Labelled With Love

 

Despite only being halfway through pricing the festival stock, on Wednesday we decided we needed to treat ourselves to a couple of hours of charity shopping in our second favourite Black Country town so, after breakfast, we took a four-mile trip up the road. It's not an affluent town by any means and most of the stock is terrible, over-washed, low-end high street tat, but there's always a few hidden gems if you look carefully.

We found a 1960s Harry Fenton of Shaftesbury Avenue cashmere & wool overcoat, a 1980s Renate of Italy pewter leather shoulder bag, a paisley printed tunic from H&M's 2019 collaboration with celebrated 1960s scarf designer Richard Allen, a vintage Spanish hand-blown glass vase, a 1970s jumbo cord gilet with fake fur lining, a gorgeous print of Edith A Andrews' The Blue Butterfly (the label says it was framed by Boots' picture framing department, which closed down in 1963), a 1980s Medici, Italy fine knit batwing jumper and an Aquascutum leather belt

A 1980s purple jumpsuit by Michael Phillips, a pair of British-made merino wool Burberry socks which, I was stunned to discover, retail at £90! (who, in their right mind, spends almost a hundred quid on socks?), a 1980s elasticated belt with copper and beaded buckle, another vintage hand-blown glass vase, some 1980s St Michael printed cotton culottes and a selection of paperbacks.

I wore the 1970s Ayesha Davar embroidered cheesecloth dress I bought the other day, topped with a vintage Indian woolwork waistcoat Cheryl gave me (it's reversible if you didn't recognise it from the photo in my last post). Yes, the weather was so Autumnal that I needed long sleeves and a wool waistcoat!

Jon wore the teeshirt I spotted when I met up with Annie on Monday with a charity-shopped camo jacket by hip Mumbai streetwear label, Breakbounce. The cheese plant leaf print shorts and desert boots are also chazza finds.

After lunch (noodles!), I washed the new finds and pegged them out on the line before settling down in the festival tent for a couple of hours of pricing. Jon whizzed up to Pets at Home to stock up on cat food and litter for when we're away, gave me a hand in the shop and then made tea, halloumi with roasted vegetables (which included homegrown patty pans, courgettes and beetroot). The evening was spent watching three episodes of series 4 of The Man in The High Castle and drinking rum.

On Thursday morning I did a load of washing and pegged it on the line before doing my Wii Fit workout. Whilst tea was brewing I emptied the bins and realised I'd thrown the recycling into the garden waste bin so leant over to get it out ending up head first in the bin, it took me ages to get out as I was laughing so much. After breakfast, Jon touched up my roots as I'd made a complete hash of the job last time. We walked around the corner to the chemist to pick up some lateral flow tests to take with us to the End of the Road festival. Everyone attending has to prove their vaccination status (or a negative Covid test) upon arrival and is then required to take a test 72 hours later. 

Although it wasn't all that warm (19°C), I threw caution to the wind and dressed like I was on holiday in The Med. I'd spotted this 1970s Monsoon Indian crinkle cotton sundress on eBay the other day. They usually command crazy prices but, luckily for me, the seller hadn't listed it as vintage and it got lost amongst the hundreds of listings for contemporary Monsoon dresses and I won it for a song.

My hair had started to develop a bit of a red tinge so I've swapped to an ash-toned dark brown as opposed to my usual dark chocolate shade. Since January 2019 I've only dyed my roots, the rest of my hair hasn't been touched, I love my sun-lightened ends.

 Jon and I spent the rest of the morning pricing stock and after a break for some noodles, continued until Liz popped round for a coffee and a sneak peek (leaving with a couple of cheeky, pre-festival purchases).

Tea was veggie sausages with sweet potato wedges, poached eggs and peas accompanied with a glass of wine. Afterwards, I needed to sort something out online. I was number 283 in the queue and had to wait for an hour and a half for my turn to come which pretty much put paid to any evening TV!

On Friday morning after my final Wii Fit workout of the week, I did a bit more pricing in the festival tent before breakfast. On the way to the composting bin, I harvested some of the rhubarb and made a crumble for later.

With a distinctly chilly nip to the air, I thought I'd try out the Autumnal toned Richard Allen for H&M tunic (although it's a dress on a short arse like me) which I bought on Wednesday morning's charity shopping expedition. Long time blog readers will remember that I used to wear mini dresses a lot, particularly when I was a festival goer (as opposed to a trader). They're a lot more practical when it's pissing it down. 

After collaborating and producing scarves for brands such as Schiaparelli and Yves Saint Laurent, Richard Allan launched his own namesake brand in 1962 and quickly became renowned for his bold approach to colours and prints. In his first year of trading, Richard Allan sold over 50,000 scarves. His company moved to 87 Duke Street in Mayfair, where it flourished for the next twenty years.  Throughout the years, scarves were screen-printed and hand-finished in the UK, a tradition upheld by his daughter Cate, who now runs the company.

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Scarves were sold initially to London’s most iconic stores, Fenwick, Fortnum & Mason, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Liberty and Selfridges.  Over time a global reputation was established and scarves were sold to Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and in all the major stores throughout the USA. 

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Richard Allen also developed a bespoke market for corporate commissions with clients that included Alfred Dunhill and Harper’s Bazaar and also collaborated with Schiaparelli and Yves St Laurent, who licensed several designs.  Richard Allan scarves were frequently seen in film and television productions such as those famously worn by the late Dame Diana Rigg in The Avengers.

Richard Allen for H&M tunic worn with Toast leather boots (eBay), vintage woolwork waistcoat (from Cheryl) and an orange felt fedora (retail buy 2018)

I've never set foot in a branch of H&M and only ever owned one item of clothing by them, the William Morris Pimpernel print blouse bought from the clearance chazza last year (but I ended up selling it as I couldn't bear the fabric). I've sold many Richard Allen scarves over the years and although I'm pleased with my £2 find I can't help wondering how the late Richard Allan would have felt about his designs being mass produced in China using synthetic fabrics and semi-synthetics, like my 100% viscose tunic. (Excuse Stephen's bald patch - his cone came off this morning and he's healing nicely.)

When Jon returned from the supermarket run we got stuck into the pricing. We were taking a lunch break when Richard arrived with the post. A couple of weeks ago Jon had decided that we should upgrade the rusting enamel pot we use to drain our utensils and, after an internet search, found the perfect thing, a ceramic cutlery drainer in a beautiful shade of blue, handmade by Trevor Pictor for the White Horse Pottery in Wiltshire. Lord Jon couldn't resist ordering a small colander to match - it's far better looking than the dented stainless steel monstrosity I bought from a jumble sale in the 1980s.

 Aren't they gorgeous? HERE'S the link if you fancy a kitchen upgrade, too!

After admiring our purchases we went back into the festival shop and finished the pricing.

That's it - all 750 items are priced, ironed and double-checked for any issues (anything that isn't 100% perfect has a note on the label highlighting the fault). The fun bit will be trying to squeeze it all into the van on Monday!

Tonight we'll be watching more of The Man in the High Castle, we've got seven episodes to squeeze in before our free Amazon Prime trial comes to an end. Needless to say, rum will be consumed although Jon's had to buy branded cola as there was nothing else left on the supermarket shelves and there have been no fresh limes for over a fortnight.

Cheers and see you soon!