The little gem on your High Street!

The Vintage Clothes Fete

There was a Vintage Clothes Fete in Tunbridge Wells shopping centre a few days ago, so I headed over to take a look.

Timing wasn’t great though, I had a tired and therefore stroppy 2.5yr old and an 8mth old in a double buggy which surprise, surprise wouldn’t squeeze through between the stalls.  If I’d tried it would have been carnage.

My 8mth old son’s new party trick is sticking his arm out to grab anything close enough.  We would have had beautiful things flying everywhere.

So, I left my long suffering friend with both our buggies and did a mad flit about, taking a few pictures and grabbing business cards, so I could look into the exhibitors afterwards.

I saw a beautiful wedding dress (above left), some fab accessories and jewellery and I was particularly pleased to see some framed Gil Elvgren prints as well (right).

It was lovely, but I had no time to browse.  But, one of the fliers I picked up was for the shop….

‘So Very’

They don’t have a website or any real web presence, only a Facebook page, which has nothing on it but contact details.

I was intrigued, so on a less challenging day, I hunted down their lovely little boutique, where I found lots of pretty things!

There are times in life, when you really really wish you had size 5 feet, and this was one of them.

These red (made for burlesque) beauties, were not the only ones that caught my eye. There was a pair of lovely black patent heels too (right), again size 5, damn it.

Looking at the wonderful clothes, there were lots of recognisable high end high street labels (Karen Millen, Per Una), but also some names which were new to me.

Samantha Sung, was new to me, but I have since discovered online, anyone picking up this dress (left), was getting an unbelievable bargain at just £55.00.  It most likely had an extra zero on the end when it was bought new.

I knew, I had to blog about this, so I had a chat with the lady in the shop.

I discovered that ‘So Very’ is, in fact, SO much more than just a beautiful boutique selling pre-loved clothes and accessories. It is actually, the genius idea of the wonderful local charity Hospice in the Weald.

They have many branded charity shops, but decided to try something a little different with ‘So Very’. Aiming to draw in people who may not think to browse their usual branded shops.

It opened right in the centre of Tunbridge Wells in November last year, so only six months old, but doing fantastically well, selling the top end items donated, so they are always offering high class high street and above.

The great news is they have a long term lease, so they will be there for the foreseeable future, for us all to enjoy.

Ladies, if you are not local, it’s worth making the trip to see for yourself!

Shop ’til you drop, take home fabulous finds and know, to top it all off, every penny you spend, goes to an amazing charity, helping people and caring for them in their final days.

If you are lucky enough be the new owner of those glamourous, red, size 5 shoes, I’ll be expecting you in a Foxy Burlesque dance class very soon!  Next course dates have just been confirmed, so book yourself in, here!