The slogan Make Do and Mend was everywhere in wartime britain to encourage women to spend coupons on food and bedding etc rather than fashion. As most people could sew in those days, it was not such a hard thing to do but if we have another war, I dread to think what would happen to the system!
The bag. The picture doesn't give the lovely blue green colour credit. Not so dissimilar to the style of Mulberry's Alexa... I can dream. One day it will be mine.
A silk head scarf/ belt from 'Absolute Vintage' where I also spotted the most incredible vintage burberry trench. Love. But slightly out of budget.
My other purchace from 'Absolute Vintage' The slight sparkle in the stripes drew me to it like a moth to the flame....
The whole cardigan. As I only have half a term of school uniform left before we can wear our own clothes, I am stocking up on chunky knitwear to keep me cosy in winter, and knowing England, probably summer!
My prize buy. I found these trousers for £10. They are of a comfortable material, my perfect and favourite colour for clothes, grey and are possibly too good to be true as they also fit perfectly!! There was an activity on a touch screen where you were given the amount of coupons you have to spend and the cost of all the clothes that I consider basic necessities (Picture below). It is so hard to cut down! Try it!
Besides these obscenities, that I sure as hell could never cope with, there were some things recognisable and not so different to todays clothes, like the pussy-bow shirt and some brown brogues.
I do think that there was a lot more glamour in the 40s that we dont have now. Even though people were so restricted in what they wore. I once heard that because they could not afford tights in the wore, women used tea-bags to make their legs darker! An earlier St-Tropez it would seem!
A selection of day, night and under wear at the museum. ( Sorry about the horrible picture quality- the combination of using my phone camera and the glass over the exhibits is no good!)
Said brogues, and below is a children's dress made out of maps! That is 'make do and mend' taken to extremes!
As it was it was not long before my interest fizzled out and we went in search of cake. Chocolate in fact. And a cappuccino. That was the definite highlight of the morning! Seeing as we got up early and spent the morning relatively productively at the museum, we (Me, Susie and Ellie- my cousin) were granted an afternoon of shopping time, provided I returned for maths tutoring (I know...) at 5:30. With 4 hours stretching ahead of us we jumped on the tube to Liverpool Street Station and made our way to Spitalfields Market (Definitely my favourite place in London) and after some browsing, I managed to haggle a bag down to £17 (Picture below!) and then we started to make our way through the maze of back streets to Brick Lane and Cheshire Street, home to the magnificent Beyond Retro. I could genuinely live a perfectly happy existence within the confines of that shop!
Some rather jazzy shoes that are surprisingly easy to walk in!
It was, in the end, the most successful shopping trips I've had in a very long time and I didn't buy anything [too] unnecessary! Although I've been there a few times, this time made all the difference as for once, I was armed with a list telling me all the cheap places from my older and much wiser next door neighbor Paige. Other than a small fight with my mum about career choices and slight terror of losing Ellie in the busy market (She didn't have her phone so goodness knows what I would have done had she left my line of vision), the day ran smoothly and I have no regrets about any of my purchases!
Besides these obscenities, that I sure as hell could never cope with, there were some things recognisable and not so different to todays clothes, like the pussy-bow shirt and some brown brogues.
I do think that there was a lot more glamour in the 40s that we dont have now. Even though people were so restricted in what they wore. I once heard that because they could not afford tights in the wore, women used tea-bags to make their legs darker! An earlier St-Tropez it would seem!
A selection of day, night and under wear at the museum. ( Sorry about the horrible picture quality- the combination of using my phone camera and the glass over the exhibits is no good!)
Said brogues, and below is a children's dress made out of maps! That is 'make do and mend' taken to extremes!
As it was it was not long before my interest fizzled out and we went in search of cake. Chocolate in fact. And a cappuccino. That was the definite highlight of the morning! Seeing as we got up early and spent the morning relatively productively at the museum, we (Me, Susie and Ellie- my cousin) were granted an afternoon of shopping time, provided I returned for maths tutoring (I know...) at 5:30. With 4 hours stretching ahead of us we jumped on the tube to Liverpool Street Station and made our way to Spitalfields Market (Definitely my favourite place in London) and after some browsing, I managed to haggle a bag down to £17 (Picture below!) and then we started to make our way through the maze of back streets to Brick Lane and Cheshire Street, home to the magnificent Beyond Retro. I could genuinely live a perfectly happy existence within the confines of that shop!
Some rather jazzy shoes that are surprisingly easy to walk in!It was, in the end, the most successful shopping trips I've had in a very long time and I didn't buy anything [too] unnecessary! Although I've been there a few times, this time made all the difference as for once, I was armed with a list telling me all the cheap places from my older and much wiser next door neighbor Paige. Other than a small fight with my mum about career choices and slight terror of losing Ellie in the busy market (She didn't have her phone so goodness knows what I would have done had she left my line of vision), the day ran smoothly and I have no regrets about any of my purchases!
The bag. The picture doesn't give the lovely blue green colour credit. Not so dissimilar to the style of Mulberry's Alexa... I can dream. One day it will be mine.
A silk head scarf/ belt from 'Absolute Vintage' where I also spotted the most incredible vintage burberry trench. Love. But slightly out of budget.
My other purchace from 'Absolute Vintage' The slight sparkle in the stripes drew me to it like a moth to the flame....
The whole cardigan. As I only have half a term of school uniform left before we can wear our own clothes, I am stocking up on chunky knitwear to keep me cosy in winter, and knowing England, probably summer!
My skirt has still not arrived and I'm praying that it will before Friday!
Ellie goes home today and I have a suspicion (actually I know for a fact because she told me) that Brick Lane wasn't her scene. I think I might have thrown her in the deep end of vintage shopping but hey, its an experience right!
I will definitely post after LFW if not before so stay stylish!
LB xx
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