Vintage hand-me-downs

Since I began collecting/wearing vintage in my early/mid-teens I have had a lot of enthusiasm and support from those around me. My Mum often comes home from a day out with a wonderful dress she spotted at a country op-shop or a vintage store she just happened to duck into and my friends even have a few pieces in their wardrobes now from shopping trips with me. Something I have noticed a lot more since more people notice my style is the wonderful things that come out of the woodwork.

Clothes, jewelry, bags, shoes, hats it doesn’t matter… Some people have vintage pieces in the back of their wardrobe, hidden in their spare room or even in a box in their garage just collecting dust. Often it is something they have forgotten, and seeing vintage style simply jolts it back into their memory. It suddenly occurs to them that something that they no longer use, had forgotten about or wouldn’t have considered is sitting in garage when it could be bring joy to someone who cherishes that kind of thing.

People who know me often mention things they have at home that were passed onto them that I would probably like or even things they have picked up at op-shops for a fancy dress once. I have received many a glomesh purse from Family and Friends. It occurred to me that while I’m always over-joyed when I am given a new vintage goodie, the people who are giving are also happy that something perhaps their Nan or Mother once used it being used again and often comment on how “that’s what they would’ve wanted”.

I think vintage hand-me-downs is a win win situation, where something seemingly worthless to one can be a treasure to someone else. It does make me wonder though, how many people have wonderful vintage goodies stashed in their wardrobes, spare rooms, garages, attics etc that are just waiting for a new lease on life?

Have you ever been gifted any vintage goodies? Do people often tell you about things they have collecting dust at home and get shocked by your enthusiastic reaction?

Well, I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of some vintage goodies just the other night…I was at a family friend’s house for dinner and she gestured to a pile of stuff she had been going through on the table. Her Mother had recently passed and she was sorting through her belongings… Everything had sticky notes on it saying who it had belonged to as some of it had belonged to her Mothers Mother.

She directed me to a pile that was kindly sticky noted “Nanny’s this” and “Nanny’s that” etc and said to have a look and I could keep anything I liked as she and her family had already sorted through everything and taken all the things they wanted. As she put it “I can’t keep everything and I would rather it go to someone who will use it or wear it and Mum would’ve preferred it that way”.

There was some lovely gold jewelry that her grandmother had painted and some other bits and pieces in zip lock bags. They were pretty but as I wear silver, white gold of costume jewelry I turned my attention to the rest of the pile…

I then came across a old Remington shaver box filled with costume jewelry that had belonged to her Nanny. It had several brooches, some screw on earrings (which is handy since my ear piercings closed years ago) and the odd necklace. All of it beautiful and well looked after…here are few pics of some of them:

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Again, please excuse photo quality... these were taken on my mobile as my non-quality-photo-taking-anyway camera was flat...

There is also very cute marcasite brooch and screw on earrings, but the photos did not come up very well at all...

A week or so earlier this lovely Family Friend had come to my house for dinner and had kindly given me two other lovely vintage pieces. A cute little glomesh coin purse and a glomesh compact that has never been used. Oh and a cat statue! :)

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I should be off to burlesque tonight and have a new installment of “Diary of Burlesque Beginner” for you sometime later this week, however I have been up since 5:30am this morning (thanks to the trains being stopped I have to be up that early to be at work by 9am!) so if I make it till the end of the day I will be even more uncoordinated lol. Perhaps I should invest in a bejeweled crash helmet to wear? hehe

Vintage Fair & Kustom Kulture

Ground floor goodness

This stall had some lovely winter coats and hats

Me and my new blouse

Well, I have finally had a chance to catch my breath after a whirlwind weekend. There was so much on that I was keen to go to but only so little time. I did manage to make it to two out of three things though, which isn’t a bad effort. As I mentioned last week the 2010 Way We Wear Vintage Fair and Kustom Kulture was on from Friday to Sunday and the Lindy Charm School for Girls was in Adelaide on the Saturday.

Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the Lindy Charm School day, but I did however ware out my wallet at the vintage fair and make a brief appearance at Kustom Kulture.

I went to the vintage fair on Friday night, the first night it was open. I wasn’t sure what to expect as this was the first year I have actually been able to make it. It was great, everyone there was lovely and I managed to find quite a few goodies. I usually go to these and simply rummage through things looking for anything I like, however its getting to the stage where my wardrobe is at maximum capacity so I decided I needed a game plan.

As I mainly look for 50s type fashion I am a big fan of full or A line skirt and petticoats and I have built up quite a collection. As lovely as they are, they tend to be light weight material and easily blow up when there is a slight wind. This usually isn’t a problem on weekend as I can simply hold it down, but I find that when I am walking to work in the city it gets extremely windy and I usually have my hands full… this does become a problem. After many frustrating days struggling to carry things and hide my knickers from passers by I decided I should stick to pencil skirts and wiggle dresses for work.

As such, my game plan at the fair was to look for clothes that I could wear to work (tighter fitting, pencil skirts, wiggle dresses etc). I was also on the look out for a black belt (my favourite one broke a week ago :) and a bullet bra as I can not seem to find one anywhere.

Overall I didn’t stray too far from my plan really which I was quite impressed about. I didn’t find a black belt or a bullet bra though… so instead got a few different accessories I simply couldn’t leave behind.

Here’s what I got…

This dress is cute on its own... but the ensemble made it a must have

I love this powder blue colour

the coat was in fantastic condition, even the lace on the lining

this is made from quite thick velvet, should be good for winter



its actually much closer to this colour, but the flash made it look redder in the above pic

this dress was the exception from the game plan, but I couldnt leave it behind :)

i mean, really... look at these pearl buttons ♥

classic black and white

should go with anything...



especially these shoes

i didnt buy these shoes at the vintage fair, i had bought them earlier in the week.

They are called "Leilah" from Wittner.

this dress is very 80s (shoulder pads and all!), but i loved the colour and the peplum skirt

the back is very low too, and it has a choker neckline

again, with the pearl buttons... thought this would be nice for work though


this hat isnt vintage, but its vintage style. there is something dramatic about a grey hate that i just ♥


this bag reminds me of lollies or something, there is definatly a childhood flashback here...

and this one, although probably not very practical reminds me of summer :)

and lastly... you can never have to many cinch belts

I didnt buy this dress. To my despair it was too small in the bust and I couldnt bring myself to buy it and alter it. I left it for someone else to crush on.

The pictures really dont do it any justice, the colour is stunning.

I especially adored the capey parts at the back.

As for Kustom Kulture, I must say i was slightly disappointed. From the looks of the flyer and the information I found on the net it looked to be an amazing weekend full of music, burlesque, stalls etc. The website even said " a nostalgia weekend for the whole family" and "daytime events run on Saturday and Sunday". The flyer that I had didn’t have any times on it so I took a bit of a guess and headed there on Saturday arvo hoping to get some stall hopping in then listen to soak up some of the music.

Unfortunately I arrived just as the Hotrod and Kustom showdown was ending and none of the bands started for a few hours. Having a birthday party on the opposite side of town later that evening I decided to take a few snaps and leave.

I did find a flyer when I was there that had times for certain things and much more info then the flyer I originally had. I did plan to head back on the Sunday and give it another shot with my new found information but lets just say it was a good birthday on Saturday night and I didn’t make it.

I haven’t given up on it and will definitely make sure I make it there again next year but if anyone else arrived at the time I did, I dare say they would be disappointed too. I am sure the night sessions were amazing and I am shattered I couldn’t hang around but for a "weekend of nostalgia for the whole family" you would think there would be more going on in the afternoon/evening.

*sigh* I suppose there is always next year :)

Here are a few of the pics I managed to snap before we left... I'm not really a car girl but they are just so pretty...

And it continues to rain...

Yep, just when I thought Adelaide had hit the vintage high I came across this little gem...

The Adelaide Vintage Fashion Fair

Friday 19 March 6pm - 9pm Saturday 20 March 10am - 5pm Sunday 21 March 10am - 4pm

Up to 25 dealers from all over Australia with designer, antique, vintage and retro clothings, buttons and bows, linen and lace, jewelery and fashion accesories.

Burnside Ballroom, Portbush Road Burnside

Unlimited Admission $12 Adult $6 Child 10+

http://www.vanityfairmartkets.com/ 0408380524

I am going to have to find a way to fit this all in... will post all the delights I get my hands on if I make it.