Monday 25 March 2013

Last-Year Buys: Brighton vintage finds

The Biba and Beyond exhibition in Brighton was marvellous and I recommend a visit before it closes (On the other hand, we lost the football, along with all feeling in my feet apparently - it was so cold!). I'd like to try and say something more substantial about the Biba soon but, for now, I thought the exhibition was excellent for capturing the fun and energy of the store, and the desire to dress-up and be able to look so darned cool. So, of course, I left wanting to play dress up and look cool.


The museum was hosting a day of Biba-themed events so we queued to have our make-up done, only to discover perhaps purple eyes and lips didn't look quite so cool with warm fleecy jackets and the amount of layers we'd put on to survive the day's snow. I attempted to style it out in my turban... Barbara Hulanicki was also visiting as part of the day's event and reinforced her reputation for being a fantastic lady - she wandered up to the queue of people waiting to be made-over, just for a chat.



In need of some fashion to go with the purple eyeshadow, we hit up Brighton's great vintage shops. Alas, we weren't lucky enough to find any original Biba (in our dreams) but Starfish Vintage seemed to be jam-packed with beauties which I eventually managed to narrow down to the silk blouse and gorgeous dusty pink jacket pictured. Dusty pink is a current obsession of mine (just look at my sidebar at the  moment), and a jacket which fitted me properly, with wooden buttons was too good to pass over. The necklace is from one of Brighton's most famous vintage spots, Snooper's Paradise.


At one point I was wandering round Snoopers Paradise, my arms full of fabrics, bottles, hand mirrors. I managed to escape clutching only the necklace and this very pretty tin tray.


Finally, Oxfam books gave me a bit of reading in the form of Peter York's Modern Times. Have you read Style Wars? It's a collection of articles York wrote in the late 1970s, fascinating, and slightly terrifying, observations of society in that period. This was written later and, with Thatcher, a briefcase and an argyll sock on the cover, promises to be even more terrifying...

4 comments:

  1. I am sending you so much love

    ReplyDelete
  2. Some really perfect things here, you've made me want to go antique shopping!

    Love Tweet xx

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    Replies
    1. Aw, thank you! Brighton is fantastic for a vintage and antiques rummage.

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