Booty at the booty...

So while I have not blogged I have of course bought new things.  Plenty of time to go around charity shops and antique shops (I work at a school which is why I get the time off) means new purchases to show off.  

Firstly I went to a new (to me) carboot sale at Pannel in Harrogate.  This is on a Sunday at 8am onwards.  I was not overwhelmed by it but did pick up this DKNY T-shirt for a bargain 50p!  It is really nice quality (28% wool) and is hardly worn.  It is a keeper.

At the same carboot I spotted this hanging off somebody's car.  Tip - people tend to put their good stuff behind them on their car so always look up and check what is there.  This is a 'Vivienne Westwood for the Sock Shop' Leotard. I am pretty sure that this is from the mid 90's (correct me if I am wrong) and proves that designer collaborations are nothing new.  It was a total find for £5.00.

I also picked up a red cashmere jumper (M&S) for £3.99 at a charity shop and an amazing vintage disco dress.  The charity shop had saved up all its vintage items and I timed my visit well to get the pick.  I did find a hole in it later on which is a lesson in checking things before you buy them, which I am terrible at.

On Sunday I went to Wetherby carboot which is huge.  As soon as I walked in, at the first stall stood this vintage Anya Hindmarch bag.  For £4.00 it came home with me.

In London I spotted this under the glass counter, another tip, always look here as the staff at the shop put what they perceive to be the good stuff here.  I was not sure what it was if I am honest but really liked it anyway and googled it afterwards..... it is a currency wallet. The other side has a yellow and green zip on it.  £7.99 from Oxfam in Angel, £160 from Smythson.

WARNING THIS MAY NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK!

So the booty in the title refers to this!  It is a planter from the 1960's and again came from Wetherby on Sunday.  Another bit of proof that you really never know what you will come home with.  There were two ladies there who were going to go to London for a vintage fair but decided to take it to the carboot when the weather forecast for the South was bad. The stall was amazing (I should have got pictures) but this stood out.  I did not have enough money (rooky error) but my co-pilot HH would not see me go without it and spotted me £20.  This is a lot more then I usually spend on carboot items but I knocked her down from £25 and I just love it, it makes me laugh.

Ready for the front and back view?!

I have had a HUGE clearout as well.  My wardrobe was getting to the point where it was depressing me with the amount of things that I did not wear for one reason of another so I started there.  It got a bit addictive and I found myself carting bags of things to the charity shop on a weekly basis.  I even got my husband to finally clear out his wardrobe.  I am still getting rid of things now, it is quite cathartic. 

My main rules are:

• If I have not worn it for over a year it goes, unless it is jeans or a coat.
• I only need one, I tend to buy the same thing over and over when I should just get the best one. 
• If in doubt get rid of it.  Yes this sometimes leads to regrets but let someone else enjoy it.
• Once it is in the bag, no going back.  I usually take it to the charity shop that day so that I cannot rummage.
• Gift aid, not only does it raise loads more money for the charity, they also write to you and tell you what they raised with your things.  This really is just to make you feel good.  
• I Ebay the top price stuff so that I can treat myself after the clearout.  

So getting rid of things is also making me want to buy less and is helping to see where I go wrong.  A lot of time I just buy things in a charity shop because they are cheap and designer and not because they are my style.  They just end up boomeranging back to where they came from.  From now on I am going to try and buy things that I will wear.  My new rule is "If I would not buy it for £50 I won't buy it for £4", this is unlikely to stand. 

Japan

So I have not posted for AGES as I have been away to Japan and had a few weeks off work.  This should mean that I have plenty of time to blog but perversely it works the opposite way for me.  So I am back at work today and therefore motivated to blog. 

Japan does have a lot of vintage designer shops.  They had some really cool stuff but it was insanely expensive.  It was like torture as the shops really only sell the best - Chanel, Hermes and Louis V galore but not enough money (and a watchful husband) meant no purchases.  If I had all the money in the world these would have come home with me.  The Hermes bag is about £6,300 and the Chanel about £975. 

I thought that for a change I would show a few things that I did not buy.  Japan was just brilliant for crazy things that I had no idea existed, such as:

These plastic cutters are so that you can cut children's lunch into cute shapes.  They come for rice, sausages, eggs and seaweed (for the faces).   Sometimes I struggle to make myself a sandwich so I cannot imagine going to this much effort everyday.  Kawaii!

This was an eyebrow guide.  Basically hold up the stencil and then trim away!

My favourite was the single donut carrier.  Who could live without it?

Before I went away I finally treated myself to this much coveted Liberty Barbour.  I had no intention of buying it (despite wanting one since they came out) but I was in Liberty having a bit of cake and they tweeted that they had the new ones in.  Well 15 minutes later I was handing over £220 for one.  The lining is beautiful and I absolutely love it, I feel like it is a friend for life. 

I also bought this cashmere Chanel dress from Ebay for an unbelievable £86!  That is about what an M&S cashmere jumper costs! 

I wanted to have it shortened but was advised against it, it also felt quite wrong to mess with Chanel.  So it stayed long and I was so glad because it was the perfect item to wear on my flights, it was like wearing a cashmere blanket.  Here I am enjoying my first flight! 

I cannot tell you how great Japan was, it is just a wonderful, wonderful country.

I forgot this from Sunday!

I forgot to write about this gem I found at the Wetherby carboot sale.  It is an equestrian, coach hide bag with a tiny little saddle on it.  It reminds me a lot of the Dior bags of a few years ago but I love it because it is like that but totally original as well, you get the feeling that Dior copied one of these rather then the makers of this copying them.  Anyway it was £8 (knocked down from £10) and I absolutely love it.  

New favourite shop

I also bought this in the Hobb's sale.  I am not usually a Hobb's shopper but I must say that they have really upped their game with a Whistles-esque make over.  I spotted this a few weeks ago and when I saw the sale was on had to have it £59 down from £89.  I am also lusting after the matching dress and a few other items.  I love the quirkiness of this and wear grey cardigans to death so I will def get my moneys worth out of it.

Annoyingly I bought this before the sale and it now has £10 off.  I love the masculine cut with the feminine details of the twisted collar. 

This weeks buys

So this week me and me friend, HH, hit not one but two carboot sales.  The first was one in Glasshoughton.  This was EARLY (7am) and I was rewarded with a pair of cropped Prada trousers for my efforts.  They cost me the princely sum of £1!  Even better they fit perfectly, I just need to dry clean them and they are ready to go. 

We then set off to Wetherby carboot which is at the racecourse.  Now this is not for the faint hearted, first you need to queue to get in (70p entrance fee) and then it is massive. At numerous points we got to the stage of wanting to give up and go home as it was red hot (I now have a VERY red neck teaching me the importance of preparing for warm and cold weather!) but the thought of bargains ahead kept us going.  And boy did the sale provide.

Soon after getting in I spotted this....

Now this is a perfect example of why people get up on a Sunday morning and go hunting. My first thoughts were "That looks like a Louis Vuitton", then when I picked it up it was! My next thought is "Well she is going to want good money for that" and she said £4!  I nearly ripped her arm off for it.  So £4 later it is mine. A downside with carboot sales is that they are crammed with fakes, I am fairly good at spotting them and usually go by the thought "If in doubt leave it". This however has a suede lining, monogrammed zip pulls and is not one of the popular monogrammed fakes. I am pretty sure it is right.  Even better I just checked Ebay and one sold this afternoon for £155!  This is why I get up and go hunting - the treasure is just waiting to be found! 

Further finds today included these amazing mugs. I am so pleased with them, my heroin mug is a friend for life! So unusual and it just goes to show you never can tell what you will come home with! 

A normal post! Buys of the week

So after all my previous essays, this is what I want the weekly blog to be like.  My buys of the week:

A blue Frank Usher vintage dress for £6.99 from St Gemma's in Leeds.  St Gemma's is a hospice which does amazing work.  They also have a fine array of charity shops across Leeds.  It is a little tight across the bust but the detail is so beautiful I had to have it!

I have been after a white tuxedo jacket for a while.  This is not quite what I wanted but for £8.00 it is an amazing summer jacket, its by Autograph for Marks and Spencer and looks unworn. 

This weeks Ebay purchase.  I like the Carrie skirt for Whistles but at £120 I feel like its a one season wonder and that everyone has it.  So I put 'pleated skirt' in Ebay and up popped this beauty.  For £3.20 I really don't need it to last more then a season and can give it to the charity shop for someone else to love when I am done with it.  I am wearing it with a black tshirt and chanel ballet shoes (an Ebay purchase for about £100)

Finally I got this coffee set for £4.99 at the local Help the Aged shop. I love the cups so much, little tulip numbers in nude! Vintage amazingness (in the background Liberty tea cosy - Liberty is my favourite shop ever)

Best so far

So I thought I would give you a taste of my taste in clothing and show you some of the things that I have bought so far.  I can honestly say that I never buy anything unless I really like it so the £1 things are loved as much as the £200 things.  I imagine that some of you think that I spend too much on some things and that is fine but I do not really buy new, never hit primark for six sackfuls of things that I won't cherish forever and if I do splash out its usually a classic that I will wear for years.  It also keeps its value so if you do get rid you can get most of if not all of your money back. 

Anyhoo, to the good stuff!  I apologise for the photography, I need to get back in the swing of it. 

This yellow dress is a vintage 70's number that I got from Ilkley carboot a few weeks ago. It cost all of £1!  It originally had more white frills around the sleeves but it was a little too much so I removed them.  Its hanging on an original Warhol Chanel print that I got on my honeymoon, a lovely reminder of the best holiday ever!

Next is something that I waited a long time for.  It is a Stella McCartney dress from a few seasons ago. I wanted it as soon as it came out but it was a mind blowing £827 on net a porter!  (http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/30215).  So being the obsessive, crazy person I am, I bided my time and finally about 3 months ago - BINGO! - there it was on Ebay.  I feel that if you want something it is worth waiting for and I am not a slave to trends. It cost me £100 and will be worth every penny when I wear it to my friends wedding in a few weeks time.  In the background is my Timorous Beasties wallpaper http://www.timorousbeasties.com/ - also from Ebay. 

Finally this is the Lanvin dress from a dress agency in Manchester.  It was £230 but I knocked her down to £200 on it (unusual for me but it was too much).  I would not usually spend so much on something but once I had it on I felt amazing, like I was floating on air and that I did not ever want to take it off.  Its two pieces of raw silk a black grosgain belt. It was worth the money as I feel I will have it forever and have already worn it to a wedding.  There are many more nights out to be had in this beauty. 

This was a purchase from the same car boot the other week.  So soon after the Royal Wedding I felt I had to have it for my friends wedding (for which hats are encouraged) - £1 later it is mine, I will be wearing it with the Stella Floral number. 

Here is the best of the rest.  Highlights of all my purchases, including orange bag by Louis Feraud (£4 Charity shop find), satchel (£1 Carboot find), Wooden bag (£5 charity shop), Chanel basketball (£20 Ebay), Chanel sunglasses (£25 on Ebay), brogues (£20 ebay), skull print silk dress (£5 on Ebay), Stephen Sprouse bullet leggings (£20 Ebay), leather moschino skirt (£50 French Ebay), YSL pink trousers (£4 charity shop), Bloomingdales bag (£2 carboot) 

My all time favourite bracelet - £1.00 from a charity stall in York.  Its so much like a Lara Bohinc and I always get comments on it.  Underneath is Style A to Zoe by Rachel Zoe - I would recommend this book.  Its really great.  Style books are a favourite and I will blog the best at a later date.

Now this is something special, a Chanel duffle coat.  I found it on French Ebay (a regular haunt) and having only ever seen one before on Atelier Mayer for £1500 could not resist when I got it for £200.  However it is oversized and I only got it lately so it remains unworn.  I think I may need to sell it on, which will be a sad day. 

Finally, a selection of jackets including my favourite ever, my Luella biker jacket.  This cost me £40 from ebay and the YSL badge on it cost £15 from Ebay!  I wear it with everything and everybody wants it!  Behind it is a Victor and Rolf for H&M trench.  It is absolutely amazing and cost me £25 from Ebay.  This is a major recommendation, don't queue for high street/designer collaborations. If you are happy to wait then these can be picked up for a song.  Also shown is a studded leather jacket bought after seeing this seasons Burberry show, I have yet to wear it as its a pretty fashion forward look!