New York...Paris...Cardiff

This weekend I am attending a wedding in Cardiff. As I managed to find an apartment (rather than a hotel) and train tickets were super cheap I decided to make a weekend of it and explore the City. My experience of visiting Wales is limited to a geography trip during my GCSE year and it involved waders. Needless to say I was not happy.

I arrived on Friday at lunchtime and quickly dropped my bags off and headed out to maximise my time in the city. No matter where you go, it's a wonderful experience to travel on your own and be on your own terms entirely. It's something I am still learning to enjoy but I have certainly savoured it on this trip. The city is easy to navigate and the buses are very regular so I headed into town.

Before I could do anything I had to find some lunch, when I am away I don't like to go anywhere that I could go to in London so I walked through the many shopping arcades in Cardiff and stumbled across Restaurant Minuet in the Castle Arcade. The lunch was fabulous, it was so good I treated myself to two courses (Halloumi cheese starter and a kind of spinach in breadcrumb patty with a beautiful sauce for my main) and had two soft drinks, the total came to £13.00 so it was amazing value for an independent eatery. I would highly recommend this place, it was delicious.

Cardiff Castle http://www.cardiffcastle.com/

Cardiff Castle was simply beautiful, the grounds are breathtaking and it helped that the weather was so gorgeous. My favourite aspect of it was the Wartime Tunnels where the audio of bombs and planes overhead really gave a sense of how terrifying it must have been to use the castle as a shelter during the war. You could also walk to the very top of the keep and look out over the grounds, it was a bit of a climb as the stairs are small, winding and made of stone but I made it, like Rocky!

The Castle apartments were breathtaking, every nook and cranny was adorned with fabric or tiling and the main hall was watched over by the most beautiful angelic figures. I've made a little video of some of the rooms which you can see on my youtube channel here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi-g-AYxscg

The staff were extremely friendly and I met a lovely gent in the apartments building who was keen to impart his knowledge of the castle and told me that as a young man serving in the police force he had dreamt of retiring and working at the castle. it warmed my heart that he is getting to do what he always wanted to.

Vintage Shopping in Cardiff 

Of course I sought out the vintage shops, having read blog posts about vintage shopping in Cardiff I was optimistic, however the ones I went to were typical of a uni town and contained mainly 1980's and reworked vintage. I have a blog post about charity shops in general to come shortly!

The castle emporium was a lovely place to visit, it's quite small and again seems to cater to the more 70's/80's enthusiast in terms of clothing but is is worth a dig around the accessories for the 40's and 50's enthusiast as you never know what you might find. It also has a little cafe and the sellers seemed really friendly. I came across a brand called Eagle Eyed Vintage who have some great retro style items that I will be keeping an eye on. You can find them on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/Eagle-Eye-Vintage-176995049018480/photos?ref=page_internal

If you're a fan of records head to the upstairs of Cardiff Central Market to Kelly's, I have never seen anything like it, rows upon rows of vinyl to be flicked through, you'd probably end up with some sort of repetitive strain injury though! http://kellysrecords.com/

I also visited the charity shops but saw very few vintage items, as seems to be the way these days with charity shops in general. However charity shops in a city you haven't been to before are always worth a visit even if you come away empty handed. I managed to stumble across this beaded Moschino cardigan for £9.99 in Oxfam Cardiff, which is amazing value.

Fear not though, the next day I found a vintage treasure trove in an industrial estate just outside the city but it's so good it's going to need it's own post...

With love from Cardiff

RB
X

Come on Vogue...Vogue 100 a Century of Style Exhibition Review

I took last week off work in order to move, go to a couple of gigs and most importantly turn 31!



As it was my birthday week I booked in the kinds of activities that I always promise myself I will do and then never get round to, one of which was the Vogue exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.



I have been to a couple of exhibitions recently which were disappointing and at £17.00 per ticket I wondered if Vogue's offerings would hold up...of course it did, it's Vogue.



As a teenager I was an avid fan of Vogue, my aunt would give me her used copies and I would pour over it all, but mainly the handbags which have always been a bit of a problem for me. I recounted to my friend how I used to cut out the images of the Chanel bags and stick them to the border of my bedroom at 13. I remember distinctly thinking that I would know when I was a real lady, because I would own a Chanel bag. In case you are wondering, no, I don't own one!



The exhibition was well thought out and we were given a map upon entering to navigate it, we were greeted by a selection of Vogue covers ranging from the magazine's inception to present day which, to a geek like me, was fascinating. The art work of the 20's and 30's covers was just beautiful and I was struck by how familiar I was with some of the images, despite not being that much of a Vogue historian. They must seep into the subconscious somehow!



Further into the exhibition there was an enormous corridor containing photographs of designers and an impressive portrait of Kate Moss which was a screen print on foil, but I was distracted by the floor to ceiling image of the late Alexander McQueen smoking a cigarette with his skull companion. It's an iconic portrait of McQueen that seems macabre now that he has passed. His eyes seemed to be observing over the entire corridor like the gatekeeper of fashion, perhaps that was the aim. It was certainly effective. It made me more than a little sad  having watched a documentary about his life recently.



The rooms off of the main space were grouped by century the 20's, 30's 40's and so on. Each room was given it's own era appropriate style and my personal favourite was the lavender 1920's room with it's art deco details, the more modern rooms of the 90's and 00's were painted white and the large and striking images were the decor themselves.



It was thought provoking to read how fashion has responded to key points in history (the "New Look" response to the end of WW2, the power dressing women's fashion of the 80's) upon observing the past the clothes on our backs really do mirror the political and economical climates, especially in times of unrest.



Of course I took an avid interest in the 40's and 50's rooms but one of the most interesting parts of the exhibition for me was the planning room which showed how images were selected by the editor and made it into the issues of Vogue.



Without the use of modern technology the images had to be projected onto the wall in the darkness and flicked between, back and fourth, to study the images and make selections. It was headache inducing and to my eyes I could see how people could argue that the images were all the same. But the longer I looked the more I could see the distinct difference between two photographs. To anyone who says that fashion is just "clothes" I would encourage you to spend 10 minutes in that room and consider the skill that went into creating these magazines, without getting a migraine.



The last part of the exhibition we visited was the long and narrow display of Vogue magazines from each year of it's reign as the fashion bible. Some showed the cover art whilst others were open, displaying a range of subject material from photoshoots to articles about art, design and of course the odd celebrity.



All in all we spent two hours pouring over Vogue's history and were certainly not disappointed.



The last stop was the gift shop which, as you can imagine, had an array of items on offer, from vogue lip balms in vintage style compacts to original 1940's copies of the magazine itself. It was the only part of the whole exhibition that I felt could have done with some thought (possibly my inner 13 year old without any pocket money was coming through)



Most of the products were somewhat expensive and whilst I accept that this is all part of the money spin of an exhibition it would have been nice to see more individual postcards on sale rather than having to buy a box set at just shy of £15.00. Having said that the book that accompanies the exhibition was on offer at a special price and very reasonable at £35.00.



It was whilst musing the prices of the gift shop that my friend and I concluded that we are very lucky in England, and in London in particular, that we are able to take advantage of museums for free, it's a privilege that I certainly don't undertake enough but have vowed to do more and if those exhibiitons that need to be paid for support and promote heritage and culture then it's money well spent in my book.



All in all this exhibition was very much worth seeing, sadly but understandably, there were no photographs allowed so if you have time before the 22 May 2016 it's one that I would highly recommend.



With Love

RB

Lady Sings The Blues

I wish I had known what I was getting into when I decided to tackle the hoard.

This week I have been procrastinating over moving house, I have looked at the piles of things I have sorted out for Ebay, I have sat with the bundles of bank statements that are years old and of no use to me, the payslips going back approximately the 156 months of my working life. It’s so much worse than I thought.

Aside from sorting out the clothes I mentioned in my earlier post I’ve found stuff that belonged to my exes, things that I was making for people that never got finished, photos I have kept even though I don’t recognise the people in them.  It’s like I have an allergy to throwing things away. I know I’m not the only person in the vintage world afflicted with this so I thought I’d do a post about it.

I am moving into what is effectively a box room and am finding it so hard to know exactly where to start with this huge pile of crap, and it’s making me more than a little depressed. I was so excited to move but to all positive things there is a negative I guess.

If you have ever seen the TV show hoarders, where some poor sod who started a china doll collection in 1995 has found themselves facing eviction because adult protective services are threatening to take them away then you’ll get the idea. It’s only a matter of time until they come for me.

My living space at the moment is just split into piles, piles of clothes, piles of books, piles of craft making stuff from every business I was ever going to start up and never did. As much as they are depressing me to look at and as delicate as I am currently feeling I am unwilling to do anything about them, they are mine after all and they are both figuratively and literally building me a fortress in which I can bunker down and wait for this feeling to pass.

My sister who has effectively been acting as an outsourced carer service has been in despair, why haven’t I put anything on Ebay, why am I not further along the organisational road, why am I just plain useless at sorting myself out (my words not hers).

Now don’t get me wrong, I am great at doing this for other people, I can give a “pick yourself and dust yourself off” speech with the best of them, but when it comes to myself I fall flat.  I am very grateful to my sister for her help in geeing me up but I just want to ignore all of it.

I have always been the same, ever since school and the notion of homework was introduced, I procrastinate until racing to a deadline becomes necessary and, of course, stressful.  After the stress has passed I give myself a hearty pat on the back for doing such a good job under these circumstances. Circumstances that are of my own making.

Moving should only going to be a good thing for me, I will be living much closer to work and will no longer have to commute, which currently has a massive impact on my life, I will have my independence once again and will be able to do so many of the things I have wanted to do in London (Swing dance lessons, joining the WI etc.) so I don’t know what’s got me feeling so sad.

It’s time to channel my inner landgirl and just dig deep I suppose.  I have never lived far from my hometown in my life, even the properties I rented in my twenties were no more than half an hour from the house I was raised in and town that stretches around it in a deeply unglamorous part of Essex.

I’m going to miss it, I’ll miss my family, I’ll even miss our horrible little dog who, in his old age, demands to be let out for a piss every half hour. Maybe that’s what’s got me in such a funk this week, as I crawl closer to the finish line of moving day.

Also as deeply needy as this sounds I have only ever really lived with a man, and in single times I always went home. I will have housemates until June in this interim property before I try to find a suitable studio close to work. I hate the idea of living alone, everyone tells me I will love it but I seriously have my doubts.  It’s something you have to try once apparently so maybe now is my time.

So this 31 year old wimp is going to pull herself together and get on with it, after all what else can I do, live at home with my mother like some co dependant Miss Havisham? Well yes actually that sounds rather tempting…where did I put that wedding veil…..

Until next time
Love
RB
XX

Fudge it and Scarper...Vintage Carrot Fudge Recipe

In a bid to mix things up and not only write about hair makeup and clothes, I decided to get my pinny on and make an attempt at a recipe from days gone by.

These recipe blog posts will be somewhat experimental and I will give you honest opinions even if things aren't quite as delicious as the Ministry of Food would have liked us to think!

I give you....

Carrot Fudge 

This recipe is very easy to make and uses only three ingredients.

You will need:

2 large carrots
Orange Essence
Gelatine leaf (I used a vegan version for non pork eaters!)
Fine grater
Flat bottom dish
Saucepan
Heatproof stirrer





1. Wash and cut the tops off your carrots, then use the fine end of the grater and grate the carrots into a bowl. It is easiest to do this from the large end of the carrot where you have cut the top off and work to the smaller end.

2. Add the carrots to the saucepan and add in boiling water (just enough to cover the carrots) stir in a tablespoon to a tablespoon and a half of orange extract and allow to cook for 10 mins, stirring occasionally. Yep it should look a bit like sick at this point, but it should smell nice and orangey.

3. After 10 minutes add the prepared gelatine leaf and stir for 2-3 minutes continuously. You will need to read the instructions of the gelatine brand you are using to prepare it. I used a vegan gelatine powder which could be sprinkled in straight from the packet.

4. Remove from the heat and place the mixture in the flat bottom dish and leave in a cool place, once the mixture has cooled you can place it in the fridge or a larder overnight. It will not go hard like fudge so don't wait for that to happen!

5. Cut into cubes to serve 

The results 

To call this fudge is slightly misleading as it has a texture somewhere between jelly and turkish delight.

The taste was odd, nothing came through particularly strongly at first, of course it tasted of carrot and had a little citrus zing. It's not overly sweet which is unsurprising considering it contains no sugar. The aftertaste is stronger than the actual chewing of it, but it is in no way offensive.

I used my colleagues as the tasters for this recipe and the reviews were certainly mixed...

One described it as "A wobbly melt on the tongue...tantalising" whilst others said it was a funny texture, the name fudge was misleading and that is was just plain "Carroty"

Some said they could see why children would like it, and another described it as challenging...challenging to see why someone would try to make carrots into fudge in the first place perhaps!

Overall if you were a child of the era who had been without any kind of sweets in some time I have no doubt this would have seemed like a treat.

Ideas: It would make an excellent healthier alternative to halloween jelly, it would look great set into moulds and the orange colour would be on theme for the holiday.

It would also be interesting to spice it up a bit with some nutmeg or cinnamon to add to the flavour without being frivolous with sugar, after all the WI's jam needs come first!

With Love
RB
XX

Sources:
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history4.html
Recipe sourced from Colleen Moulding's "Frugal Recipes from Wartime Britain"

Crouch End Hidden Treasure

This week I was house sitting for my younger sister whilst she was sunning herself in Hawaii. I'm not bitter I promise...

The great thing about staying in London this week is that I got to visit some off the beaten track recommendations that I had never been to before and actually have a social life. My usual social life revolves around a three hour commute and saying hello to the girl who once asked if I was the "vintage girl" that works in North London, but engaging no further in conversation. It's a sad life.

One of my managers was lamenting over how mainstream cinema is taking over and how important it is to support smaller venues (all true) and said that Crouch End has a great venue that I might want to visit if I got the chance.

The Art House Cinema http://www.arthousecrouchend.co.uk 

So much more than just a cinema this venue regularly has live comedy, music and theatre as well as films showing in their small but perfectly formed screens. There is a beautifully quirky bar for you to relax in whilst you wait for the film to start or for the inevitable film debrief with friends. A Wednesday evening showing cost us £10.00 each so it's not wildly expensive or excessive.

You won't get offered any kind of £20.00 cold hotdog and soggy popcorn combo by a surly teenager who would rather be anywhere doing anything else but working for minimum wage*, but you can get a merlot and some wasabi peas should you wish (they do also sell popcorn - for the removal of doubt)

All in all it was a lovely experience and if given the choice I would choose it over the more mainstream cinemas every time. In fact I could have just sat in there for a while soaking up the place.

*Until I came to write this I hadn't noticed the badge of honour on their website declaring them a "living wage employer" however this just proves my point :-)

Janis: Little Girl Blue http://www.janismovie.com

If you have the opportunity to see this film I would highly recommend it. It read initially like an all to familiar story - the harrowing rise to fame documentary. You know how they go - girl realises she can sing, rises to fame, meets deeply unsuitable partner, partner gets girl into drugs, girl meets eventual demise and the world mourns the talent that should have been appreciated whilst she was alive.

However this beautifully made documentary gave a wonderful and varied insight into a soul that people are seemingly unable to agree on. The live performances are as raw as you would expect from Joplin however the documentary is wonderfully balanced with her correspondence to loved ones scattered throughout like quiet emotional milestones. Giving a sense of a person who wanted to be all things to all people but didn't seem to know how to just "be"

The conflicting opinions of who she was, her mental state and how she fell down the rabbit hole of addiction are painfully similar to any documentary about Amy Winehouse released in the last few years and raise questions over the links between the paparazzi culture many salivate over today and addictions in the arts.

You wouldn't need to be a Joplin fan to appreciate this documentary but those who are will certainly come away tapping their toes in recognition of a great talent but with a profound sense of sadness in this inevitable story.

Earl Haig Hall http://earlhaighall.com

After the film my friends took me to a pub for dinner, well I call it a pub because that how it's described on their website, however its a lot more than that -

Earl Haig Hall is a delightfully vintage-esque venue without feeling too heavily "themed" in any way. It used to be a British Legion social club and now operates as a pub/eatery/music venue amongst other things. Every night is different and they also hold some alternative activities (baby and toddler groups for example) in a nod to the community spirited history of the building.

The interior is gorgeously old school from the beautiful battered retro armchairs to the 1940's posters in the toilets. It's unpretentious in it's appearance and reminded me of the social club in my own town which has sadly closed. Nostalgic - that's the word I am looking for.

The vintage football table proved a hit with a local family

The menu is brilliantly unfussy and caters very well to vegetarians, my friends tucked into the beetroot and cheese burger whilst I had the fish and chips. The food was luscious, that's the only word I can find to describe it, perhaps a better way of getting across how good it was is to tell you that I took a friend there a mere three days later for lunch (I very nearly ate the same thing but resisted and had something different but equally good).

I'm very much looking forward to coming back to this venue (which also has a function room for hire) as they have so many events that appeal, including one of my favourite local bands - Dana Immanuel & The Stolen Band on 24 March (http://earlhaighall.com/event/house-of-mercy-presents-dana-immanuel-her-stolen-band/ http://danaimmanuel.com/about.html )

Crouch End Shopping 

With the aforementioned friend I travelled back to Crouch End on Saturday as I'd heard all about the fantastic vintage shop that I apparently just had to go to. A quick search on google proved this to be true so we decided to pay a visit.

Scarlet Rage Vintage  http://scarletragevintage.com

*Sadly this shop is no longer in Crouch End, however the business still exists and i am awaiting news of it's location. They can be contacted via their website where they have a selection of items available. Also check out their youtube channel for great videos!

I don't think any description of this shop would do it justice but I'll try...to say it is an Aladdin's cave makes it sound messy and overcrowded, to call it a vintage equivalent of a designer store makes it sound pretentious, it's neither of those things.

With white wooden flooring and, essentially, two long wall rails groaning with high end vintage attire the shop is light and roomy and not overwhelming in the slightest. Basically if you are anything like me you can turn around in this place without knocking anything over with your arse!

This is not a place where you need to rummage as they do not have the Camden mentality of "just add stock and stir" for a successful vintage venture.

The clothes are excellent vintage quality, you aren't digging for a stained 1940's treasure under a sea of 1980's puffballs, this is targeted stock which makes a refreshing change, especially if you are looking for true vintage for an event.

Each item is labelled with not only the price (am I the only one who hates non priced vintage?) but also the measurements and the period the item is from - so handy!

The stock was majoritively dresses and skirts but with some beautiful unique swimwear and playsuit ensembles as well (with matching skirts!) - which can be very hard to come by. The dresses that I looked at ranged from £70-£200 and nothing seemed overpriced, it really depends on what you are looking for. They have a good mixture of day wear and evening gowns from the 40's and 50's.

Oh and the accessories, I swooned over all of the bags, hats and gloves on display, again at decent prices and all the items in this shop are wearable. I'd love to meet the buyer for this place, just to shake their hand and possibly bow down to them.

The other great thing about this shop is that it didn't have one of those awful assistants (she was lovely and chatty actually) who glare at you like a shoplifter if you touch anything, you can pick up a dress to look at it in more detail, or handle an accessory since nothing is locked in cabinets like a museum, this is shopping - not looking.

My absolute favourite thing about this shop that I am now positively gushing over is...sizes. My god I saw things over a 40 inch bust! The lovely shop assistant told us that they do make an effort and try very hard to find variety in their sizes and it really does show in their stock, this is not a shop solely for sizes 6-8.

All in all Crouch End is definitely worth visiting if you are a vintage lover in London as it's easy to fill a day with the variety of activities the area has to offer. As for me I cannot wait to move to North London and this fun filled week has only spurred me on.

Much Love
RB
X

Confessions of a Hoarder

As I mentioned in my first blog post I am a little sentimental when it comes to my clothes (for sentimental read hoarder)

I am trying to source my vintage clothing in smarter and thriftier ways than I have in the past for the sake of my wardrobe, purse and sanity. This means I am having a big clear out very soon. This post is almost a kind of therapy, admittance of the problem is the first step...

Where I Went Wrong

"But I love it" 
Like I said before I didn't always wear my vintage and as a result it didn't matter at the time if it actually fitted me or even suited me, I would buy things because they were beautiful. This is fine if you are a lottery winner with millions in the bank and a 16 bedroom house to keep all this stuff in. But if you are a single girl in a three bed flat in Essex trying to cram a lifetime of hoarding into one room and maintain a relationship with your increasingly despairing mother, it is very far from fine.

I would also buy things in disrepair because...well because I felt sorry for them. Yep you read that right, I felt sorry for clothes... I'm just going to let that sink in.

"But it's so Cheap!"
As the saying goes you can have something done cheap or something done right, and the same applied to my vintage wardrobe, the only problem was that I went for cheap. I went through a phase of rummaging though the local charity shops and buying anything for less that £5 that could pass for vintage in a dimly lit room if you squinted at it, when what I really wanted was a beautiful true vintage circle skirt.

It's a bit like wanting a freshly squeezed organic apple juice but buying a tango instead because it's cheaper, it's just not going to ever compare to what you wanted and you won't ever be fooled that one is anything like the other.

It's a false economy that you will save money this way, I dread to think how many "but it's only £2" items I have bought and then re-donated or sold on at a loss because I simply wasn't wearing them. I didn't know enough at the time about true vintage quality clothing, the limit of my knowledge was that old meant vintage and vintage was what I liked.

"But I got drunk and went on Ebay"
Buying online is also a bit of a problem for me, the culture of online shopping means there is no cooling off period, you can click and buy, click and buy, and don't we just? Ebay (what a clever idea that was!) creates a competitive aspect to shopping which only previously existed in the queues outside Next on boxing day.  Online shopping also gives me a temporary frontal lobotomy on the finance front. Is paypal even real money? I'm still not sure.

"But I just can't wait" 
Another phrase which springs to mind is the one about wanting it all and wanting it now, it seems to be another generational thing that we have no patience in our lives. I tried to build my vintage wardrobe overnight but am learning more and more that Rome, or more specifically 1940's London, wasn't built in a day.

I now savour a decent vintage market as a day out and if I come away with nothing that is fine by me, it's almost like a learning experience rather than a shopping trip, I always come away with some titbit of information from a seller and a few business cards for future reference. Markets and events are great places to people watch, meet new faces and socialise, it's one of the main things I enjoy about them these days.

"I saw this and thought of you"
The final factor which lead to the successful procurement of the mess that is now my wardrobe is friends and family. With the best will in the world they will pick up items at bootsales and charity shops that they think I will like, I am about to sound very ungrateful but this has added to the issue considerably and I don't like them wasting their money. Clothing is so personal and I need to find a way of telling them that they should save their pennies because I don't have a single spare coat hanger, despite recently having bought 100 of them!

So what am I going to do?! 

Each item in my wardrobe will shortly be subject to one of three fates - Keep, Sell or Donate. Since this isn't Sex and the City I won't be doing this with three friends and a bottle of Verve. I'll probably be crying in a pair of jogging bottoms. However since it's hopeful that I will move to London in the coming months I won't have room for these things anymore, unless I move into a big yellow storage facility and bunk down there.

The things that are for sale will go up for one month max and if they don't sell they will be donated. I'm going to sell things at bargain prices, one thing I need to stop doing is beating myself up about money spent, I'm not going to make that back now but the clothes are not making anything sitting in my wardrobe.

Operation clean out starts this weekend and is likely to be a long a painful process so I'll keep you posted.

Wish me luck vintagers!
Love
RB

How I Tripped Down Memory Lane

I've always had an interest in vintage clothing and the 1940's/1950's era. Having spent the 90's dressed like an underage raver my tastes in clothing, music and entertainment began to develop and refine in my late teens, there were many disasters along the way - a small part of me still misses my cut off jeans and save the whales T-shirt .



However I didn't actually wear any vintage clothes, I collected them and they sat in my wardrobe like textile orphans, never seeing the sunlight. The few pieces I owned fascinated me. Not just the garment structure and the differences in how they were produced compared to their modern counterparts, but where the clothes had been and who they had belonged to.

There is a certain romanticism to vintage clothes that you just cannot find in Topshop.

However at the time I was not working in an environment where my quirky tastes would be appropriate attire and so these beautiful garments remained the strange dirty secret of my wardrobe. I had concerns about being seen as "different" or "alternative" Put simply - I couldn't bear the thought of people staring.

2014 was a big year for me professionally and I took the leap of switching industries. I also decided it was time to declutter and put my hoarding tendencies behind me. I tried, I really did, but I couldn't part with these clothes to a charity shop so I searched Facebook in the hope of finding a vintage enthusiast to take them in, my fabric evacuees.

I stumbled upon a group on Facebook called "1940's/1950's Most Marvellous Meet Ups" and was informed by the members that they didn't have a selling page yet but one was being set up. In the meantime I was directed to a page of events. Vintage enthusiasts up and down the country had taken matters into their own hands and were arranging events to meet the like minded.

It was a revelation at the time as all I knew about vintage events were the big ticket festivals, this was something on another level, this was socialising for socialising's sake, could I cope with this? After all I am a Londoner!

There was a meet up close to my town that very weekend and I was invited to join so I bit the bullet and took myself down to Southend -on-Sea for a day of tea, cake and dress wearing and I haven't looked back since. The group has become such an important part of my social circle that I am not sure what I did before it!

The highlight of 2015 was the Most Marvellous Christmas Ball which took place in Manchester where I was no longer a stranger and where my favourite vintage dress finally got an outing, after some serious negotiation with a corset!

So I decided to start writing a blog to document my experiences with the group but also with the vintage lifestyle in general, can it be achieved in the modern age and does it hold us back?

It's not that I don't want to live in this world anymore...it's just that I want it to have a little more bunting.

Love
RB
XXX