As a student, having to manage my money to fund my style is quite difficult. I mainly shop online on ASOS and Prettylittlething as most things on their are a reasonable price and really cool. However, recently after watching a YouTuber named Hayley of ‘Hayley’s Corner’ I fell in love with thrift stores and the idea of buying vintage clothes that already have a massive story behind them. Therefore, instead of buying clothes straight off a website or in store I have decided as one of my New Year’s resolutions I am going to branch out of my comfort zone and visit more charity shops and kilo sales in order to get the same experience as one would have at a thrift store in the UK. The place where I live (Blackpool) doesn’t seem to have the best selection of charity shops or vintage stores so this means that my journey to find the best vintage shop has begun. 

So far, I have visited a small vintage store in the northern quarter of Manchester which I can’t remember the name of, all I can remember is that they had the best selection of clothes and only cash payments were accepted which I loved because there were rails upon rails of Levi jeans and jackets, vintage Nike, Adidas and so many more and most were priced below £20 which was great. I always make it a mission to visit this store whenever I’m in Manchester so I really should remember the name of it. But this is where the idea of finding the best vintage store began, I really love this shop but I feel like if it was to be compared to a thrift store I would rate it 6/10 due to the size of the shop but the quality of clothes were amazing, as they say quality over quantity.

As the search continued, I visited my local charity shops Oxfam and Age UK, in my opinion the passion for fashion in Blackpool or Poulton-le-Fylde is incredibly lacking as the age demographic is OAP’s which isn’t bad but it also means that the clothes are not really that vintage more like your grandma’s wardrobe from 2009 (which isn’t the look I’m going for). I did have a good dig through the hangers and bins to find any gems but I was unlucky, in addition because they are charity shops other miscellaneous items were sold like old CD’s and vinyls which I did try and have a look through but unfortunately nothing worthy was found. Therefore, I would give this section of the search a 3/10, the idea was great but in the end no vintage items were found apart from the box of old teddy bears. The nostalgia was real. 

So after starting this mission I am planning on visiting The Regent in Blackpool town centre that has over 50 stalls of antiques and vintage items (they even have a cinema!). I’m also going to a kilo sale in Preston, so after these visits I shall do an update 🙂

As someone with a deep interest in fashion, Anna Wintour inspires me in many ways. After becoming editor-in-chief at Vogue she transformed the once struggling magazine into one of the most successful. Aside from her successes, Wintour as a person inspires me everyday to be the best person I can be especially after recently reading an article in The Guardian where a journalist took Wintour’s master class in creativity and leadership. The journalist stated that the course was online and costs £29.99 a month and one quote really stuck out to me: Wintour says ‘Own your decisions and who you are – without apology‘ – this quote had a large impact on me as I had recently been experiencing a hard time with self happiness and had realised that I need to care more about myself and do more things for myself to become happier, therefore this meant a lot that one of my biggest inspirations said this.

Wintour took risks and doing this made her one of the most influential people in  fashion. One risk that I admire most is when she put Madonna on the front cover of vogue in 1989 when it was tradition to use models. Using initiative, Wintour changed history in the fashion industry by thinking outside the box and straying away from the bandwagon. She also gave lesser-known models the chance to feature in US vogue which i find is important as it’s a rarity you hear about someone from above helping people lower down to succeed. Anna Wintour using her own power to empower others is another reason why I find her so inspiring. Being one of the most important people fashion, looking up to Anna Wintour has helped me find my passion in journalism and has guided me to realise what I want to do as a future career due to how much she loves her job. I hope to reach a level where I can help other people like she did and better myself by taking those words of wisdom and using them as a way through life.

After discovering Fleetwood Mac in year 10, one member of the band also stuck out to me and that was Stevie Nicks. Her amazing singing voice and her amazing sense of style led me to idolise her massively. Nicks set up a charity foundation titled “Stevie Nicks’ Band of Soldiers” which is used for the benefit of wounded military personnel her philanthropy has inspired me to think of others more than myself and always give a helping hand when in need. 

The Velvet Underground is where Nicks primarily sourced her tunics and shawls from, she mentions the Velvet underground in one of Fleetwood Mac’s hit songs ‘Sara’ which is one of my favourites. Never wearing the same outfit twice is one thing that I love about Stevie, although her style is far from modern she knows how to work a new outfit every time she comes on to stage. I have taken aspects from Stevie’s style into my own and hopefully when i have a larger budget than ASOS and Primark one day I’ll be able to dress like her and never more than once.

Hello and welcome to my new blog, my name is Lydia and I am an aspiring fashion journalist. Based in Blackpool I have found that in order to achieve my dream I need to gain some experience, hence the creation of this blog. I have always loved writing articles but this summer I found that fashion is the direction I would love to take after reading a series of magazines and creating my own as a part of my Media Studies A-level. I also enjoy taking photos so you’ll be able to see my progress in my Photography A-level and just any images that i like the look of.