whether you're looking for blouses, vases, furs or collectibles, we're set to impress. Here's a tiny taster of what's on offer this weekend...



Ecclectic is the word! The dramatic cape on and blue and white geometric jumpsuit are courtesy of Victoria and Albert vintage, trading at the weekend [the jumpsuit is actually a Biba creation, demonstrating that you truly never know what you might find at Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair!]

Additionally for a perfect Sunday soundtrack, why not take the time to enjoy the musical stylin's of fifties trio the Scarlet Starlets booked-in especially for the event! Perfect tunes for perusing, check them out on http://scarletstarlets.com/ As the picture demonstrates, all aboard vintage fans!


Our FINAL surprise is that the lovely ladies from LeKeux vintage salon will be on hand to quoff and buff you everyway from Sunday, all for a reasonable fee. If you like the look of the Starlets above then these ladies are for you. Here's their price list...

Hair

Taster - £10

Full Curl/ Style - £20

Make-Up

Lips/Eyes - £5

Taster - £10

Full - £20

Manicures

1950s polish/ 1940s crescent/ 1920s layered - £15

Tutorials from £25

Special Events styling from £35

Wowzers. To book an appointment with this lovely bunch, email: info@lekeuxevents.co.uk posthaste!


Tuesday 19 October 2010

Manchester and London double Bill this weekend


Yes folks, the countdown has begun for Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair to roll into Manchester on the Saturday and London on the Sunday. We have two very special vintage fairs in store for you all. Here are the flyers to give you the low down..


Saturday 23rd October
Sound Control, 1 New Wakefield Street
Manchester, M1 5NP
Opening Hours: 12:00 - 17:00
Entry: £2/ £1 NUS/OAP


Saturday 24th October
York Hall
5- 15 Old Ford Road, E2 9PJ
London
Opening hours 11:00 - 4:30
Entry: £2.00

Monday 18 October 2010

Weekend Shenanigans!

Greetings Loved Ones. Just a quickie here as we power through this Monday afternoon. Whilst I'd rather wait for the pictures to speak a thousand words [arriving circa Wednesday] York Fair was a hoot, with nearly 1300 of you pouring through the doors and a jolly good time had by all

Additionally, nearly 150 of you generous souls bought raffle tickets to raise money for breast cancer charity 'Haven' and so, in gratitude, I doth doth my hat to you! We're happy to announce that we'll be returning to York shores for a nightime xmas x-travaganza [hohoho, what a joker!] before Christmas. Ivy, brass bands, mince pies and vintage, if that's not CLAUSE for excitement, I don't know what is!


Additionally over the weekend, we got a mention by those eagle-eyed fashionistas at the Topshop blog. Have a butchers here....http://insideout.topshop.com/blog/2010/10/little-black-book.html


Finally, for anyone feeling the gravity of Monday rolling on their shoulders, take a look at this article by favourite procrastination station cracked.com about the woes of being a Hipster...http://www.cracked.com/funny-4573-hipster/ We here at Judy HQ don't endorse any sort of subculture bashing [even if you favour a Poirot moustache and headband all year long] but the Hipster circle of life made us titter....


Keep it real vintage fans,



xVx

Sunday 17 October 2010

The Joy of Ebay

Seen as I've been poorly sick and dying this week with the horrible bug which seems to be sweeping South Yorkshire, I thought I might let you into my world a little bit. Well when I say my world, I mean my imaginary world which I live through ebay! Having been an avid ebayer for many many many years I am a little bit obsessed with searching the listings for no particular reason. Subsequently the list of items I am watching currently stands at 376, none of which I intend bidding on, I just like to see what the go for! From obscure dinner ware patterns (Meakin Poodles, Midwinter Savannah) to fabric designers (Marion Mahler, Lucienne Day) to furniture makers (G plan, Kandya) I just can't stop looking at stuff! So I thought I'd run you through my top 5 watches at the moment in true High fidelity style and in no particular order, here we go!

1 - I love all things 1950s in case you hadn't noticed and I've always fancied one of those darling little wicker handbags so I've been watching this:


with a starting price of £35.00, no bids and postage at less than a fiver you could potentially get this for under £40.00! I love the slightly wrong poodle and the gorgeous handles, what more could you ask for!


2 - To be completely honest, most of my watch items are dresses! So I thought I'd pick a couple. This first one is a Horrockses gem!! It is actually the same print as my pink Horrockses number with the Bolero, but in a different shape. I absolutely adore it! The large pockets at the side just finish it off beautifully:
Interestingly, it was listed last week with a starting price of about £30.00 if i remember rightly and a reserve, it ended with a few bids at £35.00 reserve not met. It was relisted at 99p and no reserve and now it's at £59.54 with a couple of hours to go. If I had the money I would definately splash out on this, if not just because it matches my other!
3 - This dress is an absolute beaut!!! Just look at it!!!
The cut, the print, the pleats! an absolute stunner, but at £100 with 14 bids and more than an hour left, it makes me wish I had the caas to buy all 3 of those 1950s beauties from the Lincoln fair! Sometimes you can find a bargain on ebay, but they are getting rarer and rarer now unfortunately! It used to be that you get get 50s dresses for £15 - 30 on ebay, those days are gone sadly! Luckily the lovely stall holders at Judy's still induldge me!
4 - One thing I don't seem to be able to go a day without searching for is '1950s kitchen', I'm not sure why, you get alsorts! Curtains, kitchen units, clocks! But when I saw this I almost wept:
Oh what I wouldn't give for this!! Anything but the £940 asking price plus the £220 postage from Germany! The listing is beautiful, so many pictures, theres formica on the to and inside the cupboards, the little feet it stands on and the baby blue and yellow colour are enough to tip me over the edge! I do fear I am showing my true colours here but ah wel, if anyones going to get it, surely it's you lot!!
5 - And finally, just to show I'm not a completely self obsessed head case, I do have things on my watch list for others!! For Christmas I want to get my brother an amazing Christmas jumper, I found this beauty:
Looking at the listing I thought, hang on a second, I recognise that man!! It's only the lovely Princes Vintage Mr, of Princes Vintage who frequent Judy's fairs and have slipped into this blog on more than one occasion previously! Also, I want the jumper to match my brothers amazing navy blue with orange lining original 70s parka I got him last year form....yep, you guessed it! Princes! So coincidences aside, I was watching this unawares because it is so 1970s bad family photograph that I think he'd love it! Who knows, I may bid!
Anyways, I feel I've shared something very personal with you today, is a persons ebay watch list as personal as say, their diary? their record collection? I certainly have some guilty pleasures in mine, and I'm sure you do!

Friday 15 October 2010

Loveable Brogues

Greetings loved ones. I come to you today to discuss a practicality. Now, i'm not sure if you've made the transition between Summer and Autumn as seamlessly as they do in the magazines, but I for one have a slight difficulty; although i'm swaddled in shearling, loved up with Lettermans and worked my aran back into the calendar, i have one veritable achiles heel...my feet. Now, surely some of you may be left scratching your noggins, thinking 'just put some shoes on man, be they canvas, converse or otherwise!' The thing is, i have had an unashamedly long love affair with loafers this summer - yes, some of every colour, some brown some white, some tassled to tickle your fancy. Arguably, although our triste is far from over and they still resonate on the pages of many a publication and highstreet podium, i just can't seem to wear them with socks. Admittedly, i'm a bare foot kinda guy. I tend to give slippers a miss [reminding me of the primary school pseudo-dictatorship of wearing slippers or PLIMSOLES indoors - who would have thought that whilst you sat picking your nose in year 4 or trying to master the recorder that such heinous monstrosities as black PLIMSOLES would be de rigeur in a few years time....oh fashion, how you tickle me...wait, where was i? oh yes, PLIMSOLES/slippers inside; why i had to abandon my tiny nikes or light-up shoes in favour of an 'indoor shoe' to sit on a mat that was probably covered in snot, vomit, plastecine and everything inbetween, i'll never understand] and i enjoy baring my sole for all to see [feet not really bothering me like they do some parties] Although many a jazzy sock remains on the market, it is only this week after seeing Woody's This is England black shoe-red-sock combo for the fourth time that i bit the bullet and indulged in a pair. To return to my love of loafers, the reason i've been so smitten with my summer footware is their resitance to socks! With chinos rolled up, loafers gave the proverbial finger to other footware, a brazen unison of leather meets skin. Blisters be damned!

That said, winter draws nearer. Unwilling to be cast with the same label as LA-via-devonshire-superpseudo-hippy Joss Stone [just put some SHOES on, woman!] i think i'm going to have to swallow my pride and literally put a sock in it. But how to do this, dear readers, without cheapening my beloved loafers? As i flicked through a few publications over Cheerios this morning, my prayers were answered by Mr. Paul Smith. Foot first and not a face in sight, behold the brogues!




Stunning aren't they? Sleek, elegant - everything their Oxford heritage embodies. The Miller range is pretty much a dream come true [apart from their horrific price tag, which, is in fact, a nightmare!] I have to admit, i have a bit of a softspot for loveable brogues, owning one pair in bowling-alley red, cream and black. From the H&M A/W 09 collection [at least, i assume so. They were tucked under a table, hidden from view and were so unlike anything i had ever seen in H&M before. Then again, one thing i love about the store is it's occasional surprise and ability to have an apple fall so far away from a tree. So magnificent were these particular beasts though that i still find myself casting my eyes on them every now and again to make sure they haven't disappeared in a tri-colour puff of air] Behold an arty blu-print of them below...




Magnifique! Now, i'm not sure whether this is simply through their status as dream brogues but just like my beloved loafers, i could wear them sans socks, yippee! [i'm not sure if this is particular to this lot of footware and so i wouldn't call it a general rule of thumb. Through sleuthing on Wikipedia, i see that the perforations so typical of brogues was originally to let out water when they were worn to trudge through bogs etc, however if they cut my feet to shreds, it's nice to know there's a flooding system in place for all that blood - efficient!] Regardless, as i gaze upon the lovely Paul Smith [and some slightly more affordable brogues papped at our Leeds Fair - see below] i would cover up my mankles [male ankles] and don a sock or two [preferably two] for these shoes. Besides, socks are exciting right? Bright ones, dark ones, striped ones [i draw the line at motif ones - they remind me of many a furrowed brow on Christmas day morning] There's a whole new world waiting to take place south of the ankle! Brogues [and socks] i salute you!




Vintagevulture overundout xVx



Sunday 10 October 2010

Living it up in Lincoln!

Well, last weekend Judy's team rolled into the Engine Shed in the heart of Lincoln University. With glorious sunshine, 40+ traders and over 150 people waiting patiently before we even opened the doors, we knew it was going to be a good one!

The fair was packed with eager vintage hunters scowering for their perfect vintage bargain! I have to admit, of all the fairs, I have a bit of a soft spot for Lincoln, I'm not sure if it's the lovely people or weather we have when we visit (the sun always seems to shine in Lincoln!) but it is always a very pleasant experience!



Keeping the purse strings tied tight (helped by some unknown who swiped my purse the Friday before!) I had to make do with just trying on some of the fabulous stock available. As usual, I was looking for anything with a hint of Mad Men and found this beautiful, royal blue corduroy number. Having fallen for the red one last week at Nottingham, which ended up in the life of the lovley Adele, I couldn't resist trying it on. For some reason Corduroy makes me feel Christmassy, which is never bad, at £30 it was an absolute snip. As I have now fallen in love with Corduroy vintage frocks but don't seem to have the funding, I am going to put the Horrockses project to one side and make myself a corduroy Christmas dress, and blog the results of course! Watch this space!
Second on my Betty Draper mission was this navy blue and gold brocade beauty, again, very Christmassy! The slash neckline, the box pleats, who could ask for more. A complete bargain at £35! Some lucky fair goer will no doubt have snapped it up,
And last but not least, the dress that broke my heart! This absolutely dreamy turquiose satin late 50s early 60s dress almost made me cry when I had to take it off! It fit perfectly, not a mark on it and complete with two little bows on the waist, perfect! And at £45 it was obscenly cheap. However, for me to buy it would have been a bit of a travesty as it would only ever really get worn occasionally on a Sunday for me to do the hoovering in and wishing I went out to fancy places more often! This is definately a dress which deserved to be worn!
With the people rolling in our stall holders were ready with their vintage wares, Kerry (of Kerry Clear) was on hand to sell her handpicked vintage and reworked clothing and Ky (of Razorblade Mermaid) was there offering her fantastic retro hand made charm jewellery, featuring, among other things flamingos, skulls and cherries. Both have facebook groups if you search their company names.

Here are some of our happy shoppers! Busy browsing the stalls!



A couple leaving with bags full:
And last but not least (and what a note to finish on!) who could forget the Tea Party!! As usual there were buns cakes and tea served up on union jack tablecloths by polka dot clad waitresses! The Rocky Road cupcake comes highly recommended!

And there we have it, a busy day at Lincoln! We'll be back soon so if you want keep up to date with our latest Lincoln news, sign up to the mailing list here:

http://www.vintagefair.co.uk/#/lincoln/4531735253

xxx

Friday 8 October 2010

Oxford Vintage Fair this weekend

Now, understandably luminous socks and urban chic are not everyone's bag [or at least not any more] and we at Judy's refuse to be a one-trick pony; In addition to those bits and bobs which scream and shout their individuality, we at Judy's pride ourselves on those pieces which are quietly confident - the incredible faux furs, designerware, bags, trunks, antiques and accessories which have stood the test of time and still resonate their beauty. Before i get lost waxing lyrical about clacissim, take a look at this gorgeous sampler from our Sheffield fair...



Although we're aware that the Fair is neatly penciled into all of your datebooks, we here at Judy HQ can't sleep easy without giving you one further reason to come on down to the Town Hall this Saturday [9th] Fresh from a walk in the park come the following images from Tanya Lois at Spankt Vintage [www.spanktvintage.com] trading at Oxford this weekend. As a picture speaks a thousand words, we will hush up and let them do the talking...



Breathtaking n'est pas? This season's it colours of red and green alongside Chanel-inspired furs and fringing create a set of images worthy of Harper's 'romantic traveller' collection and is hauntingly current [in fact, the middle teaming of this season's furs with exuberant colours which could be fresh of the Milan S/S catwalks are a bit beyond current...what is this sorcery Spankt Vintage??!] Oh, and did we mention that there is 10% of all of Spankt's goods on Saturday? See you at the front of the queue!

Saturday 9th October 2010

Oxford Town Hall, St Aldgate's, Oxford, OX1 1BX

Opening hours: 10:30 - 16:00

Entry £2.00

Saturday 2 October 2010

Sheffield Vintage Fair September 2010

Our new resident photographer Rebecca Garland has done us proud with these blinding images. We're going to give Rebecca photo projects at specific fairs to capture elements of our events that really show you how we roll.

First up Rebecca visited our Sheffield fair on 25th September at The Workstation down near the train station in Sheffield city centre. She snook in before the shoppers arrived to capture some great stock images before turning on the public to do some of our 'spotted / papped' shots.

Here's the story so far...

'Spotted at the fair'
Some cool young things caught on camera..




The lovely Sarah B 'your names not down you're not coming in'
Sarah does the door at most of our events and has worked at Judy HQ for 2 long but happy vintage years, Sarah is also our guest blogger..


50's Sarah or Sarah Mellor or simply smellor!
Sarah has worked at Judy HQ for over 2 years and regularly hangs out at our Sheffield and Lincoln fairs. You can find 50s Sarah guest blogging right here about car boots, knitting and anything thrifty or from 1950..


Vic 'vintage vulture' rule

Lottie Loves

Laura 'Purple Haze' Cowlbeck


A tasty selection of the clothing on offer as 1000 shoppers rushed in to snap up a bargain..










Spotlight on jewellery and accessories...














That's all for now folks. If you like what you see and live in the Sheffield area then why not visit our Sheffield webpage http://www.vintagefair.co.uk/#/sheffield/4529058503 and pop your email address on the mailing list so you don't miss our upcoming November 28th fair back at The Workstation.