For The Love of Clothes

Clothes, clothes, clothes , my life revolves around them; buying them, mending them, washing them, selling them or wearing them, not that I'm complaining, it sure beats working for a living! I photograph my stock outside which can be a challenge - rain and wind make it impossible and too sunny and bright & they're in shadow and the colours are bleached out. Fortunately Saturday was perfect and I was outside until dusk, snapping away.

When I looked in my wardrobe on Saturday morning I noticed that the colours of my vintage block printed kaftan were identical to those in my Morris & Co Kennet gilet, an accidental outfit.

On Sunday we met Tony & my brother Marcus for a few beers in Spoons. Although when I say a few, we started drinking at 1pm and didn't leave the pub until gone 9pm - tsk tsk! As it was a bit on the chilly side I wore my 1970s Shubette Mythical Beasts brushed nylon maxi, bought from a fellow vintage trader in Walthamstow back in 2017, and my massive-sleeved velvet jacket. 

I bought this olive green leather belt in Santorini. I really struggle to find belts to fit and this is brilliant, you can clip the end off and remove/add more links depending on whether you wear it around the waist or threaded through jeans.

Jon accidentally bought these limited edition Clarks Originals/Polyveldt desert boots when we walked past Clarks on the way home from swimming last Tuesday. He didn't need them but they were marked down by 60% so it would have been rude not to! 

Despite the eight hour session the previous day I was up at 5am on Monday, managing to list a few more items on eBay and squeezing in a half-hour Wii Fit workout before Jon got up at 7.30am.

After breakfast we popped over to our second favourite Black Country town for a bit of charity shopping. My beloved vintage Afghan coat got its first outing of the season, worn over an Indian block printed prairie dress.

I made the necklace from a vintage Banjara tribal necklace and a child's Kuchi bangle.

Here's today's (Tuesday) outfit. I bought this vintage 1970s Anokhi quilted midi skirt from the Oxfam stall at Womad. It's like going out in your duvet and is perfect for the 7.30am walk down to the baths.

The B Young high-necked black blouse was £3 from the Shelter charity shop last year, it was a part of a large donation from a posh boutique which had closed down and originally retailed at £69.99! I bought the 1960s cranberry suede & patent leather Go-Go boots from a car boot sale back in the early noughties.

This mad looking pendant was 50p in the clearance chazza yesterday. I've no idea where it came from, the beads are wooden and each prong is stamped with what looks like a "W" but my research hasn't come up with anything useful. 

UPDATED! Many thanks to Adrienne, Louise & Anne - the pendant is made using horseshoe nails, the "W" is actually an "M" which represents the American brand Mustad, supposedly the finest manufacturer of horseshoe nails in the world! I love that I'm recycling something made from recycled materials, that's proper sustainable fashion!  

 

Talking of shopping, the nice weather means that I'm finally able to photograph the latest additions to the Kinky stockroom.

Clockwise from top left: 1970s Golden Arrow, USA mohair cardi; 1980s aviator jacket; 1970s Grenson of Northampton handmade leather boots; 1980s Rodeo Drive cowboy boots; 1970s wool military-style overcoat; 1980s Phool harem pants & waistcoat set; 1980s St Michael wool blend cardi; Bimba Y Lola Spanish-made western boots; 1980s Anokhi dhabu wrap-around maxi skirt; 1980s Pine Ridge English-made blanket jacket; 1990s Betty Jackson velvet opera coat; 1960s fringed suede jacket; 1970s prairie dress; Nanette Lepore USA-made fleece wool riding jacket; Dents tooled leather grab bag; Loblan suede cowboy boots (made in Venezuela); 1980s fringed suede cowboy boots; 1960s Weldrest, London green wool midi coat; 1970s black leather blazer; 1970s crushed velvet jacket; 1960s mustard vinyl bag.

Keepers so far this week are this new with tags linen blouse originally from Topshop. You have to laugh at the sizing, I'm exactly the same weight/ measurements as I was back the 1980s when I wore a Topshop size 10, now I'm size 4! The basket also started life in Topshop (pointed out by the manager of the Air Ambulance as she knows my fetish for baskets) and the straw cross body bag originally was sold through Hush.

Here's a sneak peak of an amazing piece of vintage 1960s clobber I've found. It's a bit grubby and in need of some steaming but it should be ready to wear before the week's out. It's pretty trippy!

And, because this post is very clothes-heavy, here's William at 6am this morning on the Chair of Judgement. 

And here's a few more meals we've cooked recently - a mushroom & leek pot pie with homemade oven chips, a beetroot, thyme & red onion galette and a Mediterranean briam (all made following recipes in the five ingredient vegan book I wrote about last week) plus a creamy vegetable pasta I made using leftovers (liberally sprinkled with parsley from the garden). 

Thanks for reading & see you soon!