Vintage shopping in Dublin

Lucy's Lounge Vintage Store, Dublin

This is my last post from overseas and my last fossick for vintage treasure in international lands!

Unfortunately I didn't find any treasure on any of my visits to vintage stores in Dublin. As with my previous shopping expeditions in the vintage shops of London and Paris (before I was a blogger) I found that there are only two types of vintage shops in Dublin - the high end, way-out-of-my-price range store, and the 'This is really just an op-shop' type store - full of cheap and nasty 70's and 80's "vintage" (notice the quotation marks around 'vintage' in that last sentence - I think some vintage shops really need to more accurately rename themselves as 'second-hand shops').

Anyway, it was interesting to look to see what is on offer overseas in any case. It has made me realise how lucky I am to live in Melbourne where we have more affordable quality vintage clothing stores (I must note that I haven't yet properly fossicked in LA, New York or Portland, where I suspect all the great 50's clothes are).

Now onto specifics: The best store I visited in Dublin is called 'Lucy's Lounge' in the Temple Bar district. It is decorated in a very funky way, with old children's prams and dollhouses placed up on top of shelves, and is packed with stock. The stock mainly consists of late 60's, 70's and 80's low-end vintage, with lots of things around the Euro 5-10 range (about AUS $8-13). This is not really 'my thing' as I love 40's suits and 50's dresses. However, if you were a student (which most of the customers appeared to be, you would love it). There were a few nice 60's hats, but I was a bit reluctant to take these in my luggage lest they be squashed.

Lucy's Lounge, Temple Bar, Dublin

The interior of Lucy's Lounge - notice the prams hanging on the wall - fabulous!

Some of the stock in Lucy's Lounge. The stock was nicely put out and laundered. No musty smells here!

At the other end of the scale is the very (and I repeat, very) high-end vintage store called 'Jenny Vander'. The prices would make your eyes water! The stock consists of a lot of beaded handbags, jewellery, and vintage dresses that I actually found difficult to date. I presume they were from the 1930's, given that there were around EUR 180 (which is about AUS $300), that is, given that they were pricey, but I am not sure. Perhaps you can be the judge from these photos . . .

Jenny Vander Vintage, Georges St, Dublin

Expensive dresses in window of indeterminate era - perhaps 1930's? (PS sorry for the reflection of glass)

So there you have it, my little tour around Europe, presenting you with my op-shop and vintage store fossicking. I hope I haven't been too negative in reviewing these vintage stores overseas, but I have to say it as I see it and I have to say that for me, the vintage treasures are in Melbourne plus etsy/ebay. I am sure you all have your own opinion about where the vintage treasures are to be found. I hope you have enjoyed my glimpse into far-off vintage lands!

Vintage dress shopping in Edinburgh

After my little foray into Op shops in Edinburgh, I still had some energy left for a little trip around the city’s vintage stores(whilst waiting for the volcanic ash to settle in the street outside!). I did my research before leaving Australia and found only six stores (which makes sense given Edinburgh’s population is only around five hundred thousand). I managed to vist four of the stores: Armstrong Vintage (two of their stores), Barnados Vintage and Emily’s Vintage. Armstrong Vintage is the largest of the vintage sellers in Edinburgh, with three large stores full to the brim with vintage of all kinds and eras, including vintage militaria and vintage Scottish costumes.

The main store in ‘Grassmarket’ (a street off High Street) is their biggest store and is absolutely crammed full of vintage. It also stocks wacky costumes. It is very colourful and decorated zanily, but I am not sure how much ‘quality’ vintage was there. There was a lot of 1960’s and 1970’s, but only a handful of 50’s dresses.

                                 One of the shop windows in Armstrong Vintage - I love the sign!

This mannequin hanging in the centre of the shop is also great.

Despite the fact that it is no Circa Vintage (not many places are), it is always fun to browse in shops like these. Not the least because of some of the interesting ways the mannequins are dressed. Notice the ‘necklace’ of gloves in the middle mannequin below? Cute!

This is an example of one of the nicer things I found in the shop - what looks like an early 1960's coat (? please correct me if I am mistaken!). From memory, it was around 70 pounds (about $110)

Below is a photo of the men's section, which as you can see, was full of militaria.

The other two vintage stores, Emily's Vintage and Barnados were fairly standard 'cheaper' vintage stores (sort of Lost and Found standard, but very small) - so nothing too exciting to report there.

So all in all, I would not exactly rush to buy vintage in Edinburgh, but its good fun to browse. Goodbye from Edinburgh!

PS apologies if this post is not formatted all that well, I am doing this in a Wifi hotspot in an Edinburgh hostel surrounded by around 50 very loud French students (poor things have obviously been waiting here all day for the airport to open again so I didn't want to ask them to pipe it down!)

A statue outside Edinburgh Castle - beautiful

Op shopping in Edinburgh

Hello from Edinburgh, Scotland, the first stop in my little trip around UK and Europe (far away from Melbourne suburbia!). Edinburgh is an absolutely beautiful city – it has wonderful old buildings, including an amazing castle, a relaxed atmosphere, and very friendly people. I would thoroughly recommend it (not the least because it is socially acceptable to have whisky in your porridge for breakfast – I am serious!).

'Old Square', Edinburgh University

Of course, a committed op-shopper such as myself could not visit a new city without checking out the op-shops (or charity shops as they are referred to here in the UK). I am embarrassed to say that rather than visit Edinburgh Castle like any good tourist would have done, I spent my first few hours in the city at a lovely op-shop close to my guest-house. In my defence, I did have to make an urgent trip to the launderette! (I had to pack very light on this trip, which means having to wash clothes occasionally). It was a stroke of genius though, as the op-shop I discovered on my way to the launderette was absolutely delightful.

The op-shop is called St Columba's Hospice Shop and is one of the prettiest, most organized op-shops I have ever visited. It was full of treasure, including 5-6 sets of vintage crockery (the good English stuff – I was heartbroken that I couldn’t take it home with me!), a lovely bevelled edge mirror and a large collection of beautiful linen pieces (embroidered tablecloths and runners – divine). The store was beautifully laid out and the clothes were all in great condition and very clean. I was a bit shy about asking the ladies there about taking photos of the inside of the shop but I did get a photo of the dressing room to give you an idea of its prettiness.

So what treasure did I snag at this lovely place? Five fantastic vintage brooches – thank you very much (who needs to visit Edinburgh Castle when you can buy vintage jewellery)! I love vintage brooches so when I saw one of the volunteers putting these in the window I snapped them up very quickly indeed.

As you will notice from the photo, the prices at this shop were extremely reasonable. Most things in the shop (including these brooches) were in the £3-5 range (which equates to about AUS4-5 – the exchange rate against the pound is absolutely fantastic at the moment). I struck up a little conversation with the volunteer who was putting out these brooches, she was very friendly and interested in op-shopping in Australia . Actually, she made an interesting comment about op-shopping - when I mentioned that I love op-shopping in Australia and how popular it is there she asked me what ‘op shop’ meant (as I said earlier, they are referred to as ‘charity’ shops in the UK). When I explained that it was short for ‘Opportunity shop’ she thought it was great that we called them that rather than ‘charity’ shops. I had never really thought of it like that, and when I think about it now, I guess it is much nicer and more positive to refer to shops as ‘opportunity’ rather than ‘charity’ shops. I had such a lovely time at this store – part of my brain was saying ‘I should really be sightseeing rather than op-shopping’ but it is a lovely way to meet the locals so I am glad I did it.

Unfortunately, the other op shops in Edinburgh did not yield any such treasure. On my way around the city in the next two days I visited several other op-shops in Edinburgh, including Oxfam, Save the Children, Cancer Research, Heart Research and Vets for Pets (there are many many op shops in the UK!). These were located off the High Street so a lot more central than St Columba's and they mainly sold contemporary fashion and had no real treasure. There was one op-shop that specialized in vintage, Barnados Vintage, in the city centre which had some treasure, but this was priced more like a vintage store than an op-shop.

So what did I learn about op-shopping overseas? Essentially the rules are the same as for Australia: visit the smaller, suburban op shops a little off the beaten track and that are associated with a church or other similar organization. I also visited a few vintage stores in Edinburgh so stay tuned for a post on that in the next few days. Goodbye for now from beautiful Edinburgh!