i might win a dress!

Vintage Glamour with a touch of Modern Elegance

Dress like a classic Hollywood star with Looking Glass (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com). Looking Glass first launched its label in 2006 and are now sucessfuly stocked in over 100 stores throughout the UK and Europe.

Looking Glass, as a brand seems to embody everything we have perhaps been missing in women's clothing for some time. 'The celebration of the female form' and this is exactly what the Looking Glass label is all about.

Looking Glass offer something entirely independent to what we are currently seeing on the High Street. Creative designers, Emilie Barson and Claire Davey, armed with a dedication of design behind them and a strong fashion background, the pair have produced the powerful identity that is Looking Glass. With an eye for detail, they have produced a special collection for you to buy on line, beautifully cut skirts and dresses, nipped in at the waist; pussy bow printed blouses and tailored shirts. Every product is unique, to achieve a glamorous and feminine appeal to any outfit.

This brand has a vintage theme that encapsulates the true feminine form. The vintage styling of Looking Glass translates beautifully with the modern woman's wardrobe and suits every occasion. Looking Glass decided to launch (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com) and create another element to their already fabulous collections. A limited collection has been designed purely for the website. (Looking Glass's main collection and boutique are found on (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com)

Online purchases can be made instantly and you don't even need to leave your house. Be the first to win a Looking Glass Dress by answering this question.

Name the two designers of Looking Glass?

Please email your contact details and answers to (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com), putting into the subject heading Looking Glass my space competition.

Taken from http://antiquedress.blogspot.com/

i might win a dress!

Vintage Glamour with a touch of Modern Elegance

Dress like a classic Hollywood star with Looking Glass (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com). Looking Glass first launched its label in 2006 and are now sucessfuly stocked in over 100 stores throughout the UK and Europe.

Looking Glass, as a brand seems to embody everything we have perhaps been missing in women's clothing for some time. 'The celebration of the female form' and this is exactly what the Looking Glass label is all about.

Looking Glass offer something entirely independent to what we are currently seeing on the High Street. Creative designers, Emilie Barson and Claire Davey, armed with a dedication of design behind them and a strong fashion background, the pair have produced the powerful identity that is Looking Glass. With an eye for detail, they have produced a special collection for you to buy on line, beautifully cut skirts and dresses, nipped in at the waist; pussy bow printed blouses and tailored shirts. Every product is unique, to achieve a glamorous and feminine appeal to any outfit.

This brand has a vintage theme that encapsulates the true feminine form. The vintage styling of Looking Glass translates beautifully with the modern woman's wardrobe and suits every occasion. Looking Glass decided to launch (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com) and create another element to their already fabulous collections. A limited collection has been designed purely for the website. (Looking Glass's main collection and boutique are found on (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com)

Online purchases can be made instantly and you don't even need to leave your house. Be the first to win a Looking Glass Dress by answering this question.

Name the two designers of Looking Glass?

Please email your contact details and answers to (www.antiquedress.blogspot.com), putting into the subject heading Looking Glass my space competition.

Taken from http://antiquedress.blogspot.com/

Vintage at Goodwood

Vintage at Good wood: retro chic comes of age

Vintage has had a rocky ride to respectability. The Noughties saw the word become fashionable and then ubiquitous. Kate Moss paraded her Twenties flapper dresses, Topshop got in on the act, and vintage megastore Beyond Retro in east London became a hipster hangout. From T-shirts to tea sets, it became a watered-down label applied to anything second-hand. Now the pendulum has swung back: vintage is special again.

“Today, 'vintage’ is overground and it’s hard to find a town without a vintage clothes shop,” says Wayne Hemingway, designer and founder of Red or Dead, who has collected vintage since his youth. “But when I was growing up, wearing second-hand signified you were poor.”

To channel his passion, Hemingway, along with his wife Gerardine and their children, has created the UK’s first vintage festival, Vintage at Goodwood. A three-day celebration of fashion, music and culture, this weekend’s inaugural event will feature the largest gathering of vintage clothes stalls the country has ever seen. “Vintage fashion is a win-win. It’s about upcycling [converting old materials into a new product], recycling, thriftiness and great design. I felt this was the right time to celebrate it and show people how good vintage links music, fashion and film.”

Another long-term collector, Carmen Haid, gave vintage a respectable boost last year when she set up Atelier Mayer (atelier-mayer.com), an online emporium selling gems such as Halston from the Seventies and Nina Ricci from the Sixties. “I loved Net-a-Porter, but there was nothing like it for luxury vintage fashion. We have customers all over the world who buy our pieces because they want to look different, but want good service with it.” A shop opened to follow the website in Bayswater, west London, last summer.

Vintage at Goodwood and Atelier Mayer encapsulate the movement’s new image: polished, accessible and done with passion. They show that vintage can be relevant without being overhyped. But how do you class something as vintage?

“Strictly speaking, items have to be more than 25 years old,” says Haid. “We do take things up to the Nineties, but only if it is a fabulous piece.”

Hemingway sees the lines as more blurred: “I think it takes 20 years for something to look good. For me, it’s hard to class something from the Nineties as vintage. I personally wonder how anyone can be celebrating the Eighties again as, to me, it’s too recent, but it’s fresh to anyone under the age of 30. There’s nothing wrong with different generations interpreting vintage in their own way.”

Echoing New York’s established vintage scene, there’s a new breed of shops that offer well-chosen second-hand pieces at affordable prices, and with good shopping experiences. Wolf & Gypsy (wolfandgypsyvintage.co.uk), a new boutique in Brighton, offers an uncluttered selection in an airy, wood-floored shop. “Everything is hand-picked and I want customers to see that,” says Laura Pollard, Wolf & Gypsy’s co-founder. “I display the pieces to show off their character and charm, and the space makes for a pleasant shopping experience. These days, customers don’t want to visit a thrift shop that’s stacked to the ceiling.”

This appeals to the fashionable, time-conscious customer of today – and makes perfect sense. If you’re spending the same on a vintage dress as you would on the high street, you want the same level of comfort and service. These days, we don’t want to get our hands dirty finding bargains. Unearthing a forgotten gem is a hard task, which is why shops will often search on your behalf.

But for those who can’t stomach wearing cast-offs, however good a condition, vintage inspiration is never far away. Designer labels take endless cues from fashion that’s come before: just look at Chloé’s Seventies-esque trousers for autumn, Miu Miu’s Sixties-style minis or Louis Vuitton’s Fifties-look dresses.

Canny high-street brands, including Toast, Anthropologie and Fever, use vintage shapes each season. “We visit vintage shops and flea markets in New York, Los Angeles, Bangkok and Singapore for influences in both print and shape,” says Matt Barker, creative director of Fever (feverdesigns.co.uk). “A Forties dress can be inspirational, for instance, because they were cut on the bias to get the best shape possible. We might combine a Forties cut with a Seventies print, and end up with a dress that’s really interesting. Customers don’t always just want newness.”

Taken from http://antiquedress.blogspot.com/

Vintage at Goodwood

Vintage at Good wood: retro chic comes of age

Vintage has had a rocky ride to respectability. The Noughties saw the word become fashionable and then ubiquitous. Kate Moss paraded her Twenties flapper dresses, Topshop got in on the act, and vintage megastore Beyond Retro in east London became a hipster hangout. From T-shirts to tea sets, it became a watered-down label applied to anything second-hand. Now the pendulum has swung back: vintage is special again.

“Today, 'vintage’ is overground and it’s hard to find a town without a vintage clothes shop,” says Wayne Hemingway, designer and founder of Red or Dead, who has collected vintage since his youth. “But when I was growing up, wearing second-hand signified you were poor.”

To channel his passion, Hemingway, along with his wife Gerardine and their children, has created the UK’s first vintage festival, Vintage at Goodwood. A three-day celebration of fashion, music and culture, this weekend’s inaugural event will feature the largest gathering of vintage clothes stalls the country has ever seen. “Vintage fashion is a win-win. It’s about upcycling [converting old materials into a new product], recycling, thriftiness and great design. I felt this was the right time to celebrate it and show people how good vintage links music, fashion and film.”

Another long-term collector, Carmen Haid, gave vintage a respectable boost last year when she set up Atelier Mayer (atelier-mayer.com), an online emporium selling gems such as Halston from the Seventies and Nina Ricci from the Sixties. “I loved Net-a-Porter, but there was nothing like it for luxury vintage fashion. We have customers all over the world who buy our pieces because they want to look different, but want good service with it.” A shop opened to follow the website in Bayswater, west London, last summer.

Vintage at Goodwood and Atelier Mayer encapsulate the movement’s new image: polished, accessible and done with passion. They show that vintage can be relevant without being overhyped. But how do you class something as vintage?

“Strictly speaking, items have to be more than 25 years old,” says Haid. “We do take things up to the Nineties, but only if it is a fabulous piece.”

Hemingway sees the lines as more blurred: “I think it takes 20 years for something to look good. For me, it’s hard to class something from the Nineties as vintage. I personally wonder how anyone can be celebrating the Eighties again as, to me, it’s too recent, but it’s fresh to anyone under the age of 30. There’s nothing wrong with different generations interpreting vintage in their own way.”

Echoing New York’s established vintage scene, there’s a new breed of shops that offer well-chosen second-hand pieces at affordable prices, and with good shopping experiences. Wolf & Gypsy (wolfandgypsyvintage.co.uk), a new boutique in Brighton, offers an uncluttered selection in an airy, wood-floored shop. “Everything is hand-picked and I want customers to see that,” says Laura Pollard, Wolf & Gypsy’s co-founder. “I display the pieces to show off their character and charm, and the space makes for a pleasant shopping experience. These days, customers don’t want to visit a thrift shop that’s stacked to the ceiling.”

This appeals to the fashionable, time-conscious customer of today – and makes perfect sense. If you’re spending the same on a vintage dress as you would on the high street, you want the same level of comfort and service. These days, we don’t want to get our hands dirty finding bargains. Unearthing a forgotten gem is a hard task, which is why shops will often search on your behalf.

But for those who can’t stomach wearing cast-offs, however good a condition, vintage inspiration is never far away. Designer labels take endless cues from fashion that’s come before: just look at Chloé’s Seventies-esque trousers for autumn, Miu Miu’s Sixties-style minis or Louis Vuitton’s Fifties-look dresses.

Canny high-street brands, including Toast, Anthropologie and Fever, use vintage shapes each season. “We visit vintage shops and flea markets in New York, Los Angeles, Bangkok and Singapore for influences in both print and shape,” says Matt Barker, creative director of Fever (feverdesigns.co.uk). “A Forties dress can be inspirational, for instance, because they were cut on the bias to get the best shape possible. We might combine a Forties cut with a Seventies print, and end up with a dress that’s really interesting. Customers don’t always just want newness.”

Taken from http://antiquedress.blogspot.com/