Pop-Up Vintage Fair! - Outfit Of The Day

A few weeks ago I entered a little competition over on Twitter, run by Pop-Up Vintage. To enter, all you had to do was tweet them a photo of your best vintage find to be in the running to win £50 worth of vouchers to spend at their vintage fair at Old Spitalfields Market. I decided to go with my oh-so perfect for Autumn orange checked dress, which seemed to be a good choice as I only ruddy won!!

So off I went, with my best friend Chloe that weekend to Old Spitalfields with £50 worth of vintage vouchers, to see how long I could make them last. I am no stranger to Spitalfields, so I felt right at home rummaging through the rails of vintage delights, eating yummy treats and chatting to the lovely stall holders (who gave us some great tips for setting up our own stall - it's happening people!). So what did I wear for such an occasion? Vintage of course!!

This modtastic denim skirt in monochrome dogtooth print I bought from Beyond Retro on a recent trip to Brighton. This isn't the first time I've worn it vintage shopping around East London. As it's getting colder here in London, I decided to wear it with my vintage velvet shirt (remember my best Wednesday Addams impression?) which I bought from Rokit. My Victorian style black boots I got in a charity shop many years ago. The coat is the only new thing, but it does have a very 60's feel to it. I fell in love with this coat in TKMaxx and knew I just had to have it! It's by a brand called Covent Garden, who offer a range of sweet swinging coats and jackets. They don't have a lot online but you'll be sure to find plenty instore.

This lovely young lady is Katherine, and she runs BIAC (Bird In A Cave), making the cutest co-ord sets in bright and colourful prints. She learnt the tricks of the trade from her Grandmother, who was a seamstress for Hardy Amies, a fashion designer who worked for the Royal Family! So she knows her way around a sewing machine and gave Chloe some great tips for making her own garments. Be sure to keep an eye on this one over on Facebook and Twitter. There's been talk of some sparkle to come this weekend!

Here's some more from the market, and also a sneak peek of what I spent my vouchers on.

There's Chloe playing the sexy secretary ;)

Now for what I spent my vouchers on. Out first stop was at a stall called Bambi Boo (how cute are their playing card tags?!). Their not online just yet as they're just started out and want to see how it works out at a couple of vintage fairs first. It was their £5 rail which caught our attention. I treated Chloe to a long floral shirt and bought myself a yellow and black striped sleeveless shirt. It was the front zip detail that really caught my eye. The tweedy looking shorts (£4) and tartan dress (£10) were from 2 lovely young Irish ladies, who didn't seem to be an actual business, just 2 friends who needed to clear out their wardrobe and find some new loving homes for their clothes. One of them said the tartan dress reminded her of Home & Away. I instantly understood what she meant (check out the school uniforms!). My item of the day came from The Mad Journal. This beautiful green and yellow floral midi dress in chiffon (£22) is so gorgeous and very flattering. Yellow seemed to be my colour that day! I just about had some money leftover to buy a scrumptious spinach and feta pancake.

So there you have it, my winning trip to Pop-Up Vintage's Fair in Spitalfields. They have 3 more fairs coming to London in December, all before Christmas; 7th @ Alexandra Palace, 14th @ St Stephen's Hampstead and 20th back @ Spitalfields. Me and Chloe have applied to set up our own stall for the 20th, so fingers crossed we get approved. I'll keep you all updated over on Twitter!

Are you planning on going to any of these fairs? Or maybe you know about some others you'd like to share?

Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend! :)

Hello Sailor

I finally got round to wearing my Sailor dress that I bought from the first Judy's Market I visited in Leicester way back in March. I wore this to Judy's at Spitalfields a few weeks ago. This market happens every first Saturday of the month but won't be there in June as they're taking over Brighton for Vintage Nation. I was waiting until I dyed my hair bright red as I think it compliments the dress quite well and looks great paired with my red tights.

I even got papped by Judy's own photographer so look out for me on the blog and facebook page soon! Vintage fairs have become my new favourite thing. There's always so much variety and although vintage pieces can be quite expensive, you can find some bargains if you hunt enough.

If you can't afford to buy new clothes and have loads of stuff you don't want anymore, why not pop along to this clothes swapping event in London next month!

It's only £3 entry and you can bring all the clothes which you don't wear anymore and swap it for stuff you would wear whilst being entertained with some live music! You can find out more information on the Facebook page and why not join the event page and tell all your friends about it too!

If you're over on Chictopia, don't forget to vote for my Show us your sole contest entry!

Salvation Army Charity Dress

I have been very excited about doing this post. Remember how I told you about that charity shop I found with the gorgeous vintage dresses? Well I went back last week and tried on about 10 and managed to whittle it down to this one below.

A lot of the dresses were bought in from a woman who was a professional piano player so they were all made to measure and with a 22 inch waist, most of them didn't quite fit me. However, this one I did manage to squeeze into and I absolutely love it! I wore it to the Vintage fair in Shoreditch last week and got a lot of compliments. I especially love the bright print and the cute collar and bow. I paired it with some bright red tights and my navy velvet Topshop boots (Yes, those boots again!). I got some amazing stuff from the vintage fair which I'm sure will be featured here very soon!

Thanks for reading. Any questions or requests can be sent to charlotte.olivia.ellis@hotmail.co.uk

A Peek into my Wardrobe

Hello everyone! This post is just going to be an update of the recent looks I've posted onto LookBook and Chictopia.
First up is this outfit I wore the day I got to ride on the little ferry on the River Thames.

This was before the rain came to ruin our English Spring. The trousers are Primark and are so light and perfect for spring/summer. My shoes are vintage which I bought from Camden Market almost 2 years ago. A lot of my wardrobe is navy and nautical so these shoes go perfectly with almost everything I own!

This second outfit is what I wore for my lunch date with my two lovely Irish friends, Luke and Jenny.

I am very proud of managing to nab this bag for £1! Its from StylistPick, a website which specialises in shoes and handbags and create individual showrooms based on what you like. They were celebrating reaching 100,000 likes on facebook by offering the first 100 people an item for £1. So I quickly scoured the site and found this beautiful flower print bag. It has a detachable strap and features faux snake skin.

My third outfit is what I wore to the V&A Museum, which everyone should visit as its oh so beautiful!

The checked pleated skirt I got from a clothes swap at one of my friends house. Clothes swapping is great and lots of fun. Keep an eye on my blog for a future big clothes swap happening in Hoxton very very soon!

Coming in at number 4 is this ensemble I wore for Judy's Vintage Affordable Fair at Spitalfields a few weekends ago.

The navy and cream lace dress I got from EBay for an absolutely steal price of just 99p! I adore this dress as its so easy to wear and can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion. The navy and green checked blazer I bought from a Salvation Army charity shop just off Regents Street. It's becoming one of my favourite shops as they have loads of vintage 60s dresses. I took another trip there recently so keep an eye on my blog for a very special dress soon. Now lets talk about the boots. These are still my absolute favourite, from Topshop in a rich navy blue velvet. They're so easy to just slip on and spice up any outfit.

And lastly, this is what I wore Easter Sunday for my cousins beer festival, they're called Brodie's Beers and with loads of different flavours, you're sure to find something you'll love!

Here I am showing the family support with my Brodie's tee. The skirt I bought years ago from a little boutique in Donegal, Ireland. I used the belt from the skirt as a bow in my hair. The navy cardigan with a lace collar is what I bought from Judy's Vintage fair the day before. The wonderful hat I am wearing actually belongs to the woman behind me in the photo. I thinks she made it herself. Its just beautiful!

So that's all the catching up done. I 'll be back either later tonight or tomorrow with a new post. Also a big thank you to everyone who voted/favourited my look for the Spring Bloom contest on Chictopia. Unfortunately I didn't win, but it's the taking part that counts =]

Thanks for reading/following/supporting <3