Saturday is an Opportunity to Shop at....Ascot Vale & Port Melbourne

Back in the day before I could get into MA 15+ movies, I use to be into a thing called op shopping. At that time, it was considered pretty "uncool"; most people in high school would turned up their noses and go, "Ew, why do you want to buy used people's clothes?" The beauty of it was finding all these really cool things at bargain $1 - $2 prices. 

Then came Sex and the City. All the sheep swiftly folllowed. (Baaa baaa.) Vintage clothing suddenly became cool; disconcertingly mainstream, even. The reality of it all means that vintage now costs about the same (or even more,) than new clothing. Op shops house clothes and junky items that really are just old, rather than vintage. The good stuff is generally pilfered away to an upmarket vintage boutiques or sold on ebay. I do have the occasional rare find, but it is rare. My usual pattern is to go months or even up to a year of not buying anything, and then to stumble across a brilliant find, such as my maroon slingback Christian Dior heels at a vintage market. It doesn't happen very often, though.

I'm definitely not a Fitzroy hipster. My taste in clothing generally does not swing towards "granny", and I have a penchant towards 1970's vintage sun dresses and 60's mod inspired sihoulettes. I've had friends comment on my vintage gear telling me that they can't tell that it's vintage, which is probably a good sign. Well, it either means that I'm managing to update and wear vintage to make it look like my own, or that I'm not truly buying vintage at all. 

I've been getting into homeware as of late. My housemate owns most of the cookware (ie: glasses and plates,) mainly because I haven't seen anything that I've liked. I have been lusting after handmade porcelain ware made by a Sydney based designer under the brand name Mud, and have so for about eight years, that I've decided that it's high time that I actually go out and buy some. (Anticipate another post to follow.) I've always liked the thought of having some vintage homeware pieces to accent more modern wares, but find that vintage homeware have a tendency to look dated and not particularly comfortable looking.

I managed to sneak into an op shop in Ascot Vale about 2 minutes before closing time on Friday afternoon. As they were locking the front door, I spied these kitchy looking brown glass appled shaped dessert bowls, most likely from the 1970's, I'm guessing.

There's just something I really like about them that I really can't put my finger on. I just think they'd make a great accent to some basic procerlain wares. They were initally priced at 3 for $18. I took the six bowls to the counter where the elderly man took one look at them at the counter and said, "3 for 18?!!? Surely not. Just give me $5 for the lot. That's fair, right?" 

Sure. 

I actually went back the very next day (ie: today) to have another look around. 

I've all of a sudden had this thing about wanting to have mismatching fine bone china tea cups and saucers. 

It's really, really odd, as I've always associated Royal Doulton/Royal Albert ware as being very granny and one step towards having a household full of crochet doilies. I still do - particularly if they're matching. I do think if they're cleverly mismatched, it leans towards the on-trendy shabby chic, something in tune with the vibe you'd get from a Cath Kitson store. 

E. & I stumbled across this vintage boutique closing down in Port Melbourne where I ended getting three saucers and a cup for $8.

I'm on a bit of a roll at the moment, so my aim is to either check out the Brunswick or Footscray Savers tomorrow.