Buy, Buy Baby - A Week in Secondhand Finds

Thank you so much for the lovely comments on my travel posts and, after our glorious escape it's back to normality, festival planning, eBay selling, cat wrangling, reading and watching stuff, wearing clothes and, of course, my favourite thing....shopping or, should I say, recycling? Buying stuff people have grown tired of and after a bit of TLC, finding it a new home.

We've had a pretty successful week hunting down groovy gear for the stockroom and managed to find a few things for us along the way. Regular visitors will, I'm sure, be familiar with everything I'm wearing but check out the 19th Century cabinet I'm sitting on....

The Victorians were masters of repurposing. The most significant during the period was by the papier-mâché makers where household objects were made from used paper, moulded into shape, dried and then "japanned" - the application of a heavy lacquer, which was most commonly black. 

The trade began in Birmingham with Henry Clay's patented process in 1772. Makers processed wastepaper promptly and efficently and their promise of total destruction made them a favoured destination for more sensitive documents like the obsolete account books used by banks. The most famous of all the papier-mache factories was that of Jennen & Bettridge who bought Clay's business in 1816 and employed over 160 staff at their premises in Consititution Hill in Birmingham, they opened a branch in London's Belgravia in 1837 and later established offices in Paris & New York. On 4th December, 1843 the Birmingham premises were visited by Prince Albert, where we was said to be fascinated with the process and delighted with the gift of a inlaid chess table and ink stand.

 

Unlike other factories which foccussed on the architectural details, Jennens & Bettridge's creations featured inlaid gems and mother-of-pearl. The partnership thrived for half a century until 1859, when the partners went bust and the company disolved. Bettridge continued trading but a year later a fire started in the ground-floor drying room, where there were eight stoves and spread rapidly upwards, engulfing stock waiting to be varnished and polished but he refused to give up and increasingly luxurious Papier-mâché products continued to be produced by the factory including work for the Nizam of Hyderabad, twenty-six palasters for a steamship and a working pianoforte made for the Paris International Exhibition in 1867.

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I've no idea if our cabinet is by Jennens & Bettridge but there's a good chance as the factory was only five miles away from the charity shop we bought it from and at £5 I think it was a bit of a bargain. 

Be still my beating heart! Leather-lined gold slippers with a fake fur trim from Clarks! Who knew such things exisited or why any crazy fool would donate them - unworn - to charity? I love them so much I'm tempted to wear them out! 

I hadn't intended to keep this Adidas tracksuit top (originally a 1970s design but reissued in 2003) but when I tried it on Jon insisted that I did. With the central heating dial turned down to the bare minimum, it's barely been off my back all week!

Inspired by Sarah Jane Adams who mixes Adidas with vintage, I'm wearing my new-to-me £2 jacket with a 1960s Polly Peck maxi dress found in the British Heart Foundation back in 2019.

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It was love at first sight when I spotted this vintage Kangol beret in the £1 basket, it's the perfect match with my minty Dilli Grey block printed dress. The colours hint at spring even if the temperatures aren't playing nicely!

I've only ever purchased one item from Zara, this gingham skirt which I bought from their end of season sale five years ago, back in 2017 (so definitely not fast fashion) and it's accompanied me to Greece on numerous occasions, here it is in Kos Town in September 2018. The jeans I'm wearing today are also Zara, snaffled from the clearance charity shop on a Sunday morning a few weeks ago still bearing their orginal tags from their flagship store in Mumbai.

I've now added a third item to my collection, this Indian-made cotton cutwork dress for the princely sum of £4.50. It looks nothing on the hanger but it's rather lovely on with a bit of a flamenco vibe. I'm seeing myself skipping along the pavement with my red clogs and a straw basket on my next trip to the Med but it'll probably be worn round the charity shops or to 'Spoons before we manage to get away again.

This is the second English-made leather & tapestry clutch I've found in the clearance charity shop recently - the last one was adorned with a peacock feather design. 

I'm hoping they're deadstock from one of Walsall's leather factories, of which our town is world-renowned and that they'll be more to come over the coming months. A snip at 50p.

This wonderful coffee book on Bollywood was £1. Maybe this time next year I'll be blogging about my Indian adventures, I can but hope!

At 50p we couldn't leave this behind....Once Upon a Star by the Bay City Rollers from 1975 featuring Bye Bye Baby along with many other dubious classics!

And finally, if you want to help our friends in Ukraine - and who doesn't? - and treat yourself to something beautiful at the same time, Dilli Grey is having a sale and are generously donating 50% of the profits to the Red Cross Ukraine Appeal. I'm not sponsored, I'm sharing because I adore this kind-hearted indie business. Check them out HERE.

See you soon!