Hunting for vintage bargains is not what it used to be

When I was a teen, so called thrifting is what my friends and I did every time we met, like a 'place' to hang out. Endless days were spent at markets and charity shops in the same way other girls marched up and down Oxford Street in London. Things have changed and not all for the good. Vintage or pre-loved may be the new posh names for second-hand goods but developments in the practice of hunting out the odd fabulous find at a bargain price are lees than classy, especially when it comes to being charitable. .

First we have the bargain hunters whose sole aim seems to be to buy at a penny and sell for pound on an on-line auction. Triumphant stories abound, celebrating a win over some unfortunate volunteer by buying a possible 'Picasso' for 50 pence. Extra squeals of delight as the hunter recounts extra percentage off for lying to the octogenarian help that it came out of the bargain basket. It's good to know that these precious things have a second life and continue to be enjoyed after their original owner no longer can or wants to, but not just to make a quick buck on-line.

The other development in charity shops is the so called designer, vintage or boutique rail. Where once there was a mutual gratification of both the charity and often poor people doing well out of the trade of decent clobber, one has to be fairly rich or have a degree in fashion history to an find overlooked sartorial gem. Over priced and usually the worst examples of any era, the shop treats their precious stock as though it was Dame Shirley's own wardrobe when in reality their rail usually comprises of 90% of yesterday's high street designer rip-offs. Who needs a Karen Millen Dress from 1999 at double what it cost in the sale? Not everyone values a multiple-coloured maxi dress over last year's Gap effort, why should the vintage maxi cost so much more just because some idiot pop star is wearing her stylist's-own version?

And where have the desirable labels and kooky precious things gone that should be on the bloody boutique rail? They are lifted out by keen fashion student and car booter volunteers, who devote an hour a week of their expertise in the back room during the process of supposedly sorting the 'wheat from the chaff' as a 'reward' wardrobe or new stock for next Sunday morning's cash-in-hand 'hobby'.

The problem is balance and fair play seem to have lost their way. While charities become 'smart' businesses trying to maximise their profits with their boutique rail so only affluent trendies can buy something that looks like it comes from a charity shop or grandma's closet the seasoned hunter will of course fell gleefully victorious if they find an item that 'got away' from the self-proclaimed expert.

Why do women wear make-up to do sport?

I have just returned from my weekly fairly strenuous jujistsu class. After a warm-up that that includes the odd bit off speedy running, star jumps, sit-ups, press-ups and strange slapping of the floor things we call 'break falls' I am sweating. Not glowing or perspiring like ladies in the past but sweating real beads of sweat from the roots of my hair to the tippy-tips of my toes. Looking round the room I see my classmates of both sexes are in a similar state.

After our warm-up (more accurately heat-up) we move on to graded exercises throwing and flooring our opponents in friendly combat. My grade partner just happens to be twice the size and weight of me so by the end of the syllabus work I am leaving puddles of sweat on the floor, my face is red and I have to use my jacket sleeve to wipe my eyes to stop them stinging.

For a year I was a lone women among a class full of men until happily a year ago another feisty female joined in the fun. Recently I have the pleasure to report more women joining the class. The only fly in the beauty ointment is that the new ladies can not bare to be bare faced and turn up caked in make-up. We are not talking waterproof mascara or a hint of eyeliner, I am talking full-on party make-up. Every week I come home home with a newly stained suit from ground fighting, but never mind me and the new expense of buying bottles of Vanish whitener, what about them?

What can someone be thinking when faced with a steaming dojo that they present themselves in full warpaint only to have it trickling down their necks after 5 minutes and stinging their eyes after 10. Surely, there can be fewer more bitter tastes than make-up seeping into one's mouth or no feeling less desirable than looking like a bad drag act facing a handsome gladiator as one is about to wipe what is left of one's face on his gleaming White suit during a bout of ground fighting.

What can be so montrous, so unbecoming, so scary underneath the mask that a woman would rather risk looking like a melted oil portrait and ingest grams of chemicals?

Politically Correct Fashion: A contradiction in terms?

  Guilt: The New Word in Fashion 

Choice is what we pride ourselves on in the Western World, the only limitation on our choice is the amount of money we can afford to pay for an item. For anyone who just buys things for the logo on the front (why not just get a tatoo on your forehead and save on the dry cleaning bills?) or can't walk past a pound-shop bargain bin we have lots of tempting new ways of making you feel - so yesterday.   

Secrets of the Superbrands (first broadcast BBC Three, 9:00PM Tue, 24 May 2011 in the UK)  presented by faux stooge  Alex Riley, was a light-hearted look at luxury brands, sports brands, logos, out-sourced accessory manufacture, developing world economy, retail theatre and basically anything to do with clothes all in one episode. While some of these issues are intrinsically linked, the mish-mash of the usual headline grabbing stuff reduced any possible message to pulp. The pretence of media presenters as innocent and uneducated noble savages in the evil world of duplicitous and mind-warping commerce grows tired with every new attempt. Us fellow noble savages (the viewers) were supposed to be stunned that an American-style tee-shirt with Japanese writing originates from a British company (hold the front page) 'we' meet the self-styled anthropologist Ted Polhemus outside a jeans store (the ubiquitous doc's Doc on-location) who tells us about the origins of denim jeans cool status. Dana Thomas (always in fashion) points out that the cheaper luxe items at the bottom of the luxury market pyramid bring in the money while the uber-luxe bespoke items retain the prestige. Wow, I am stunned by all this absolutely fabulous information. Never mind fashion insider info, I learnt a great tip for making TV/film documentaries, interview really sweet, young but incredibly gullible people in the street it will make your viewers feel 'achingly cool' by comparison. 

From the noble savage to the reformed character. Lucy Siegle's To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World? Jumps on this year's fashion bandwagon for bashing consumer choice with her new found evangelical approach to clothes. She has discovered that buying cheap clothes has not meant value for money and will be more careful in the future. Wow. Holy revelation. Welcome to the world of thinking before doing. It's not her fault of course she is just cashing in on the seemingly limitless amount of guilt  women, gay men and young people are supposed to feel when earning/having/spending their own money and not investing it in highly respectable and lucrative products like savings and stocks/shares (yes, I am joking). Anyone would think that charity shops (goodwill stores) had just been launched in the wake of the United Kingdom's Prime Minister Cameron's Big Society big-up (why pay someone for doing their job when you can get them to volunteer for free?). Second-hand, sorry pre-loved, old, sorry, vintage clothes, the staple of cash-strapped street-cred for generations are so eco-friendly and goody-goody no self-respecting teenager wants to wear them any more. 

It can only be a matter of time before before they put a regulation traffic light system on clothing tags. 

Fashion is as ethical as the person who chooses to wear it, unless one is wearing an endangered species on one's back or a hate-symbol on one's front. Do yourself a favour and don't listen to the guilt hype. Fashion is about  expressing who you are individually and/or collectively. One should 

never feel guilty about self-expression. 

Fashion illustration from   http://invaderz.co.uk/wp-content/wp/basic%20fashion%20illustration-70583.html

Best bag in the World

Gucci Bamboo Top Handle 1947-20011

Designed in 1947 in a roundish shape to emulate a horse's saddle and given a bamboo top-handle because of leather shortages after WWII,  this bag is an enduring beauty, like its many owners ;-)

Ingrid Bergman, Naples 1953

Vanessa Redgrave, 1966 

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Doha 2009 

(a year before the current re-launch in S/S'10)

2011

Pictures from Gucci on face book http://www.facebook.com/notes/gucci/from-the-archives-the-bamboo-bag/10150110997913300 and Gucci.com (the medium corral leather bag is available now)

Monthly Vintage Advice Slot - Part 2

What's it worth??*£$??

I know it may seem strange to seasoned vintage lovers but some people do not know whether they like something or not until they know how much something is worth. Never mind the amazing workmanship, the fabulous materials, the perfection of the cut. It's not that they don't care about those things, they are oblivious  - what counts is the cash, and the more it's worth the more they like it. Even if one appreciated the general all-round excellence of an item there may come a day when there is need to sell or value. 

So, if you've bought or were given what appeared to be a bargain vintage item at auction/*bay/goodwill store/charity shop you may now want to know how much is it worth.

Scarcity and popularity, a wonderful combination that applies to old as well as new but vintage things often do not have contemporary equivalents for a comparable recommend retail price and therefore harder to put a figure on, however, here are some general guidelines beyond stalking result prices at actions*.

What lowers the price  

Brand that is not current but as yet has no cult following e.g Koret

No brand name or maker's mark indicated

A good brand name but the item not from that brand's heyday e.g. Christian Dior from the 1980s

A brand that has now declined in popularity and/or produces lesser quality goods eg Suzy Smith

An unfashionable shape

Major wear

Minor wear in a few places

Damage

Dirt
Missing 'bits' e.g. a shoulder strap or a key to a lock

A style that is still in current production and relatively inexpensive e.g. a high-street beaded evening bag made in the Far East

A material/design/motif that is no longer politicly correct 

A fashion brand that had ceased then obtained cult status but then the name subsequently re-launched in mainstream fashion e.g. Biba

What adds to the price

Heritage brands that are current or have cult following e.g. Chanel or Lucille de Paris 

Brands name is clearly visible and typical of the make e.g. a Gucci Jackie or Britt

A good brand name made within the era of the maker's heyday e.g. Dior from the late 1940s-50s

A brand that has a great and continuous reputation for quality and desirability e.g. Hermes

An fashionable shape or colour

As new or very minor wear

No damage or missing 'bits' and no alterations

Clean and well maintained

A style that suggests a fashionable item of much greater value e.g. a no-name bag in the style of an Hermes Kelly  

A material/design/motif that is interesting and unusual

An item that is the original of a popular copies e.g. an Hermes Kelly bag

Made of highly prized materials

*Where further explanation is not self-explanatory not variable, the above uses leather-goods and bag makers as examples except in the case of couture/RTW fashion houses Christian Dior and Biba 

Liz Taylor, Paul Newman and a Gucci Flora Bamboo Top-handle, 1958

The most beautiful woman and man in the film-world 
with the world's most iconic handbag 

From the film set of the Cat on the Hot Tin Roof * (credit Rue Des Archives) 

*Taylor's husband Michael Tod died in a aeroplane crash during the making of the film, the studio gave her a couple of weeks off to mourn and then forced her back to work.

The Passing of an Era

Elizabeth Taylor

Yesterday Elizabeth Taylor died. After a life packed with as much drama as any Hollywood film her legacy lives on in her work from childhood star to screen legend. Was she the last of her kind? A glimmering, shimmering beauty who could radiate ethereal grace or animal wildness with equal aplomb, always something going on behind those violet eyes and double layer of black lashes that gave away the real narrative of a plot whatever else the character did or said.   One wonders whether there can ever be such an on-screen presence in the future? Certainly there seems a lack of of that 'X factor' in the handful of female contemporary stars that look like the typical 'girl next door' type apart from the exception of Angelina Jolie who although model-beautiful has about as much screen presence as a plank of wood. Pretty girl after pretty girl is dressed up in period or contemporary costume, taking turns to act (usually pretty-well) before their real role starts as sales-people and clothes horses. These 'girls' do a fine job but where have all the awe-inspiring women gone when one had to look into their eyes to know what was really going on?