This new collection printed on silk gives you the unique Zandra Rhodes designs with the knowledge that it comes from M&S so the quality is great and the sizes too. Ranging from 10-18 and occasionally size 20  this wonderful collection is available for the average woman to buy. Unlike the Top Shop collection from a couple of years ago which came in smaller sizes and not with the refined quality we have come to expect at Marks and Spencers.

Stock levels seem to be reasonably high so unlike other fashion houses when adopting a designers work for their label, they seem to like low stock levels, like the collections from Barbra Hulanicki at Top Shop which is selling out fast.

Don’t miss this collection it is feminine and so very English.

There are many Wedding dresses available on eBay and also at Vintage clothing stores worldwide, some specialise in this area and carry large stocks of dress dating back to the 1920’s ( my personal favorite!)

When you consider that this dress is probably the most important one a girl buys in her life it would be silly not to consider looking at a dress that has stood the test of time certainly holds with the tradition , something old.

Many women opt for an particular era when they choose the design of there dress maybe even using Antique Lace etc.

Buying a Vintage dress may also save you a bob or two depending on your budget and certainly is an eco friendly alternative to buying new!

You will have to be quick or try your luck on eBay, these little beauties are selling out fast on www.Topshop.com. These shoes have been featured heavily in all the glossy magazines including Vogue and Grazia, with many pairs already worn by our lovable Celebrities.

Even Madonna has caught the bug not only has she the original shoes, but she has purchased a pair of these Topshop Boutique shoes inspired by Louis Vuitton, direct from Topshop!

We love these shoes they are the perfect for long summer nights dancing the night away and would match any outfit as they are little stunners, unfortunely they are going fast and with a heavy price tag of £120 + delivery.

19-21 Kensington Church Street, W.8

‘This is the most fantastic boutique in London, and no visitors to this capital city must forget a trip to BIBA. As you go in, to the throb of pop music, it has the appearance of an Aladdin’s cave - rails, hatstands, huge Victorian polished furniture, the floor all piled high with beautiful exotic clothes of all descriptions. Attending this magnificent scene is a collection of lovely girls in the shortest skirts to be seen in London, and they are there to take your money ( steady, man).

Money is not something you discuss at BIBA actually because the prices are amazingly low. Dresses from 3 guineas (day) to 5 guineas ( long evening), berets 9/-, hats 19/6, trouser suits around £8 and so on. All clothes are exclusive to BIBA. which is really a pocket store; they make wigs to order, stock fabulous feathered boas, shoes,handbags and lingerie, and have hundreds of accessories in multi- coloured piles on Victorian dressing tables. The place is dark, spotlit, exciting and very modern….’

Get Dresses - a useful guide to London’s Boutiques

Forward by Mary Quant edited by Millicent Bultitude

I think it sounds like heaven:)

Despite having no formal training in business she opened her own boutique in the late 50s and her second shop which was opened in 1961. From her small empire in London she engineered  the ‘Chelsea Look.’

Mary designed such popular items of 1960’s as tight, skinny rib sweaters in stripes and bold checks and knee high, white, patent plastic, lace up boots. Quant’s fashion shows and window displays were events or ‘happenings.’ She produced original clothing, that was sold in affordable prices, for a new youth-orientated market.

Mary Quant studied illustration at Goldsmith’s College and then took a job with a couture milliner, where she would spend three days stitching a hat for one customer. She came to the conclusion that fashion should not exist for the privileged few but for everyone, and especially for the young. “I had always wanted young people to have a fashion of their own, absolutely twentieth century fashion,” she wrote in her autobiography.( Quant by Quant)

In 1955 she opened Bazaar on the Kings Road, one of the first Boutiques. Quant went out to find new and interesting clothes for Bazaar. In the first week the store took five times more than she had expected. As a buyer she was not satisfied with the range of clothes available and decided that the shop would have to be stocked with clothes made by herself.

She bought a sewing machine and set it up in her bedsitter, but soon expanded, moving to a larger bedsitter where she employed a few machinists. Her designs were a big success. Her best sellers included, small white plastic collars to brighten a black sweater or dress and black stretch stockings. She experimented with balloon style dresses and by mixing large spots and checks. In the early 60s she designed the first range of coordinates ever in England with items such as sleeveless dresses and neat little pinafore dresses that featured unusual colour combination’s.

Bazaar became synonymous with the Chelsea set. “It had begun to dawn on us that by luck… by chance… perhaps even by mistake… we were on to a huge thing,” she said “We were in at the beginning of a tremendous renaissance in fashion.”

By 1961 a second Bazaar had opened in Knightsbridge and Quant decided to go wholesale, the only way to keep prices down to a level accessible to the mass market. By 1963 Quant was exporting to the USA. She went into mass-production to keep up with the demands of the US market and she launched the Ginger Group internationally. She was also presented with the Sunday Times International Award for ‘Jolting England out of it’s Conventional Attitude towards clothes.’

As her popularity grew she created the micro-mini and the ‘paint box’ make-up of 1966. She also designed shiny, plastic raincoats and little, grey pinafore dresses then producing her own range of cosmetics. In 1966 Mary Quant received her OBE for her contribution to the fashion industry. She turned up at the Palace in a mini and cut away gloves. In 1967 she said “Good taste is death. Vulgarity is life.” Her last fashion invention for the 60s were ‘Hot Pants’ which were not a great hit but the name Mary Quant had hit the limelight and she had cemented her name in British fashion history.

]]> http://www.clothes-junkie.com/mary-quant-biography-1955-1967/feed/ http://www.clothes-junkie.com/ossie-clark-spread-a-little-easter-vintage-sunshine/ http://www.clothes-junkie.com/ossie-clark-spread-a-little-easter-vintage-sunshine/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2009 10:59:58 +0000 admin http://www.clothes-junkie.com/?p=32 Spread a little sunshine this Easter with a sensational Ossie Clark vintage dress, image arriving at your Spring Ball in this little beauty, a real eye catcher. Posted only yesterday be the first to grab it before its gone, its a longtime since we have seen a bright yellow Ossie so don’t miss out if this is the dress for you!

It seems to be the season for great Ossie Clark dresses as every day a new one pops into eBay’s pages a great time to buy as his designs are highly sort after.

This one has that amazing 1970s collar and a dozen tiny covered cute buttons to fasten up the front another classic Radley dress and it has lost non of its vibrant colour.

What would we all do without eBay our window into 60’s & 70’s vintage fashion.

looking for a wow factor?  Then this is the one for you! This little beauty is presently on eBay along with several other auctions for unique Vintage Ossie Clark dresses.

He does have an unmistakable nack for flattering women of all shapes and sizes with vintage dresses and suits to fit most body shapes. I have not always been an Ossie lover but over the past few years I have gained a realization that Ossie really was an innovative designer of the 70’s.

Many designers tried to copy his unique style but non succeeded and although it is possible to buy an ‘Ossie style’ dress you cannot beat the really thing!

eBay is a great place to start as Ossie Clark dresses can be increadable expensive with prices rising into 4 figures for a Celia Birtwell print Ossie creation.

Vivienne does have a way of wowing when it comes to design and colour and of course there are those legendary tartan prints she uses in her signature designs.  This collection has also combined patent leather in stunning bright red, gold and black with matching purses and wallets.

A quick scan of eBay revealed as I expected, the bag I have my heart set on is not available……but I did find a gorgeous red patent leather Westwood Diamond! Collecting Westwood although expensive can be a good investment particularly if you happen to find a well looked after vintage Westwood bag.

Love her or hate her Vivienne is a designer that always pushes the boundaries of design, from the days of ‘Sex’ her outrageous tiny shop on Kings Road, London.  There she supplied cutting edge 70’s and 80’s Punk and Pirate gear renaming her boutique ‘Worlds End’ in the eighties. Westwood has developed a Couture empire with more refined designs and fabrics that grace catwalk shows from Paris to New York.

Vivienne Westwood always manages to thrill and is still as political and outspoken as in the 1970’s, she is one of Britains most innotive designers and her new collection of Hangbags of all shapes and sizes are as stunning and unusally as expected from such a prominent designer of this decade.

Tracking Mary’s life from birth to the mid sixties and written as it all happened by Quant herself, makes it a unique experience. The book recants some of the most fascinating stories mostly based around her shop Bazaar in Kings Road. The clients who shopped there and the antics they got up to to make Bazaar the most hip shop in Chelsea.

Quant by Quant is no longer in publication so you would need to find a copy secondhand, but there are usually a couple of copies available on eBay failing that try Amazon.