Beyond Retro Vintage Blog

Here at Beyond Retro music is a strong contender with our love of vintage. We take pride in both blasting the best and varied tunes from our stores as well as surrounding ourselves with talented musicians during office hours.

At our Brick Lane store works Richie – who also play in the six-month-old band 16 Hole Boots.16 Hole Boots is a four-piece band based in London. So far they’ve recorded two songs with producer Marc Waterman and have been kept busy playing all over London. They were also invited to play at this year’s Liverpool Sound City Festival.

They list their music influences with the likes of The Velvet Underground, The Smiths, Bowie, Brian Jonestown Massacre and New York Dolls. Their music is a high-bred of snarling post-punk via stomping glam to garage and neo-psychedelia, mixed together with something new and original - making it pretty hard to put them in a bracket with other bands out there!

The Hoxton Amp wrote in April that 16 Hole Boots are “definitely different, definitely driven, and very talented.”

16 Hole boots will be playing in our Cheshire street store this Saturday (the 22^nd of June) at 6:30pm, and we suggest that you get your ass down there and show some support and hey, maybe pick up a nice little vintage number while you’re at it!

Last Thursday we came down with a serious case of disco fever as our Brick Lane store was transformed into a happening nightclub hotspot. We collaborated with Future Cinema to celebrate their production of ‘Saturday Night Fever’. Classic disco tunes were spun and some luminously candy coloured fruit cocktails were on hand to quench any thirsty disco dancers.

We’ll be arranging another party pretty soon so keep your eyes peeled for updates on our twitter and blog. We’re also selling ‘Saturday Night Fever’ tickets in-store, just so ya know.

Check out the pics from the night below! Can you dig it?

Hi Beyond Retro Readers,

We are Naomi & Amy from personal style and fashion blog Two Shoes, One Pair!
Over at TSOP we are super excited for summer and the festival season ahead, we are all for bright prints, denim, lace and leather. We are big vintage fans with Beyond Retro being our favourite hangout on payday! Our blog is all about mixing the best of vintage and the high street. There was no surprise that when we got asked to do a summer edit of our favourite pieces that our list was endless! After a lot of narrowing it down we have composed our favourite 9 pieces that we think totally rock! You better be quick or else we will be snapping up these summers steals....

From top let to right:

Leather Crop Top: Oh boy! We love this leather crop and think its a perfect way to keep that element of grunge over the summer season. Wear it with high waisted shorts, a printed midi or layered over a cute dress! This is one we will be packing for Bestival!

Lace Dress: This dress is perfect for layering and would look great with a pair of denim shorts underneath with the sheerness of the lace over them. Also work it with a baggy tee over it, bumbag and denim jacket for a perfect festival look. Coachella eat your heart out.

Denim Shirt: One of those items you just can't live without especially if your stuck with what to wear! Team it with a pattern skirt and leather jacket or wear it open over just about anything- its the perfect item for layering.

Aztec Shirt: Since Naomi brought a shirt very similar a few months back, this is one we advise all of you to invest in! Wear it under your denim dungarees or over a cute little dress, the possibilities are endless! Over at TSOP we would rock it with a clashing Aztec bottom for a mega print mash up!

Printed Midi Skirt: Ummm.. So how amazing would this look with the leather crop! We love printed midis for the summer because they are so easy to throw on with chunky boots and a bandeau or tee and be good to go! For a festival look wear a kimono or something with Tassles, rucksack and your favourite sunnies!

Aztec Waistcoat: Things like this are great to wear over little dresses or over a jersey basic and denim short to add extra interest. The colours are really nice and the pattern is bold, don't be scared to clash it up with something printed underneath especially at festivals.

Tan Leather Rucksack: We both carry our lives around in our rucksacks and wouldn't have it any other way! Vintage ones are always the best and look super boho for festivals. We are in love with this tan one which is perfect for summer to pack full of your essentials and be good to go.

Purple Floaty Dress: Stunning colour and style, this would look perfect with a leather jacket, chunky boots and heap loads of ethnic jewellery! For another look wear it with a denim jacket and belt it up with a statement belt. Why not add In a floral headband if you're heading to a festival?

Statement Waist Belt: This belt is super sexy and rare in the vintage world! Team it with anything you need clinching in at the waist whether It be a dress, shorts or midi skirt- this way you can do it in style.

We hope you have enjoyed our summer edit for Beyond Retro! For more style notes visit us at www.twoshoesonepair.blogspot.co.uk or check us out on Twitter and Instagram.com/twoshoesonepair

Here's to 2013 the summer of style!

If you came to one of our stores this weekend you would have noticed a lot of shoulder pads and power suits, that’s because it was our eighties dress up weekend, if you didn't make it in to any of our stores you can check out the photos below and if you're feeling inspired by the power decade you can shop our great selection Eighties clothing in-store or online.

Shop Womens Eighties.

Shop Mens Eighties.

We’ve had the hots for Hermes’s  Birkin bag, Chanel’s  classic 2.55 style  and the Alexa from Mulberry, but where did this long standing love affair with the handbag come from?

In the sixteenth century, wealthy individuals carried their money in pouches that dangled from a belt or girdle. These pouches were so easily stolen that soon the trend for pockets in clothing arose, which allowed a man or woman to hide his or her possessions on the body and out of thieves’ reach.  However in the 1790s women's fashions changed quite dramatically. Dresses with a high waistline, with skirts that fell close to the body and legs came into fashion. The contents held in the pockets of a garment would ruin the smooth line of the dress and were widely abandoned. As a resolution, women began to use reticules, decorative bags designed be carried over the arm in the manner of the modern handbag. However, reticules were very small and had barely enough room from much more than a hanky and a coin.

The term ‘handbag’ was first used at the beginning of the 19^th century, before that time it was often simply referred to as a pouch or coin purse -  mainly because pre 1900 it was rarely used for anything else other than for carrying coins!

H.J. Cave & Sons is seen as perhaps the first company to produce a luxury handbag. The company is known for having created the’ Osilite’ trunk, which was used on the 1933 Everest Expedition and on several other expeditions. In 1841 the industrialist and confectionary kingpin Samuel Parkinson ordered a set of complete travel bags for his family from H.J. Cave, but also ordered a small matching leather bag for his wife’s "particulars" and thus the now ubiquitous ‘handbag’ was  created. It was sturdier and more robust than the then used carpet travel bags and could (obviously) carry much more than a simple coin purse. Up until 1865 H.J. Cave & Sons pursued creating the handbag as a new business venture, however negative reactions from the time resulted I virtually no sales and production was halted.  In 2010 the company have resumed production of their own collection of handbags.

Although Louis Vuitton and Gucci are powerful fashion houses with a long history of producing leather goods, the introduction of handbags to their repertoire is in fact a relatively recent occurrence. And it would seem that no one loves luxury handbags as much as Britons, who account for 422 searches per 1000 internet users of most searched-for handbag brands, with Mulberry being the brand of choice.

However, if a luxury handbag isn’t within the realms of possibility just yet (it ain’t for most of the people we know anyway) then fear not, check out our selection here for some quality leather and reasonably priced vintage alternatives.

1857 reticule advertisement

The Alexa by Mulberry

H. J. Cave & Sons advertisement

Reticule from England

We are now on Snapchat, come and Snapchat us for behind the scenes access, exclusive offers and mostly likely videos of Tiny our Brick Lane store cat.

Username: beyondretrouk

Recently at our cafe in our Dalston shop we held a lovely little exhibition by Emma Block. We are happy to announce that we have just put on a new exhibition for you to enjoy with your coffee: Photography by Jessica Arneback.

Jessica is originally from Sweden but is currently based in London. Her photography reflects her passion for travel. The main focus of her work so far has been documentary photography, weddings and photos. To see more of these check out her website here.

Jessica has travelled around the world for both work and pleasure, and has lived in exotic places like East Africa and the Middle East. Last autumn Jessica spent two weeks in Palermo, Italy, and the work we’re exhibiting at our Dalston cafe is the result of this trip.

So come on in and see through Jessica’s eyes and camera lens what goes on in the everyday life of the people and streets of Palermo. We promise you won’t be disappointed!

Whack out the shades, find something - anything with the appropriate amount of fringing on it, and prep the essentials. Toilet paper is a good starter, seriously as you hardened festival veterans know you can barter this for anything, ANYTHING, it will be like gold dust - sadly we kid you not.

Festival style at our Brick Lane store

And of course it’s time to start sourcing that perfect sartorially stylish (yet let’s face it, practical) festival outfit.  However, fear not, we got your back. Check out our festival style picks here for women and here for men. It's always been there but the summer of love vibe is back and it's back with a bang. So think laid-back sixties style with fringing, Navajo details, flower headpieces and floaty skirts.

Beyond Retro Festival Accessories

Classic festival fashion

For us, it was as soon as the first pair of ankle boots hit the grassy plains of Indio for The Coachella Valley Festival, it was clear that under those sunny Cali skies the festival season had begun. Primavera and bringing it on home, Field Day, in London, have both just finished up but we have plenty more to look forward too. Like, oh say, Glasto, T in the Park, Secret Garden Party, and Reading and Leeds … and really that is just the tip of the festival iceberg .

Dusk at the Coachella Valley Music arts Festival

So festival season is definitely upon us - but where did it all start? We’ve all heard of the now legendary rock music and psychedelic drug induced hippiefest that was  ‘Woodstock’, but what was it that kick-started this now iconic event? The organizers of Woodstock were four young men: John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfeld, and Mike Lang. The oldest of the four was only 27 years - Roberts was the heir to a pharmaceutical fortune, and his friend Rosenman were looking for a way to use Roberts' money to invest the money. After placing an ad in The New York Times that stated: "Young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting, legitimate investment opportunities and business propositions," they met Kornfeld and Lang. Kornfeld and Lang's original proposal was to build a recording studio and a retreat for rock musicians up in Woodstock, New York. This idea then morphed into creating a two-day rock concert for 50,000 people with the hope that the concert would raise enough money to pay for the studio.

Woodstock Festival

Woodstock style

Janis Joplin at Woodstock

The four young men then got to work on organizing a large music festival. Despite numerous setbacks which included laws passed to ban the festival from the original site of choice, construction of the stage and site was barely finished in time, the festival had not been properly cordoned off in time and thousands of people simply walked straight through forcing the organizers to make the festival free. The rumor of this amazing free  festival spread and nearly a million people headed over in the hopes to get in. In the end around 500 000 made it inside. No-one had expected this kind of capacity and the festival had to use a helicopter to get the artists from their hotels to the stage. Richie Havens was the one who officially opened the festival on Friday the 15th of August. The music continued playing until Monday morning, with the likes of Santana, Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead and The Who, just to name a few. The legend Jimi Hendrix had the honor of finishing the very first Woodstock. When the festival was over the organizers were left with 70 lawsuits against them, and over $1 million in debt. But it is still safe to say that it was a great success, and that it really set the standard for every festival coming after it.

The walk to Woodstock

When we think of Greek clothing, most of us will instantly imagine some sort of white bed sheet draped recklessly over our shoulders as togas, some green leafs on the head and a pair of gladiator shoes for added effect, but we of course know there is more too Greek clothing than this. So, what's it all about?

Well firstly, although popular media has fooled us into believing that white was the favored colour of the Greek clothing, that’s actually incorrect, and they used a lot of elaborate design and bright colours in their clothing. Very generally speaking Ancient Greek clothing consisted of lengths of linen or wool fabrics, that were draped around the body in rectangular shapes, mostly ending at the knee for males, and at the ankle for females. The drapings they used in Ancient Greece were also far less voluminous that those used in Ancient Rome. These clothes were held together by elaborate pins and needles, often teamed with a matching belt.

Fibulae

So what do we still have today from Ancient Greece? Well something half of the population wears every day for starters: the bra! Apparently these were used by women who participated in athletics, which we of course know all the Greek people did.  But didn’t they do it naked you might ask? They didn’t originally – the whole reason why they changed it to naked athletes (besides the enjoyment of the on-lookers) was that once a woman had dressed up as a man and won, so in order for this not to be repeated athletes started competing naked.

Piraeus Arch. Museum, Athens

The women of Ancient Greece would often wear belts around their breasts over clothing to emphasize them, or they would wear clothes with one breast exposed. Much like the women we all love and fancy from Game of Thrones! In these days of the ‘sheer-look’ fashion, it’s easy to think that this is a new look, but the very first time we saw this was actually in, you guessed it, Ancient Greece. Greek sculptors developed the ‘wet look’ in statuary, where the statue’s clothing is so transparent and snug against the body, that the body is fully visible under the fabric.

Parthenon, East Pediment

In recent times the Greek style trend often blossoms up around the spring/summer collections, where the layered drapings and flowy fabrics are more than welcome, along with the one sided shoulder, which we of course have to thank Greece for. Check out an example from Valentino’s s/s 09 collection.

Valentino

To celebrate Future Cinemas upcoming screening of Saturday Night Fever, this coming Thursday we will be hosting a joint seventies shopping night at our Brick Lane store. Our staff will be on hand to help you pick out that perfect dance floor ready outfit for the screening. On the night you will be able to mix with the cast members from Future Cinema all whilst enjoying some complimentary drinks and disco anthems.