Vintage Presents:The Classic Car Boot Sale

On Saturday 12 October over 100 classic cars and vintage vehicles will descend on to Southbank Centre’s riverfront for London’s first classic car boot sale, curated Vintage Festival. The Classic Car Boot Sale will take place on the riverfront at Southbank Centre between the Queen’s Walk, Hungerford Bridge and Jubilee Gardens. 
Traders will assemble the finest vintage fashion, homewares and pop culture memorabilia, operating from the boot of their vintage vehicles. Show stopping car displays will include vehicles of all shapes and sizes; from classic cars such as the Aston Martin DB4, to VW campervans and beautiful vintage bicycles.

The event will also boast some of the finest food traders, serving premium street food and craft beers from converted vans and campers. Traders include Engine, who serve artisan smoked sausages, B.O.B. Lobster’s famous lobster rolls and street food favourite, Bleeker Street Burgers. Drinks will be provided by Beetle Juice, a stylish mobile cocktail bar. British Music Experience’s “Traffic Jam”, a renovated Austin Morris J4 Dormobile, will have DJs playing a mix of music inspired and influenced by Lord Kitchener’s 1950s calypso classic London is the Place for Me. In between DJ sets, visitors will be invited to try out playing BME’s selection of instruments, such as a tea chest bass, ukulele and percussion steel pans.

Further musical entertainment comes from Vintage Festival DJs, who will be playing vinyl from the top of an open air London Routemaster. Also appearing at The Classic Car Boot Sale will be [re]design’s Chalkyvan, a rejuvenated campervan redesigned and upgraded to be used as a mobile chalkboard. 

Entry to The Classic Car Boot Sale is £3, and tickets can be purchased at Southbank Centre on the day of the event.

My Saturday: Covent Garden in search of Affogato!!

Hi everyone! I hope you had a lovely weekend, the weather where I am was really quite nice-Saturday seemed chillier than Sunday with yesterday being quite lovely and sunny!

Saturday saw a day out in London, covering Covent Garden and Soho in search of a good affogato, some good cuisine and a couple of fashionable treats included! After seeing an instagram of Mrs TNMA having a deliciously looking affogato (I didn't know what it was and had to google it!) I knew I just HAD to try one and wow, what a treat it was too!

Gelatorino in Covent Garden offer fabulous service and let you try before you buy- I had a mix of vanilla gelato and coffee with chocolate chips gelato, with a warm gooey hazelnut ganache and a shot of espresso, all topped off with roasted hazelnuts-what a divine mix!!

Many people were coming in simply for the gelato which was delicious of course, but I'm smitten with the affogato and will definitely have it as a treat EVERY time I visit London now, hehe!! Gelatorino is in Russell Street in the heart of theatreland and I would definitely recommend a visit there if you're in the area:

I wore my thrifted Norwegian cardi jacket-which is it's first outing and just so cosy and warm!!! Zara chelsea boots, Primark faux leather skinny jeans and my trusty black Primark cap. After my little treat we took a wander into Covent Garden and watched the street entertainment which certainly pulls in the crowds and keeps you enraptured- this daredevil was walking a tight rope and juggling knives!

I had to take a quick look into the pop up Chanel shop and had a crafty spritz of Cristalle whilst hubby got chatting to the male assistant:

After having a general browse which included a pop into Zara and a treat for me which I'll show in my next post we then decided to go and have something to eat and were welcomed in to Turkish restaurant Sofra where we enjoyed their healthy menu of mezes and lamb tagine- so very fresh, tasty and delicious and very reasonably priced too:

 I totally forgot to take a picture of my meal but the refreshing mint and lemon tea afterwards was a really lovely way to finish the meal and I knew we would have to take a long stroll to let the meal settle!

After leaving the restaurant we took a wander towards Soho's trendy boutiques and hubby treated himself to a new top. It was then we decided to take a walk back to Holborn where we'd parked the car (free parking from 1.30 Saturday to 8.30 Monday morning) and only 5-10 minutes walk from Covent Garden. There is nothing worse than bringing your car into London and getting stuck in the traffic so we research the best free places to park when we come into London now.

I'm linking this post to the lovely Patti at Not Dead Yet Style for Visible Monday and the gorgeous Claire Justine for her Creative Monday blog hop.

Wishing all a really good week ahead!

Annual PimmsFest Blogger Meet at Balthazars, London

Hi everyone! You may already be aware from previous tweets, twitter and instagram photos that I was part of  an Annual Blogger Meet held at Balthazars in London this previous weekend.

It was lovely to see the gorgeous Wendy Brandes and MrB who are always in attendance mid year during their European vacation; the lovely Kate at Twisted Skirt (and Make Do Style) who is also up date with her yearly attendance, as is the delightful Liz of Vintage-A-Peel and newbie to the PimmsFest was the wonderful  Alyson of ThatsNotMyAge who decided to change the rules with MrB and go for lager instead!!

It was lovely not only to enjoy the Pimms and lager, the wonderful company but to indulge in the gorgeous Afternoon Tea that Balthazars offer. There was a lovely variety of fresh finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam and some wonderful cakes which were all devoured with enthusiasm and lots of pleasure!! Thank You MrB!! Of course it was a wonderful chance to catch up on with everyone and have a laugh and a good old natter in the progress. We enjoyed ourselves so much we were actually asked to vacate our seats for the evening sittings-not because we were too rowdy-and just as well as Wendy and MrB may well have missed the start of their theatre performance booked!!

So here are the photos of our always eventful and lovely Annual PimmsFest Blogger Meet- only 350 odd days till the next one!!

WendyB and Kate

MrB and Liz

Wendy, Kate, Liz and Me

Alyson, Liz and Wendy

The wonderful Balthazar's

And the view to my right

Afternoon Tea and Pimms (and lager)

My annual meet always involves the wearing of Wendy's stunning rings- the Diana heart ring is my own which I bought from her a few years back and the Gravity Heart ring can be found here on her exquisite website

A fabulous time was had by all and I can't believe this has been my FIFTH annual meet out of SIX- just goes to show how blogging really does bring friends together from all around the world and different parts of the country too!

St Katherine's Dock and Tower Bridge, MyStyle Out and About

Hi everyone! Today I thought I would share some pictures from last month when the weather was especially hot and sunny where I live. We decided to visit St Katherine's Dock and Tower Bridge, which is our favourite choice for either a spot of weekend breakfast, a mint or fennel tea pit stop or just for an afternoon browse taking in the sights, soaking up the sun and a spot of people watching.

Stylewise, I was a tad overdressed for all the sunshine- I wore Wrangler tan boots, Zara bleached jeans, grey Whistles tee-both thrifted and a new Primark scarf:

I really love this part of London-to me, it can't be beaten when you want to have a chilled out, relaxing time in the sun for a while and with it only being a 15 minute drive from where we live we do tend to visit fairly frequently:

Everytime we visit I always say that when I win the lottery, I'll be buying an apartment in one of these blocks!!

The Marina has some awesome yachts and sailing boats, sigh.....

A gorgeous view of the Thames, the Shard and Tower Bridge

This was the flotilla used in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations last year

My full outfit of choice for the day!!

What is your first choice destination for getting out and about in the Sun this Summer?

London Collections:Men 2013 Hunger TV Backstage by ChrisSearle.com

Hi everyone!! Today I thought I would share with you the excellent work and photos that my eldest son Chris took at the London Collections: Men 2013 last week for Hunger TV magazine

This is his second time of covering the event and you can check out his whole portfolio on his webpage Chrissearle.com To say I am proud of his achievements to date is an understatement-he only left college this time last year and he has regularly worked and contributed photography for Hypebeast and i-D Magazine online as well as working full time in London for a men's fashion PR company-phew, he is one busy bee!!

I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I do and please feel free to check out his work too !!

Outfit Post: Red Stripes and Denim and The Rough Guide to Vintage London

Hi everyone! Yet another hectic week, the time is flying by and it's been mainly filled with work and home priorities but I thought I would sneak in an outfit post from last week.

This red and white striped Breton tee was only £1 at the booty a couple of months ago but has been a real staple in my wardrobe as it goes with everything. I paired it with another thrift find, my Gap denim jacket from the PDSA charity shop bought earlier this year and my black wet look ruched leggings. I am also wearing my new Topshop cream western style shoes that I bought earlier this year- they are perfect with leggings and jeans and I'll be wearing them a lot this season:

The weather has gone back to being windy, rainy and rather un-Spring like and it's so frustrating that summer pieces have still not been worn yet. I tend to be less adventurous stylewise when the sun isn't shining (or is it just laziness!!) but I still haven't fully adapted to dressing for Summer yet.

I was sent The Rough Guide to Vintage London last month and it's an invaluable guide for anyone wanting to know where to shop, eat and drink with a vintage vibe going on, whether you're in the North, South, East or West part of London. The guide also features specialists through the decades gone by, as well as where to go for vintage fairs, festivals, museums and nights out. There is also detailed maps so you can't get lost trying to find that special place on your agenda. The book's consulting editor is Wayne Hemingway, who originally founded Red or Dead and who now organises the The Vintage festival which will be in Glasgow this year.

I definitely recommend it, not just because I am featured in the websites section, hehe, but it really is a useful and well documented book on all things vintage in London.

I hope you all have a really good weekend, I am hoping to do a boot sale this weekend-depending on the weather that is and generally just chill out. Have a good one, whatever you get up to!!

Valentino: Master of Couture

Hi everyone!! You may already be aware that master couturier Valentino has an exhibition currently on at Somerset House in London. It is celebrating his life and work and showcases over 130 iconic and exquisite haute couture designs worn by the likes of Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Sophia Loren.

The exhibition is split into 3 sections and is accompanied by a series of talks, screenings and events- without doubt, Valentino: Master of Couture is a journey into the secretive world of Italian couture and should be a must see event for any die hard lover of style and couture.

 

Tickets for the event should be prebooked if possible and are £12.50. The exhibition runs until 3 March 2013, so if you can't get there before Christmas then this can be a New Year's treat!!

 

 

 Of course, a Valentino red dress would be the most coveted item to own and wear, unfortunately unless I stumble across one in the future I shall have to just dream of owning one. However, I was very fortunate last year on my of my boot sale trips to find this stunning Valentino black tuxedo, which has lace detailing around the collar and fits like a glove-thats proper tailoring for you. The icing on the cake was that I paid less than £5 for it and it definitely is a piece that I will keep forever:

I am really looking forward to seeing the exhibition and marvelling at Valentinos extraordinary works of art.

 

Check out what the grand master of couturier has to say on all things Primark in Vogue yesterday too!!