I was so excited about the Angles Big Vintage Sale! Angels own Europes largest costume and jewellery collection and were clearing out 30 000 items to make way for costumes from the BBC. You purchased a bag and filled it up with as much as you could. Thats 30,000 items of genuine retro clothing and accessories from the 1920’s, 30’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s 70’s, 80’s and 1990’s, contemporary clothing and period military uniforms. It seemed far too good to be true.
My biggest mistake was not doing my research. The 8am train to North Wemberly was already heaving with Londons most stylish, indicating that we hadn’t left as early as we should have. I’d dreamt of walking straight in (almost) to find vintage Chloe Bags and Christian Dior Skirts. The reality was a 5 hour queue to be greeted by empty boxes and the tatters the early birds didnt want. Gutted isn’t the word! The hardcore vinatge goers had braved the freezing conditions and camped over night to be first through the doors which opened earlier than advertsied.
To make matters worse, we had to spend the journey home in the company of those dedicated fashionistas who were the lucky few to get in first. Those vintage aficionados and their hundreds of bags brimming of vintage treasures. They took delight in pulling out beautiful retro dresses, 80’s tweed jackets and 1920’s boler hats, parading them in front of us with stories of how they had to fight tooth and nail for genuine pieces, how they were so much more dedicated to real vintage because they were prepared to get there before the dawn chorus. I hung my head in shame.
All in all, it wasn’t a total waste of time. Because if anything i came away having spent the morning with the most amazingly dressed crowd… and thats got to count for something.
