Lou Lou’s Bournemouth Vintage Fair last sunday gathered all of Bournemouth’s retro lovers for the ultimate vintage event of the year. You saved the date in your agenda three months prior and showed up at the Pavillion in the early hours, thinking you would be ahead of the game, only to find a queue stretching all the way to the entrance hall ! Yes, we all came up with the same constatation : the love for vintage is still going strong and seems to be more of an all-time trend nowadays. Year after year there is a huge buzz over the fair, and this not only locally but across the entire country. Winner of Best Vintage Fair in the UK, let’s take a look back at Lou Lou’s installation in Bournemouth.
10.45am. People of all types and ages are eagerly queuing-up and taking sneaky peaks at the stalls from afar. At the same time inside, the sellers, also of all ages and types, are hustling to finish installing all the clothes and bric-a-brac. The traders were in Bristol the day before and stayed in a hotel in Poole overnight.
1.30pm. The fair is in full swing with intense probing around the maze of pedents, jolly cupcake tasting and spontaneous lady coiffuring.
5pm. Whilst all hell is breaking loose with a storm outside, the late treasure-hunters are searching for the last bargain piece to add to their finds of the day.
Amongst all the vintage sellers starting to wrap up their collections for the day is Heather Mahony, a 22 year-old girl from Royal Lemington Spa. At the same time most girls her age are studying at university, she has set up her own online vintage boutique, called Marney’s Vintage.
She started collecting vintage items at the age of 17 and never stopped, to the extent that she is now making a life out of it. How she makes her brand stand out ? By customising the clothes to make them more fashionable and by keeping it affordable (£12 shorts, £15 skirts, £30 dresses). Heather was showcasing at the fair a collection of maxi-skirts for example, which she cut shorter to make them that little more unique.
She is kept very busy travelling to all the vintage fairs across the country, and in her opinion, vintage is only getting more and more popular, ”it is the people which bring the supplies to the vintage shops, which means that every item is a one-of-a-kind. This is what makes vintage more valuable and long-lasting”. This leads on to her explanation that ”although some major stores, such as Zara, try to take-over vintage by selling it in store, most big retailers can’t compete as their clothes are made to last no more than a season.”
Seeing young girls such as Heather selling gave a fresh insight into the vintage business and sure confirmed the idea that Lou Lou’s Bournemouth Vintage Fair will be making its way back to the Pavillion Centre for many years ahead !