Vintage Fashion

The trendiest sector of the antiques market? With dedicated fairs and specialist auctions, this area draws both collectors looking for pieces of fashion history as well as buyers looking simply for something to wear.

Clothes worn by celebrities often make the headline prices but even more affordable pieces of costume by now-forgotten designers have their place in the market. 


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Scarf collector reflects on eight years of east London vintage fairs

03 December 2018

Cary Whitley has been running her biannual Love Vintage brocantes in June and December in Wanstead, east London, for eight years, with the next on Saturday, December 8.

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Frocks and hats make it a party in Clerkenwell

12 November 2018

It’s party time at Savitri Coleman’s Clerkenwell Vintage Fashion Fair in the Freemason’s Hall, Great Queen Street, on Sunday November 25.

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Where to be: Five places to find luxury items this month

12 October 2018

From wine and whisky to handbags and Hermés scarves, luxury auctions can be a chance to indulge in something extra special – sometimes at affordable prices. A series of sales across the UK this month look likely to have buyers bidding on choice pieces, with a few a little out of the ordinary.

Gloves

Gloves fit the bill as best of the LAPADA fair objects

17 September 2018

A pair of early 17th century gloves slipped into a top spot at the LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair last week.

Clerkenwell Vintage Fashion Fair

Vintage fair hopes to tempt fans ahead of London Fashion Week with latest edition

05 September 2018

The Clerkenwell Vintage Fashion Fair will hold its latest The Vintage Collections event on Sunday in Covent Garden.

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East London market relaunches as vintage

13 August 2018

Described in Time Out earlier this year as a place where “high art and innovation meet”, Hackney in east London, with Shoreditch and Hoxton round the corner, has dozens of independent shops, cafes and markets.

Oliver Brown's silk top hats.

Top hat demand for Royal Ascot boosts antique hat seller

22 June 2018

Demand from well-dressed gentlemen for authentic silk top hats for Royal Ascot this week has boosted sales for retailer Oliver Brown.

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16th century doublet bought by museum at auction

11 June 2018

It is relatively rare to find items of 16th century costume on the market, especially pieces in good condition. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that this gentleman’s doublet from c.1580-1600 should end up going to a major museum when it went under the hammer in a Paris auction this month.

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Hapsburg memorabilia sale to include Franz Josef’s slippers

04 June 2018

One of Dorotheum’s specialities is its staging of sales devoted to imperial court memorabilia and historical objects, which are notable for featuring souvenirs and personal memorabilia from the House of Hapsburg.

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Exceptional ways to travel in style

07 May 2018

The travelling compendium reached its apogee in the late Victorian and Edwardian era. Two exceptional examples appeared on the market in quick succession in recent days.

Silver handbag

Sterling silver Hermès handbag makes auction record at Spink in Hong Kong

23 April 2018

The highlight of the inaugural handbag auction held by Spink in Hong Kong was a sterling silver Hermès Kelly handbag.

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Costume sale suits Pennsylvania auction house

23 April 2018

Helen Larson was a keen collector of costume, especially pieces with historical associations. She spent half a century building up a collection that encompassed early costume, couture and pieces with historical or celebrity provenance, helped by her friend Doris Langley Moore who founded the Costume Museum in Bath.

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Sonia Delauney scarf among prints and fashion at dedicated French auction

09 April 2018

Piasa is holding a second auction devoted to the colourful works of the Ukrainian-born artist Sonia Delaunay (1885-1975) on April 26.

Hermes

Handbags in Hong Kong for coin and stamp specialist Spink

12 March 2018

Coins, banknotes and stamps specialist Spink has expanded its sales programme into the growing auction sector of luxury handbags.

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Cashing in on flashy cases

12 March 2018

Flash from the past at the Diss rooms of TW Gaze (18% buyer’s premium).

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Oz suitcase rummage comes to UK

05 March 2018

Gene Hoyle, of Lancashire-based family firm Hoyles Promotions, which has been running busy weekly Sunday fleamarkets and car boots across north-west England for 40 years, is adding a “suitcase rummage” to his fleamarkets at Clitheroe Auction Mart in the Lancashire town.

Handbag

Handbags at dawn: Dispute between Christie’s and Heritage Auctions over three handbag specialists heads to US court

23 February 2018

A dispute between Dallas-based Heritage Auctions and Christie’s over the employment of Matthew Rubinger and two colleagues is heading to a US court.

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Philip Mould stages show featuring modern milliner

12 February 2018

Milliner Victoria Grant is known for her high-society hats, worn by the likes of Kate Moss, Beyoncé and Carla Delevigne. But in an exhibition of her works at Old Master dealer Philip Mould’s gallery, society faces are on, not under, the hats.

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Frock Me vintage fair kicks in at temporary Kensington venue

05 February 2018

The next three Frock Me vintage fashion fairs this year will be held at the Kensington Town Hall, instead of its usual venue, Chelsea Town Hall, which is being refurbished.

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Top gear drives auction highs in south London

02 January 2018

Which sector of the traditional antiques trade has been on an unbroken, record-busting rise since the early years of the century?

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