After our trip to the Summer Exhibition, I carried on down South visiting relatives and excitingly took a solo trip to Brighton. I first visited the city last year and after falling in love with it, and its incredible selection of independent shops, I couldn’t wait to return.
Top of my list of places to visit was Beyond Retro, a vintage shop that has a couple of bases across the country but no shops near to where I live, much to my bank balance’s relief! The Brighton Shop is in the east of the North Laines and despite not looking like much from the outside, opens up into what is essentially a designed warehouse full of fabulous vintage. It is literally heaven and I highly recommend you make a visit if you are in Brighton looking for unique buys.
So, what did I buy in there? Well, I tried a couple of things on but the item I fell most in love with was this pair of blue patterned, flared trousers. Anyone who likes to shop vintage or secondhand will know what a miracle it is if any item of clothing fits you perfectly, especially trousers! It is a rare and wonderful feeling, a feeling that I got when I popped these on. Winning!
The trousers are handmade to a beautiful standard and honestly it is like they were made for me, although a little label tells me otherwise – they once belonged to ‘Ellie Sazon of Je’, so shoutout to you for being my exact size! They are the perfect length and the perfect fit around my waist, and I am already enjoying styling them. My favourite thing to wear them with so far has been my white Muji trainers (of course) and a tight white turtleneck that I got from Uniqlo. So retro, I live for it!
My other purchase from my lovely sunny day out was this amazing vintage gridded bag, a style that I have been on the hunt for for the longest time. The main material of the bag is canvas, which has such a cool matt appearance and makes this statement bag, just a bit less showy. I love the metal detailing on the handles and it is one of those awesome bags that feels like you could not only fit the contents of your home in it, but it wouldn’t break under the strain. I can’t wait to take this away with me always as a weekend bag and it has already been on a trip to Leeds. Obsessed.
One of the things I love about vintage shopping is the little details that you get on items that tell their story. For example, my favourite new bag has two vintage paper-clips attached to the corner, as you can see above. I wonder who put those on there and what their life was all about!
So there you have it, my vintage haul from a glorious day in Brighton! Have you ever visited the city and what wonderful things have you found there?
