Showing posts with label vintage bags. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vintage bags. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Just for me
Thrift shopping is not always about finding a great unique piece. Sometimes the piece finds you. My all time favourite second hand shop is in Belgium, and every time I go back home - even if it is just for a weekend - I have to stop by and have a peek. The shop has gone through a makeover in the last few months : funky wall paper, crazy chandeliers ( not for sale, unfortunately!) and their latest addition...a grandma's wardrobe full of vintage coats, hats and handbags! I was still opening the entrance door as I saw this beautiful straw-weave handbag peeking out underneath a pile of vintage leather and vinyl purses at the bottom of this treasure wardrobe. In two steps I was there and picked it up, clutching it tightly before anyone else could get their eyes or hands on it ( yes, my sweet mum-and-thrift-shop-ally included... sorry mum!). I didn't even look at the beautiful sixties coats and cloche hats, all i wanted was this bag. Funny enough, I was told by Yuku, the lovely lady that works there, that this bag had been sitting there for weeks and she had been thinking about me (she knows I'm handbag crazy) and knew I would have bought it if I had the chance to be there...and there I was. I paid and left, packed it in my suitcase and now she's here with me in excellent condition and ready to enjoy her second life in England as my new favourite bag!
A note: both mirrors and the closet in the picture are from the same shop!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Crazy Retro Shopping Day

At last Saturday 8th March arrived. I had been waiting weeks for my Crazy Retro Shopping Day. Every year my favourite thriftstore and many others in the country organize a Retro Market and it is becoming a really big thing, last edition was great but this year me and my mum went crazy. I told her to be up and ready by 8.30 so we would be in time for the opening at 10. I thought we could take our time looking at everything and commenting of fun pieces. But forget that, when we arrived at 10.10 the shop was already full and everyone was just grabbing whatever they could find! Being the thriftstore addict that i am, i already went on exploration Thursday to check if they had displayed any retro items...and came home with 5 beautiful bags! I picked up another 5 bags from my favourite thriftstore that Saturday. And after visiting 4 Retro Markets in and around Antwerp that day it added up to a total of ...15 I don't want to sounds like some crazy bag lady, but these bags are hard to find lately. Everyone is into vintage and i see more fashion people visiting these shops whereas before it was junk collector addicts like myself.


Things didn't end here. In Antwerp i found a beautiful yellow sixties coat that i just couldn't resist. I love the buttons, i love the A-line, the yellow is still fresh and popping and what really made me buy it was the tag inside. This coat came from a well-known couture shop in Antwerp, the kind of shops my mum's godmother - a true sixties style icon for my mum and her sisters - would buy her outfits from. It just makes me dream and wonder about the owner of this coat...was she beautiful? Stylish? Did she have a bee hive hairdo and matching yellow shoes? Was she 16 or married? Ahh somethime i think i should open a musuem for all my vintage finds, i could go on forever!



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