Who Buys Vintage?

Phew! It’s been a very busy week here at “Stardust Years”! People often ask me, “Who buys your clothes?” Well, this week has been a great example of the variety of requests we get and some of the destinations for our lovely original vintage treasures – Goodwood Revival (of course! Especially for those last few finishing touches to the ensemble), an Awards Ceremony in London, a 1920s party, a 1940s event and a couple of 1950s parties! We’re a sociable lot, aren’t we? It’s such a fun job. One lady had a 1950s party to go to and wanted to wear a particular hat she had at home so she had a look through our reference library to see if it would fit with the period.

In the meantime, we also had a lady who was looking for a special piece to wear for her Hand-fasting Ceremony. ?She showed me photos of the location, in a field, and, it looked and sounded wonderful. ?I’m pleased to say that we found her a wonderful Catherine Buckley creation – with her signature patchwork design – from the 1970s. All the invited guests have been asked not to buy new clothes to wear on the day so Catherine Buckley’s dress coat was, particularly, ideal as it was made with fabrics dating from between 1905 and 1935. ?My customer then went on to say that she’d been so worried she wouldn’t find anything in time that she had almost taken up smoking again that morning! There’s the proof! ?Vintage fashion is good for your health! I recommend 5 (frocks!) a day!

This week’s biggest challenge? Hmm, possibly Louise, the lady who was going to a “Game of Thrones” Party – that very evening! ?Now, we being vintage viewers at home, ie strictly, terrestrial, does have its drawbacks… “Game of Thrones”?? Ah, the wifi! ?What a magical thing! (They’ll be inventing the radio, next!). ?I brought up some photos on my laptop so that Louise could show me the look of the characters. Browsing our rails, her eyes lit upon a Roecliffe and Chapman wedding dress from the 1950s – with a slightly medieval look to the sleeves – and I found a vintage pendant which almost matched the character in the photos from the TV series. ?It’s such a lovely feeling when a customer then goes on to send you a photo or pops back with a picture and you can see how beautiful they looked and what a great time they had.

Now, I wonder what next week will hold…