BBC TV’s “Money For Nothing”

We’ve had a lot of interest, both online and in our Winchester shop, since our recent appearance on the new series of BBC TV’s “Money for Nothing” programme! ?If you’re not familiar with it, the show follows presenter Sarah Moore in her quest to save, renovate and upcycle items from the past so that we can all enjoy them in the future.

Sarah and her crew came to the shop last summer and we had a great afternoon filming and playing with the vintage treasures Sarah had found.

Don’t worry if you missed the programme, you can still catch it on the BBC iPlayer until April 7th ?http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08hyn4p

While she was filming, Sarah found a Stardust Years vintage treasure for herself! ?A lovely 1950/60s silk satin evening coat. ?A real stunner! ?You see, with vintage shops you never know what you’re going to find – just like the lady who came in this afternoon to while away some time as she was early for a meeting. ?She found this gorgeous 1960s dress!

 

Stardust Years Interviewed

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be approached by a History student from Winchester University who asked me if she could interview me about Vintage and Historical Fashion.

Well, I’m no expert but did I let that hold me back? No! I was happy to rabbit on to my heart’s content (now, that I?am an expert in, having lived with rabbits over the years!).

If you’d like to hear my completely-unqualified rabbiting-ons about a subject dear to all our hearts then you might like to click on the link below. ?If nothing else, you can enjoy the beautiful photographs of fashion icons that Gabrielle has included in the Blog

Interview with Stardust Years owner, Karen Fitzsimmons.

Do bear in mind, though, that the paragraph at the end is a little out of date, now, as we had our birthday event on 16 & 17th July. So, I’m sorry if you missed the Prosecco but if you’d like to know about our future events, please just email me karen@stardustyears.com and I’ll add you to our mailing list

A Busy Vintage Shop

We’re a busy vintage shop – especially in July! It all happens at the same time for us, here at Stardust Years.

We opened 3 years ago on 12 July so not only do we have the celebrations to enjoy but we also have the annual admin details like music licence renewals to deal with. We don’t think our visitors to the Winchester shop would feel Stardust Years Vintage was the same if they couldn’t browse – and sing along to – Doris Day, Harry Roy or Ella Fitzgerald!

But let’s talk about the fun aspect of reaching our 3rd Birthday! On Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 July, we will be asking our friends, supporters and customers to join us in our celebrations.

We will be giving away some vintage trimmings to anyone who can use them so if you love sewing or recycling materials, come along and help yourself. I just can’t bear to throw away items that might have survived two World Wars!

We’re hoping the weather will be nice, again, so that we can also have a rail outside in Walcote Place. We’re ideally placed next to a lovely cafe so ladies can browse for bargains while their coffee doesn’t get too cold…and it’s always nice to park the gentleman somewhere he can be fed and watered. We do have a newspaper for the boys on a Saturday but when it gets busy, they often take refuge next door in “Eat, Meet, Be”!

Of course, we will be serving our free cocktails, again, so maybe the gentlemen won’t want to go too far! Gary will be making his (very popular!) signature “Stardust Years” Cocktail so, if you’re in Winchester, do, please, pop in and raise a glass to Vintage and to You! If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t still be here!

On Sunday, professional dress designer and seamstress, Virginia Hannan will be in the shop to help with any vintage alterations ideas or you can simply pick her brains! I’m thinking of asking her if my idea of transforming this lovely 1930/40s overall into a dress is just completely bonkers?! Actually, for the right lady, would it need altering? Question for Virginia, I imagine – lucky she’s popping in!
Vintage Overall

Stardust Years Rocks and Frocks Event

Wow! What a week it’s been! I’ll be posting more about our participation in this year’s Winchester Fashion Week, but here’s a Blogger’s view of our Rocks and Frocks Event on Wednesday which we co-hosted with Jeremy France Jewellers!
http://charlotteslife93.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/winchester-fashion-week-rocks-and-frocks-event/