Guest Post: Peta's Vintage Boutique

Lesley's Girls have really enjoyed watching the meteoric rise of PVB magazine, and have loved getting to know Peta through the magazine, her blog and her Facebook page. What was really lovely was meeting her in person when she stopped by our shop in Colchester (bearing in mind she lives in Spain this was a massive surprise!), and when we chatted we persuaded her to do us a guest blog post which the lovely lady was more than happy to oblige us with! So enjoy getting to know more about Peta, the magazine and the marketplace.

PVB by Me!: Peta Coote

Vintage has always had a magical spell over me; something that has pulled at my heart strings throughout my life and made my heart beat that little bit faster. I have always had a rather big obsession with tea cups and saucers along with an intense love affair with history; its tales to tell and wonderful artefacts that hold memories of days gone by have always held a dear spot in my heart. I suppose in many ways it comes as no surprise that I work with vintage every day. 

What exactly is it that I do?

When people who know of me are asked this question the general consensus is “Oh! She’s the vintage girl!” If my friends and family were to be asked I am sure they would tell you quite confidently that I run a small online shop and magazine. Those who work with PVB will say something along the lines of “A promo girl who works very hard at social networking”. But what do I say? Well, I’m a jack of all trades I suppose. I adore vintage jewellery which accounts for the online vintage boutique but what about the rest? I love to help others and I am a very nosey chatterbox too! Through my free online vintage and handmade magazine, blog and PVBMarketplace I am able to promote amazing small independent businesses with an aim to award them with the recognition they deserve for all of the really tough, hard work they put in on a daily basis to achieve their goals.

How did PVB start?

Towards the end of 2011 I found myself with no job, no money and no matter how hard I tried to find a job nothing came along. During this time I was so upset, I had never gone longer than a few short weeks without work since the age of 16 and so I found myself feeling useless and hopeless.

My mum, who I am incredibly close to, showed me a story online of somebody who had started up a business from nothing. My mum and I are very similar in many ways, believing you can do anything that you set your mind to we decided anything was worth a shot, after all what did we have to lose? So, we set ourselves the challenge of creating a successful business from nothing.

To begin with we completed online surveys until we each made £1, the next part of the challenge was to double that pound to £2. I bought a vintage bracelet, cleaned it up and managed to sell it for, you got it! £2.00! Using those two pounds I bought another piece of vintage jewellery, cleaned it up and sold it on, doubling my money once again and so slowly but surely it snowballed and Peta’s Vintage Boutique was born. 

I have always had some kind of etsy or ebay shop on the go from handmade creations to second hand shops ever since being a teen I have always sold something. Over the years I have learnt everything that you shouldn’t do. This is down to doing the wrong thing in many different ways and through trial and error finding what works. It has been and still is a huge learning curve and a lot of hard work but nothing in this life comes for free and if something is worth it, it won’t ever be easy.

At the beginning of April this year, I asked a few different small independent businesses if it would be ok to include them in a one off 10 page publication showcasing my favourite online independent shops. This idea stemmed from my “Pick Of The Week” blog posts. Somehow, word got around and a lot of people wanted to get involved. That “one off” publication turned into the first issue of PVBMag which spanned 100 pages and featured over 50 small businesses. Within the first month of being live it had been read by over 1100 people. 

Whilst putting together what was to be the “Summer” issue of the free online magazine (I had planned to only release one issue per season) I received many emails demanding a monthly issue. Why not? I thought, after all I do love a good challenge! 

Around the same time 3 different people had asked if I could help them set up a vintage or handmade shop and asked for advice on the best way to do this. From this, PVBMarketplace was born. I feature up to 20 handmade and vintage shops on the exclusive marketplace providing a platform for the small businesses to sell their products. I do all of the promotion for each shop personally as well as the advertising via social media, my blog and in PVBMag. Slowly but surely PVBMarketplace is starting to take off, each day more people visit the exclusive online vintage and handmade shops and we’re beginning to show up more and more in search engine results. I have to say, although it is a pain to learn SEO is the best thing I have ever studied in my life! 

I am very picky about who I feature on the blog and marketplace as not only do I believe each and every online business should offer fantastic customer service and quality products but I need to fall in love with the shop applying to be featured. Why? Because if I fall in love with something I become passionate about it. Once I’m passionate about something watch out because I will want to tell the world all about it! That is why I believe it works well as the passion is my drive to promote these fantastic small businesses.

I am currently organising the first Big PVB Giveaway whereby small independent businesses gain further online exposure by working together and offering a prize in the giveaway. Some amazing people are getting involved and I feel so blessed and happy to be a party of the community PVB is becoming. 

Who knows what’s next? I love challenges and believe there is always room to improve and create bigger goals to reach so I am sure another crazy idea will pop out of nowhere and like a whirl wind I will be off!

Many thanks to Peta for this post- please visit her website, like her Facebook page and follow her on Twitter for more of Peta's vintage "ramblings, gossip and updates".  Lesley's Girls are also contributing to the big give-away with some goodies, so we'll keep you updated when that is launched.

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Miss Nightingale, the Burlesque Musical

After we blogged meeting the company of Miss Nightingale, a Burlesque Musical, we went down to see the performance at the New Wolsey Theatre- not just once.  Oh no. Not us. Twice.  The first time we went was the first preview night, the second viewing was their press night.  I enjoyed both nights, but you could see the difference on the second time, the performers had settled in to the show, there were changes to a few of the songs and the outifts as well- so I was really pleased to see it twice and get see how it changed.

The burlesque in the play is more traditional than the sort that is more commonly to be seen in clubs and events nowadays, it was more cabaret and musical than I had expected it to be. I loved the fact there was live music backing the burlesque, it really added to the atmosphere. 

It was great bawdy fun and absolutely hilarious in points. When we went down to meet the comapny at rehearsals, Amber Topaz spoke about her take on burlesque being a send up of your own sexuality you could see how well she achieved this- from the northern fairy godmother to her impersonation of Noel Coward, with all the double entendre songs in between (a week later I'm still trying to stop myself from singing the song about the Pied Piper of Hamlyn- and you'll have to go on watch it on tour if you want to know what I mean by that one!) You could tell that Amber is a professional burlesque dancer, as her performance was so confidnet, involved and both times I saw it had the odd tweak to what she did to know that she was responding as much to the audience as the script. 

Mr Bugg managed to combine a unique and sometimes comedic story with serious issues, the backdrop of the 1940s worked incredibly well to showcase these themes, and all the actors had a hand in creating something special and unique.  

Capturing a Moment

The second time I went to see the play JoJo, from Strawberry Rose Studios, joined us and she managed to sneak off afterwards and get some photos of some of the company.  Miss Nightingale truly has been a labour of love for Mr Bugg and co, and JoJo managed to capture a moving moment backstage after the performance.

We wish the Mr Bugg and the company the best of luck on the rest of their tour of Miss Nightingale... it looks set to be a great success.

If you can stop by and see it at one of the tour locations: Wed 22 May Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool; Thu 23 - Sat 25 May Theatre Royal, Nottingham; Tue 28 May - Sat 1 June Nuffield Theatre, Southampton; Mon 3 - Wed 5 June Theatre Royal, Wakefield; Thu 6 - Sat 8 June Connaught Theatre, Worthing; Wed 19 - Sat 22 June The Lowry, Salford Quays; Mon 24 - Sat 29 June Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham; Tue 2 - Sun 7 July Leicester Square Theatre, London; Tue 9 - Sat 13 July Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford; Mon 15 - Wed 17 July Victoria Theatre, Halifax; Thu 18 - Fri 19 July Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield; Mon 22 - Sat 27 July Theatre Royal Windsor

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Coffee and Shopping

We're loving our new retail unit in the GO4 Market Cafe in Colchester town centre- fantastic coffee, great pop-up traders throughout the week, a play area for the toddlers, lovely neighbours (What's Your Tale Nightingale and Paints Preserve Us) and a space for all our vintage goodies!

Here are a very few pictures of our new shop- if you want to see more, well then you'll have to come in for yourself!  We have a lot of work to go before it is set out how we would like to see it (including getting the sign printed and hung!) but we're getting there slowly, so please do keep stopping by to see us as we grow.

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Guest Post: Essex Blitz Party

Sadly we were unable to attend the recent Essex Blitz Party in Braintree because our shop was opening, however the lovely Lauren Nash attended and volunteered to cover it for the blog, and it sounded amazing! Images can be found on the Essex Blitz Party Gallery and Facebook page, so read on to hear more about vintage shenanigans on the night:

Saturday night saw the Blitz spirit come to Braintree as vintage enthusiasts came from far and wide to dance the night away at Rayne Village Hall.

Party goers put on their best dresses, donned their uniforms and boogied to the sounds of vintage-trio the Three Belles. Inspired by the Andrews Sisters, the Three Belles team pitch-perfect harmonies with a good dose of humour, helped in part by their on stage characters, “Betty”, “Gail” and “Dorothy.” A personal highlight was their cover of “My Baby Just Cares for Me”, which was a quirky, 1940s-style version of the Nina Simone classic.

The Three Belles have been together for around two years after meeting at university in Portsmouth, and they are now gigging between four and five times a week up and down the country at weddings, vintage fairs and corporate events.

Isabelle Moore, 23, whose on-stage character is “Dorothy”, said: “These are our favourite kind of gigs, everyone just really enjoys themselves. You really get to see people enjoying the music as they would have back then; people went out to forget the war and live in the moment.”

The atmosphere was electric, with dance groups A2 Jive and Swing Dance twirling and jiving around the floor in a sea of polka dots, floral prints, military uniforms and trilby hats. The food on offer was wartime grub, with meat stew and pork pies seeming to be a firm favourite with the ‘soldiers’ and ‘civilians’!

Esther Shawe, 41, from Chelmsford, said: “It’s fantastic just to see everyone make the effort to dress up; they put their heart and soul in to it.”

In between the Three Belles’ sets, vintage DJ Mr Tunes filled the hall with the sounds of the 1940s, with everyone taking to the floor for group dances and the classic “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller. At the end of the night, a competition was held for the best dressed guest, which was won by Charlotte White, 30, from London.

She said about the party: “The level of accuracy in people’s clothes has been fantastic; they have really taken the time. It’s definitely been worth coming.”  There was a real community feel to the evening, with people of all ages coming together to enjoy all the fun of the forties.

Event organiser Carly Sayward-Jones, 32, from Braintree, said: “My favourite bit has been seeing all the dancers and the guys in uniform. Everyone becomes the part.” After having the idea last summer and planning it since October, the team behind the Essex Blitz Party plan to hold another event in Chelmsford in October or November.

Thanks again to Lauren for covering this event for us!  If anyone out there would like to contribute a guest post to the blog (we always credit back to your own website/blog) please get in touch here and we can discuss what you are interested in covering.

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Lesley's Girls Vintage

Just in time for the new shop opening we would like to introduce our new logo for Lesley's Girls Vintage, it was designed and illustrated by Phil Howell Designs (who is also behind True Love Vintage- bespoke wedding stationary designs)

And so here it is- we hope you like it as much as we do.  And so now we have our very own pin-up girl, it is not a picture of either of Lesley's Girls - but with her sassy vintage dress and embroidery in hand it conveys what we want to bring to our vintage shop and the blog. Over the next week or so we'll be changing all our logos.

Thanks again to Phil for all his hard work on this. If you are interested in his work or his style please visit his website, or take a look back on the blog post we recently did about his design work.

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Opening up Shop

Ladies and Gentleman!  Chaps and Chappesses!  Lesley's Girls Vintage have the honour of announcing we are opening up a small retail unit in Colchester town centre, inside the GO4 Market Cafe. 

What's going on at GO4 Cafe?

The GO4 Market cafe is based in the Holy trinity heritage church outside Colchester Lirbary. The church is thought to be the oldest surviving church building in Colchester- so what better place to have a vintage shop? GO4 Market Cafe will re-open its doors over the weekend of Friday 3 May and Saturday 4 May; with a vintage, art, craft and local produce market; as well as the 4 retail units including Lesley's Girls Vintage, What's Your Tale Nightingale?, a drop & shop creche and Paints Preserve Us.

The café, which will be supported by Platform 2 catering, will be supplying locally sourced food and produce, all home cooked; and of course the obligatory good coffee! 

GO4 Enterprises provide work opportunities, training and support for young people not in employment, education, or training through its portfolio of services and businesses. The aim of the market cafe is to provide a platform and a venue for businesses run by young people and the not so young!

What to expect in the Lesley's Girls unit?
All the usual vintage delights you see at our on-line shop (and more) from dresses, to coats to sewing patterns and fabric... but face to face! We will still be selling on line as well (in fact we will probably list on line more regularly so our not so local fans can still enjoy Lesley's Girls Vintage goodies)

Aside from our usual items, we will also be stocking pretty Nostalgic magazine and a selection of Lullabelle's Treasure upcycled and vintage homewares and art.  if there is something else specific you would like to see in the shop please get in touch and we'll see what we can do.

Opening Hours:
GO4 Market cafe is open Monday-Saturday 10:00-16:00; and whenever the cafe is open you can buy form Lesley's Girls- however, a member of the Lesley's Girls team will only be there Wednesday-Friday 10:00-14:00, and Saturdays 10:00-15:00, or if you contact us by appointment, outside of these times the GO4 Market cafe staff will cover the shop sales.

Links:  What's your Tale Nightingale? also write a fab blog which can be found here, we will be doing a blog exchange with them in just a couple of weeks time.  If you are on Facebook then please visit the GO4 Facebook page and show your support for the work they do by "liking" their page.  You can join the Lesley's Girls Facebook event for the opening here.

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Mr Bugg Presents....

Last week we had the great pleasure of heading to London to watch a snippet of the rehearsals for Miss Nightingale, a Burlesque Musical and talk to some of the company. If the rehearsals (just one week in) are anything to go by the show is not to be missed.

"London 1942. Two men struggle in the shadows of a war-torn city to thrust a new cabaret star into the spotlight.

Maggie Brown dreams of becoming famous as she nurses wounded soldiers in an East End hospital. With her songwriter George, a Jewish refugee, she auditions at every night club and cabaret bar in London. But nobody wants their act. Their luck and lives change when they are picked up by the handsome, charming and wealthy Sir Frank.

Suddenly the mysterious Miss Nightingale explodes onto the stage - ruffling feathers and shocking polite society with her scandalous exploits, outfits and risqué songs. She takes the West End by storm. But out of the spotlight, sexual tensions reveal secrets more destructive than the Blitz." (source: New Wolsey Theatre)

A Burlesque Musical....

Burlesque is a genre commonly misunderstood and people automatically assume it's all about stripping- however there is much more to it than that.  Matthew Bugg explains it less about the strip and more about the tease.  Burlesque in its literal translation means to "parody, satirize or to send something up, often though innuendo or double entendre" which is partially where the reputation for burlesque as a strip show comes from, that and in post-war America that is essentially what it became.  

Although Miss Nightingale is billed as a 1940s burlesque show, Mr Bugg never actually intended it to be that on his first attempt at writing the play.  In the first draft, he said, there was no burlesque and it wasn't even set in the 1940s.  Mr Bugg describes the show as being a piece that was "discovered" and that he has taken the role of "craftsman rather than an artist".  The company of Miss Nightingale explain that there is a bawdy sense of fun and sassiness to burlesque which is what they aim to get across in the play, but also more than that.  Burlesque traditionally has a narrative, so by creating a play about burlesque it becomes more than just a musical interlude, or their jobs in the play, it take on the role of the narrative in places. Mr Bugg went on to explain that he wanted to create something with more meat on it, that was complex, rich and character driven- given the myriad of themes discussed it would seem the plays promises to deliver on that front.  

One of the things which surprises many people is that you can be a feminist and dress in an attractive and/or sexually provocative way.  This is a theme that Mr Bugg has said comes across in the play, and which Amber Topaz (Miss Nightingale) expanded upon. Amber previously worked on Les Miserables, thinking it would be her dream job she soon realised that it was not for her and then almost fell in to being a burlesque performer, being asked to play Miss Nightingale- which she said is more like her "dream job".  Amber explained that burlesque is empowering- it is inspiring to women to watch a woman on stage being confident and comfortable and yet not taking themselves too seriously.  For Topaz, the empowering thing of burlesque is the ability to be yourself and take control of your own career and body.  Mr Bugg expanded on this to say that before the burlesque was added to the play, it was far too easy for the characters to become victims, and he wanted it to be about triumph- essentially about being happy with you are and revelling in self-expression, which the burlesque element supported.

Blitzy Wartime Romance

The musical has been described as being about 'sex, scandal and showbiz in Second World War London', sounds like a good a place as any to start.  Essentially a love story that grows to the backdrop of burlesque, gorgeous vintage styled costumes and 1940s London.

Once Mr Bugg had developed the play into being set in the 1940s, he developed some of the different themes which the period allowed, such issues as liberalism and repression.  These were two strong currents that swept across Europe during the 19320/30s liberal phase and then in the late 1930s to 1940s with the rise of fascism and repression.  Something we at Lesley's Girls talk about a lot is how vintage fashion should not be seen on its own but should be seen in the context of the time and what is going on, likewise it seems logical a play of whatever form, should take into account the real current of the time, so I'm really interested to see how this is shown in Miss Nightingale.  Interestingly Mr Bugg pointed out that there is a modern resonance with this theme now- where a period of liberalism is often followed by a period of clamping down and repression- another reason I look forward to seeing the play and watching these themes develop.

Costumes

As a vintage fashion blog how could we possibly let a piece on a 1940s burlesque themed play go without talking about fashion?!  Amber Topaz who play Miss Nightingale is a vintage vixen herself, when we arrived she was perfectly coiffed and kitted out- which was fantastic to see as you know that when you see her in the role it will be all the more natural because that is simply how she dresses already, in fact she had some input in the outfits too. The costumes are a mixture of vintage, old, new and handmade pieces- whatever works to ensure the authenticity of the costume to the period.  We have managed to get a couple of images on here of outfits, but you can see more over on their pinterest boards.

So roll on Thursday 2 May when myself and friend of Lesley's Girls, Judy, head off to the Wolsey in Ipswich to see the opening night... and of course we shall make sure we sure we are appropriately attired for the show in our 1940s best.

Miss Nightingale, a Burlesque Musical will be showing at the New Wolsey Theatre, Civic Drive, Ipswich, Suffolk from 2 May until 11 May before continuing its tour schedule (full details can be found on the website) Starring: Amber Topaz, Ilan Goodman, Tomm Coles, Alex Fuller, Adam Langstaff, Tobias Oliver and Matthew Bugg. Writter & Musical Director: Matthew Bugg. Director: Peter Rowe. 

Links: Mr Bugg Presents, Matthew Bugg, Miss Nightingale, New Wolsey Theatre, Amber Topaz

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Vintage Storage

The last two weeks has seen much spring cleaning at Lesley's Girls HQ, sorting the stock room... as well as the rest of the house which led us to the inevitable conundrum that most homes faces- achieving practical but attractive storage.

Hours were spent trawling pinterest (in an attempt mainly to avoid actually doing the job) and googling clever vintage storage solutions, some of which we used some we didn't.  Some were more appropriate for the display on our trade stalls for Lesley's Girls rather than in our home. 

Here is a list of just a few of the classic or unusual (but beautiful) storage solutions I found on my internet travels this month, there were more (lots more) but these are the ones that got me thinking:

• Vintage Suitcases: A suitcase is not just for holidays. It looks equally beautifully when turned into a display and can hide a multitude of rubbish as I realised pretty quickly!
• Fireplaces: Open fires are getting less common but fireplaces are still a part of many homes, and can be utilised to store anything from flowers, to candles even books in larger fireplaces.
• Jewellery: There are a million and one ways to store jewellery.  I use a vintage cake stands for all my beads, and a large champagne bottle for my bangles. A really good idea is using a vintage box grater to hand earrings (not ideal in a house with under 5's though!)
• Post: Create a letter rack using an old window shutter mounted on a wall.  This is one I would love to do as we have a really issue with post which just seems to pile up in mounds everywhere. 
• Loose change: Old metal serving ladles can be nailed to the wall to create handy pockets for loose change. 
• Crates: The ever classic apple crate box is sturdy and beautiful enough not to need to be stowed away either. You can also turn them on their side and affix them on a wall to create unique shelves.
• Buckets: You can hang old metal buckets on basket brackets and use them as magazine storage.

Space can be reclaimed from just about anywhere- so quite literally you should think outside the box apparently  One of the key things to remember with storage, it seems from my research (read procrastination) is directions- don't go just across a space but go up and down too, you can add vast amounts of storage by being clever and layering in cupboards with hanging drawers under shelves or added hooks in an area which would otherwise be wasted space.  

Please do share your own unique storage methods and tips in the comments below.  Or if you have a Pinterest board which is might be full of relevant images and articles, let us know and we'll share it with our followers too (as well as stealing as many ideas as possible to make our house organised!)

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Spring in the Minories

Our day at the Minories Springtime Fair was, as expected, a fantastic day.  And the sun was shining when we arrived to herald in the Spring.

Lesley's Girls Vintage was back in the same spot as last Christmas, so the Turkish rug made yet another appearance to dress the area (I'm beginning to wonder if I should just leave it at The Minories it spends so much time there).  It's one of my favourite locations for a fair for many reasons- partially because I love the building, but also because the area I have had has always allowed me to display the stock in as  close to a shop set up as I can get at the moment.

 

Before the fair opened we got a chance to browse the others traders stalls and so saw some familiar faces and traders previously unknown to me there too.  

This time it was also a chance to browse the new exhibition- Party On (words cannot explain how much I liked it!) and see the progress on the Minories cafe- the newly refurbished parquet floor is looking stunning.

One of the reason trading at fairs is so much fun is that you not only get to see your customers face to face, you also have the opportunity to do a little shopping yourself, and The Minories Fair was no exception.  I was next door to Lullabelle's Treasure again and I ordered a  fantastic 1960s vintage print for our kitchen (I'll share it on the Facebook page when I collect it). And when my children visited me they picked up some unique Lego Monki crayons.

As always we loved our day at The Minories and it's got us fired up for our next trade stand in May- more news come soon on exact details. 

We are currently finalising admin from the fair and our newly revamped website, but we are working on two blog post this week- the first on vintage home storage, following our mammoth spring clean at Lesley's Girls HQ, and another on our recent trip to London.  Until then enjoy the glorious spring weather!

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Spring Time

It finally feels like the weather in England has turned the corner in to spring, well we hope anyway!  It was perfect timing as yesterday we went to celebrate our cousin's wedding and the sun was shining on the bride & groom helping to make an already happy day wonderful.

So with the turn of the weather and after a much needed break of furious activity after the Secret Vintage Fair last week, here at Lesley's Girls we have undertaken a week (and more) of furiously cleaning, sorting, organising and arranging our inventory, blog and all our on-line spaces... as well as planning the season of activities. Which explains our quietness of late, although don't expect it so stay that way this week as we have some new stock to list as well as a couple of blog posts, and then on Saturday we're off with all our vintage goodies to trade at the Minories for their Springtime Art and Design Fair again, as our favourite fair last year we can't wait until Saturday and are thrilled to have another chance to trade there.

As usual we shall send Mr SJR Photography on the rounds of the fair with his camera and we'll blog it on Sunday, although look out for a couple of posts between now and then.

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