Sunday 17 June 2012

A Day at Vintage Nation!!!

It's the first year of Brighton's newest vintage event, Vintage Nation, and I went along on Saturday 9th June to see it for myself!

It took me an hour on the train to get to Brighton and when I arrived I found myself completely lost, not knowing how to get there as my map was slightly confusing! Fortunately I spotted two people dressed in vintage attire and after a small chat we shared a cab to the Festival itself.

The Brighton Racecourse is situated high up on a hill overlooking the sea, just a few miles along from Roedean School and is a beautiful place. I managed to get in using my contact at the event, Ellie, even though I'd already purchased a ticket online.

So after making a base for my stuff at Darlings Vintage where I got to meet Ellie, I decided to take a walk around.
There wasn't much on offer, sadly, a lot of 60s, 70s and 80s but hardly any what I would call, quality vintage, apart from on Ellie's stall, where I purchased the most gorgeous coat which looks 50s but is likely to be more late 70s. I then took a walk around the site, in the bar they had special dance classes but the music wasn't up to much, then upstairs in the Reception rooms a tea party was being hosted, so I sat down and waited for about fifteen minutes before deciding that it was useless, nobody was bothered about the new people who were entering the room, just the ones who had already made their orders.

Anyway, I politely left without complaint and rejoined the hubbub of excitement downstairs in the market place. There I bought two pretty pictures, each designed for fashion magazines from the 60s and after making these purchases, had my hair done in a very Pan Am style to match my genuine 1960s Pan Am bag, bought in Brick Lane in March for £30!!!
I had so many compliments on both my bag and my 1950s Marks and Spencer aka 'St Michael' blue and white stripe dress, but my bag especially. Apparently they're really hard to find and I have one!!!

I enjoyed a special Orange Crabbies Ginger Beer in the Crabbies area, along with a gorgeous cupcake, followed by scones with cream and jam in the tea party rooms, which had got their act together and were actually serving new customers.

After that, I made my way back downstairs to the marketplace, where I met up with two friends and we went to the evening Cabaret show together. The show was really good, a singer got me up to sing 'You Make Me Feel So Young' as I was eating a sweet and wearing a suitable dress, which I really enjoyed.

Despite the journey home, it was a really good day, although Brighton may want to think about the quality of vintage it accepts into events such as this, for real collectors this was a bit of a let-down. That said, I really enjoyed Vintage Nation!!!


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