Vintage Skirt, found at a car boot £20.

I don’t ever have a clue what trends are in or out, or what the latest catwalk trend is. Fashion isn’t about following trends, it’s simply about expressing yourself.

So where do you get your clothes from? I tend to steer clear of high street stores, they are unoriginal and well lets face it, bland. I get most of my clothes second hand – charity stores, swapping them, jumble sales, car boot sales and vintage stores. This way I find fantastic bargains that are completely unique.

Sequin Vintage Top, found in a flea market in America $3.

I also do a lot of DIY (cheap and eco friendly!). If I try to do at least 1 DIY per week. I get almost all my DIY inspiration from Outsapop. This is a fantastic blog filled to the brim with fashion and DIY inspiration.

Another fantastic fashion insperation website is Popgloss. It may not look like much, but it has pages and pages of unique fashion finds. On this site I have found some of the coolest tops, tights, rings – you name it!

But the ultimate fashion insperation site, has to be Lookbook.nu. I myself have a Lookbook account which you can see here. This site is a must if you are looking for fashion inspiration.

I own Joelleabelle Jewellery. This is what I tend to spend most of my free time doing (the little I have being in the middle of my GCSE’s!). I spend most of this making it, thinking up new designs and promoting my jewellery. My passion is photography, ever since buying my first camera at 12 I simply cannot get enough of it! I dream of either becoming a fashion photographer or even a fashion designer. Another of my favorite things is fashion – I love doing DIY and take fashion inspiration from many people and places. Another thing I love doing is blogging! I got into blogging due to my jewellery, you can check out my blog here.

I happened to stumble across Covert Candy whilst browsing the internet. I thought it was a brilliant idea and instantly signed up! I own a ridiculous amount of clothes and don’t wear half of them, therefore Covert Candy is a brilliant way for me to trade clothes that I no longer wear and get clothes that are just lovely! I myself have got some brilliant items off covert candy that include: a beautiful lacey vintage top, a well fitted blazer and some adorable ankle boots! You can see my covert candy HERE.

I hope you all enjoy my guest blog posts over the next two weeks!
Much Love,
Joelle xox

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

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.

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.

Balmain’s acid wash skinny jeans, taking some serious influence from the original 80s penchant for acid washed denim.

Wow. Just wow…

Alexander Wang’s sheer black embroidered dress is a clear homage to 80s cult film ‘Vamp’ starring mental 80s icon, Grace Jones.

This has permeated from high-couture fashion right through to the highstreet. Crop tops, shoulder-pads, double-breasted blazers, rolled up sleeves, acid wash jeans, high waists and lace – all making a definite comeback.

Socially, it seems logical that parallels would be made between 2009 and the decade of excess. The era of yuppies, Thatcher and economic prosperity suddenly gave way to recession in 1987, the largest one-day percentage dive in stock market history. The same could easily be said of the current economic climate.

Another reason for the sudden interest in 80s clothes could be that after twenty years, the 80s can now be ‘officially’ viewed as vintage. I say ‘officially’ because there doesn’t seem to exist a conclusive way of defining  the classification of vintage clothes. I once interviewed Hannah Turner Voakes, who owns a vintage boutique in Shoreditch, and asked her how she classified her stock.

“I would define vintage as anything that is less than a hundred years old but more than 20 – more than a hundred is considered to be antique clothing and I personally believe that 20 years is the right amount of time to help people recognize that you are wearing clothes that you have purposefully chosen, rather than just being out of date fashion wise… I don’t think people need to be anal about classifying vintage-one should wear what one likes whatever its age but for me, the 80’s is definitely the latest decade that I would stock”
(Hannah Turner Voakes, 2009)

Whatever the reason, the rise of this trend has created more interest in original, vintage 80s clothes. Why spend £2,000 on a Balmain jacket (in fantasy land) when you can buy a unique and far more affordable vintage piece? The beauty of vintage shopping and swap sites like Covertcandy, is in purchasing something embued with nostalgia, individualism and credibility. A highstreet ‘copy’ is somehow not quite the same.

My advice is to always opt for the vintage piece. It may be a little harder to hunt down – by its very nature, your not likely to find these things on the highstreet – but it’ll no doubt be cheaper and better value (the quality of workmanship has decreased in recent yeasr but thats another blog post for another time…). So, happy shopping vintage magpies. Get yourselves an original 80s denim shirt, rip off the sleeves and bask in the glory of your fashionability.

Comments, suggestions, thoughts and theories always welcome.