Upon joining the queue, it surprised me to see the variety of Bristolians that had made the journey to this renovated factory for the grappling that awaited us within. I’ve only been to this fair once before in London, and it’s safe to say that I was majorly out-quirked by the crowd there. But not in Bristol! Clearly this is a hotspot for family outings, boys-days-out and even a few older folk who you would think still have a wardrobe of their own what-would-now-be vintage clothing. Surprisingly, in the city of hipsters that is Bristol the vintage fans are relatively non-stereotypical. Not only this, they also don’t seem to understand the etiquette of queuing. If there’s one thing you learn from living in London, it’s that patience is a virtue.
Having waited my turn and paid my £1 entry, I walked into what at first glance could have been a church fundraiser. It was certainly all fold-down tables and paper signs with a musty scent hanging in the air, but their stock selection was beyond impressive. Fur coats, suede jackets, leathers, corduroy blazers - all being sold by the kilo. It was coat heaven! Rails upon rails of fantastic finds that you would pay out of your ears for on the highstreet (do highstreets still exist?). I managed to source myself two tasty blazers: one fulfilling the current ‘boyfriend’ look in a deep magenta colour, the other in a small multi-coloured dogtooth for a lighter summer layer or evening jacket. As well as these, I finally satisfied my craving for a suede jacket! I had of course been struggling to source one because they are not out and about in all of the shops at the moment, but I could not be happier with these cheap and cheerful purchases. To top it all off, I also managed to make a practical purchase, which everyone needs to justify spending their student loan on anything other than food: this year’s Christmas jumper. As is tradition for my somewhat over-imaginative friendship group, it is required to sport a disgustingly fabulous festive number on Christmas Eve, and I believe mine ticks all the boxes for this year.
How could you not have a Merry Christmas wearing this?
After finding the queue for the make-shift tills amidst the flailing limbs and garments, I spent my 10-15 minute wait hopelessly trying to weigh the bag I’d filled and calculate the damage of the morning. Behind me there was clearly an experienced kilo sale shopper, taking his friends’ bags one by one and telling them how much they would cost. I was clueless, but I was hoping for under the 2kg (£30) mark. After a heart stopping moment of the cashier announcing that the card machines are rapidly losing signal and the only money I had on my was the pennies I’d been saving for my penny jar (every little helps), I the moment finally came when my bag was weighed at a minimal 2.1kg, costing me £30 for two blazers, a Christmas jumper and a long awaited suede jacket. How can anyone disagree with those prices?
Jackets number 1, 2 and 3 (pardon the lack of ironing)
I’ve always been a fan of the winter-wardrobe, and now that I’ve experienced this haven for affordable winter attire I’ll look even more forward to its return next year. Every year we need to invest in more and more winter clothing to survive the ever-more-arctic climate in this country, and so wherever we can reduce costs, the better! I would strongly recommend checking facebook for Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fair *enter city where you live* and heading on down to a vintage kilo sale. There’s clearly a reason why half of the Bristolian population were there, because they know where to get value for money. Yes, you may have to wash your clothes before you wear them to avoid smelling like a retirement home nurse, but for good quality clothing for low prices it is definitely worth the extra effort of finding the (often) isolated locations, pushing your way through the morning and queuing for what seems like the lifespan of the clothes that you’re buying.
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