A Grand Day Out, Vintage Style!

Yesterday was good. In fact it was very good – a grand day out to be more precise!  Not only did I get chance to spend the day shopping vintage but I brought along one of my oldest friends, Bridgette, and two brand new sparkly friends, Beth and Andrea.

Before I go on, let me tell you how I met Beth.  I feel that she’s been drawn to me by some unknown, magic force.  I received a rather lovely email from her last week.  It was completely out of the blue and really made my day. Beth awoke at 3am and promptly found me on the worldwide web.  She congratulated me on my lovely website (she has exquisite taste, what can I say)?!  Having read one of my previous blog posts on ‘The Vintage Scarf‘ she realised that I was based in Manchester. And, as luck would have it, Beth only lives about ten minutes away from me. She also has a love of all things vintage.  I just knew we’d hit it off!  Beth originates from Virginia and has lived, on and off, in the UK since the 1980’s.  What were our chances of ever meeting?

Chic Boutique

I met Andrea a few short months ago. I think we initially met on Facebook and I just love her friendly disposition, humour and of course her beautiful handmade petticoats.  Andrea hails from Liverpool and I’d interviewed her a while back for Catwalk Threads. Being in the NorthWest of England, it would have been rude not to venture over for a grand day out, and a rare opportunity to get the girlies together for a chin wag, shopping and quite a lot of giggling to boot!

So, off we set, bright and early with Bridgette’s Sat Nav geared up and raring to go! It took us almost an hour to reach our destination but this was a chance to get to know Beth a bit more. What a gal! I don’t think we stopped talking the whole journey. The lady Sat Nav speaker kept on rudely interrupting our conversation every now and again. However, I let her off as she did get us to our destination – eventually!

A girl can NEVER have too many!

First port of call was Chic Boutique in Crosby (20 Bridge Road, Crosby, Liverpool, Merseyside, L23 6SG). This lovely vintage boutique and dress agency opened last Saturday so we were all eager to have a good old nosey around and find out more. We drove around the corner, as per the instructions from our faithful lady Sat Nav, and there it was, all purple framed with gold lettering above the door.

So eye-catching and pretty and in such a great spot with lots of passing trade. It has the most amazing window space that would have most fashion boutique owners going green with envy!  It’s owned by Lizzi, a mere slip of a girl at nineteen and with the looks of Jennifer Aniston – it’s so not fair!

Flirty 50's Skirt

Lizzi is a lovely girl and made us feel very welcome.  She has lots of plans and ideas for Chic Boutique including a re-arrangement of the window space with antique dressing table and luscious velvet curtains. Lizzi also plans to bring in a range of vintage jewellery and I’m hoping that Beth can help her out with that one.  There’s no website planned for Chic Boutique just yet but if you’re a wholesaler or seller of vintage merchandise and would like to stock the shelves of this lovely vintage store, please contact Lizzi at chic_boutique@hotmail.co.uk.

There were lots of lovely things to choose from including a selection of cute vintage handbags, blouses and dresses.  I decided on a fabulous flirty 50’s skirt with a gorgeous novelty weave in black, green, white and red. It’s a fully lined skirt made from a super-high quality fabric. So eye-catching! I couldn’t resist!

My vintage 50's Velvet Suit

We then said our goodbyes to Lizzi and on to another vintage store called Unique Vintage.  You can find them at 47 St John’s Road, Waterloo, Liverpool, L22 9QB. We almost drove right by until my friend Bridgette screamed out something about ‘a vintage dress to die for‘, so I slammed on the brakes and found us a parking space pronto. No-one, but no-one gets in the way of Bridgette when she’s on a mission to shop! She was already rummaging through the vintage offerings at Unique Vintage before I’d even gotten out of the car! You go girl!  Bridgette can smell a bargain at fifty paces and has a great eye too. She is the perfect shopping companion I must say.

Annemarie has been running this vintage store for about twelve months but has owned the place for seven years in all, selling furniture in it’s previous life. The window was awash with vibrant colours, feathers and vintage nick-nacks. Bliss! It was ‘fair to bustin‘ with vintage stock and I came across the most divine vintage 50’s velvet skirt suit; made in Mayfair by London Town. Oh the colour, the cut, the fabric, the . . . . Beth could see that I was positively drooling at this point and promptly removed the suit from my grip to negotiate a £5 reduction in price. Like I say, what a gal!  Ooohh, the velvet is so lush. You just won’t find anything like this on the high street and a complete bargain at only £25!  It fits me like a dream!  I shall be wearing this to posh Christmas parties and anywhere that I need to look like a vintage siren!

My dreamy belted skirt suit!

Well by this time our blood sugar levels were dwindling and we just had to have a bite to eat and a lovely cuppa. We drove on from Unique Vintage and found a great little cafe and ordered the most delicious lunch, chatted over our vintage purchases and enjoyed a well earned cuppa. It’s hard work but someone’s gotta do it!

I just want to finish by saying a massive ‘thank you‘ to my lovely friends for a fabulous day out!  Bridgette, Andrea and Beth, you are amazing!  So looking forward to visiting Liverpool very soon and something tells me, this is the start of something really great! Let’s hear it for the girls! Yay!

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