A few months later, the same friend e-mails me saying how she found this cute little charm supplier site (It’s a secret before you ask!). I thought, “hey, why not make a bit of money selling jewellery to my friends?” So for the next few months I would monthly go round my friends with a little catalogue asking if they wanted to buy any jewellery. I would buy in the stock they wanted, and if I had any spare… I would try sell it, but soon I had too much spare stock. So I had a look around and discovered bigcartel. I started selling my spare jewellery on bigcartel and… wait for it, Joelleabelle was born.

My absolute favourite part about making my jewellery is designing it, I just love it! I love browsing all the charm sites I can find looking for vintage and unusual charms. My designs are simply what I would wear (jewellery wise), there’s simply not much more too it.

Maintaining a jewellery site, at 15, whilst in the middle of your GSCE’s is a huge amount of effort. I started making jewellery back in January (this year), before all my workload and exams really started to build up. It is very hard to balance school work, jewellery and my social life. This means I don’t have pretty much any time to spend promoting my jewellery, promoting is the one bit I hate about my jewellery. In order to get orders, you need to have lots of people visiting your site – the internet it huge. Your very unlikely to get noticed without doing anything. You have to spend hours a day promoting your jewellery for possibly even years for it to pay off! Unless you get some PR done and get your jewellery featured in magazines, which is unbelievably pricey.

I hope this blog post gave you some insight to how my jewellery site came about and some of the in’s and out’s of my jewellery

Much Love,

Joelle xox

P.S. 20% off joellesbelle.com simply enter: PREXMAS at checkout when promoted, expires 20/11/10.

The past few months have been spent improving the trading capabilities and increasing the social interactive functionality on CovertCandy!

All CovertCandy lovers can now enjoy:

1. Full scale trading!

The community will be open for you guys to trade anything you like! The new categories will be:-

Clothes & Accessories
Books
Sports & Outdoors
Movies, Music & Games
Toys, Kids & Baby
Electronics
Health & Beauty
Home & Garden

2. A Great new Look!

We have a cool new re-design and logo to compliment the new easier navigation.

3. More Social Interaction:

You can now chat and shared with fellow traders and friends with complete ease.

Fancy earning some extra credits!?

Silly question really, but it is really quick and easy. If you would like to earn yourself some bonus CovertCandy credits issued straight into your personal CovertCandy Bank, then simply tell your friends. For every successful referral you make this week, we will give you and your friends 3 credits!

Refer your friends here

As we are feeling rather excited this week, for every item you upload during the launch week, you will receive 1 credit straight into your CovertCandy Bank!

Finally, if you would like to be an honorary CovertCandy team member as an official Guest Blogger, please get in touch with us!

Sky’s the limit at CovertCandy. We have so much more to come over the next 2 months, so keep your eyes and ears open. We aim do everything we can to make your experience the best we possibly can. In saying this, we welcome any feedback you may have about the new site and are always open to hearing what you guys want, so drop us an email: admin@covertcandy.co.uk

Have a great day…Happy Trading!

The CovertCandy Team

So, I convince myself that I can do it, I ‘can’ have the confidence and creativity to carry the ultimate vintage look, without the awkward on-street negotiations of ‘How much’ I am on the hour.

Then I sit amidst the ‘vintage or replica’ scandal. At somewhere between 100 – 300£, a corset is the crème de la crème to the discerning vintage investor. This is where I grew to realising I suffer from a vintage fashion contradiction.

Generally, the older the better. The uniqueness of vintage fabrics, not available on the market anymore is just one of the many reasons to buy vintage over new or replica.  After a little asking around, paired with rummaging through search engine inquiries and some brain strain, I realized (wait for it) in this instance, I would choose new.

Corsetry is an art. Made of 2mm in diameter steel rods, bent and sewn into the fabric, it is one of those arts that has only been crafted and refined over time. New corsets feature a higher strength of fabric, and softer, safer steel.  Fashion whispers say that as vintage corsets wear, the steel quite cuts through the fabric and puts the wearer at the risk of being stabbed!

There are many high end designers who have made their mark on corsets and, may ‘twist your arm’ to reach into your purse and invest in these incredible art wearable’s.

So, with new silk corset, wrapped in pink tissue, in my well cleaned hands, I am back, staring starry eyed at the wardrobe, faced with ‘ to pair with pencil skirt or jeans’?

California girl Dylana Suarez from the blog Nana in Wonderland (colormenana.blogspot.com) has a knack for mixing high end fashion with affordable pieces. Her flirty, feminine style full of floaty blouses and romantic prints is perfect inspiration for spring! She kindly agreed to answer a few questions for us.

CC: Who is you all time favourite style icon?

DS: My all-time favorite style icon must have to be Audrey Hepburn because she was such a classic beauty and wore everything with grace and confidence.

CC: Do you shop at markets, if so what is your all time favourite market for vintage clothing?

DS:  I love shopping on Main Street in Ventura, California. It is lined with thrift stores, many of which carry vintage. I always leave that place with bags full of beautiful vintage blouses and dresses!

CC: What has been your favourite trend over the decades?

DS: I think my favorite trend would have to be the boyfriend blazer because you can wear it with anything. It instantly livens up an outfit by adding shape, contrast, and a little bit of masculinity. I cannot live without mine. I have so many!

CC: What is your personal style?

DS: I would describe my personal style as quirky miniminalism. I gravitate towards classic and timeless shapes, but I love to add my own personal touch to things like a bright wash of color or an eclectic pattern.

CC: Do you customize your own clothing?

DS: Yes, sometimes I do, if I really love a piece but it does not fit me exactly right. I do this esp. with vintage items . . . I may hem a pair of shorts, taper a leg of a pair of pants, or shorten a dress length. I love doing this because it makes me feel like I am wearing my own creation and nobody will have the exact same piece as I do.

CC: What look is set to be popular this summer?

DS: I think the all over pastel look is going to be popular this summer because it has such a romantic, soft, fresh, and light look.

Fashion chameleon Sandra from 5 inch and up possibly possesses the most enviable shoe collection of the whole blogosphere! The Finnish blonde freelance stylist and personal shopper mixes Miu Miu platforms and River Island jumpsuits with ease, and her blog ’s vibrant photography take us through her stylish life in London. We asked Sandra a few questions.

CC: What is this seasons must have clothing?
Sandra: light colored’‘nightie’’ dresses, clogs and good quality sweat pants (to go with heels)

CC: Who is you all time favorite style icon?

Sandra: Carrie Bradshaw (early years…)

CC:What has been your favorite trend to date?
Sandra: Cut-out body-con dresses and asymmetric hemlines

CC:Do you shop at markets, if so what is your all time favorite market for vintage clothing?
Sandra: I would say london’s brick lane

CC:What has been your least favorite trend over the decades?
Sandra: THE KITTEN HEEL.

Sharon from My Passport to Style is a style consultant whose blog is dedicated to all sorts of fabulous things. Her site offers great inspiration  for decorating your home, finding a unique look and interviews. Filled with girly pictures, DIY’s and ethical fashion advice, My Passport to Style is a firm Covertcandy favourite! So we asked Sharon a few questions.

CC: What is the seasons must have clothing?

Sharon: The maxi dress, because it has the ability to transform even the shortest broadest women into a rippling long  column of goddess like proportions and there are maxis to  to unearth every goddess out there, from  strong tribal queens  to  cute prairie gals kicking up the corn.

CC:What accessory do you think a girl cannot live without?

Sharon: A belt is the key to being a woman, it gives us all curves and creates a more tailored look to the most casual of looks, women must have belts!

CC: Who is your all time favourite style icon?

Sharon: Sophia Lauren,  she was so sensual and confident and knew how to work a pencil skirt and how to turn her imperfections into her best points!

CC: What has been your favourite trend to date?

Sharon: I love the tribal look, because it allows for using rich colour’s that flatter many skin types, as I adore pattern, it is a good trend for me, I love the way you can really put any spin on it you choose, from slightly punky , safari and sophisticated feminine, to grungy tribal.

CC: Do you shop at markets , if so what is your all time favourite markets for vintage clothing?

Sharon: I don’t shop at markets, but I do love vintage clothing and we have several  sweet boutiques in Lancaster, so if you are ever passing let me know!

CC: What has been your least favourite trend over the years?

Sharon:You really want to know? Low rise jeans, whatever age you are the pleasure of visually halving your butt whilst standing wearing low rises is quickly shattered by the appearance of  rubbery flesh spilling over your waist band not to mention brickys  bum, apologise to all you brickys in advance!

CC: How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Sharon: Around 50, although I don’t really count them.

CC: What is your personal style?

Sharon: Fairly simple paired down, with feminine quirks thrown in.

CC: Do you customise your own clothing?

Sharon: I love to, when I have the time and my job involves a little of this as well.

CC: What look is set to be popular over the summer?

Sharon: The cowgirl , but not as you know her, watch out!

Finnish fashion and accessories designer Outi Pyy from Outsapop.com is one of the best bloggers around if you are looking to customize your vintage finds as well as create quirky, runway inspired jewellery. With her easy tutorials, she makes having a unique style super easy! Here at Covertcandy we are all about sustainable fashion so we asked her a few style questions.

CovertCandy :What accessory do you think a girl can not live without?
Outi Pyy: A vintage styled bowler hat. It is a very versatile accessory that suits many styles (and hairstyles!) and to my view is ageless. I love to mix DIY with classic fashion pieces like it. If you go out looking for one I recommend saving up a bit and investing in a quality bowler or a vintage one. The cheap remakes clothing chains sell, will not last you a lifetime and I want to pass mine on to my children someday.

CC: Who is you all time favourite style icon?
OP: Anna Piaggi, the former Editor in Chief of Vogue Italia. Her style is crazy and yet always so flawless and chic! She has a stylish way of mixing patterns and colors in a beautiful riot. One can see that she really enjoys fashion and has fun with it. I want to look as stylish as she is when I´m her age.

CC: What has been your favourite trend to date?
OP: Military. I´ve always been very inspired by military looks as they are also timeless fashion. I shop loads at army surplus stores. Secondhand army stuff is cheap and the quality superb. It makes exellent material for (runway inspired) DIY projects and customizing clothes.

CC: How many pairs of shoes do you own?
OP: Not too many.. only 22 pairs. A few good basics in quality leather and some more flashy evening heels, most of them bought secondhand. I feel it´s all I need as I´m not really one of those shoe-fanatics. But don´t ask me how many hats/fascinators/hair accessories I have! They have always been my soft spot…

CC:What is your personal style?
OP:I have a very controlled color palette as color is very important to me in fashion. Mostly black, grays, reds, blues and whites. I do enjoy all sorts of textile treatments and love worn down looks. To be honest, I propably own more “dirty and trashed” clothes than complitely clean and new-looking. But even though it sounds raggedy, it´s really quite far from it. Most of my wardrobe is secondhand, but I do quite a bit of DIY and refashion my clothes and also buy some new (sustainable/organic). My key pieces are long cardigans, pencil skirts, boyfriend jeans and boxy (band) t-shirts. Right now I´m very into the 90´s grunge revival styled pieces. The contrast between my day and night look is very strong as during the day I´m all about comfort and tomboyish style but when I go out, it´s more closer to burlesque and classic glamour. I find fashion so much fun as it allows one to explore and express different sides of ones personality.

CC:So, you customise your own clothing?
OP:All the time! I have at least five projects going on at all times. I think DIY and refashioning old clothes is a fun hobby that also enables you to have 100% unique look. I want to be an active consumer of fashion but do it in a sustainable way, so refashioning old is my solution. I also do tutorials on everything I do, so others are able to make similar stuff for themselves if they like it. If you want to see what I´m up to now, visit my DIY fashion blog.

Who are your vintage style icons? / What celebrity, across the decades do you think has had the best personal style?Right now it’s Katherine Hepburn and her incomparable talent to wear menswear and still look incredibly female. It will forever be Coco Chanel and her ability to wear casual wear in an uncredibly chic way.

What makes you love vintage so much?
Because it offers way more varieties of cuts, colors and shapes than the usual “seasonal trend” inspired clothing you find in common fashion stores. And because I like to wear a garment that has a story and has been worn in different circumstances, went through many hands, hung in many closets. I have one pair of shoes, men’s shoes, from the 60ies – and I guess their owner was wearing them very rarely since they have been in great condition when I bought them. I imagine, that he only wore them on special occasions. however, I am wearing them all the time, almost every day – and that’s how they look after I owned them just some months. After being shut away in the closet for so many years, they finally see the world!

What is your favourite item of vintage clothing? What is your best vintage find that you own?
I was very lucky to find a Yves Saint Laurent dress from the beginning of the 90ies for very little money in a locat 2nd hand store – it’s still impeccable! I wear it only rarely, because it is so precious to me (and it obviously has been to the former owner) – but who knows, maybe it will be the daydress for the next lucky woman having it.

Where is your favourite place to shop for vintage garments?
This depends on my mood – sometimes I like to dive into piles of clothes where you might eventually find the special one, that’s just made for you and sometimes I prefer to have a small store with a spot-on choice of fine garments in great condition. The latter happens way more often, though.

What do you think this summers big fashion looks will be?
I’m betting on wedges (the higher, the better), crop tops, mixed prints (floral will be huge for summer, as always), side braids, bandage skirts, and plenty of pastel and nude hues everywhere!

Here is some behind the scenes footage of the latest CovertCandy shoot:

CovertCandy Shoot from CovertCandy on Vimeo.

Please bare with us whilst we pimp out the site. Its business as usual in the CovertCandy community but it will take 1 or 2 days until the vintage  shop is fully operational again.

Please help us out if you find any problems with the site and we’ll be sure to fix things up pronto.

You’re aiming for a fierce look: lots of black leather and mussed hair. Think a feminine Fonz and you’re nearly there; think Chloe Sevigny in her all-in-one leather jumpsuit and you’ve gone way over the line. For a fresh-ish (let’s face it, nothing’s fresh in fashion) take on the look, wear your leather with ultra-girly dresses. For a not so fresh, but still successful, style, wear with skinny jeans, a big T-shirt, ballet pumps or high heels. It’s a quasi-punk aesthetic, but don’t wear it around real punks: you may get beaten up.

Brands like Topshop’s leather jacket is pretty nice, especially with the collar turned up. At £125, it’s not too horrendous a price, either. For something a little more masculine and rock’n'roll, there’s Urban Outfitter’s waxed jacket, which comes in at £169. This would look good with acid-wash jeans and an oversized T-shirt.

The more worn the jacket, the better, so another option is to look at vintage clothing websites. We had a quick look on Rockit’s site and found thisvintage biker jacket for £140. While looking for vintage leathers we came across a blog that we thought deserved a mention. It contains everything you ever wanted to know about the leather jacket, including the mystery behind the D-shaped pocket … Who knew, eh?

Amies is a pretty interesting character. He first opened his Saville Row boutique in 1946, regularly appeared in Vogue, earned a royal appointment to the Queen, designed the 1966 winning England football teams’ suits and (even more impressively to my mind) designed the costumes for Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Hardy Amies brand is synonimous with top quality materials (as I mentioned in The Suit Jacket, wool, tweed and linen are generally more expensive than cotton or polyester mixes) and bespoke tailoring. It is closely associated with vintage clothes of the 1960s – ecchoing the slender frame and sharp shouldered look of the time.

One of these vintage 60s suits would quite frankly, probably cost more than a car. Today, a modern Amies suit would set you back at least £3000.

Hardy Amies remains an iconic and influencial British tailor. Next time you chaps have trouble deciding whether to wear socks with your sandles, I highly recommend you reach for Hardy Amies ABC.

This relationship between brands and young people has radically changed the speed of fashion cycles. Previously, youth-instigated trends like Teddy Boys, Mods, Hippies, Punks and Grunge all developed over a number of years, becoming fully fledged sub-cultures. Now trends are snapped up by brands and remarketed for the mainstream in a very short period of time. Thus, rendering them no longer ‘cool’, and the whole process starts again.

The residing appeal of collecting vintage clothes is that it is still the most effective way to create a totally independent, unique look. Although the high-street provides much in the way of bland mock-vintage fashion, it’s still possible to source original clothes in charity shops for half the price. High-street brands haven’t quite achieved the monopoly on that front just yet. Infact, better still, the ability to swap clothes as promoted by Covert Candy, sidesteps the capitalist nature of high-street fashion altogether.

Here endeth the long and ramblesome history lesson I’ve doled out over the last few posts. Hopefully thats provided some insight into the development of certain trends over the last fifty years and the current vintage trend.

The term Generation X, although previously alluding to those born after WWII, came to represent the 80s generation of young people who consumed with a sense of ‘ironic detachment’. For independently minded young people, it had got to a point where it was no longer possible to defy mainstream consumerism the way previous generations like the Teddy Boys, Mods and Hippies had done. Those sub-cultures grew from a desire for independence and self-created style. Now however, every new youth movement was picked up, remarketed and sold back to the consumer by major corporate brands. So instead, perhaps as the only method of defiance, young people began consuming with abandon but doing it ‘ironically’.

“…The tentacles of branding [reach] into every crevice of youth culture, leaching brand-image content not only out of street styles like hip-hop but psychological attitudes like ironic detachment…” (No Logo, 2000)

When Grunge came around in the 90s, the young followers were far more reticent, choosing to adopt vintage clothes and thrift store finds as a means to evade contemporary fashion and consumerism. Their blasé disregard for branding and advertising meant that from a brands perspective, they were an incredibly difficult audience to target.

In Britain, the Football Casuals favoured Armani, Burberry and Ralph Lauren sportswear (later, those wearing knock-off versions would be disdainfully known as Chavs).

In America, Hip- Hop continued to support very specific brands; high-end labels like Louis Vuitton and Rolex that declared the wearers wealth and style. The Hip-Hop endorsement could have a huge impact on the success of a brand. Adidas, Tommy Hilfiger, Mercedes-Benz, Krug, Dom Perignon and Cristal champagnes and several other brands all benefited from an association with Hip-Hop culture.

Lil Kim famously photographed by David La Chappelle for Rolling Stone magazine covered in ‘LV’ Louis Vuitton logos, 1999.

Such brands were patronised often without prompting. As an article from USAToday says, “Mercedes-Benz — the most-mentioned brand in last year’s top songs — says the car’s popularity in hip-hop circles certainly didn’t hurt sales growth over the last dozen years…Bentley Motors and Louis Vuitton — also among the most name-checked brands in music — were more reticent on the subject. While some companies may shy away from being associated with a culture often marked by misogyny and violence, it is undeniable that hip-hop wields immeasurable power and influence in business”

(USAToday, April 2006).

Even in times of economic downturn it seemed, teenagers and college students were still armed with pocket money and were spending freely. For major brands, the obvious solution was to change tactics and concentrate their advertising power on this previously ignored demographic. However, as Klein says, “it was not going to be sufficient for companies simply to market their same products to a younger demographic; they needed to fashion brand identities that resonated with this new culture” (No Logo, 2000). Advertisers did this by ingratiating themselves with young people, discovering what they considered ‘cool’ and then attempting to mold new brand identities around this.

At that time, the coolest new trend amongst young people, was Hip-Hop. As Hal Espen confirms in an article for the New York Times, “Rap didn’t merely offer a useful line of demarcation for kids eager to set themselves apart from their parents. It was the expression of a genuine, undiluted, unmediated subculture; it really did come from the streets” (1999). The look included brightly coloured tracksuits, leather bomber jackets, caps and trainers and a strong penchant for brands like Kangol, Adidas and Reebok. Like The Teddy Boys before them, Hip-Hop kids were re-appropriating elements from otherwise incongruous sources to create their own look.

Nike, for example, a straightforward sportswear label at the time, unwittingly found a rising popularity amongst the Hip-Hop tribe. Nike carefully altered its brand identity to resonate with this group, and gain more ‘cool’ credentials. As I’ve mentioned, an important Hip-Hop characteristic was a loyalty and overt display of particular brand labels, signifying the wearers’ accomplished wealth and taste. Thus, the Nike ‘swoosh’ logo began to appear on all garments and trainers, becoming a staple Hip-Hop emblem. In 1988, Nike employed the advertising company Wieden+Kennedy to create the now infamous slogan, “Just Do It” (www.wk.com). Like the logo, this mantra was emblazoned across t-shirts as another visual signifier of the brand. Klein quotes Nike designer Aaron Cooper, who witnessed the power of branding at this time, “having kids tell you Nike is the number one thing in their lives – number two is their girlfriend” (No Logo, 2000).

More info here