Fox Fur stoles

Good evening fashion fans

This weeks exciting installment has been brought to you in association with Ebay! I do love Ebay.  Love love LOVE.  Little squeaks of excitement there.  Ok, I am a bit of an addict, truth be told. I have this thing I like to do.  Which is this. I like to read Vogue and Elle (ok and Look, shusshh) and see what everybody is wearing and then I like to go on to Ebay and see if this translates into what is selling.  And guess what?  Sometimes it does for about 5 minutes (when everybody goes crazy and pays £80.00 for a 70's cape that opened at 99p) and sometimes it doesn't (capes are now not really going above £25.00).  Which is not good news as I have a fab one on my website.  What do you mean you have not seen it?!  I may be dropping the price soon so you may want to go looky.

So Capes are hanging around in the not up or not down area at the moment.  What we need is for a well known celebrity (Cheryl Cole going into the X factor on a cold and wintry day) to wear one and then its back up to the supercool spot once again.  Can you see where I am going yet?  Or (ooh more squeaks of excitement) Kate Middleton (ah yes, and they are of) wandering around Prince William's country estate wearing one.  Well if everybody is going crayzeeee for her navy blue £159.00 Reiss dress they will most certainly go crazy for everything else she even looks at for the next like, well forever.  Imagine, like IMAGINE! If the lovely Kate were to buy something in say, a vintage shop, that could resurrect a whole new trend for just about anything.  The possibilities are endless!

Now what am I supposed to be talking about?  Went a bit of track there.  Ah yes, fur stoles.  And not just any fur stole, oh no no nooooooo.  I am talking about mink heads, tails and all sorts of interesting combinations of animal body parts.  Two mink joined together upside down?  No problem.  A strange never seen before animal that resembles a mink but has 8 legs and ten tails?  You got it.  Do you know?  I really don't like it.  Not at all.  When I see a dead mink head with its strange "eyes" that looking like anything but, I am actually want to scream "yukky yukky yukky" at my screen.  Really.  And sometimes I even do.  Who is buying these nasty things?  Who?  Who?  I want to know.  Its that bad now that I am going to see who is bidding on these and see if I can discover their identities, in the manner of Inspector Jack Frost or Poirot or some such.  I am going to stalk these people and hunt them down until they are dead, dead, dead! Ok, no I am not actually going to do that at all (Scotland yard, not action required).  But, I DO need to know as I want to know if there is something I don't know going on here, like a mink head revival.  Whatever it is, I will find out.  Oh yes.

And another thing.  And this I find really funny (strange but not Ha ha) fur coats on Ebay are selling for much less than faux fur coats.  Now, how strange is that?  These coats must have originally cost something like an entire years wages (well, you know) and now they are reselling at a tenth of a price of Tops shop's brand new faux fur leopard print coat. Its a funny old (fashion) world.

And with a sweep of my coat, I am off. 

Zoe X

Hmmmmm

I have been doing a little bit of research this week and have discovered that my website is not at all like other vintage websites.  This is because (a) it is quite rough around the edges still and not quite the shining shimmering diamond I want it to be and (b) has more stock than all the other vintage websites (Vg, as Bridget Jones would say).  The huge amount of stock would explain why our little flat is in such a tip at the moment.  So lets not dwell on the negative and realise that, this indeed must be a good thing! Ok so we have discovered that I am more of a John Lewis (that's a department store) to you and I than a little tiny shop.  Like say... well I don't know, you can use your imagination on that one.  Picture a little shop in a town, not a chain or anything.

Sadly I have not been successful in securing a pitch at the spectacular Bloomsbury lanes vintage fair this weekend but that's ok, I shall keep trying.  I may even go myself for a spot of private shopping for moi.  Or I might not depending on how the school Christmas party goes the night before.  lets just say these things can get more than a little messy.  In which case I fear I may not be going anywhere the next day. 

More next time

Zoe x

Top Shop

I just had to log in and share (aka rant, its possible.  lets see).  I went into top shop yesterday.  I don't normally go in there because if I have a gaggle of kids (OK, two but that does include a pushchair which is like a sherman tank) with me its impossible to move about without getting in the way of all the young trendies who are busy shopping.  So as it was just me and the other half we had a quick nosey.  I was enticed by their window display of a faux fur collar so went into to see how much it was.

After a lot of looking (said item so popular there was only one left) I found it and to my utter disbelief it was £25.00.  So from this I can only gather that there are people out there who are willing to part with their hard earned cash to buy something that is made of scratchy stuff that only vaguely resembles something like fur.  I was most upset because as home I have a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL! faux fur stole from the 70's that I am selling for £20.00 and it is (a) wider (b) longer (c) soft (d) lined beautifully with the softest sateen and (e) can be worn as a scarf, a stole, something to throw on if its a bit cold over your cardi. 

Aaaaaanywaaaaay (breathe) I have decided that between that and the rows of £98.00 leopard print coats and other 60's styled coats (more scratchy collars) all of which I am selling which are miles better and so much better value for money - I need to have a rethink.  I need to bring my things to the customers of Topshop.  These poor misguided girls are being ripped of and not being given value for money.  All I have to do now is find these people.  Where are they? (apart from Topshop, obviously).  How old are they?  How do I find them and get them to look at my website? Hmmmmm.  I will find the answers to these questions, I will indeed.  And when I do, Topshop will be sorry.  Oh yes.  Woaaahaaahhhaaaaaah!

So whats this all about then?

Thanks for coming to visit.  I hope its worth it and you don't feel the need to click of or navigate away or something due to intense boredom.  This little blog is going to be the story of how I make a vintage business from scratch.  If I was a TV production company it would be on channel four with a voice over from somebody like Dervla Kirwan or some such. So, welcome to my little business.  I am not a little fish in a big pond, I am a tiny minnow in an ocean full of killer whales.  Which makes me quite small.  Small but with big ideas and world domination in mind.  I have a notebook which is full up with ideas.  See?

So, lets get to it.  Today I did my first ever vintage party.  Two weeks preparation for an hour an a half of disaster (dizaaaaztaaaaaar).  It started with losing the Alun key for the clothes rail.  So this meant that said clothes rail was v wonkey and possibly a safety hazard (if I am being honest).  So I had a coffee, which I then managed to knock flying spectacularly all over everything but it was a 1930's silk dress - the most expensive item I have - that bore the brunt of it. I then went outside for a bit of "fresh air" (cough) and consequently got locked out.  Then as I was waiting to get back in, I saw somebody trying to nick something.  So banged on the door like a lunatic.  And so the fun and games went on until somebody tried to buy my own Cath Kidson bag of me and threw the contents all over the floor before realising that bags that are for sale generally don't have nappies, baby wipes and tampons in them.  I eventually left in disgrace to discover that the now broken clothes rail would not fit in the car and so had to be left in the church porch (causing, no doubt another safety hazard).  I am going to go back to it tomorrow after the school run, but only in suitable disguise.  I have a 1950's pink bathing cap that would be just perfect.

Tune in for more dizaaaaztaaaarrrs next time.

Zoe x