If you are reading this then it means you have found www.lovelysvintageemporium.com and you can now browse all my gorgeous vintage finds. I have never had so much fun! I have worn 'pre-loved' pieces since my teens and worked in vintage shop Steinberg & Tolkien at weekends when it first opened on the Kings Road in Chelsea in the early 1990s. Sadly it closed in 2007 but by then I was a grown up (sort of) and was busy collecting my own vintage.
For this new venture (we launched in March 2011, when this blog post was written) I have been unearthing the most beautiful and individual pieces that I can: from a 1940s blush-pink tea dress with cute pearl buttons to some rather wow 1980s Chanel rainbow-coloured earrings that deserve a party of their very own.
On my journey to find unique and exquisite vintage clothes, there are so many wonderful back stories and characters to my finds. I would like to share just one of them for you now.
I was invited to visit a charming older lady to view her wardrobe. After driving down various winding lanes in torrential rain we came to her country house and as I parked she appeared - tall, elegant, blonde bob - from a 'greenhouse' and it was the most glamorous greenhouse I have ever seen. It was the size of a one-bedroom London flat but with stunning stained glass panels and an earthy, mossy fragrance.
Inside she took me over to her 'potting table' and there laid out, on pieces of fragile tissue paper, were some 1970s Yves Saint Laurent bottle green sandals she had bought for a society wedding to match her kaftan dress, and a turquoise Jean Varon evening dress.
She told me, 'My husband came home with this for me for a ball - he has exquisite taste'. She then showed me a beautiful bundle of 1920s silk scarves that had belonged to her American aunt who 'loved to be driven round New York in a Rolls Royce! After deciding which pieces I would take away with me she then ushered me into her warm kitchen (thanks to an Aga of course) and gave us homemade cake and Earl Grey tea.
It was quite the best afternoon ever. As I am now collecting vintage for you please do let me know what you think about this online boutique, what you like, don't like and would love to see on here.
