Rock and Roll Yard Sale

I’m exhausted after a full day at the local ‘Rock and Roll Yard Sale,’ a community flea market that focuses on vinyl and music-related vintage items.

There’s a fair amount of vintage clothing and some handmade crafts as well.

My friend had a booth, selling mostly LPs. In addition to helping him with the set up (he’s still on the mend from a leg shattered in a motorcycle accident), I was selling some vintage clothing.

Of course, any time I do a selling event, I always end up buying. (As did my friend, who, in spite of having bought a collection of 20,000 records, and trying to sell them for the past 6 months, still found an LP he had to have.)

Greek fisherman’s cap purchased around 1990 at The Hat Shop back when it used to be on Neal St. in London. Sunglasses made from 1960s frames found at Dollar A Pound around the same time. I am probably the only person on earth who has had the same pair of sunglasses for 20+ years. I thought the bag was worth a close-up. I bought this vintage chenille bag, which has a geometric 1920s-style pattern in vibrant colors, for $7.00. I am sure I saw this exact bag or one very similar for sale online recently.

I barely sold anything, but it was still nice to be outside all day, saying ‘hi’ to the dogs who walked by.

And to Seamus, a cat who likes to spend the day out and about perched on his person’s shoulder. He's the most laid-back cat I've ever met.

There were bands playing, too. Although not obvious from this photo, this woman, with the help of a cane, was boogieing up a storm. I thought, "I hope I'm like her when I am at that age."

I've been catching up on my blog reading tonight and this woman's exuberance reminded of yesterday’s post on The Secondhand Years which mentions a poem by Jenny Joseph which begins, "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple." 

Today I just happened to be wearing a purple and red top, purple tights and purple paratrooper boots (last seen here.) Then again, going by the pics I’ve posted, I wear purple and red most of the time (here and here. Oh, and here). Either I'm old before my time or getting in lots of practice.

Vintage Kilo Sale, London

I went to the Vintage Kilo sale in London several weekends ago. I was curious to see how it compared with Dollar-a-Pound in Cambridge, MA, where I was a frequent visitor in the 1980s. There are many differences that make the Vintage Kilo sale nowhere as much fun as the Cambridge event. At the London event, clothing was 15 pounds per kilo. (roughly $11 a pound), and all the clothes were displayed hanging on racks and accessories were on tables. I wasn’t that impressed with the offerings. The only true vintage items I saw were stained and ripped.

Many still had their charity shop tags on them (like I want to buy stuff that doesn’t sell at a charity shop.) This 70s dress I'm examining had a great print, but was in rough shape.

At Dollar-A-Pound, clothing and other textiles were literally $1 for a pound. One day a week, I lined up with all the other insane bargain hunters at 6am. Once the doors opened, each rabid shopper ran inside, grabbing large plastic trash bags on offer,  to where several  850-pound bales of clothing and textiles had just been  cut open. You grabbed whatever looked interesting and threw it into the bag.  Within minutes, we were all walking on top of textiles piled 2 feet deep.  After a couple hours, each person retreated to some corner and sorted through their bags.  I found incredible vintage treasures – Pucci dresses, Yves St. Laurent sweaters, 1950s barkcloth curtains, and more. Those were the days.

The current incarnation of Dollar-A-Pound  is called By the Pound since the price has gone up to a whopping $1.50 a pound. Now, it’s every day of the week, with the price still $1 on Fridays. Here are some photos and a little history on Dollar-A-Pound.  I don’t know if anything good can be found nowadays. I’ll have to give it a try again.

I bought five items, slightly more than a kilo, but I was only charged 15 pounds. I'm not thrilled with my finds, but didn't want to leave empty-handed. My take included:

Too big, but I really like the teal and lilac paisley-like pattern on the dark purple background. Plus there are sparkly designs printed on it to give it a little Bollywood touch. The slit neckline appears to have been sewn closed. I’ll figure a way to resize it. By Ara Modell, W. Germany. I’m guessing 1980s.

1970s polyester dress with a cartoon-ish blue, pink, green and white floral print. Also too big, plus the elasticized bodice and cuffs have lost their stretch. I doubt I’ll re-do the elastic, so I’ll probably cut it up to make a skirt. Another German dress by VEB Jugendmode Oranienburg.

Polyester red shirtdress, which My Man declared "hideous." Not sure what I’ll do with this.

Modern brown and white striped, long-sleeved t-shirt.   I’ve never worn horizontal striped tops, but will mix it with prints for a 70s feel.

After all that bargain hunting, it was time for tea and cake.