Finding your vintage style at Make Do And Mend

If you’re feeling intimidated by the idea of vintage shopping, or aren’t sure how to incorporate vintage into your current look, my first suggestion would be: start small. I don’t just mean with accessories rather than a full outfit (although that’s an excellent way to add a vintage vibe to modern clothes) I also mean visiting a small boutique rather than a cavernous warehouse to try out vintage shopping. 

Make Do And Mend in Pop Brixton, the box park of food stalls and bars on Brixton Station Road, London is a small but perfectly formed shop, full of fabulous vintage clothes and accessories carefully chosen by Sarah, who started Make Do and Mend in 2013. As well as sourcing unique, good-quality stock from all over Europe, Sarah also works with local brands who upcycle old clothes, if you’re after vintage with a modern twist. We put together a selection of outfits to show how you can create vintage vibes from any decade, even if you can’t get hold of the real thing. 

If you can’t find it, fake it! 

Vintage clothes from the first half of the 20th Century are becoming rarer; they are likely to be expensive or very fragile, and probably not the most practical choice for every day. It’s really easy to create a mid-century look with clothes from later decades though: some 80s styles drew heavily from the 40s and 50s, and this pleated skirt could easily be worn with a t-shirt for a more modern look. 

A flower-print tea dress will always give you a 40s vibe, and this 70s jacket has the boxy shoulders and nipped-in waist that were a feature of 40s styling. Bring either of these pieces up-to-date by pairing with some denim or chunky jewellery. 

Select your silhouette

Although most decades are associated with an iconic look, that was rarely the only look around, and every decade was responsible for multiple trends: the 60s went from mini to maxi dresses, and from monochrome to psychedelia, in the space of a couple of years. Most decades will have something that will appeal to your personal aesthetic, but it’s always worth experimenting with something new. 

Although most decades’ signature looks focus on a specific idealised body type, most people (then, as now) didn’t have that body type and still had to buy clothes! Vintage shopping is a good opportunity to try out colours, fabrics or clothing proportions that have nothing to do with trends but are the style you’ve been craving and can’t find on the high street.

Be Bold

One of my favourite kinds of vintage find is a statement dress: something with a bold print that is instantly A Look even if I forget to put on any accessories. This is also a great first step into vintage shopping; with a statement dress there’s no worry about what to wear with it, and classic jewellery and accessories won’t detract from the impact.

But it’s also worth experimenting with something a little more unusual. Trousers often go unloved in vintage shops, but with fitted wide leg trousers coming back into fashion, now might be the time to try on those fabulous 70s flares. Trouser hems are an easy thing to alter (see my tutorial here), so the only “trick” is to find the proportion that is right for your body type. 

Create Self-Confidence

Most of us understand the power that the right outfit has to make us feel good about ourselves. Wearing clothes we love can make us feel more confident, and some well-chosen vintage can help you stand out from the crowd. Sometimes dressing the part even if we don’t feel it can give us the boost we need to make the right impression.

 I love the way the exaggerated proportions of 80s womenswear encourage the wearer to take up space, visually and physically, at work and at play. Any of these separates could be toned down by pairing them with modern neutrals, but sometimes part of the fun can be to go all in with a bold vintage look. 

Channel your Inner Child

Need reminding that you’re not as young as you once were (if your joints aren’t already doing it for you)? The clothes you wore as a teenager are back in fashion, although now they are “vintage”. At first my instinct was to shriek “why did I wear that?” as a rhetorical question, but as I dressed up as my teenage self I started to think about this question seriously. 

Buying clothes with friends rather than under parental supervision, sometimes with money I had earned myself from my Saturday job, was a key part of exploring who I was, and who I wanted to be, or could be. Clothing might be an ephemeral way of pushing boundaries, but it’s worth remembering that it’s an option that’s always available to us. With so much “advice” telling us what we shouldn’t wear, vintage shopping is a great way of discovering what we want to wear. If we buy clothes we love, we’re more likely to keep wearing them and take care of them, reducing our negative impact on the environment by keeping clothes out of landfill.  

All the clothes, jewellery and accessories I’m wearing in these photos are available at Make Do And Mend (except my shoes, which are from Po-Zu). Make Do And Mend is open 12-7 Sunday-Wednesday and 12-9 Thursday-Saturday. They are also involved with the Brixton Vintage Kilo Sale, in case your first taste of vintage shopping gives you a big appetite! Keep up-to-date with events and sales over on the Make Do And Mend Instagram. Pop on over to Pop Brixton and discover your vintage style! 

Packing a plastic-free holiday wardrobe

Plastics now form a key part of our summer holiday wardrobes, from swimwear to sunglasses. Fabrics made from plastic, like polyester and nylon, dry quickly and don’t crease, and pleather is becoming a go-to alternative for vegan shoes and bags.

Plastic Free July is mainly aimed at cutting out single-use plastics, but if you’re looking to have less plastic in your life generally, get creative with clothes and accessories made from an amazing range of materials. And if you can’t avoid plastics, make sure they are recycled, or reusable.

Here’s my guide to top-to-toe natural fibres.

Paper
Nothing says summer style like a beautiful wide-brimmed straw hat, but if you’re after something a little easier to pack, this visor is 100% paper and rolls up to take up minimal space. It’s also surprisingly durable: I’ve had it for years, despite the fact that it was a high-street impulse-buy by a former colleague who passed it on to me!

Silk
It feels like the perfect summer fabric to me. It’s not without its problems: it’s not cruelty-free as the moth larvae in the silk cocoons are killed (unless you buy peace silk, where the moths emerge from the cocoons before the cocoons are harvested). I’m wrestling with my conscience on this one, but I’m still wearing vintage silk clothes. Charity shops are excellent sources of secondhand clothes made from luxury fabrics at this time of year; someone else’s fear of outfit repeating could be your bargain buy!

Lycocel/Tencel/Modal
A cruelty-free, vegan alternative to silk, that is less damaging to process than viscose? Yes please! Lycocel is the generic name for fabric made from wood, and different brands have been experimenting with a range of ways to use this versatile material. The Sustainable Angle showed Tencel trainers at their Future Fabrics Expo, with every part of the shoe made from wood fibre. It can also be woven into soft drapey fabrics that rival silk, and knitted into a soft jersey that makes brilliant breathable undies.

Bamboo
I’ve raved about the excellent properties of bamboo leggings, socks and knickers in past posts. Bamboo fabric is moisture-wicking so it makes the perfect alternative to synthetic sportswear in this hot weather.

Plant Leather
My Pinatex Po-Zu shoes are perfect in summer weather; the coconut fibre and natural latex insole means my feet are supported but not sweaty throughout the day. If you're stuck in the city and you need to wear closed toe shoes to work (I don't want dressmaking pins getting stuck in my toes!) these flats are more robust than ballet flats but just as comfortable.

Plastic has become an almost unavoidable fact of life, but you can reduce your environmental impact by choosing plastic-based products that have been thoughtfully made, or by making thoughtful decisions yourself.

Recycled plastic
I bought bikinis from Davy J and Auria last year, but there are plenty of sustainable swimwear brands that are now using reclaimed plastics to make their products, whether you’re looking for activewear or something to pose by the pool in.

I blogged earlier in the year about my w.r.yuma sunglasses, 3D printed from recycled car dashboards! Another sustainable alternative is vintage sunglasses; if you need prescription lenses there are companies out there that will swap original lenses for new ones.

Buy less, choose well
Spending a bit extra on better quality clothes will mean they will see you through several summers, rather than having to go in the bin as soon as the temperature drops. None of us want to spend our holidays doing chores, but it’s worth spending a few moments a day looking after your clothes so you’ll look as fabulous as you feel on a well-deserved break.

• Put on suncream as soon as you get out of the shower in the morning and let it absorb into your skin, that way you should be able to avoid sunscreen stains on pale clothing. 
• Rinse swimwear when you get back from the beach or pool and hang it up to dry. 
• Get a case for your sunglasses and remember to take it with you! Try not to sit on them. 

Do you really *need* a whole new holiday wardrobe? I love a warm weekend when I know it’s finally time to liberate those frivolous dresses from my closet; the ones that are too low-cut, strappy or see-through for work, but are perfect for lounging in the park, or as a poolside cover-up. They remind me of past summertime shenanigans and put me in a holiday mood! Those fun, floaty holiday clothes never really go out of style, so hang on to the ones you had the most fun in, and they’ll be ready for another great summer as soon as the weather is.

Gifted and Thrifted: adding to your winter wardrobe on a budget

Upcycling project: Make Do and Mend meets modern technology!

I like wrapping up warm in cosy layers for autumn and winter, but I always end up with cold hands because I'm having to pull my gloves off to use my phone. Some shops do sell smartphone-compatible woolly gloves, but I prefer fitted leather (or faux equivalent) gloves, and I already have about a dozen pairs, so I really don't need any more! (Please don't judge me, some of them were gifts!)

I have a couple of older pairs with worn fingertips, so I decided to darn these with conductive thread, to make them stronger as well as smartphone friendly. I bought a bobbin of conductive thread online, there's enough thread on it for several pairs of gloves. I have a vintage tool for glove darning (to fill out the fingers so I don't accidentally sew them closed), but a chunky pen, or a spoon handle, would work just as well.

The thread needs to come into contact with your fingers as well as the touch-screen of your phone, so I needed to make sure my stitches went all the way through the fabric of the gloves. As well as darning over the hole in the thumb of this pair of gloves, I stitched a patch on the other thumb and both forefingers as well. I spent a couple of minutes swiping through some apps on my phone first, to work out which part of my finger came into contact with the screen to make sure I stitched the right area of the fingertips on the gloves.

To strengthen the worn fingertips and ensure the conductive thread patch would definitely work, these horizontal stitches also run parallel on the inside of the glove.

The vertical stitches catch the longer threads firmly to the glove, creating a dense patch that will make contact with my finger and the phone, and won't unravel or get caught on anything.

It was really satisfying using my phone with gloves on when they were done! I might not have quite enough dexterity to type a text wearing gloves, but I can use the camera, change my music or answer a call.

Upcycling project: wedding accessories

I’m trying to make the most of my wardrobe, re-using or upcycling the things I’m not making the most of, so I thought I’d share the results on my blog over the next few months, starting with some last-minute accessories for my weekend as bridesmaid at my sister’s beautiful wedding! 

Having spent a fair percentage of my free time in the first six months of 2017 making a wedding dress for my sister, I hadn't put a lot of thought into what I was going to wear for her two wedding days (one at a registry office in Lewes, the other at an idyllic-looking farm, complete with wildflower meadows and woodland glade) in East Sussex. I ended up being a proud outfit repeater at both events, wearing a Whistles dress I had originally bought for a friend's wedding in 2011 to the registry office, and walking my sister down the aisle and into the woods in a re-worked dress I had made and worn to another friend's wedding in 2015. Since there was no guest overlap (apart from me!) from the other weddings, and I'd just been a guest so there weren't a whole heap of formal portraits documenting my appearance, I felt justified in wearing both dresses again, particularly as I had worked especially hard on the handmade dress when I first made it. Fortuitously, it also fitted perfectly with the colour scheme of the wedding party, and there was some sentimental significance to one of the fabrics I had used; a piece of eau-de-nil beaded chiffon that I had saved after using most of it to make a dress for my sister for her Sixth Form Leavers Ball, over a decade ago. 

I'm a real hoarder of fabrics and haberdashery, even bits and pieces that don't have sentimental value, and since I'm trying to downsize and lead a slightly less clutter-filled existence, my first port of call had to be the pile of pretty things I'd bought that were just waiting for the right occasion, and the pile of rarely-worn clothes and accessories that aren't looking their best and could do with some creative repair. 

I bought these velvet leaves from Brixton vintage treasure trove Leftovers several years ago, but had never really decided what to do with them. Since no good wedding is complete without a hat, or at least a fancy fascinator, I decided to use the leaves to make a mini version of a 1940s 'calot' hat; a brimless hat that sits on the back of the head. It would sit between my mini undercut and my pinned-up hair, hopefully hiding the messy bits of my 'do! 

I used several layers of cotton bobbinet (offcuts from a layer of my sister's wedding dress skirt) to create the base, tacked together then pasted with a mix of PVA glue and water and pinned to a polystyrene head to dry! I sewed each leaf on individually, then used some felt as a lining. The final touch was to add some small thread loops on the inside so I could pin it securely to my head. Although I was worried that I might have needed a hat pin as well, the bobby pins worked their magic and the hat stayed firmly in place, even on a day so windy that I arrived at the venue in an old-fashioned headscarf arrangement so my hair wouldn't get ruined! 

One of my bridesmaid duties was to look after my sister's possessions so she wouldn't need a bag, so I needed a decent handbag that could hold two lots of make-up, an umbrella, sunglasses, phones and the notebook I'd written my maid of honour speech in! I had a white chainmail handbag that I'd bought in a thrift store in Wellington, New Zealand, but it was looking a little worse for wear as several of the links had come loose. I also happened to have a large collection of beads and broken jewellery, so I started off embellishing the bag with a couple of broken brooches.

 The first brooch I added, a cluster of diamanté and pearls, worked so well that I abandoned the other brooches and used pearls from some broken necklaces to adorn the rest of the bag. The abstract design was informed by the missing chainmail links and the number of beads available, but I was really pleased with the final result; this bag will be coming with me to any fancy functions I attend in the future!