FOUND - Scenes Set in Aquamarine

I found this Aquamarine ring at Avenue Vintage & Antique Market in West Ealing. The semi-precious gem is the birthstone for March, and while my birthday is in February, I can't resist the sparkling lucidity of this sky blue jewel. An incredibly hard stone due to a high iron content, the watery hue is a particularly appealing pastel. The earrings were actually mined near Zimbabwe and set in Harare - my home from 1998 to 2001. Memories of my Southern African adventure are the greatest gift the country gave me. From the hot wet spray off Victoria Falls to the wide Jacaranda-lined streets of Bulawayo, from the soulful sounds of native son Oliver Mtukudzi to the piercing, lyrical words of writer, my friend, the late Yvonne Vera, Zimbabwe lives inside me. Her people, troubled but eternally optimistic, burn bright in my head and heart. Zimbabweans deserve so much more than they've been given by their so-called leader. Uniting my Zimbabwe gems with the matching secondhand ring feels like connecting the dots of my life. With flawless clarity they represent my love of Zimbabwe and my life in London. I don't recall how much the earrings cost but the ring was just £20.   

TRY THIS - Blossom With A Posy Brooch

I find I'm ready to wear Spring styles but the weather's not keen to cooperate yet. To mark the seasonal change (and remain warm), I've recently pinned this boutenniere to my outerwear. A gift from my step-mom, a seasoned secondhand shopper herself, my posy holder blossoms on a tweed or tartan coat. The useful accessory is inspired by the Victorians who carried hand-held posy holders similar to this; the flowering nosegay gadget masked unpleasant personal and street odors. Called a "Tussie Mussie," they were tiny, often silver vases with bone handles. A woman holding a Tussie Mussie was also signaling that she was enjoying the attentions of a gentleman caller. Today these are proper antiques, Victoriana that any collector would be pleased to own. They're also pricey. But brooch-y posy holders like mine, stylish and wearable, can be found in vintage markets and charity shops if you keep your eyes peeled. They're Flower Power with Purpose!        

FOUND - Memento That Tells Tales

I found this souvenir bracelet at the Avenue Vintage & Antique Market in West Ealing. Old travel mementos like these are a personal favorite - the writer in me not only enjoys wearing them but also imagining their hidden history. This little piece of Spain - those are bullfighters in the metal work - came to me via a dealer selling primarily French collectibles. It's seen some life - if only it could speak. I imagine it's the type of touristy keepsake that a man like Ernest Hemingway would have bought for his first wife Hadley when they were visiting San Fermin in Pamplona. This is where Hemingway became fascinated with bull fighting and would meet Pauline Pfeiffer, the woman who would become his 2nd wife.'Papa,' the cad, would buy a silly but stylish trifle like this for Hadley in an effort to put her off the scent. But it did not disguise the acrid smell of Hemingway's marital deceit. Fiction? Maybe. But I enjoy giving voice to this souvenir's secrets. The price for such an inspiring accessory? Just £10.

            

For more on Hadely Richarson's life with Hemgingway

read The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, CLICK HERE.

FOUND - A Cheap & Charmful Armful

I found this stack of plastic bangles at Oxfam in Ealing. I often talk about searching out quality; well-made 2nd-hand pieces, fashioned from silks, wools and brushed cottons that have been looked after by previous owners are what we hunters want. Now and then however, quality is trumped by quantity. These eight plastic, oddly coloured bracelets, combined with 4 wooden ones I already had, make a strong stylish statement that I think Muiccia Prada would find appealing. Their clink clinky sound is sartorial music to my ears. Their £1.98 price tag, an artistic miniature for the eyes.   

FOUND - Handbag That's Blue with Envy

I found this navy bag at the vintage fair at The Fox Pub in Hanwell. It was a small but perfectly formed little sale. This soft suede number with a gorgeous satin lining and lovely brass hardware sat among a wide variety of gorgeous handbags on offer from stallholder Annie Darlasson.

Annie also designs jewellery and wile I haven't purchased any of her baubles yet I'm mightily tempted after finding them in her virtual shop window, CLICK HERE. The online look of her work, coupled with her taste in handbags, elegant friendly manner and the fact that her husband was assisting her with the stall, all incline me toward loving whatever Annie creates. Spending weekends with my Mister selling 2nd-hand fashions in the shadow of a quaint canal-side pub? It's the life I aspire to. The blue suede bag was an enviable £5. 

Read recent interview with 

Huntress London on High 50

CLICK HERE   

TRY THIS - Costume Flights of Fancy

My friend Monica gave me this little bird. I admired it in a 2nd-hand shop in NYC and while my head was turned, probably looking at bangles, she quietly bought him. He's costume jewelry by Monet - making him a sought after species. Costume once thought of as junk jewelry or fake, is often made with the same craftsmanship and technique as fine jewelry. Monet was launched by 2 brothers in 1937. Their early collections were influenced by both Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli, famed designers who both expected to be copied. By the 80s Monet was manufacturing for Yves Saint Laurent, probably the only jewelry maker able to meet the high-end designer's strict requirements. In 1995, Monet began manufacturing costume baubles for Christian Lacroix. This wee bird is not especially old, yet, but he is marked 'Monet' on the back and came to me under lovely circumstances. I'll wear him on a capped-sleeve black cashmere jumper (Oxfam) paired with a sheer black accordion pleat LK Bennett skirt (Fara) and COS black heels (RSPCA, yesterday's post) - with NAVY tights. I'm loving Navy + Black styling and this little birdie will get the look off the ground for me. 

TRY THIS - Face It Sister, She's a Keeper

My sister recently returned this brooch to me. I bought it some 20 years ago; at the time she begged me to let her have it and reluctantly I did. What a lovely old/new surprise when she gave it back to me on a recent visit. My sister and I are magpies. We like stuff, we buy stuff, stuff makes us sing. While we're birds of a feather, our flight patterns are completely different. Debra, the round-faced girl in braids, buys things and keeps them forever. She falls in love for life, keeping but not always wearing the shoes, dresses and jewelry she covets. In boxes, closets and cedar chests Deb has a sort of archive of our childhood, for she's been known to even keep things that were once mine. Me, the show-off on the lawn chair, I love things, wear them, re-purpose them, stain them, tear them, wash them and then take them to charity shops where I'm likely to find something new/old to replace what I've donated. If Deb is a sartorial archivist, then I'm a clothing custodian. Pretty stuff is mine for a time to love and enjoy but then set free. What style flight pattern are you navigating through your life? 

FOUND - Feeling Anything But Blue in NYC

I found this super fat blue wood bangle at Housing Work Thrift in New York City's West Village, along with my new favourite straight jeans by Theory. Housing Works CLICK HERE is a community of people living with and affected by AIDS/HIV. Their mission is to end the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS/HIV through relentless advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services and entrepreneurial businesses that sustain their efforts. The shop in the West Village was beautifully organized & stocked with countless treasures. My friend Monica, recently relocated to the village from London, nabbed a gorgeous pair of YSL kid-skin tan heels in Housing Work Thrift. Classic - like her. The West Village is actually a 2nd-hand style hunters paradise. Be sure to check out The Goodwill on W. 8th Street CLICK HERE. The Waverly Diner on 6th is nearby, a quintessentially New York eatery - perfect late lunch stop off. Vintage Thrift with 2 locations, one just across the street from Housing Work Thrift is superb CLICK HERE. Between us we picked up goodies in all these shops. The big bangle was only US$12 and the denim trousers, a wardrobe basic that fit like a glove, just US$45. A day out in the Big Apple, sorted. 

Visit Oxfam Fashion CLICK HERE to see Huntress London's 

Circle of Fashion post

TRY THIS - Support A New Indie Biz

I found this lovely little leather oval box - once a makeup container, now a home for jewelry - at Vecchio Vintage's pop-up shop. VV is the style-child of Sharmina Rahman, a Fashion Textiles grad from Middlesex University, with an eye for quality vintage. 

The shop popped-up to sing the praises of the Vecchio Vintage website CLICK HERE, a lovely collection of pre-owned clothing and accessories. Pop-up shops are a personal favourite, Huntress loves a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't hunting ground. Sharmina created a dressing-up box of vintage goodies, along with drinkies and red velvet cake that made for an enjoyable night out. My friend Lucy - a 2nd-hand novice - found a Pierre Cardin 70s tweedy jacket that's sure to be an Autumn style staple. A steal at only £70. The red leather oval in near perfect nick was just £25. The night of fashion chat and laughs at a new, independent business - priceless.   

To Shop Vecchio Vintage Online 
CLICK HERE    

TRY THIS - Style & Community Support

I found this strand of amber glass beads at the NEW West Ealing Antiques Market CLICK HERE on Saturday. Mark your Calendar: October's market is scheduled for the 25th. At September's kickoff about 8 wonderful stalls adorned the pavement in and around The Drayton Court. Stallholders offered a nice variety of quality items, including interesting 2nd-hand and vintage clothing and accessories. I found prices reasonable and stallholders approachable, friendly and willing to bargain. It was a sunny, stylish morning, right in my own backyard. Supporting your community by ATTENDING events like this is the best way to BUILD community. Thumbs up Ealing! The beads were a tenner. See you there in October?

Check out Huntress London's first Oxfam Fashion 

blog post at Circle of Style  

TRY THIS - Buy, Sell, Give, Get, Go

I found these vintage brass earrings in the window of a Retro Woman shop in Notting Hill. The shop was closed so my boyfriend (now my husband) and I could only admire them in the moonlight. I gushed while he just smiled, hatching a plan. The next day he raced back to the shop, bought the earrings and to my surprise and delight gave them to me the following weekend. The Retro Shops in Notting Hill along Pembridge Gardens are 2nd-hand establishments that buy and sell your gently used items (www.mgeshops.com/retro-woman-20pr). They know their brands and what buyers want. If you bring them items to sell, be prepared for 'no, thanks.' They're choosy. It can be a sobering experience and you won't make a mint but you get cash in hand or twice the cash value in shop vouchers. The Retros are packed out with goods so give yourself plenty of time. The selection they offer is as much high street as high-end, as much vintage as virtually new. These earrings were £32 but they're priceless to me.

Tweet your best vintage finds to @annielistening #best2ndever

TRY THIS - Slow, Elegant Time Keeping

I bought this watch on-line. It's a smaller ladies pocket watch and that fact, along with it £10 price tag drove me to buy the timepiece. Its parts are Swiss made, but the German-American company Lucerne, that appears on its face, assembled it. In the 50s Lucerne, a family-owned jeweller, conducted business from its headquarters on 5th Avenue in New York City. The watch dates between 1960 and 1970. I imagined finding a chain and fob to go with the watch and wearing it in my pocket as designed. But tracking down necessary watch accessories that I like has proved difficult. Then last week I found this tiny beaded purse with a silk faille lining, probably circa 1950s, at The Children's Society charity shop on Pitshanger Lane in Ealing. The perfect home for my watch, little purse and ticker fit neatly in my pocket. At times I'm still required to don a wristwatch, but when I'm able to carry the pocket watch I find the ceremony of removing it from its pouch an elegant process that reminds me time is precious indeed. Both watch and purse, tactile and useful, feel lovely in my hand. The tiny vintage bag was just 99p.  

Tweet your 2nd-hand gems to @annielistening #best2ndever 

FOUND - On the Wings of Bugs

I found this brooch at Mary's Living & Giving charity shop in Richmond at the weekend. When clothing or accessories capture my imagination they either transport me forward to a future wearing them or take me back in time to a light and shady memory of the past. This dragonfly reminds me of hot summer days at Lake Winona, the local swimming hole in the small Ohio town where I grew up. With its man-made sandy beach, well-stocked snack bar and diving dock in the deep end, Lake Winona was a teenage dream world. Situated among pine trees rather than palms, parents would drop a carload of kids off at the Lake for the day, leaving them to their own pent-up devises. We children learned to swim, budget our snack-bar allowance and enjoy the slice of temporary freedom we thought signalled our future independence. Huge dragonflies, their rainbow wings reflecting the Lake reflecting the Sun, silently watched us leave youth on the shore like a damp beach towel, as we floated toward something unknown. This winged wonder - made from pressed metal - was just £2.

FOUND - Brooch That Floats My Boat

I found this waterfall brooch at Kitts Couture, a well-stocked but tiny vintage shop in Penzance. Tricky to date it; the beads are plastic and along with the 'C' clasp are evidence that it could date back as early as 1910. Seems impossible, but I do hope so. It's much bigger than other similar examples I've seen, so makes a striking statement on a black coat. A few years ago I become slightly obsessed with Penzance and the surrounding area; in 9 months we traveled there 3 times via the minor comforts of a sleeper train from Paddington Station. Penzance, Newlyn and Mousehole offer maritime history, beautiful coastline and plenty of 2nd-hand shopping, I ask, "what's not to love?" If you visit, stay at the charming and comfortable Artist Residence Hotel on Chapel Street, just up the road from Kitts Couture. This 11-room boutique guesthouse offers accommodation designed by various British artists and the friendliest staff in all of Cornwall (www.arthotelcornwall.co.uk). The brooch was £22.        

FOUND - Talisman For Time Gone By

I found this ring in my mother's jewelry box. It's her high school class ring, a gift from my father, then her boyfriend. She graduated in '60, was married several years later and by '64 was welcoming into the world a baby daughter. My parents are no longer married but this ring recalls a time when they were young and in love. Chunky but nicely worn, it feels just right on my pinky finger. It's over 50 years old and still beautiful - a daily reminder that's never lost on me. My childhood was happy and carefree - I was 18 before my parents divorced - but trying to construct a single, unblemished memory of the two people who made me is tricky. They've now been apart longer than they were married, but together they're still my parents. I imagine the day my handsome, awkward father gave my stylish, lively mother this little circle of gold and the ring encompasses the three of us, if only for a moment. Do you have a fashion talisman for a time gone by?         

FOUND - Washed Up in East London

I found this statement necklace at Spitalfields Market near Liverpool Street Station at a weekDAY antiques stall. Spitalfields is a popular weekEND shopping extravaganza; vintage, handmade and weird, wonderful new items abound. But Monday to Thursday the stalls go quieter, as a handful of antique dealers pitch up beneath the soaring glass canopy. This is unlikely to be real coral and pearls, it would cost a pirate's ransom if it were but it's still a quality piece. The silver clasp is marked '925.' Pure silver is impossible to work with so another metal is added to the mix - 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper is high quality. England hallmarks silver with little symbols but in the USA and other countries '925' distinguishes the best silver. The necklace is cold to the touch indicating it's made from a material found in nature. Maybe not pearl or coral but stone, marble or shell. I bargained it down and shelled out a cool £28 for it.   

FOUND - Circle The Best Shop

I found this Lola Rose bracelet at the Trinity Hospice charity shop on the Fulham Road, London. Hunting through charity shops that appear hopeless, messy and untended makes my heart race. The thrill of a find permeates the air, the atmosphere buzzes with uncertain excitement. But there are beautifully organized charity shops, those that creatively merchandise their stock, shops every bit as inviting as the finest 5th Avenue boutiques, and the Fulham Road Trinity Hospice is one of those. Staffed by friendly, helpful women who know their designers, its a high-end paradise. This shop also, over time, marks it stock down - they don't let merchandise hang forever, over priced and unwanted. My friend Susan and I were there at the weekend; she bagged a Cavalli dress (£120), wool Sonia Rykiel trousers (£45) and Max Mara rain coat (£85), all mint condition. My find by UK jewelry designer Lola Rose, known for its semi precious stone baubles, came in a pink velvet bag. It's heavy and cool to touch, the natural, smooth stone lovely against the skin. It cost £20.       

TRY THIS - Cool Cats Pass It On

This Lea Stein brooch was a gift from my friend Susan, one of the most stylish women I know. In the 80s, she designed and then hand sewed a line of dresses featured in Elle magazine that were a bated breath away from being picked up by Liberty, the renown London department store. She's given a few of these finely made frocks to friends - those with waspish waists and compact bust lines. I admired the brooch one day as it lay nestled among other goodies on a beautiful bureau in her bedroom and a year later she gave it to me for my birthday. I was overwhelmed; it's more than a gift, it's an artifact infused with "Susan-ness," and among my most cherished possessions. Sometimes a friend loves a piece so much more than you that it seems only natural that they have it. Look, I don't recommend passing on the antique diamond ring your granny gave you on her death bed, but gifting from your own fashion collection is the height of generosity. By the way, Lea Stein is a French artist and accessory maker born in the 1930s and best known for her compressed plastic jewelry. Her pieces are highly collectible and have a lovely future/past aura about them. You can pick them up 2nd hand for as little as £40.   

FOUND - Small Town Delights

I recently found this beauty in the little town of Deal on the Kent coast. A hidden gem, Deal is the perfect weekend get-away spot, while lacking the white cliffs that distinguish Dover, its still awash in seaside charm. We'd booked tickets for King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys, a cool swing band playing the town's active arts centre, the Astor Theatre.  While enjoying the music, we found out a market was scheduled at the Astor the next day.  And as promised, 10 to 12 tables brimming with untold riches greeted us in the morning. The prices were more than fair and the stall holders were delightful if not shyly polite.  Deal also boasts a tiny 'old town' - a clutch of about 6 shops that are generally owner operated, full of vintage clothing and housewares (they tend to be open Thur to Sat only). You'll also find 2 or 3 charity shops where I've struck gold at least once, snagging a Pucci-inspired linen top that I gave to my sister (£3).  It's a long walk to Sandwich from Deal but flat and enjoyable.  More vintage/old stuff awaits you there.  The Royal Hotel in Deal is a cosy place to stay - book one of their rooms that faces out to the sea (www.theroyalhotel.com).  This huge butterfly brooch cost £7.

TRY THIS - Collect It, For Friends' Sake

For years I've collected fat bangles; big plastic, perspex, wood and bakelite bracelets.  Unique examples are easy to find and an effective accessory, 2, 3, 4 at a time.  Several of the high-end big-boys are showing armloads of colourful bangles (guess they've cottoned on to what I've known for yonks). Collecting a fashion bit or bob is a great way to keep your eye focused when on the hunt.  I spot various quality fashion tidbits as my bangle search becomes a kind of shopping stream of consciousness.  Focus (on a bracelet) begets focus (on say, a charity shop dress that inspires a new combination of bracelets).  Most importantly your collected item will become your go-to gift.  If friends and family know that big bangles bring a smile to my face, then giving me one is an easy way to make me happy. Offering people ways to make you happy is just common courtesy.  Silk scarfs, tiny beaded purses, brooches shaped like bugs, lacy socks, black gloves, mini perfume bottles, old postcards of Paris, rock concert t-shirts - anything.  I wonder what you collect?