Vintage Gear & Good Times

Hello! Thank you so much for the kind messages and great advice following my last post. I've been a very good girl and have Rested, Iced, Compressed and Elevated all week. My foot's still a hideous colour but the swelling is almost gone and I can put my weight on it so all is well! 

My pal Shaz asked on my last post if I was tempted with any of our recent vintage finds. I'd have to be an absolute saint not to and this 1970s Marion Donaldson maxi skirt is definitely a case in point.  If you're not aware of the label, Marion Donaldson was credited with bringing Swinging London to Glasgow in the 1960s. Created in 1966 with a capital of £50 by newly-weds Marion (then aged 22) & David, within three years the label had a turnover of £1,000,000. The couple used a lot of Liberty's fabric in their creations and became Liberty's largest UK customer. 

SOURCE

The groovy Art Nouveau-style label was inspired by an oval pewter mirror bought from an auction for 35p. The original label was purple on white, changing to brown on cream and then woven gold on purple in the 1970s.

I wore my Marion Donaldson maxi on Friday morning, the first time I'd ventured further than the bin since I injured my foot on Monday morning. I teamed it with a secondhand And Other Stories linen off-the-shoulder top, my Art Nouveau belt (one of my favourite-ever clearance chazza finds) and some mad sunglasses snaffled from a sale table from a hip boutique in Halkidiki.

 

Friday's adventure? A visit to a charity shop with free parking directly outside the doors - so not too strenuous. The chazza shop gods were on our side - Lee Bender for Bus Stop, a label which I'm sure will make any clothes-loving British woman of my age (and older) giddy with excitement. 

To those unfamiliar with Bus Stop, it was established by Lee Bender and her husband Cecil in London in 1968, the name chosen to reflect something the couple considered identifiably British. The Kensington store became a chain of twelve boutiques and was bought by French Connection in 1979. Sadly Lee Bender died earlier this year. I was astonished to discover that she had followed me on Twitter.

Lee Bender in the window of the Kensington boutique. Photo by Duffy. Source

I regularly visited Birmingham's branch of Bus Stop with my mum in the 1960s and '70s. She bought me my very first grown-up size piece of clothing, a olive green satin jumpsuit, for my 13th birthday in 1979. 

Friday's find was this orange cotton suit. I'd model it for you but it'll look better with some tan leather boots, which I can't squeeze my foot into at the moment!

Saturday morning was spent watching World Cup football. Get in, Lionesses! Later we headed into town for a belated birthday get together with the gang.

This 1970s cotton maxi is another recent acquisition. I've sold several Winchester dresses in the past but have failed to find anything out about the label. All been typically 1970s, maxi length, vibrantly printed and pretty groovy so I imagine it was a short-lived British Boutique brand. Although the fit was perfect, the dress was miles too long so I unpicked the frill, shortened the dress and reattached it further up. It's not perfect but it'll stop me breaking my neck.

I took it slow and steady and managed to get down the Hill of Doom without any mishaps (I had a lift home later)! We popped into The Black Country Arms for beers. Liz & Adrian were off on their holidays early the next morning so we met at 5pm.

It was the first time we'd been to Salt 'n' Pepper, a Turkish restaurant in the town centre, owned by a husband and wife team from Ankara. Our foodie neighbours have been banging on about it for ages so we thought we ought to give it a try.

Jon's six foot tall but looks like a right short arse next to Alex & Adrian!

We're glad we booked in advance, after ten minutes there wasn't a table to be had. Jon & Al drunk Efes and the Lizzes, Adrian and I ordered bottles of Turkish wine.

We started with sharing bowls of Russian salad, hummus, cacik, mixed olives, sun-dried tomatoes and deliciously light flatbreads.

Jon & Al ordered lamb adana with yogurt, Adrian had grilled sea bass, Liz S had chicken shish, Liz W & I had vegetarian moussaka (made with proper vegetables & not a nasty meat substitute). 

As if we weren't stuffed already, the boss brought out complementary bowls of delicious sutlac (Turkish rice pudding) to accompany our raki.

Fabulous food, warm and wonderful hospitality and a brilliant atmosphere, all within a ten minute walk from home. We'll be back!

As I'd devoured books during the previous week we had a carrier bag full to drop off at the clearance chazza on Sunday morning. Needless to say, we didn't return empty-handed and Jon snaffled this Ashton acoustic guitar (like he needs another one!)

I found this incredible batik duster coat in the clearance charity shop the week before we left for Glastonbury, it's already had a few outings but had yet to make it to the blog. It's crisp, beautiful and a real show-stopper. The gold stamping is pristine and the frog fasteners are handmade. Although it's pretty hard to date, it  would probably have been tailor-made during British rule (which ended in 1963) and has been packed away for decades.

On Sunday I wore it over some charity-shopped distressed double denim & my trusty Tevas hoping that its beauty would distract most people from my hardcore foot support!

Today (Monday) we walked down to the baths - me, slowly - in the torrential rain and managed to do our usual half a mile swim before rewarding ourselves with a Spoons breakfast.

I wore my 1960s turquoise leather coat (a gift from a blogger pal back in 2010) and a 1960s printed cotton shift dress (courtesy of my friend Cheryl). 

And the chazza shop gods continued to smile on me. These £3 Not Martens accommodate my foot support and should hopefully keep my feet dry tomorrow. 

Yes, we're off to Devon in the morning. Beautiful Days 2022 was gloriously hot and sunny and certainly lived up to its name. This year isn't looking quite so good but I'm pretty sure we'll have a blast whatever the British weather chucks at us.

See you next week!