Christmas Shopping.

Until a couple of weeks ago I didn't feel like winter or Christmas was ever going to come; I was still more than happy to walk around in skirts without tights and hands without mittens but ever since December dawned and I've started waking up in the morning excited for my advent calender chocolate (No matter the age, I always want a calender), I've had to face facts: Christmas is in 19 days and I need to wear warmer clothes and start to turn my heating on.
I remember when I was younger and by mid November every Sunday my mum and dad would take me and my sisters to a different town/Christmas market/family member to start Christmas shopping. We'd sit in the back of the car, cuddled underneath our parents coats listening to the classic Christmas CD (Wham/Slade/Band Aid) and I loved the build up, it felt like there was all the time in the world to get excited. As I've turned 23 this year and I've got my last major hand in for uni on the 12th of December before I start my Final Major Project in January I feel like time has just escaped me and I need to buy everyone's presents now and write those Christmas cards now and sing Christmas songs NOW oh and make 3 dresses/4 harnesses and complete two sketchbooks..
This is where I feel like shouting HALLELUJAH and rejoicing for online shopping, don't get me wrong actually looking round shops and touching things and feeling things would always be my preferred way of shopping if I had the time and the money (online shopping I can actually give myself time to make considered purchases...). With a click of a button I managed to get my boyfriends/friends and sisters presents within about 30 minutes and I than sat back and rewarded myself with a Christmas film and a hot chocolate and a feeling of guilt to my bank balance and awaiting coursework.
I've also been looking for a cute 60's inspired dress for Christmas day and think this one would be perfect !

Brick Vintage: 60's dress

What have you been buying this year?

1920's Fashion

I've recently found myself becoming completely absorbed in 1920's American fashion, which I can thank mostly to the current project I'm working night and day (literally..) on for my course at uni.
When you first think of the 1920's you could be forgiven for instantly thinking of the romanticism intertwined with feminism and a new found voice for 'flapper' women; however let me take you a bit further into the state of the American economy during this period and then out of the towns and into the countryside where many families were struggling to keep their heads above the poverty line that was part of their everyday life during the economic depression.
Flour Companies at this time were selling their goods in cloth feed sacks and during a time when mass consumerism had yet to appear on the horizon and fabric was too expensive for the households of the poor, this cloth was used to make garments to clothe the backs of children, husbands and wives.
As newspapers published articles for the handy housewife on fashionable patterns for their feed sack dresses, the flour companies manufacturing these sacks saw an opportunity to compete with each other for their customers with hundreds of different patterns and colours and even used ink that washed away their logo so that nowadays it can be hard to even begin to identify if a dress was infact made from a flour sack.

Matching dresses in the 1920's

When I first began researching into this period of American 'fashion' I loved how novel it was and how it felt dressed up to be something 'fashionable'; unfortunately nowadays we live in a society that thinks  nothing of throwing out 'recyclable' fashion season after season and always being able to afford the latest catwalk driven trends thanks to the corporate companies of the high street.
There was a time when women not only had to sew their own clothes but had to use anything to make them; feed sack fashion was not only a sign of desperation and poverty but also of the beauty of a community joined together in learning how to live and to be happy in the hardest of times and I think thats something worth remembering?

Check out this cape! Vintage fashion recycles beautiful garments for generations to wear and enjoy!

Brick's First Outing,

Hey all, apologies for the lack of communication via our Blogger..

We have been a little busy with the website and promoting and our very first vintage stall which took place at Northampton's Guildhall yesterday afternoon, 

Here's the link if you fancy taking part or even popping along http://www.facebook.com/VintageFair

It's always nice to see the people who buy your stuff and of course there's a huge atmosphere of vintage lovers in there, like a big cosy vintage community blanket.

Take a look at our pictures to see what i mean:

Bricks very own, first vintage stall

The set up

The beautiful celling 

There's a few more hipster instagrams on our facebook & twitter pages:

facebook.com/brickvintage

twitter.com/brickvintage 

We also have a few more dates in the diary with Judys Affordable Vintage Fair:

Sunday 3rd March - Cambridge

Saturday 16th March - Market Harborough