website listings

Twiggy: more than a keyword….

british boutique movement, celebrity boutiques, sixties, twiggy, website listings

Twiggy’s own label was a brief, beautiful contribution to the world of the British Boutique Movement. Click here to see my previous blog about it. The pieces are rare enough, but it can often be hard to find them online when her name has become merely a ‘keyword’ for the masses of unlabelled minis and hacked off maxis floating around in vintage land.

However, Vintage-a-Peel always seeks to bring clarity to the vintage world, so I don’t use such keywords. Except now I have an actual Twiggy dress for sale, so I can. Hurrah! Stunning striped cotton mini with blue satin buttons down the front to match the blue satin ribbon around the waistline. I love the tiny, ever-so-sweet detail of the top button though, which is covered to match the fabric of the dress. It’s even lined in cotton; a detail which would simply never occur to anyone nowadays (and is far nicer than supposedly high-end designer pieces even from the Sixties!). Wearable and so sweet, but also immensely rare and collectable.

Now listed over at Vintage-a-Peel

Vive la France!

marie france, quorum, seventies fashion, website listings

Vive la Marie France! Stunning bamboo printed jersey goddess dress by the mysterious Marie France, who once designed under the Quorum banner. Deeply plunging and deeply gorgeous….

£145 over at Vintage-a-Peel

Edited to add a link to a pic of the fabulous WendyB in a very similar Marie France dress she bought from me (I think!!) ages ago. I knew I remembered having a similar one and thought it might have been on Wendy’s blog, so many, many thanks for jogging my memory! Doesn’t she look GORGEOUS? You could look just as gorgeous as WendyB in the bamboo version…

HMS Pinafore

david hamilton, Foale and Tuffin, Inspirational Images, jeff banks, miss mouse, ossie clark, seventies fashion, Vogue, website listings

I love this shoot from Vogue, July 1972 by David Hamilton (not diddy DJ David Hamilton, I am assured) who seems to have specialised in these dreamy, misty, blurry photos which capture the spirit of a perfect, hazy English summer’s day…

I love pinafores and mock pinafores. Something harking back to my childhood, no doubt. I went through a very bizarre phase (I was rather prone to them, I must confess….) where I couldn’t bear to wear skirts or trousers. I was convinced they would fall down, they never felt secure or tight enough, even shoved up under my armpits. So I lived in dresses and, mainly for school, pinafores.

She sells seashells…

bus stop, lee bender, novelty prints, seventies fashion, website listings
Oh Lee Bender. How I do adore thee and thine tendency towards the novelty print….

Stunning dress from Bus Stop in a divine, and unusual, seashell print navy cotton. With wide kimono sleeves, tied waist, plunging neckline (there is a hook and eye, but personally I think it ruins the line….and, well, I like it a bit sluttier. So there!) and high collar. Yum yum yum.

Available over at Vintage-a-Peel

Whoahhhhh Black Betty…

betty barclay, seventies fashion, website listings

Betty Barclay, that is. I’ve had that song going round and round in my head while I’ve been working on this today. So I thought I ought to inflict it on you all, as well as showing this gorgeous new listing. Oh how I wish this dress were my size…

L’il batch of l’il ol’ listin’s…..

bus stop, georgina linhart, harold ingram, jean varon, john bates, lee bender, mr darren, roland klein, seventies fashion, wallis, website listings


Woohoo! Finally. As many as the Great British Weather will allow right now (*shakes fist at dreary grey skies*)…..enjoy!

Remake/Remodel

alexander mcqueen, biba, bill gibb, bus stop, janice wainwright, john bates, lee bender, ossie clark, seventies fashion, sixties, website listings

It seems a bit strange to be relaunching the site after yesterday’s terrible news about McQueen. He was one of the few modern designers I had any respect for, because he was original and strived to be different. I never had the money or occasion to buy any of his work, but I do vividly recall gasping in delight at his work in Harrods (when I was 18 and used to go around there for kicks, and sneer at the finishing on certain other designers’ garments) and toddling off down the road to buy a very, very McQueen-y rip-off in Miss Selfridge. He had that kind of effect on you; his clothes (after you stripped away the spectacular catwalk shows) were pure genius and extremely womanly. May he rest in peaches (see my previous post about YSL).

Designers like him are what inspires people like me into our little niches in the fashion world, and I thank him profusely for that.

So…yeah…the website is back up. It’s been a bit Remade/Remodelled…..and definitely restocked. There’s Ossie, Biba, Janice, JohnB, Billy, Lee Bender; basically you need to go and have a look, don’t you? Go on, you know you want to…..





Back! And front, and side. Fabulous from all angles

bus stop, cathy mcgowan, clobber, dove clothing company, jean varon, jeff banks, john bates, lee bender, seventies fashion, sixties, website listings

For various tedious reasons, I’ve been a bit quiet on the old website listing front in the past month. But I’m feeling much perkier now, more inspired and oh boy have I got a lot of goodies (just listed, and in the works…). Watch out world!

Right now I’ve just listed an incredible John Bates for Jean Varon dress (1973, just check out the original advert from Vogue), a chocolate brown rayon crepe Lee Bender for Bus Stop beauty, a Dove Clothing Company deep cobalt blue cord maxi dress (perfect for walking through wintry landscapes), a super romantic cream damask Clobber (a.k.a Jeff Banks) dress with flutter sleeves and trailing ribbons….and finally, a slinky blue Cathy McGowan dress with the most gorgeous sleeves and pleated front detail. Yeah, Cathy McGowan….that’s pretty darned rare!




The Icing on the Cake (or, The Bow on the Butt)

butt bows, mary quant, mod, sixties, website listings

Ahhhhh….you have to love a butt bow. I was rather surprised to see a butt bow on a Sixties Mary Quant mini dress, but surprised in a good ‘oooh, the girl done good’ kinda way. It’s an adorable dress anyway (and perfect attire for a mod french maid) but that’s just the icing on the cake; the bow on the butt. Anyway, it’s a new listing over at Vintage-a-Peel – please do check it out!

Tops-y Turvy

Foale and Tuffin, jean varon, jeff banks, john bates, lulu, seventies fashion, website listings

I will hopefully be back to normal blog programming soon, lots to share as always, but I’m in a ‘listing zone’ right now so I’m making the most of my prolificacy. Enjoy! There’s Foale and Tuffin, Jeff Banks, Jean Varon, Lulu and a superb unlabelled 1930s crepe bolero…..scrummy!!!