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Freshly disappointed from a cruel outbid on ebay, and having had my monthly vintage fires stoked at May’s Vintage Village (that sounds so wrong) I awake this morning full of vim, vigour and vimto, in other words, enthusiasm to find something dishy from the charity shops.
After one disappointing effort, where the staff obviously think that anything High Street and new is worthy of preference (not that I am entirely anti-High Street, I will happily recycle HS seconds from charity shops, sometimes the fact that they are three seasons old is exactly what is good about them), I had a joyous stumble across an Aladdin’s cave of a chazzer shop.
I have to say at this point, my new and over-enthusiastic use of the word chazzer is courtesy of the fantastic Lady Behave. For some reason her use of it has really tickled me and I am glad to adopt it into my expandingly semi-made-up vocabulary.
Anyway back to the stash. One of my regular haunts (that is the Cancer Research near me) has either started to have donations from some very cool old ladies, or the very cool old ladies in there are clearly recognising decent booty when they see it. Oodles of jewellery – classy vintage and tacky plastic alike – huddles of hats (remember my Cadbury’s Flake inspired purchase from a few weeks ago), and rails upon rails of random swagger met my eyes. Banshees did wail with glee it has to be said (they can do that you know).
So I attacked it with a finger shuffling of such ferocity as to give myself early arthritus. Approx 30mins later and £13.50 lighter, I emerged triumphant and keen as a bean to get home, get the constant cappuccino on the go and get the dressing up kit out.
Being the random sort that I am, my pictures and editorial do not usually bear any relevance to each other, other than each, in their way, being the vibe of the day. Today however, I thought rather than describe my goodies, I’d picture them, along with the random things I found to match (or rather, in most cases, exactly the opposite) them up with.
First up to grab my eye and get mauled by my muggy hands was the vintage M&S blouse for £3.00. It’s cheesecloth but it’s in pastel colours, damn it must be from the 80s. It is exactly like something one of my primary school teachers would have worn. As it is a touch 80s hippy I though I should contrast it with my purple elasticated belt (one of my first ever Vintage Village purchases), which is rather bold and glam and a floral ra-ra skirt (why the hell not). Those, along with a huge stack of tacky, plastic bangles – all focusing on the turquoisy blue of the shirt – bring new life to the shirt.
Then there was the rather pretty orangey/coral floral skirt for £5.00. Not one to save things for best, I thought this would look great with another earlier chazzer find (the blue, full sequinned top). I have worn this blue top for posh (with a tight black skirt, stilettos and my Lady Behave fascinator), but like the look of it here being all summery and laid back. Teamed with my lovely Kevin’s hat and wooden wedges, it’s a bit more city-centre festival.
Next up was a total no-brainer. I deliciously vintagy unlabelled cotton dress for £3.50. What with it being pretty an’ all, I decided to lay my eyeliner on thick, go for heavy contrasting banglage and put the hair in a scruffy up ‘do’. I don’t want to look too neat – I never pull it off no matter how hard I try – and also I don’t ever feel right being too clean cut feminine.
Finally was a rather lovely and sheer cami for £2. This sent me all androgynous so I got my stack of pants out to try with. I thought these sparkly peg-leg pants looked cool with it. To be honest, it’s such a usable top it would totally go with anything. Anyway I liked to play it against the black of the belt, banglage and shoes; chiffon headdress to match and look classy, huge gold earrings to do exactly the opposite. Hurrah.
These are by no means demonstrative of how I may well end up wearing any of these items. Like one of those doll games I had when I was little, where you can change the heads, bodies and legs around, each could just as easily be paired with the other. Such are the joys of complete tastelessness.
Today I listened to: His Young Heart EP by Daughter (I told you, once i’m onto something I do not let it go)
Me in various outfits made up from fantastic chazzer shop finds.
© Anne Louise Kershaw
