Missoni for Me!

I love all accessories-belts, bags, purses, scarfs, so I was especially pleased when out for a midday Sunday drive, All Aboard charity shop was open and I picked up this Missoni Foulard for only £2! I love the colours and it has a gold lurex thread running through it-definitely one of my favourite items!!

Bag Lady

I know a lot of girls out there tend to be in two majority camps-Bag-a-holics or Shoe-a-holics. Mind you, I have a feeling that there is a majority camp of Bag AND Shoe-a -holics. Myself, I fall into the Bag category. I'm not sure if I can class myself as a bag collector as such, as I am quite picky and fussy over the bags I own. Once I am fed up with any, out they go-either for sale on EBay or to the charity shop. Once I know I love a bag, I have it for keeps.

Here are some of my very favourite ones:-)

Blue Gucci Bag, from Chigwell Boot Sale, £6

My all time favourite, Gucci Black Patent Vintage Clutch,

from Wanstead Rugby Club Boot Sale for £4

Anya Hindmarch Vintage silk ivory and gold spot Clutch, £3,

from my local Sue Ryder charity shop

My trusty go everywhere, Louis Vuitton Speedy

My Purple Leather Fendi Spy Bag

I have less than twenty, so I can't be a Bag-O-Holic as such, but I try only to keep the bags that I absolutely love, even if I haven't used them yet or use them regularly!

All Things 1980s

On Saturday, I picked up a brand new, vintage 1980s blouse from 'Chelsea Girl', which has since been rebranded to 'River Island'. I remember back in the eighties, Chelsea Girl, Topshop and Miss Selfridge were my all time favourite places to shop- Chelsea Girl was the nearest to my workplace back then, so I purchased a lot of my clothes from there, especially the items with lycra content-ie: leggings, cycling shorts, all in one catsuits, as were the trends back then!

I imagine if this top had of been worn by its original owner, it would have been paired with a pair of leggings, lurex legwarmers and white stilettos (typical Essex girl and eighties fashionista wear), but I intend to wear this top at some point with some skinny jeans and high wedge sandals.

Chelsea Girl Satin Dove Grey 1980s blouse

This led me to thinking about the eighties-an era I'm particularly nostalgic about, as that was when I left school, started work, partying and clubbing-oh, what happy, carefree days!!

Favourite things I can remember are:-)

Watching avidly Dallas and Dynasty, enjoying favourite music such as Blondie, Spandau Ballet, Luther Vandross and Alexander O'Neal. Purchasing my very first car, a bright orange battered up Ford Escort Mark 2, my pride and joy, getting my first perm (no I don't have any pictures!) and generally enjoying life to the full, with no responsibilities!

Celia Birtwell

These images are from Celia Birtwell for Topshop's 3rd collection. I did originally purchase the Navy Marie Antoinette dress, which fitted lovely, but I returned it, as the material was very sheer and flimsy and I feared any movement would render a torn dress very soon in the future. I since purchased the Flowers for Puccini dress, which is an ideal summer dress, as it is backless and jersey, so making it very wearable.

I have noticed that with some of her collection, the material can be sheer but durable and sturdy, such as the Mystic Daisy blouse I have, but items such as the Marie Antoinette Dress and the Monkey Puzzle blouse (which I do also have, but was a bargain on EBay) are sheer and the material not quite the quality you would like. I have also heard the black floral bias cut maxi dress in her 3rd collection which retailed at £150 was not the quality expected either.

According to Susannah Frankel's article in the Independent-'A Life in Print' with Celia Birtwell on 7 February 2008, her 4th collection is due out this spring. I look forward to this very much.

I don't always source my Celia Birtwell collection directly from Topshop, as I find EBay is the best place for this. All the items I have so far were less than half the original retail price and brand new with tags, so for me, this is an ideal way to top up my collection.

I do believe that Celia's pieces are vintage collectables for the future.

Ossie Clark

As you are aware from my blog and website, I am an ardent Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell fan. I do however have two major regrets regarding my appreciation of Ossie.

1. The Sale of my first Ossie Clark for Radley dress (full story on my website) which happened because I was not fully appreciative of Ossie and collecting and because I needed the money :-(

2. That I was not into Ossie pre May 2004- a big mistake, as I missed out on the Victoria and Albert Museum's retrospective, which by all accounts looks like it should definitely not have been missed.

Ho, hum........so I reconcile myself by checking out my favourite websites, which all offer a good dose of Ossie Clark images and items for sale.

This dress is the same print and material as the one I sold, but mine was a short sleeve version without the neck detail and in mint condition (boohoo!) This dress is currently for sale on C20Vintage's website-check it out!

Lovely images of Ossie Clark's works of art, currently shown on the Victoria and Albert Museums website.

I still am looking out via boot sales and charity shops for that elusive find-wish me luck!