Show your feathers
By Megan Craig
“The first rule of peacocking, never admit to peacocking.”
I met with Nicola Black and Laura Simpson earlier this month to ask them about the business they’ve just launched, centred round vintage pieces called “Guilty Peacock”. Nicola studies Marine Biology (“Fish and failure”) while Laura studies Management (“of her life…”). The pair will be debuting their business at the Big Beach Ball on Sunday 4th May.
Firstly, why “Guilty Peacock” as the name?
It’s funny and memorable. Well, peacocking is showing off and some people say we are “guilty” of peacocking by showing off our style. The name reflects the guilty pleasure of indulgence while being mysterious and alluring.
What was the starting inspiration?
Vintage clothes, charity shops- getting good value and acquiring one-off pieces. When we buy something we tend to buy it for each other and a lot of people borrow our clothes- so we decided to make a profit from it! We are hoarders! We both cling onto our clothes even when we know we’re never going to wear something again… but we might wear it.
We are people that stick to our word, if we say we will do something, we’ll do it: we had an idea and we just rolled with it.
Also we need to get rid of some items before moving back home!
Do you see this as more of a business or a hobby?
We’re launching at the Big Beach Ball which is an exciting event and a good platform for the launch. We’ve wanted to do something like this for a while now, and as we’re in 4th year we just thought we’d do it. It’s our debut, we don’t know what the future holds but we’d love to do this as a job.
Tell me about your personal styles and inspirations?
Ab Fab! We love a bit of Lumley and Saunders! We admire each other’s own style.
Nicola- Shabby chic, I rarely spend over £10 on an item of clothing. I’d much rather spend £50 on 10 items than £50 on one piece. I’m a big fan of a plain outfit with one bold piece. We are by no means the most stylish people but we like what we wear and that’s what matters.
Laura- We don’t properly shop! As in we don’t tend to go to places on the high street except from maybe if a sale is on. The items in vintage stores are better made, unique and your money is going to a good cause. We don’t care what other people think or say, when I put an outfit on that I like I feel confident. We dress for ourselves, we know how to dress our bodies, what works for our shapes. We don’t really follow trends or buy fashion magazines. “Saved by the Bell” is something we are both loving right now, the whole high-waisted jean look.
But, what we’re selling through Guilty Peacock is not aimed at a specific group it’s for everyone. We’re also offering assistance if anyone wants styling advice.
What does the future hold for Guilty Peacock?
In terms of travel, we’d love to go to India- it has so much colour, so many spices. What would be great would be to get some material over there and then come back home and make something from it.
If the launch goes well at the Big Beach Ball then we’ll definitely carry on. We are both irrationally calm so we take things as they come, this is our debut and we’ll just see what happens after!
Guilty Peacock will be hosting a stand at The Big Beach Ball on Sunday May 4th.
You can check out the business beforehand through Instagram- @guiltypeacock