The Rag Factory + East End Thrift Store HAUL! (and my other vintage possessions)

Finally, I'm here to talk about my (not so) recent vintage hall at The Rag Factory and East End Thrift Store!

I'm sure me and Marisa did this trip on the 11th February, so it's still recent enough to blog about I think :)

I remember it being a glorious day which made the trek to the East End a bit better, especially with my headache.

First stop was The Rag Factory, based on Henneage Street just off Brick Lane. It's actually quite dramatically tucked away into the 'backstreets', to such an extent that you literally will not be able to see it if you didn't walk past it. We actually walked passed it and did not even see it haha.

But it's a treasure of a place, I was experiencing an 'Open Sesame' scenario. Kicking myself for not taking a picture of the entrance because I was too busy rushing in to the goods inside. That day they were holding a Kilo Sale where everyone was given a massive (when I say massive, I mean HUGE) plastic sack to go around the racks of clothes and, quite literally, stuff kilos of clothes into the sack. To give you an idea, if you held the bag upright, it would easily surpass my height.

The place was stocked with amazing items, all of vintage quality (I checked the labels), so it's definitely classic vintage, and not just someone's old clothes from the last decade. There were shoes and bags in a separate room as well, to my despair actually because I already had a lot more than two three kilo before I discovered that room. In the end I still managed to get a pair though, which is totally my baby now and I wear it everyday.

We came quite early, so I had a good rummage through everything before they was flying off the racks (they were literally disappearing like lightning; I suppose it's because no one had to check the price because everything was untagged - you just had to stuff your sack). Each kilo was worth £10 and every kilo above that was £10 extra. A overheard a girl with her friend trying to stuff 15 kilos (that's £150!!!!) of clothes. I sincerely hope she made a wrong calculation...

After looking through eeeeeverything, we located to the upstairs lobby which was conveniently changed into a dressing room. They had to place a guard there since girls were just throwing off their clothes and flashing their underwear without giving a crap, which I thought was quite funny. There was no time for pictures then, so I can't show you the huge sack of clothes I got, but I can show you some of the things I did buy :)

Afterwards we stormed off to the East End Thrift Store not far off. Again, this ginormous place was so tucked away (this time in a very very narrow alley way) you'd think that it wouldn't get any business. But when we entered it was a huge warehouse place full to the brim of the finest vintage clothes I've ever seen. I don't know why this place gets lots reviews less favorable than Beyond Retro (which I love as well), because to me it was just as, if not more, readily stocked with all styles of vintage.

The sale this time was 'stuff a bag', where there were 2 bag sizes, the smaller costing £10 and the bigger £20. To be honest I was quite disappointed because a lot of the stuff were old clothes and not vintage enough to be classified under that word. Maybe it was because I came way to late to catch the best of the sale.

But I managed to get a few things including a denim jacket which I absolutely ADORE. Stuffed everything into the £10 bag, the belts were practically bursting out of it!

Here are some pictures of the clothes I bought. I also included some other vintage items I bought not too long before. On average I think each piece is probably below £5 (I'm a cheapskate :D)

Cropped denim top: Beyond Retro
Cropped acrylic top: The Rag Factory
Striped shirt: Beyond Retro

 I love this collar

 Picture didn't come out very well, but the pink is a very nommy and bubblegum-y one :)

Pink Floyd t-shirt: can't remember, probably TopShop though..
Grey t-shirt: The Rag Factory
Striped jumper: Rokit

Gypsy print jacket: Rokit
Black woolly jumper: East End Thrift Store

Nom

Denim jacket: East End Thrift Store
Beige overcoat: The Rag Factory

These are all men's stuff I believe..
Shirt: The Rag Factory
Both checkered shirts: East End Thrift Store

Jumper: The Rag Factory
Red and grey shirt: Rokit
V-necked jumper: The Rag Factory

I bought black velvet maxi skirt from Joseph (seen in my profile picture now). It just goes so well with the white jumper!!

Shoeeeesss: The Rag Factory

I love old, sturdy shoes that look like they've been through history.

Amazing bag that I now use for uni: Spitalfields Vintage Fair (it came without a strap, so I used a belt haha.. but I want to get a properly restrapped to a black leather one..)

That's all folks! I have YET to do a Japan haul post and upload those damned Japan pictures that I have no time for! xxx

London Fashion Week Days 1 & 2 - bringing back British Fashion + Minimalist influences

Before I start, I'd like to thank all my readers that are reading my posts!

I'm at home home today, but when we were driving we past the glorious Somerset House all done up for LFW.

In the doom and gloom of a weather, the building itself looked horrid, but somehow the Mondrian windows worked, and the sheer number of fashionable people around the area was enough to light up at least that part of London. When we were passing Waterloo Bridge I seriously considered stopping the car by to just observe the amazing street fashion. After only around 10 seconds of observation, I have reached the conclusion that London fashion as perceived by the public is very much focused on retro British fashion. You have the 60s glamour, 70s high waists, 80s colours and 90s grunge. ALL coming back.

All hail British Fashion.

Mind that these are the umbrella stereotypes; everyone added their own little thing to stand out from each other.

People love recreating that chic look that Britain in the 60s are so well known for. A walk down Brick Lane and the style is blatantly located there. If done correctly and you have enough vintage pieces, you could really look like you came out of a page of a magazine at the time:

(pic taken from Vintage Fashion Week website)

I'll skip the 70s as I'm not a massive fan on high waisted pants (being short in height myself), but the 80s style was very dominating. Nowadays people go for colour. The wilder the better. Under influences from emerging designers such as Jeremy Scott, who skillfully locks mad colours and sporty fashion into his pieces, people are bringing back the 80s dance attire: big sweatshirt, jazzy shiny leggings, bright zip ups. The colours are more sophistcated than the classic neons, but the influence is clearly visible. 

The recreated 90s looks comes from the oversized sweaters/jumpers, contrasting collars, clunky big shoes (doc martens, platform sneakers), high neck shirts, printed T shirts, velvet. And I think most iconic pastel colours. Log yourself onto Tumblr and see for yourself people's obsession with dip tyed hair in all colours. It's a brilliant look that wraps in individuality and fantasy. Very trippy but it works. 

(pic taken from romanceisboring.tumblr.com)

(pic from f-a-s-s-h-o-n.tumblr.com)

British fashion is proudly being worn again. I think the advancement is probably the newish embrace of equality of men and women, and influences from modern Asia. Women proudly wear men's styles such as from the Kooples or Ralph Lauren. Japanese grunge and lolita fashion are also widely present. 

So, what's on the runway?

Surprising, it's minimalism. From all the decades. 

At least so far.

As I mentioned in a past post, people are finally recognising the sense of comfortable fashion, earth/metal colours and a general downgrade from extravagance and art nouveau details. Let's take a look at some walks from Friday and Saturday:

J. JS Lee

Clean clean clean. Everything about this collection is clean, washed down, simplistic, nude. When I look at this, it's like I've returned the the mid-90s. Look at the hair as well, so neutral and bare. Very "clean cut and distinctively grown up", as depicted by the Telegraph. What I love is the geometric look, almost architectural, no cliche contouring of the woman's body, ie waist, bum, chest, etc. The pieces drape down the sides like the sides of a rectangle. It's not at body hugging, but creates a clean cut, structural silhouette. Check out the last black dress though, looove the little ruffle down one side. Would love to get my hands on those!

Jasper Conran

Glorious 60s. Knee length bell shaped skirts/coats. 60s was when any sort of minimalist ideas all began. Twiggy's trend for short hair, clean contours to the face are all here. These metallic shifts are beautiful, even though they look a bit heavy to wear.

Zoe Jordan

The bell shaped silhouette is so evident here. Overall minimal shape, but the details of the fabric seem highly detailed. There are some chiffon, embroidery and every snake skin motifs. Some pieces look like wool and tricot too.

House of Holland

Helloooooo 70s!!! Before I analyse anything, check out those amazing flare leggings. It feels like if I went to GAP in the 70s I would find the top 3 looks on the mannequins. Absolutely loving this orangey red and the high waist tailoring. The original bell bottomed pants seem even more exaggerated to emphasize on the influence.

Maria Grachvogel

I can't exactly pin point what period this is from, but it is definitely an upgrade from classic minimalism. The silks and draped dresses spurs a French style. I love that red maxi dress and how it hugs the legs so closely. I'm glad that they cleaned the hair to make the horizontal shoulder line stand out even more.

Lastly,
PPQ

Even the 40s are back. Completely perfectly with the wavy glamour hairstyles. This is REAL vintage, but everything is done better. Better quality fabrics, better sleekness, better contouring. Clothes back the in the 40s almost reshaped and redefined women, but this collection kept it so that the girls define the clothes with their figures and movement.

So, that was days 1 & 2 of London Fashion Week. I'll be back tomorrow to update on day 3. And I promise to do more personal posts as well.

In the mean time, I need a get myself a new pair of sunglasses and a 20s head hugging hat.

Also, I'm getting my hair done at Jones & Payne tomorrow. I managed to book a slot for getting my hair re tinted and re cut (it's dying at the bottom..) Shouldn't look too different, but I'll post some pictures if I do take them!

Alsoooo my haul clothes are drying up from the wash. I should be able to blog about that really soon!

xxx

minimalist style + music

I'm on a roll today!!

I've just been blog hopping (and getting confused with this Google+ thing) and on everyone's blogs people post pictures of themselves and styles etc. I don't want to be vain, but maybe I should start doing that too..

Sooooo

I dedicate this post to my recent hype (actually my style has changed AGAIN) on minimalist styles.
Sorry for my face harhar..

I love the comfortable look that minimalism creates. By minimalism, I don't mean black and white, or primary colour blocks like Mondrian paintings, but just single pieces with either block colours or patterned fabrics. Being a mathematician, I have an obsession with patterns, finding patterns and creating patterns. Sequences, order, form, shape, space, depth, anything related to that field I would boldly and proudly wear. The white shirt I'm wearing in No.3 has a lace back, gorgeous pattern and completely see through. I'm a big fan of Japanese prints and it took me a whole half an hour in the scorching heat of the backstreets of Kyoto to look for the perfect geta (wooden clogs) for myself.

I'm a great great fan of Alexander Wang, if you're not familiar with his 'T' label, I suggest you check it out right now:
http://www.alexanderwang.com/shop/womens/t-by-alexander-wang/

I love how all his designs are block colours, no fancy printed patterns, but if you go up close, he mixed different fabrics and strange cuts here and there to build on the simplicity. He's very body conscious, all his pieces are chic and sleek. Yet very comfortable, very practical. Even if he does do patterns, it'll be geometric or use a few very basic shapes.

In one of my favourite interviews of him, he said: 'I'm not here to reinvent the wheel. Humans have two arms, two legs, and a head. You need to have clothes that fit that body; you want to look attractive, and you want to look like you can walk out of the door and not trip.' This quote basically sums up my current idea of fashion: to look beautiful, but feel comfortable and confident in wearing it. Check out the interview here:



Here are some designers to look out for if you share an interest in the minimalist field:

Kai Kuhne:

Bernadette Penkov:

Helmut Lang:

Okay, just a little bit more about minimalist music..

Again, huge fan. Notably Steve Reich, Michael Nyman and Philip Glass. I was lucky enough to be able to perform a choral piece written my Michael Nyman at the Southbank several years ago. It was absolutely crazy, humming octaves etc, but the effect was amazing.

Steve Reich.. if you know me personally, I would have ranted to you about his music at some point. I went to see his works performed live at the Barbican several months back, and saw him personally perform the Clapping Music right in front of my eyes. Here's the empty stage on the day:

My favourite pieces from Reich has got to include 'Different Trains', and also the less well known 'Violin Phase'. Watch this video, and if you can work out what is going on, cookie for you :)



Right now though, my style has developed into a liking a second hand clothes (I dislike the word vintage, it's so overrated), more precisely second hand clothes from my mum's times. But I like it with a touch of modernism, for example an old jumper with old leather pants but with platform shoes, bright headband, fringe bag etc. So for the retro part, washed out colours, pastel colours, old shirts men used to wear, thick jumper, lots of wool, lots of faux fur. Update about my recent very cheap second hand/vintage haul @ The Rag Factory and Thrift Store East End tomorrow I promise!!

Okay! i think that's enough posting for today :) goodnight world from London! xx