From the in-box: this Sunday is the Take2Markets, and as part of the L’oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, there will be a fairytale theme with a fashion show at 1pm.

Pre-loved designer, vintage and mainstream clothing and accessories will be the stars of the show and will be used to interpret the 2010 L’Oreal theme “Fashioning the Magic”. Women attending this event will get an added experience to the normal fashion market day. The fashion show “Once Upon A Time” will take a whimsical fairytale inspired twist on fashion, giving lots of great ideas for mixing up your wardrobe and maximising your fashion dollar… There is also brand new merchandise from a selection of local designers.

What: Take2Markets Recycled Fashion Heaven
Where:Hawthorn Town Hall, 360 Burwood Road, Hawthorn
When: Sunday 21st March, 10am to 3pm. Fashion show at 1pm.
Cost: $3

I’ve fallen behind with my reporting of vintage markets, there are so many these days but I’m writing them all in my diary now so I shouldn’t miss any more.

Hello Sailor is now alternating between two venues, the Carlton Hotel and the Grace Darling Hotel. Both feature well-priced second-hand clothing from a variety of eras and designers (although mostly fairly modern) as well as some menswear and bric-a-brac.

What: Hello Sailor Vintage Fair
Where: The Carlton Hotel at 197 Bourke st Melbourne, 3000. Held over three levels.
When: Sunday, 14 March 2010, 2pm to 6pm.
Cost: free entry.

More information at the Facebook Page

A reminder that markets and fairs will appear on the Calendar on the right hand side of Circa’s front page up until the event has finished so you check for details any time.

Next week’s talk on vintage clothing at Heritage Hill is sold out and there’s an impressive waiting list, so we’ve scheduled a second talk.

This is to accompany the Hart & Hand exhibition of vintage clothing at Heritage Hill museum in Dandenong, although the exhibition will finish before the second talk. Copies of Love Vintage will also be available for sale.

From the Star News:
Ms Jenkins will reveal how and why she became so fascinated with vintage clothing and where to find it.
She will bring several antique and vintage pieces from her own extensive collection to use as illustrations and encourages participants to bring garments of their own for discussion.

What: Love Vintage: A Collector’s look at Antique and Vintage Clothing – presented by Nicole Jenkins of Circa Vintage Clothing.
Where: Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Gardens – McCrae St, Dandenong
When: 2-3pm, Tuesday March 30th.
Cost: $12 includes afternoon tea.
Bookings Essential, very limited places – please phone 9793 4511

More information at the Heritage Hill website, although it’s yet to be updated with the second talk.

At last Friday’s talk at the City Museum, I brought 23 frocks and talked about them, as representative of different times in the 20th century (the frocks covered the the years from the 20s to the 80s). It worked well, although went on for much longer than planned – I’ll use a similar format to this, but bring mostly different frocks so that people coming to both will get a different perspective. I’ll see if I can bring some pre-20s as well.

Today I bought a wonderful new lot of vintage: hundreds of pieces of menswear, ladieswear and even some great hand-knitted jumpers and cardigans for kids…but I love vintage and bought so much that I can’t fit it in my already full stock room, my packed to the ceiling store room, our spare bedroom or even the backyard shed – so I need your help.

What: Everything in Circa (except jewellery and Love Vintage books) is now on Sale – 20% off!
When: until Saturday 20th February.

This is the first time in about three or four years that we’ve had an in shop sale – and in includes some of my favourite dresses from the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s, ’50s and ’60s as well as some great menswear. I might take some photos tomorrow so you can see some of the lovely things that are now discounted and looking for new homes.

Please help – we need the space so that some of the wonderful new things can come into the shop too.

UPDATE 24th Feb: the sale will continue all this week too, for all vintage clothing – 20% off!

From the in-box:

The Maldon antique and collectables fair is on again this year. We had so much fun last year we are doing it all again. With one notable difference, we have doubled in size from 32 stalls last year to approximately 70 this year. We will be graced by the presence of [costumer] Julie Nixon again, only this time she will have 5 other ladies in the progress hall with her, giving the fair a real textile and fashion accent. The hall with have as well as Julie’s vintage clothing, hand made lace, antique and vintage haberdashery supplies, buttons, hooks and eyes, hats, and gloves etc. plus more vintage fashion and fashion accessories on the main venue at the football ground. We will have 30 garage sales throughout town mainly on the Saturday.

What: Maldon Antique and Collectables Fair including several vintage clothing, accessories and haberdashery stalls.
Where: Maldon football ground and Progress Hall (it’s a small town, easy to find both).
When: Saturday Feb 20th 8am-5pm and Sunday Feb 21st 8am-3pm.
Cost: $2
All enquiries to Mark or Bonnie on 0414 244 842. More information here (pdf).

I went on the Sunday last year and found lots of lovely things, especially my favourite – cotton ’50s printed dresses. Here’s one of my favourites – can you see the tentacles?

Hi all,

I’m organising a group to see Loel Thomson’s Costume Collection.

Loel is a private collector who has dedicated her time and resources to the collection, preservation and display of two hundred years of Australian fashion. Many of her pieces were included in my book Love Vintage. I’m sure that she has the best collection of Australian fashion in the country, as well as jewellery, accessories and lace. There’s also an impressive tea cosy collection!

When: Wednesday 17th February at 7pm.
Where: The Costume Collection, 39 Greenaway Street, Bulleen.
What: Tour and talk on 200 years of Australian fashion.
Cost: $5 which Loel donates to a local nursing home.
Bookings: call Circa on 9419 8899

For those who are interested in social history, the history of fashion or just beautiful clothes, I thoroughly recommend this visit. Numbers are limited and RSVP is essential.

Here are some links to photos that I took on previous visits – please note that Loel often changes the displays so you might see some of these but you’ll probably see others from her collection of over 3,000 pieces:
Early 19th century dress.
Victorian era.
Edwardian era.
1920s dress.
1930s dress.
1940s dress.
1950s dress.
Swimwear.

1950s swimwear from Loel Thomson’s Costume Collection.

UPDATE 8th Feb: As sufficient numbers have been received to fill the group, we’re now taking names for any one who might be interested in a second tour, hopefully in the next few weeks. Please call the shop on 9419 8899. Thank you.

To accompany the Hart & Hand exhibition of vintage clothing at Heritage Hill museum in Dandenong, I’m giving a talk about antique and vintage clothing. Copies of Love Vintage will also be available for sale.

From the Star News:
Ms Jenkins will reveal how and why she became so fascinated with vintage clothing and where to find it.
She will bring several antique and vintage pieces from her own extensive collection to use as illustrations and encourages participants to bring garments of their own for discussion.

What: Love Vintage: A Collector’s look at Antique and Vintage Clothing – presented by Nicole Jenkins of Circa Vintage Clothing.
Where: Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Gardens – McCrae St, Dandenong
When: 2-3pm, Tuesday March 2nd.
Cost: $12 includes afternoon tea.
Bookings Essential, very limited places – please phone 9793 4511

There are two more talks associated with the exhibition:

Tuesday 16 February, 2pm
History of Hand Made Lace – presented by Patricia Begg O.A.M

Tuesday 23 February, 2pm
History of Machine Made Lace: presented by Patricia Begg O.A.M

More information at the Heritage Hill website.

From the in-box:

This is a TWO DAY event on TWO LEVELS Sat 30th and Sun 31st of January from 1pm-6pm and both days offer different stall holders with a variety of different stock. We will have Djs Mohair Slim and Jim Dandy from Bama-Lama! who have their own show on PBS, spinning Original 45s -78s.

What: Hello Sailor Vintage Fair
Where: The Grace Darling Hotel 114 Smith st Collingwood, Vic, 3066.
When: Saturday Jan 30 and Sunday Jan 31, 1pm to 6pm.

I went to the last Hello Sailor at the Grace Darling (a beautiful old pub) and there were some lovely things there – I snaffled a bunch of red tulip lights for the shop (I have two bunches now, I really like them). Also met some lovely people too – prices are very reasonable and the music was great.

More information at the Facebook Page.

UPDATE: this fair is a fundraiser for Haiti victims – Circa has donated a gift voucher for the raffle prize pack.

A new exhibition of ladies vintage fashion is opening on Friday night:

From exquisite party frocks to warm woollen coats and even the odd fancy dress costume, this is a rare opportunity to view original garments hand-made by Mrs Dorothy Hart of Benga House. Mrs Hart, who together with her husband Dr Ian Hart designed and built Benga House, was an accomplished seamstress.

The original dresses and clothes were all handmade by Mrs Hart between the 1940s and the 1970s.

What: Hart & Hand – Stitching together the private and public lives of Mrs D. Hart.
When: 13 January – 10 March, Wed to Fri, 10am to 4pm and Sun 12pm to 4pm.
Where: Benga House, Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Gardens 66 McCrae Street, Dandenong 3175. Phone phone 9793 4511.
Cost: Gold coin donation

Further information is available at the Heritage Hill website. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of related talks, including two by Patricia Begg and one by me. I’ll post about those soon.

I had the opportunity to view some of the gowns, to help with dating and I can report that they are very good examples of a highly skilled seamstress – the standard of Mrs Hart’s work would nowadays qualify as couture. In particular I was impressed by her structured 1950s ballgowns (an early example of which can be viewed above). The clothes have been well preserved by the museum and this is the first time they have been displayed for the public.