Trend Alert: Hell For Leather

Leather-envy; the very notion of it was, until recently, preposterous in my mind.

Sure, like most of you I have flirted with leather; a jacket dalliance here, a waistcoat romance there – these liaisons always appeared to be a little too dangereuses upon looking in the mirror, leading all inclination to be a leather-clad maverick to be swiftly filed away.

Happy in my leather-free bubble, I watched bondage-clad collections at Marc Jacobs roll out; I looked on as Gaga rolled about like a cow-skin princess; I stood back as vintage shops stocked-up on leather coats to be oh-so-seventies –still, I felt nothing. Content in not looking like an extra from the Matrix, I thought i’d soldier on indefinitely.

Little was I to know that leather was to land on my doorstep [figuratively speaking of course] Former bookings gal and serial shopper Samantha and I were perusing the Judy's stalls at the South Bank when we found it - the thing that was to shatter my allusions in a big, biker-y mess. Cropped, one-off and emblazoned - it was bad-ass in a jacket form. Crowning the item was a lone wolf, howling to the graffiti moon.

The above picture is not an image of the jacket [or myself and Samantha - what 'lols' that would be!] but a picture from the 70s epic 'The Warriors.' Know why? Because this jacket made me want to be one of 'The Warriors,' cleaning up the streets with quick quips, running around on subways [wouldn't quite be the same running around on the Northern Line - I think i'd have to emmigrate] and embracing la vie en leather.

Of course, the jacket wasn't for me [and was a girls. and too small] and so all that remains is a solid case of leather envy. Adding insult to injury is the resurgence of the Native American trend which goes so very well with leather [a kind of cowboy-meets-indian car-crash - now that's what i'm going for] Until fair season, I have my eye set on this tassel-tastic number from vintage vendor Burger & Fries...

Luckilly, fair season starts this coming Monday with Spitalfields [hooray!] and so I shouldn't have to wait too long. Until then, I guess my wax jacket will have to cut it. But know this -my Navajo-ly Grail is out there. Somewhere. And one day, it will be mine.

xVVx

www.vintagefair.co.uk

All the fun of the Fair - Nottingham

Greetings loved ones!

Take a seat - let's talk business. As any enterprise worth it's salt would, we at Judy's are masochistic enough to put our claims of being 'the largest and leading vintage fair in the whole gosh-darned UK' to the test. This week, we slot Nottingham's Affordable Vintage Fair under the microscope as the up-and-coming blog-boffins at fashionregency.com put us to the test. Move over Mary Portas, you aint got nothin' on this...

'It’s 12.03pm. We’re weaving our way through the already thickening crowds to grab the brilliant bargains before anyone else grabs them [and we thought we were early!]

First stop, Trilbies and Tassels where Lottie Sissons sold Jessica a gorgeous black beaded top that she has probably worn about seven times since, today being the eighth [it’s really quite ridiculous]

We love Vintage Reclaimed which is a returning fixture and no wonder; everyone goes crazy for their bespoke jewellery. Abi was hunting through the assortment of chains whilst Jessica bought a clock mechanism, soon to be smashed up and made into a stunning piece of jewellery. One thing we love about the fairs is that there was always the option to buy the separate pieces and have a go yourself.

Jessica had a bit of a chat with Adele at Tullula and interestingly found that she makes her own clothes. We both love her unique style of re-working leather, her stock coming from newspaper ads and warehouses. Abi was definitely impressed to hear that Pearl Lowe once wore one of her Tullalah dresses, and we expect many more fashionistas to be pining over her styles in the near future! We can't wait to see what is in store from her next.

We also spotted Nick Reed’s glorious Cartoons and Film Posters; we have managed to track his website down, even though it is under construction at the moment, keep on checking because you wouldnt want to miss one of his amazing designs:http://www.nickreed-gradely.co.uk/

Princes Vintage has a really useful 10% discount card that we picked up at the stall and will be using at some point or another - Abi has a thing for jumpers and Jessica had to practically drag her away from all the lovely goodies to be found here, we loved the prices!

All in all, as expected, we had a fabulous time at Judy's Affordable Vintage Far and we'll definitely attend whenever they plan to delight us with another visit to Nottingham. The Affordable Vintage Fair seems to cater for any taste and there are always treasures to be found! Abi had a wonderful time searching for shirts (which she seems to be addicted to) and ended up with three beautiful shirts which came to a total cost of £12! You wouldn't be able to buy a quarter of a shirt for that in Topshop! Jessica treated herself to a lovely little bag as well. All in all, Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair isn't one to miss!

This was our second visit to Nottingham’s Affordable Vintage Fair and neither time have we been disappointed. Fashionregency wholeheartedly urge you to go stop what you’re doing, fire-up the computer and have a look and see where they are next - maybe we’ll see you there!'

-Abi Colgan & Jessica Gaten, fashionregency.blogspot.com

There we have it folks - straight from the horses' mouth. We hope those of you in Oxford, Cardiff and London are super-psyched for our upcoming fairs - they really are treasuretroves. Testament to the fact that vintage aint goin' nowhere [finger click? too much? ok] check out this titbit from Marc Jacobs during New York Fashion Week...

Proof? Pudding? Get investing!

xVVx

www.vintagefair.co.uk