I've always had an interest in vintage clothing and the 1940's/1950's era. Having spent the 90's dressed like an underage raver my tastes in clothing, music and entertainment began to develop and refine in my late teens, there were many disasters along the way - a small part of me still misses my cut off jeans and save the whales T-shirt .However I didn't actually wear any vintage clothes, I collected them and they sat in my wardrobe like textile orphans, never seeing the sunlight. The few pieces I owned fascinated me. Not just the garment structure and the differences in how they were produced compared to their modern counterparts, but where the clothes had been and who they had belonged to.
There is a certain romanticism to vintage clothes that you just cannot find in Topshop.
However at the time I was not working in an environment where my quirky tastes would be appropriate attire and so these beautiful garments remained the strange dirty secret of my wardrobe. I had concerns about being seen as "different" or "alternative" Put simply - I couldn't bear the thought of people staring.
2014 was a big year for me professionally and I took the leap of switching industries. I also decided it was time to declutter and put my hoarding tendencies behind me. I tried, I really did, but I couldn't part with these clothes to a charity shop so I searched Facebook in the hope of finding a vintage enthusiast to take them in, my fabric evacuees.
I stumbled upon a group on Facebook called "1940's/1950's Most Marvellous Meet Ups" and was informed by the members that they didn't have a selling page yet but one was being set up. In the meantime I was directed to a page of events. Vintage enthusiasts up and down the country had taken matters into their own hands and were arranging events to meet the like minded.
It was a revelation at the time as all I knew about vintage events were the big ticket festivals, this was something on another level, this was socialising for socialising's sake, could I cope with this? After all I am a Londoner!
There was a meet up close to my town that very weekend and I was invited to join so I bit the bullet and took myself down to Southend -on-Sea for a day of tea, cake and dress wearing and I haven't looked back since. The group has become such an important part of my social circle that I am not sure what I did before it!
The highlight of 2015 was the Most Marvellous Christmas Ball which took place in Manchester where I was no longer a stranger and where my favourite vintage dress finally got an outing, after some serious negotiation with a corset!
So I decided to start writing a blog to document my experiences with the group but also with the vintage lifestyle in general, can it be achieved in the modern age and does it hold us back?
It's not that I don't want to live in this world anymore...it's just that I want it to have a little more bunting.
Love
RB
XXX
