Today I went to Spittalfields E1... Since I was a teenager I have worn second hand clothes, more due to necessity than choice as I was paid a pittance for my after school & and Saturday jobs ...
The term now is 'Vintage', but of course this is purely a marketing expression ... It enables the business savvy in the thrift-shop trade to augment a 60% higher price charge for a term that is considered á la mode in fashion...
Due to the 1980s style becoming a genre much sought after with the youth of today, the market is flooded with dreadful batwing jumpers ... ra-ra skirts ... and high waisted jeans ... all of which they are welcome to ... The peddlers sell these items at extortionate prices, leaving the true gems to go for a song ... just peachy!!I scour shops, ebay and markets for dresses/underwear within the 40's - 50s era ... As I am fairly fastidious, I scrutinize the stitching, cloth and cut with my powerful spectacles... today has been auspicious... I purchased a black lace top and a black velvet 1950s cut evening dress...
I know there are many people that have a problem with rummaging through dead peoples clothes, but it has never been a problem for me ... A shop I visit in Rochester had a collection of hand made clothes from the 50's that had belonged to a woman from the town... her granddaughter gave them to the store after her death ... I was attracted the cloth immediately, and when I tried the garments on, each one fitted like a glove ... the lady had hand sewn each of these dresses to fit her body and yet it was as if she had made them to measure just for me...
This rarely happens of course, but I do find that the cut of these outfits are so much more flattering to a woman's shape than the mass produced, shoddy, throw away clothes that are churned out today.
