It Did It My Way - How I Wore A Vintage 1930s Dress

We didn't go car booting in the end, it was peeing down when I got up so we opted for a trip to a nearby town for a rummage around the chazzas instead. It's your typical Black Country town, the high street shops that aren't boarded up are either fried chicken joints, nail bars or discount shops. The charity shops aren't up to much but occasionally we get lucky and yesterday was one of those days. In the Everything £1.99 shop, whilst scanning a rail of over-washed Primark and stained George at Asda, I had a glimpse of that unmistakable fabric, vintage wool crepe. 

I pulled out the hanger and there it was, a 1930s evening dress. At over eighty years old it wasn't in the greatest condition, there were a couple of tears in the skirt and the sequin trim was hanging off in places, which obviously meant that it was far too tatty to sell and I'd have to keep it. Hard life, innit? If you were around in the 1980s you probably think that you hate shoulder pads. Try a 1930s dress on with them in and I bet you'll be a convert.

Back in my teens, clothes from the 1930s & 1940s weren't rare, I'd buy them by the armful from jumble sales and think nothing of wearing Barathea suits, governess shoes and Utility swing coats to school, even hacking away at frumpy 1940s tea dresses to make them into cooler looking minis.  But that was over 35 years ago and the elderly church-going ladies who used to donate them have long gone. These days it's an event to find something from the 1980s at a jumble sale. 

Frida earrings bought from our fab neighbours at The End of The Road Festival. You can buy off their website HERE

Loads of people who attend vintage fairs dress in a historically accurate way, draped in fox furs with their make-up and hair done in the fashion of the era they favour. It's somewhat disconcerting to see so many people dressed almost identically, like I've been teleported back to the Blitz. Me, I wear vintage because I want to be unique. Even in my teens the thought of bumping into someone wearing the same dress as me filled me with abject horror, as it still does now. My wardrobe is 99.9% vintage not because I want to reenact the past but because I strive to be different.  That's why I don't get the repro thing, I don't want to recreate the style of certain era. I want to wear proper vintage clothing in my own way even if it has some vintage purists up in arms. I could wear this dress with my hair set in Marcel waves with marcasite earrings, red lipstick and elbow length gloves but to me that would be like being a vintage fashion victim, following a set of archaic rules. Instead I'm sporting a messy top knot, neon pink lipstick, leopard print ankle boots and silver earrings featuring Frida Kahlo, a black cat and a spider monkey. 

WEARING: 1930s wool crepe dress (£1.99, charity shop), Jones the Bootmaker leopard print boots (Free! Swapped with a customer for a vintage top)

Talking of clothes I'd better get my arse into gear and get my outfits sorted for our back-to-back weekend of vintage trading in Bath & Bristol. The alarms already set for 4.30am and the last thing I want to be doing is having a pre-dawn wardrobe meltdown.

Have a fab weekend and see you soon!