Vintage Inspired High Street

How do you feel when vintage becomes popular and creeps into the high street?

Actually, scratch that... I'm not sure exactly why I'm asking it as a theoretical question when vintage as a look has been 'in' consistently for the last few years. Admittedly, the main high street brands are full to bursting of a very different kind of 'vintage inspired' clothing - carbon copies of the kind of things I wore in the mind-90s. It's made me realise why people get het up about 70s and 80s being considered vintage, when they lived through it the first time. I'm not that old, I swear.

Awwh... I'm old. :(

That aside, anyone who's ever read this blog knows that I am not averse to picking up a bit of high street fashion to supplement my real vintage and authentic repro. Providing it isn't a complete rip-off as these things can so often be, that is. So I was quite pleased to find these basic, long-sleeved pencil dresses from Topshop - only £24 and available in some good dark colours and a few jazzier bright ones. Add a belt, seamed stockings and a cardigan, and they are super comfortable, practical and flattering! I must actually confess at this point that I am unable to wear around 99% of my considerable wardrobe due to putting on weight... something that I am addressing and hope to resolve before it gets really cold. I do not intend to buy anything bigger - it's something that no-one should ever do!

The good thing about these cheap and cheerful but comfy dresses is how easy they are to throw on at a moment's notice and still look put together, smart and (hopefully glamorous). I had to do just that yesterday as I had to rush out to a forgotten-about engagement at the Winter Fine Art and Antiques fair at Olympia.

I'm wearing a jersey midi dress, which doesn't seem to be on the Topshop site any more but this jersey tank dress is similar (I have it in charcoal); with a Freddies of Pinewood dolman sleeve cardigan and really old shoes from Naturalizer (plus What Katie did stockings, of course). Vintage-esque, even with my hair basically unstyled, and ready in milliseconds!

Forgive the rushed pictures - we didn't take any shots of the stands as it was not really done... but they were full of the most fascinating things. Not within my budget, but if these things are in yours then do go (or just go and marvel as we did).

Do you buy vintage inspired stuff for everyday wear, or are you still a die-hard vintage and repro devotee (as I used to be, and may be still again... when I've lost ten pounds...)?

Fleur xx
DiaryofaVintageGirl.com