Outfits & Outings

I'm gradually working my way through my wardrobe, selling what I don't wear and having fun trying out different combinations of the old favourites I'm keeping. Although I've owned this 1970s Anokhi maxi skirt & Oasis Trading cotton blouse for years, Thursday was the first time I'd ever worn them together. 

It's always a bit of a gamble getting dressed before sunrise and I often wonder how the colours will work together in the cold light of day but, judging by the compliments from my fellow swimmers, I didn't look like an explosion in Oxfam when I emerged from the cubicle after my 40 lengths.

 Other than my denim shirt or a skinny polo neck, I wasn't sure what to wear with this 1970s Phool pinafore dress bought from another vintage trader at Womad this year but, after staring at my wardrobe for a while, this 1960s Jeff Banks W1 balloon sleeved gauzy cotton blouse sprung out at me. I paid 50p for it from a car boot sale over twenty years ago.

This was Saturday's outfit, a day spent listing on Vinted and subsequently dropping off the parcels of all the things I'd sold at the Lidl lockers a couple of hours later. 

I found this All About Audrey wrap top on Vinted the other day, the midi skirt is vintage Phool and has been in my wardrobe for years.

This was what I wore on Sunday to drop off more parcels, a quick browse in the clearance chazza and to pick up some supplies from Aldi. One of the assistants in Aldi recently told me that she loves it when I pop in and always reports to her partner about what I'm wearing. I'm glad that this outfit got her approval!  

On Monday Jon gave the hedge its bi-annual haircut and I followed behind with the yard brush and ended up sweeping up the mountain of fallen leaves from half of the avenue, it's only fair - most of them are ours! 

I'm wearing a vintage Ayesha Davar shirred cheesecloth blouse, a 1970s Papillion block printed wrap skirt and threw my trusty 1970s charity shopped suede coat over the top to rush down to the Lidl lockers with a few more parcels. I left my hair in my bedtime braids and didn't bother with any make-up and probably scared the natives! 

After tea we caught the X51 bus to Birmingham, my third trip into town in less than a week. 

Out, out! I'm in my new maxi dress (bought with some of the proceeds of my Vinted sales) and one of my vintage Afghans.

Jon's dressed in secondhand from head to toe. 

Our destination was the magnificent Birmingham Town Hall in Victoria Square, which was built in 1834. That's Antony Gormley's Iron:Man in the foreground. The Xmas Market is already up, Nikki and I will be giving that heaving tourist hotspot a wide berth next time we meet. Nikki loathes Xmas and the stink of German sausages as much as I do!

Brum's looking very Blade Runner!

We'd got tickets for John Grant, currently in the UK with his Art of The Lie Tour. To be honest, our main reason for going - much as I love John Grant - was to see the support act, Walsall's Big Special (as seen at End of the Road a few weeks ago). Look at the size of that queue! 

We should have caught the earlier bus, by the time we'd got the front of the queue Big Special had already started but luckily we hadn't missed my favourite songs, Shithouse and the iconic, This Here Ain't Water, which started just as we'd got to our seats.

Yes, you read that right..we were seated for a gig, like elderly people...unheard of! Apparently there isn't a standing option at Birmingham Town Hall these days. The last gig we'd seen here was Big Country  in 1993 and we were in the mosh pit for that one.

After enjoying a storming set and a hilarious seat climbing invasion by the Black Country duo we finally got to the bar. Cheers! 

We'd last seen John Grant play at the Green Man festival about 13 years ago, it was pissing down (well, we were in Wales) but his performance was so mesmerising that we watched the whole set despite being soaked to the skin. He regularly curates shows for 6Music and his taste in music is phenomenal.

After an incredible two hour set, he closed with Greatest Motherfucker, what a tune!

It was nearly midnight by the time we got home, we ended up having to get an Uber as we'd just missed the bus and didn't fancy waiting for 30 minutes in the rain for the next one, so Jon didn't thank me for getting him out of bed so we could go swimming at 7.30am this morning. I grabbed the first thing to hand, a vintage Ritu Kumar for Monsoon block printed dusky pink midi dress and my orange fedora - which seemed to kind of go together! 

I've spent a large part of the past week sorting through my vast collection of clothes and selling quite a few of them but never fear, I've not turned into a freaky minimalist. Here's this week's latest additions to my wardrobe...

From Vinted, an Urban Outfitters cotton patchwork maxi skirt (RRP £89, I paid £10), also from Vinted a pair of Dune reptile leather cowboy boots (RRP £180, I paid £7) and I'm not sure where this gorgeous paisley print holdall started life (possibly Accessorize?) but I paid £5 from the clearance charity shop for it.

In addition to my selling I also did a bit of sewing over the weekend and remade this charity shopped block printed cotton kurta into a cropped waistcoat. There's enough fabric leftover for me to make a few scrunchies, ready for next year's festival season. 

 

I'd better not sign off without giving William a shout-out. It was Black Cat Appreciation Day on 27th October and I'd hate to get in his bad books.  

Thanks for reading, see you soon!