Summer Vintage Street Style

With the lovely weather we have all been enjoying &7 took to the streets to see what the lovely vintage folk are wearing in the summer heat... 

Accessories envy with this beautiful girls wide brimmed hat and the ladies woven clutch, ease summer looks that look incredibly effortless yet full score on the style meter.

Stylish individuals from french Parisian chic left, lovely ladies on her travels from France and Elegant Mother & daughter centre.

AVFF's May Fair special

Anita’s May Fashion Fair is just in time for Wedding season, Ascot (including ladies day) and the prom season.

This event is a must for all mothers of the bride and guests looking for that perfect wedding outfit to be sure no-one has the same as you! For those race-goers attending Ascot, this is the place to find an amazing vintage dress and unique hat which will have you standing out from the crowd and even catch the attention of the paparazzi. As for the young ladies looking for a special prom dress you won’t be disappointed. Even if you have your outfit you can always find those much-needed accessories to top it off!

www.vintagefashionfairs.com

Royal Wedding Fever

Royal Wedding fever has swept across Vintage Fairs too,  amidst the big build up to the big day, &7 spotted Vintage Wedding assembles galore ... 

We do hope Kate does indeed opt for a Vintage Wedding gown...  

Happy Easter Everyone!! One of our clients AVFF are  hosting an Egg-tastic (excuse the pun) Easter hunt comp today! On their Facebook page there are 3 coloured and one golden egg, find them and like them for a chance to win some easter prizes which all include 2x Complimentary tickets to AVFF's next Vintage Fashion Fair... Happy hunting, you have until the end of the day to find the winning eggs... good luck!!

Truly Coquetteful!

 Read all about Vintage Lifestyle event, 'Coquette' at Kettners on the What Katie did Blog: 

Our map of delights

Anita's Vintage Fair & Lipcote Film

ANITA'S VINTAGE FASHION FAIRS - Mother's Day Special with Lipcote Film

Celebrating its 7th annual Spring Fair, the ever - anticipated AVFF is devoted to offering the ultimate, most authentic, vintage fashion experience.

Anita Bott, founder of the original Vintage Fashion Fairs in Battersea & Notting Hill, recognised the importance of vintage fashion and has thrown her energy and enthusiasm in this direction for close to a decade. Nonplussed by the competition, she is delighted to invite you to any one of her fairs...

A Mother &; Daughters Vintage Fair Special
20th March 2011
BAC, London

THANK YOU
to all those involved, our beauty sponsor Lipcote, BAC and & those who kindly attended.
www.lipcote.com


Music by Glenn Miller Stealing Apples

Filmed and edited by BrightRain Photographics.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bright-Rain-Photographics/147574...
http://www.andrewseot.com/

AVFF: Gemma Arterton at Vintage Fair

The beautiful Gemma Arterton attended Anita's Vintage Fashion Fair on Sunday and picked up an original 1960's dress she was also accompanied by a very cute companion...

Rebecca Hawkes

Mother's Day Special Vintage Fashion Fair

&7 would like to say a Big Thank You...

Thank you to all who were able to make it down to Anita’s Vintage Fashion Fair, Mother’s Day Special on Sunday, It was great to see you!

On March 20th 2011- AVFF hosted their 7^th Year Spring Fair at The Battersea Arts Centre (BAC). It was a fantastic success with guests, trade buyers, designers (and even some celebrities) able to sample the delights of the vintage fashion from the wide selection of exhibitors. 

Offering a unique shopping experience open to all appreciators of vintage fashion while paying homage to Mothering Sunday. Mum’s indulged in the delights of vintage fashion and were treated with some well-earned pampering. Sharing in the memories of yester-year, the styling team recreated the cherished looks from beautiful old photographs, truly a nostalgic journey for all.

Retro Photo booth. by Lulu & Mimi

As special features, there were styling and pampering from “LULU & MIMI’s” vintage hair & beauty, photo-booth team and the chance to pick up expert alteration tips from the lovely mother & daughter duo at “Recycle & Sew”, who specialise in restoring and restyling vintage clothing of all eras. 

Recycle & Sew

DJ Duo Truckin' Laura's  www.myspace.com/truckinlauras

The lively atmosphere flowed with the soundtrack of live music by Retro DJ duo Truckin’

Laura, & the Vintage Café did a sterling job in serving the delicious Afternoon tea and the extra special Red Nose Day cupcakes.

Vintage Cafe & Cupcakes

To those who were unable to make it on this occasion, fear not as AVFF will back with yet another fair brim-full of vintage treasures at The BAC on May 22^nd.

Mother Like Daughter

At a loss at what to do for your Mum this Mother's Day?... I often am, it usually ends up with flowers often picked up last minute, choccies or dinner, well this unique pre-mother's day vintage shopping experience has really got me excited...

Combining all vintage aspects; shopping, crafts classes, vintage cafe and retro photo-booth all under one roof it sounds the perfect day out for Mum and me. Luckily the fair does not fall directly on Mothering Sunday and therefore you can treat Mum with a shopping day out and then your are able to wear your new vintage finds on Mother's Day allowing another member of the family treat you all to dinning out for lunch... well that is indeed my plan.   

Anita's Vintage Fashion Fair are inviting guests to bring along their own photo-muses for the styling and beauty teams to help recreate these cherished looks, a nostalgic journey for all. 

  

For this Mother's Day Vintage special there is also the opportunity to treat mum by booking a pampering and photography session or a personal stylist via info@vintagemarketplace.net to receive complimentary entry to the fair, a free glass of bubbly and a gift bag. 

AVFF, Spring Fair Details:

Date:  Sunday 20^th March 2011

OPENS: 09:30 AM             CLOSES: 4:30 PM

Location: Battersea Arts Centre, Grand Hall, Lavender Hill, London, SW11 5TN


Tickets can be bought in advance or on the day. Please see the website for details:http://www.vintagefashionfairs.com or Call 020 8325 5789

Vintage at the Oscars

Vintage in it's original form did feature on the Oscar carpet elsewhere, and although not as prevalent or as memorable as say Julia Roberts Vintage Valentino (2001) moment and Resse Witherspoon intricate Vintage Dior gown (2006), this year there was still undertones of it... see below the gallery of vintage starlets. 

Although both ladies in their retrospective vintage frocks did not win over any critics they did however fly the vintage flag for the evening with Marisa Tomei in vintage Charles James and Elizabeth Banks chose Vintage Versace to wear to the Vanity Fair Oscar Party

Then to the almost vintage but not quite gallery...

Anne Hathaways pre-show Oscars dress was 'Valentino Archive' from 2002, Florence Welch also in Valentino Couture, the dress was more than a little vintage inspired. And last but by no means least Hailee Steinfeld wowed the crowd in a specially designed, 50's inspired Marchesa gown again praised for her age appropriate dress she again looked so beautiful and classic she could show a few 'olders' (mentioning no names) how it is done. 

Triumph or travesty Livia Firth Eco/Vintage Oscars dress?

There has been a bit of a twitter uproar, to say the least in regards to Livia dress at the Oscars. A keen purveyor of ethical & sustainable fashion, Colin Firth's wife has undertaken a 'Green carpet challenge', whereby she will only where items considered ethical or green which she then documents on her Vogue Blog. From can-ring-pull bags to fully customised items, her dresses and accessories of choice for such prestigious events have always stood out and represented her moral angle. 

For her imminent Oscars dress, consideration were in full swing months before and the designer of choice was East End Gary Harvey renowned for his sustainable collections. The Oscars being, one of the most esteemed events of the year and The Kings Speech predictably taking center stage, all lights and flashbulbs will be bountifully facing in her direction, her dress was always going to be a focal point and a major notch in her green-carpet challenge. 

A selection of the 11 vintage pieces used to make Livia's dress.

So who are you wearing?.... The question asked by Journalists doing the rounds on the red-carpet on Oscars night...

The concept behind her dress as Livia revealved, "Eleven dresses in one, vintage/thrift/charity shop buys all from the era of The King's Speech", At first we must say we thought wow what an incredible idea and to link it with the decade of The King's Speech (1930's) is a nice touch and then.... as  mentioned before the flood of shocked tweets asking the question how could she?.... how could she butcher 11 vintage dresses just just make one? 

If this was 20+ years ago most people would of not battered an eyelid if someone decided to cut up some vintage pieces, but now with the histieria that surrounds vintage and the rarity of finding garments which age such as the 1920's/30's pieces you cannot deny why people objected.  Yes indeed she looked extremely beautiful however &7 also cannot help but think that what is now going to happen to this one dress? we cannot imagine her donning such a stand-out piece again for any awards ceromony so has this now one dress made of 11 to promote stunistainbility infact reversed the idea by the lack of wear?  

&7 also think the design lends itself more so to that of a wedding dress, which in our eyes would be an item to treasure and pass down generations, and therefore the idea or remodeling 11 other dresses would of been a worth while task in that case. when &7 first heard her renounce the origins of her dress we assumed they may of been 11 well-worn, unusable 1930's dresses which were then transformed into a wearable piece, to me that made perfect sense however when we began to explore her blog and discover that some of the dresses appeared to be almost immaculate, it seemed such a shame cut away from the original/classic design and instead create a rather generic looking 'wedding-esque' gown... we would love to know what you think or feel in regards to Livia's choice of Oscar dress?

A Very Vintage Award season round up

&7 watched the Oscars live online... We thought it was long overdue for a post round-up of the award season dresses of this year. Like every young-girl-at-heart we love to look over the looks produced at the awards... dressing up and diamonds are a girls best friend....

The Golden Globes

No surprises here... this is &7's selection of the Golden Globes dresses....  how could you deny these stunning ladies.  The emerald green, long sleeve dress adorned by Angelina Jolie, and the radiant January Jones both look incredible in eye-catching Atelier Versace evoking previous eras from the strong power dressing 80's to Jones 50's glamour. 

Natalie Portman elegantly dressing, proving a baby bump can look chic (this is going to be one fashionable baby) in advantageous Viktor & Rolf.  Contemporary classics shine on Emma Stone, simplistic yet desirable.  

Some others &7 must not fore-go without mentioning the classically beautiful Anne Hathaway in a deep midnight blue gown. So great to see individualistic vintage making an appearance on the red carpet with Julianna Margulies in a sophisticated vintage Yves Saint Laurent black and pink column dress, my actress of the moment Amy Adams in a perfect fitting frock by celbs favourite Marchesa and wow Mila Kunis is an engima in yet another injection of green hues in Vera Wang.

Screen Actors Guild Awards 

Some further examples of Vintage glamour executed to a 'T' at the suitably era-esque Screen Actors Guild, was Glee star Dianna Argon who wore a vintage Chanel dress (yes the &7 team lust in envy too) and Kyra Sedwick in vintage couture Thierry Mugler. January Jones also once again looked spectacular in an ornate Carolina Herrera dress and Clare Danes really pulled of a Louis Vuitton number.   

The BAFTA's

Enough to make you proud to be British... although our state-side friends appear to have just clasped the fashion edge from us; with Old Hollywood glamour oozing from every corner tailored by the master than is Tom Ford. Evidently a talented director as designer, co-actress Julianne Moore and Eva Green appeared as silver screen goddesses on the rep carpet courtesy of Mr. Ford. Gemma Arteton looked equally elegant in her  black velvet Yves Saint Laurent gown, accentuated by the punchy electric blue bow. 

&7 was also taken back by the looks of my (and possibly everyone elses) current obession Hailee Steinfield whom is repeatedly refereed to as dressing 'age appropriate' however that aside she dresses incredibly well for a young lady of her age, personally we felt she stole the show in her Mui Mui outfit, which goes to show style is not always attributed to the age of the wearer. 

Amy Adams dress did do her justice and tone really works against her pale complexion and Emma Stone's bold Lanvin colour blocking/clashing dress really inserts a statement. 

The Brits

Btits do quirky red-carpet glam the best. Ellie Golding in an impeccable Vintage Viv Westwood dress. Welsh songstress Katherine Jenkins sexy-wartime-siren persona embraced her voluptuous curves and Paloma... well is just Paloma, apart from appearing to have been run over several times her accessories are key to her vintage inspired look.  

Grammy Awards

And over the pond to the Grammy's where brit girl Florence Welch just looked incredible in Givenchy Couture justifying her potions as Frida Giannini muse for her A/W11 collection.  

Although all the controversy surrounding Rihanna's JPG dress (when is there not?) we actually quite like it, although only Rihanna can pull it off as only Rihanna can. 

Elle Style Awards

And finally the Elle Style awards, showing that vintage and vintage homaged/inspired looks are indeed the embodiment of London; easy going 'not -trying too hard' yet very understated appearance.  

Vintage Treats

&7 spied some more Vintage Tribes:

The Era Enthusiasts

For these Era Enthusiasts it is not a hobby it is a way of life, they take on the whole lifestyle. From attending popular  ‘swing and blitz party nights’ to the ‘Chap Olympics’. The look has to be authentic and to achieve that they will aim to wear original vintage pieces from their era of choice and will do their hair and make-up to match. They tend to work within an area relating to their passion i.e.  vintage boutique or writer for a retro magazine. 20’s, 40’s and 50’s are the reported favourable eras. 

Mother & Daughter 

Daughter’s will follow there mum’s lead and imitate their style in years to come. From a younger age girls  have more fashion independence and are often raiding their mothers and grandmas wardrobe for classic pieces.

Young girls are growing up with a knowledge and understanding of  vintage clothing and seeing vintage sections in places likeTopshop and Urban Outiffters, with celebs often quoting in magazines that pieces are true originals it is now introducing vintage to this new audience.

With Vintage widely and socially acceptable today this new young generation will be the future of vintage shoppers to come.  

Vintage duo's 

Mutual shopping partnerships - with similar interests but enough difference in taste to give a fairly honesty opinion. They like to advise each other on what they think would look good on the other. 

&7 provides a range of communication, promotion and re-branding services:

Including marketing assessments & trend reports.... if you are interested in these packages please email info@and7london.com for more info. 

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