Vintage fair

Yesterday I had a mummy day, long overdue and popped over the water to have a bit of retail therapy and also attend Southampton vintage fair. I went with my younger sister and son and as we got to the guildhall, a long line of people greeted us which is always a good sign that it is worth going. As we made our way through the entrance into the hall, rails and tables of vintage lovelies awaited to be touched and adorned on the next owner. I already had a list of things I wanted to look out for but my eyes kept drawing me in all directions with the colours and textures, scooting up each aisle to look for fabric and tea sets proved fruitless unfortunately so I was free to browse the rails of clothes. As we laughed at a very 80’s shell suit it occurred to me that some of the denim pieces could be 90’s- my era at a vintage fair- eep! There were some beautiful tea dresses that I was very tempted to buy but were too big or long and I was just too nervous for the thought of my pins and dressmaking scissors to start making alterations and then have a disaster.

Walking round, a charming little stall caught my eye, the apple bobber, selling children’s vintage with some  pretty little lace christening gowns and THE most gorgeous little girls dress and jacket suit as well as magazines, books and patterns. Seeing how well made these clothes were inspired me to think about starting to make clothes for my children.

A stall with a rack of beautiful vintage hats stopped us in our tracks for a closer inspection at Juliette’sthread and we admired the reworked bags.

Another stall that pulled us in with their beautifully laid out goodies including a crocodile bag were Tomorrow looks vintage- by Jones. Fur coats in perfect condition just willing you to stroke them and some darling clutch bags.

A stall that I will be contacting in the future is vintage in print, Mr p wants a vintage car print, probably to offset the trinkets and treasures I have dotted around! They had some wonderful old vogue prints and harpers bazaar but I could see that he wouldn’t be impressed with yet more fashion related girlieness.

My sister bought a lovely Alice in wonderland inspired necklace from the lovely mother and daughter team, forage and find and we spent an age looking through the old postcards trying to make out handwriting and finding it endearing a thank you card for some socks. A child’s cabinet displayed made me think of parents and grandparents rummaging in their lofts to bring down old toys and looking through photos, especially now they have gone up a generation and noticing the painted murals in common.

The last stall we popped to is where I got my silk scarf which evidently my daughter, almost 3 just LOVES and carries it in her bag. The neck scarfs in particular where neatly folded across the table and you didn’t have to rummage through bins to look at each one. The ladies at kipper and bow were lovely to chat to and had some lovely shabby chic bunting made from paper that I just wanted to buy it all.

I am just wishing that I booked in an appointment for the vintage hair lounge as the girls being worked on looked fab.

Love N x