Bette Noirs Vintage and Hand made fair

What a cracker! Lots of fabulous clothes on sale at the fair.

We've just about recovered from our recent fair ~ and what a fabulous time we had!  Loads of stalls with vintage and handmade goodness, and hundreds upon hundreds of happy shoppers through the doors.

We're already planning our next edition for 10th December ~ join us on facebook to keep up to date!

Here's a few of pics of the day:

Amazing 1960s black dress I picked up for £25, cheeky!

Who can resist royal memorabilia?

Loads of fab vintage accessories

What a cutie, he found his way to a happy home 

The Return of 1990s Grunge

Ok, OK, don't panic! If, like me, you remember wanting to look like Claire Danes, insisted on putting a flower on your floppy hat and begging for hand painted Doc Martins, then this blog will not please you. It's official though, the 90's are now 'retro' and trend wise, its creeping back. All I can say is - thank goodness there wasn't Facebook in those days because the thought of my heavy brown matt lipstick and crop tops all over the web are enough to make me drop my push pop.

One of the easiest trends to adopt is the floral skirt lengths as rocked by Shannan Doherty in Mallrats [below].  Cropped vintage print dresses that are thankfully worn with heavy opaques and rich winter plum colours, personally I'm going to be wearing with tights, but the braver amongst you may prefer the slightly more raunchy over-the-knee sock.

Shannon Doherty rocking a 1990s floral dress

Image reblogged from http://fy-wgg-rock.tumblr.com/

Of course, the majority of the grunge look was inspired by the sounds of the decade, and for the most part that was grunge bands that were blowing up out of Seattle.  For an edgier version of this look, you can't beat the king and queen of 90s grunge: the late Kurt Cobain and his wife Courtney Love.  They may have taken it to the extreme with their unwashed herion chic look, which no one should want to re-create, but thankfully the 1990s re-visit is more about being inspired by elements of this look such as plaid (dresses for girls, shirts for the boys), layering with oversized knits and of course Dr.Martens classic 8-holes.

Grunge for girls was all about taking that nice lace dress or cute floral outfit that your mother would like, then layering it with chunky beat up boots, oversized knits and the obligatory matt lipstick in shades of red, burgundy and brown into a look that your mother really wouldn't have liked.  For boys, it was a case of plaid, plaid and more plaid, mixed with washed out band t-shirts, and occasionally even the odd floral dress.  Much of the grunge era clothing would have been bought from thrift stores and charity shops - you really didn't need to spend much to get this look yourself.  In fact, the more worn out your clothing was - the more grunge you were.

We've got plenty of check shirts, vintage band t-shirts, vintage florals and battered knits in store at Uncle Bucks so you can easily create this look yourself ~ and of course if you're looking for inspiration then check out our grunge heroes here:

Melissa Auf der Maur of the Smashing Pumpkins [style notes: check the matt red lipstick and floral dress with lace trim]

Image re-blogged from franciscofloresart.wordpress.com

 

Kat Bjelland, Lori Barbello and Maureen Herman of Babes in Toyland

 Image credits www.last.fm

Babes in Toyland work the grunge look.  Style notes: more matt red lipstick, and lace dress, toughened up with black boots [not seen]

Reblogged from www.ear.fm

Courtney Love with obligatory red lippy, and ivory dress with black opaques

Image from anotherdelirium.buzznet.com


Rock on!

Getting crafty for autumn...

We're already looking forward to the autumn collections ~ and having had a sneaky peak we're going to be making sure we've got all the vintage you need to look current ~ but with that special unique edge that being a vintage vixen gives you.

One of our fave looks for AW11/12 is the 1970s crafty comeback.  Think macrame, crochet and homemade knits across bags, belts, coats and well, pretty much everything.  For catwalk inspiration we love House of Holland's multi-coloured crochet clothing - dresses, jackets and skirts made out of what looks like the crochet blankets my mother made me and my sisters back in the 70s:

House of Holland's crochet clothes AW11/12

For a more subtle take, get inspired with Rodarte's neutral toned loose knit midi skirts - slamming two AW11/12 trends in one:

Rodarte AW2011/12

 Or mix it up like Christopher Kane's punk take on the homespun trend with inky black cashmere crochet pencil skirts mixed up with leather jackets:

Christopher Kane AW2011/12

So, if like us, the catwalk's a little out of your budget, and of course being vintage fans you're probably looking to stamp your own mark on this look, there's nothing like making your own clothing for that truly unique vibe.  We suggest that you check out Crochet Ninja's blog here - it's got everything you need to get you started on crochet - or if you need a little help, then do what we're gonna do, and scour charity shops for handmade blankets to make up into your own garments.


Of course, if that sounds a little too much like hard work then we spied these ready made items already available - We love all the hand crocheted garments at Annie Briggs' Etsy store - and suggest you check out all her 'hip threads with a feminine edge', our favourites are these two fab skirts:

Annie Briggs' crochet skirts

Keep real with crochet!

 

These boots are made for walking...

These well worn leather cowboy boots are just the ticket for festival wear ~ or indeed just mincing around town ~ pair them up with florals and a battered denim jacket, or for the real deal with a fringed suede jacket and Stetson and rock them down your local line dancing club.  All the way from the good ol' US of  A. Yee ha!

Vintage brown leather cowboy boots size 8

I love these black ones too, they've got a weird iridescent greeny blue tinge to them, kind of like what petrol looks like when it's spilt on water.  Maybe they were designed for a urban cowboy?

Vintage black leather cowboy boots size 8

These brass toe capped boots are my favourites - just add spurs and a whiskey sour.

Vintage black leather cowboy boots with brass tips

 And of course, the best thing about this kind of boots, the more you wear them, the better they get!

Midi skirts ~ frumpy or flirty

Farrah Fawcett rocking the midi with fellow Charlies' Angels

It seems as though mini skirts have been in for eons, indeed, a lot of our customers ask us to chop inches off our vintage dresses to make the skirts mid thigh, rather than their original mid calf length.  However, times are a-changing, and as more and more longer length skirts hit the high streets, it looks like midis might be staging their comeback!

As vintage fans, we love a demure mid-calf length, so flattering and so elegant ~ but yes ~ there are concerns that they're simply not sexy, not to mention un-flattering on those more petite ladies.  But fear not! As these vintage vixens prove midi lengths do not need to be frumpy, and if you aren't blessed with giraffe-like limbs, just make stack heels your best friend this season.

Maria Scheider mixing up prints on her midi and blouse combo, with co-star Jack Nicholson in The Passenger

Our vintage inspirations for this seasons look include ~ Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde, Maria Schneider in The Passenger and Farah Fawcett in general.

Beautiful!

Fay Dunaway means business in Bonnie and Clyde, with a rather dapper Warren Beatty

My vintage obsessions - suitcases!

One of my favourite things about vintage items is imagining how they would have been used and/or worn and by whom.

What kind of glamourous parties did that fabulous dress go to?  Who on earth thought that hideous purple jumpsuit would suit them? and so forth.

This is all good, but when it comes to vintage suitcases ~ the imagination can run riot! Originally I started getting in vintage suitcases as scene setters for the shop - they provide useful storage for fabric and coathangers, and work as useful displays for scarves, ties and braces - like this:

 

A case full of braces ~ with checkered lining paper

However, what I really like doing is looking at the travel stamps and stickers, and peoples' names and addresses and wondering about the exciting journeys they would have had.  They hark back to a time when people actually dressed up for travelling, and the voyage was enjoyed as part of a trip, a whole world away from today's sweaty airport lounges filled with track suit wearing sunburnt tourists, jostling for position at the departure gate in a bid to get those envied close-to-the-emergency-exit seats for those extra inches of leg room.  Warm sandwiches for £6.50 or pre-mixed G&T in a plastic cup?  No thank you!

A stack of vintage cases

Anyway ~ have a gander at these beauties and think about those glamourous cruises, and elegant trains of yesteryear....and breathe.

1940s leather suitcase used on SS Asturias

This suitcase went to sail on the SS Asturias, which was used in World War 2 as an armed merchant cruiser/troop carrier between Hong Kong and the UK, and then after the war was used on the migrant run to Australia until 1957.

I wonder if the owener of this suitcase was off to an exciting new life down under?

I found this suitcase at a house clearance in Plymouth.  It was from an elegant Georgian house near to the Plymouth Hoe, and the well travelled owner had lots of fabulous clothes from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, much of which was in perfect condition and some even with the labels still attached.  She did a lot of travelling, particularly to America and Canada, and had many suitcases including a set of 3 blue suitcases like this one.  They were all covered in stickers, and show her travels on various cruise lines, includind the Cunard sticker you can see here.  What exciting adventures she would have had.

Vintage well worn suitcase!

This cute red suitcase was used as an evacuee's suitcase during WW2, no doubt carrying precious items such as a well worn teady bear.  I hope that the owner was happily reuinited with their family post war.

WW2 childrens suitcase

I rather like the shape of this suitcase - a little larger than a vanity case, but a nice size for a weekend trip away.  I don't know the back story of this beauty, but it is rather stylish all the same.

Fine blue vintage case

I do hope you enjoy this special pieces - I am always on the look out for more, so I shall post on more when I track them down.

Hello and welcome!

Greetings ~ if you are reading this, then welcome to our blog!

We're just in the process of starting this whole thing up, so if you're reading this, then we are probably still working on it....but stick around, and stay tuned for our vintage fun and games.

Much love

Uncle Bucks x