Granny knows best when it comes to style that lasts
They just don't make things like they used to do...
How many times have you heard your granny say that?
Thing is, she was right. Particularly when it comes to clothes.
Unless you can afford the very best in designer fashion, you will know only too well how quickly hems fall down, buttons spring off and seams unravel themselves.
One leg of my new Zara trousers suddenly became two inches longer on a night out last week – and it was only their third outing.
Shoddy workmanship, cheap fabrics that crease and wrinkle at the first wear and poor fit all have to be put up with if we want affordable clothes.
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Of course, the other thing that makes clothes cheap is mass production. That fabulous new high-waisted skirt you've just bought for spring? Did you stop to think how many millions of women might also be wearing the very same thing at exactly the same time as you?
Is there any wonder, then, that more and more women are realising that granny did know best after all - and are taking a leaf out of her fashion bible?
Our new-found passion for vintage fashion is growing ever-stronger.
New vintage boutiques are popping up all over the city.
And this weekend, Sheffield's first Vintage Fashion Fair will open its doors.
The venue is the City Hall ballroom and should draw shoppers in droves, say organisers Sally Woodhead and Sam Makin, former London fashionistas who recently swapped city girl life for marriage and motherhood in Yorkshire.
The pair, who both had babies five months ago, have been organising similar events in Leeds for the last three years.
At first, they say, it was selfishness that made them decide to stage a fair.
Both were addicted to searching out vintage bargains, but they missed the multitude of shops and stalls in london, where Sam had worked as a textile designer and Sally had been a knitwear designer.
Sheffield's Vintage Fashion Fair is being staged at the City Hall this Sunday, February 10, from 10am to 4.30pm. Admission is 3.
For more information contact info@leedsvintagefashionfairs.com
Sally now lives on a farm on the Pennine Way and has two children while Sam juggles new motherhood with running her own boutique, Tank, in a village near Ilkley.
"We thought: if we get loads of fabulous vintage dealers all under one roof, we could shop until we dropped," admits Sam. "But then all these women turned up and not only did we not have time to buy, we realised there was a big demand for events like ours. In the north, vintage stores and stalls are scattered all over the place. It can take ages to find what you're looking for. The vintage fairs make it so much easier."
The Leeds event is now a regular on the West Yorkshire fashion calendar, with stallholders travelling from all over the UK for the thrice-yearly fairs.
And figuring it was time South Yorkshire vintage fans got a piece of the action, Sam and Sally have been working for months to attract over 40 top vintage dealers to the Sheffield event.
The fashion dateline runs from the 1900s to the 1980s.
More on next page.
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Latest sport. Shoppers can expect to find fine costume pieces from Victorian and Edwardian times, elegant pieces from the Twenties and Thirties, loads of cocktail dresses from the fabulous Fifties and some really striking things from the Sixties and Seventies," says Sally.
"It's not just about clothes. Jewellery, handbag and accessories specialists will be out in force, too."
She and Sam often wear vintage. Sometimes they will put together an entire look, with just the right shoes and bag. Other times, they will slip on something old with something new, to great effect.
"Often the success of doing vintage is about how you work the look," says Sally, as she teams a 1960s pastel mohair jacket by Vincent & Co with new skinny jeans, high-heeled boots and a few accessories – a pastel-hued Forties brolly and a battered little leather suitcase, of all things.
The girls believe vintage is booming because so many women want a more individual look – something that doesn't scream high street chain store.
And an authentic designer piece, made in the days when couturiers and fashion houses didn't believe in plastering their name over T-shirts and jeans, is something to covet.
1 Get there early - then you can scour the stalls at a more leisurely pace and bag all the best bargains.
2 Be prepared to barter - many prices are negotiable.
3 Try on whenever possible as old sizes aren't true to today's shapes and sizes.
4 Take plenty of cash - it's better to barter with than cheques and cards.
5 Look out for one-offs and the most famous designer labels. It's possible to buy an original Chanel piece from the 1950s or a fabulous '70s piece from Biba at a fraction of the original price at vintage fairs.
6 Before you go, check out what's in trend. Then search for and buy pieces that reflect it. Chances are, today's trends are copies of styles from decades ago. For example, pinched in waists and a feminine, figure-enhancing silhouette are currently on the catwalk - just as they were in the 1950s.
7 Buy loads of accessories at vintage fairs. They are so cheap, but are often far better made than their modern equivalents. Old pieces are also a very easy and inexpensive way of updating a modern outfit.
8 Think about friends when you're rummaging; vintage pieces make great gifts.
9 If you're a fashion student, vintage is great for inspiration.
Look at how things are made and the fabrics used. Often pieces can be reworked if you are handy with a sewing machine.
10 If there's a special occasion like a wedding or a ball looming, vintage can provide you with a totally unique outfit. And because women dressed to the nines in decades past, there is plenty of occasion-wear to choose from.
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Weather for Sheffield
Friday 10 February 2012
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