Posh Swaps Blog

I was really interested to read in my latest copy of Marie Claire (June 09) about the Vintage Clothes Girls. The article was about the groups, where like minded girls gather together, perhaps with a glass of wine to share and enjoy their hobbies. The book clubs and investment clubs that were popular in the ninties springs to mind. But more recently knitting groups have seen a huge rise in popularity. Perhaps a bit of girly chit chat and creativity is what we need to destress from our super fast and hectic lives. The groups in the Marie Claire article included handcrafters, novelists and photographers but it was the friends who meet every Tuesday night to refashion vintage clothes that really caught my interest.

What a great idea, each person turning up with a few second hand or vintage clothes and then bouncing ideas off each other before trying out their ideas and creating gorgeous clothes to wear. Each person in the group has their own unique style and so can bring different ideas along. The best part of it though is spending time with friends and turning old clothes into something new.

There are lots of great reasons to set up your own refashion group:

• Many women lack social interactions and spend much of their life on a computer. Creating or joining a group is a great way to meet and interact with others. Human interactions are important for both happiness and health.
• Attending a group and being creative is a great way to releave stress. It is therapeutic to be creative and slow down enough to think about your creations.
• Discussing and sharing ideas on fashion and clothing is a great way to develop your own sense of style and find clothes that look great on you.
• Refashioning second hand clothes is a great way to recycle and get your own free sustainable style.

If you would like to set up a group to refashion second hand or vintage clothes, let us know about it and we will post details here on our blog.

picture Annie’s in Camden Passage - from www.timesonline.com

I love this floral print dress in the photo by Meormeor on Flickr. Floral prints never really go out of fashion and always look feminine and stylish.

This picture by Porkchoprules on Flickr has to be one of the best ways I have seen of restyling clothes. She says “Vintage clothes that I recycled and recounstructed and then PRINTed my PANDA.”

I love vintage clothing. It must be something to do with the fact that if it has survived this long it must be good. Vintage clothes are a great way to get your own unique style. You are very unlikely to see someone else wearing the same as you if you wear vintage clothing. You can just concentrate on vintage clothing from one period but I like to mix it up and just go for what I like the look of. I also love combining vintage women’s clothes with second hand, designer and high street pieces for a really eclectic look.

Buying and selling of vintage clothes has seen a huge surge in popularity recently. This could be due to the influence of celebrities or fashion and style blogs. It could also be partly due to the fact that it has beome so accessible on the internet.

Vintage clothes work beautifully in a modern context. Especially with the latest trend for unique, individual and eclectic style. Vintage is used by different people to describe different things. Some regard all second hand clothes as vintage whilst others refer to vintage as 1970’s and older. I say it doesn’t really matter if you love a piece of clothing then why not buy it?

picture vintage opulence coat from www.modcloth.com