Spot this rather hairy wild-eyed rabbit on a random position on Hackney Road...
...and ye shall find Vintroville, a new addition to the vintage enclave of the East but far enough from the Brick Lane crowds to not have it rammed and overpicked...
Vintroville is of course at the other end of the scale in comparison to Vintage Academe which I visited earlier in the week. In fact, there's something distinctly un-fussy and in a way, unpretentious about Vintroville because the owners; the lovely Meryl and Laura, longtime friends who don't come from a fashion background at all, are exactly what they proclaim to be... two gals who like what they like, and are having a bit of fun with their new vintage venture which started out as them accumulating piles of clothes and then selling them on Portobello Road. They won't have tales of clothing provenance to offer up but they will say "That's cute on you!" and for most seasoned vintage scavengers, you don't need piles of words to go with your piles of clothes anyway.
It was on Portobello Road, that they had Michael Kors and his team scouring away for 'inspiration' - they picked up a shirt from the girls and soon enough they opened up the shop on Hackney Road. I wonder whether that shirt lead to an actual Michael Kors design...
Vintroville mottos itself with the phrase "Vintage without Stinkage" and like a lot of vintage places trying to up their game, pieces come clean and fresh (I took a good whiff of the clothes... I wonder what detergent they use!) and they'll do alterations if you want too... Meryl cropped this shirt to go with the cropped/khaki flow of the summer...
... not that trends are all that important as the selection are basically things the girls are into and more importantly, they're priced at prices they would pay themselves... so nothing is over £60 and even then, most things are £30 or less... in London terms, this is pretty much bargainous considering the lack of damage and smell too...
I like the simple "I like what I like and it's going into a shop" attitude... and with affordable vintage, it doesn't necessarily need to be overthought and overwrought...
I love the touches of new designers in the racks too like Laura Laura's cute knitwear...
Oh and men can have a gander too...
Hopefully there'll be a few summer afternoons down at Mecca Bingo and then popping into Vintroville for some finds... perhaps I'll end up as happy as this lady here...
