Long Hot Summer of Festivals

There's a chill in the air in the mornings now and it's definitely dusk by dinner time, which means one thing: autumn is coming. Something which I am pretty happy about. While I love the summer, I'm also looking forward to crisp mornings, digging out those chunky cardigans and cosy tights, kicking up leaves in the park, cooking big hearty meals and snuggling up on the sofa. Not to mention Halloween, Guy Fawkes and the run up to... no, it's too early for the 'C' word. But you get the idea. Autumn is a busy time for us at Minimum Mouse too, it's probably my favourite season for vintage clothes, beautiful wool coats, jazzy knitwear and tweeds are things that really were better in the past and we've been saving up lots of gems for you all. We'll also be hitting the road going to lots and lots of vintage fairs all over the country, and we love getting out and about and meeting lots of people, as well as seeing all the vintage trading friends we have made over the years. There is quite a gang of us mobile vintage salespeople, and they are the nicest people you could hope to meet.

But before summer slips away and is just a happy memory forever more, I wanted to take a moment to look at a few pictures of our adventures over the last few months. We traded at four festivals this year, Mostly Jazz, Secret Garden Party, The Retro Festival and Moseley Folk. We were blessed with amazing weather at every one, something we never expect and are so grateful for. Festivals are so much more fun when you don't have to fret about your stock getting soaked in the rain! In the UK we normally end up moaning about how disappointing the summer has been, but this year we really can't. We have had so many warm and sunny days, it has been such a treat.

We teamed up with the fabulous Second Hand Rose to trade at the festivals and had so much fun. Highlights of the summer included seeing Public Service Broadcasting's fascinating live show, spying on the filming of Midsomer Murders at the Retro Festival, pampering ourselves in the spa at Secret Garden Party, also the amazing fireworks over the lake at SGP, seeing Chic's crazy onstage party finale and finally Ocean Colour Scene playing their album Moseley Shoals in their Moseley homeland! We are 50% brummie after all.

We're off to Croatia in a couple of days to soak up a last few drops of summer sun before we have to get the knitwear out, so I'll speak to you on the other side!

Surely the most beautiful little festival in the UK. Lovely.

Our busy marquee at Retro Festival

Graffiti artists at Mostly Jazz

 

Festival season fuel

Our stall at Secret Garden Party

Cars and cases at Retro Festival

Best dressed couple ever?

The captain makes a friend, Public Service Broadcasting

Chic's onstage party

Clowning around

Lovely customers at Secret Garden Party

Shopping at Retro Festival

The ever stylish Clare Bridge

The captain of our ship

Ruby Slipper's Retro Romp

Hola all! And apologies for our lack of blogging this year, we've been very busy mice (but that's a different story for a different day). Today, boys and girls, I'm going to tell you a story of a far away land, filled with glamourous ladies and well spoken heroes where people shop, jive and eat many a cream tea. That place is Ruby Slipper's Retro Romp!

Organised by Kinky and Quirky, it was a weekend to remember and the first of its kind. Fans of all things retro, burlesque, vintage and rockabilly descended on Torquay's Rainbow Hotel for a three day extravaganza which included jive and lindy hop workshops, retro make overs, and many amazing performances. There was also lots of lots of shopping, which is where we came in.

Local rockabilly band Back Hand, who entertained the shoppers on Saturday afternoon

Dance workshops went on all weekend

Our stall in the Soda Fountain bar was just one of a number selling fantastic vintage, alongside stalls selling superb burlesque inspired lingerie, corsets, vintage knick knacks and lots of pretty handmade goodies. Our neighbours were the lovely Second Hand Rose from Worcester, who wowed us with their amazing selection of vintage dresses, all at very reasonable prices. You can shop online with them here.

Lots of shoppers!

Frills aplenty!

Love this bar!

I just loved these goodies, the stallholder sells at Torquay flea market every Thursday

The guests at the event were real vintage enthusiasts and were very friendly too. They particularly liked our vintage menswear - many a dapper chap picked up a smart waistcoat or some braces over the weekend. We even sold a suede jacket to the owner of the hotel, who said it made him feel 20 years younger. Minimum Mouse - making dreams come true since 2007!

The highlight of the weekend had to be Saturday night's entertainment, which featured the fabulous Flirtinis, the amazing Anna Fur Laxis and Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer, who I had been looking forward to seeing for ages. Needless to say, he didn't disappoint, and we had a great night - it was nice to see some of the crowd wearing things they had bought from us earlier in the day too!

A big statue of Marilyn graced the stairs!

The whole place had amazing decor

The crowd loving Mr B

Anna Fur Laxis

It was a busy weekend, but it was well worth it and we hope they hold the event again soon... any excuse for a trip to the seaside!

I'll leave you with a little ditty by our favourite chap hop artist...