Fashion

A Fair Bit of Vintage at Leicester Cathedral

In recent weeks Leicester has become famed for harbouring the bones of the late King Richard III under a car park, but last Saturday the talk of the city seemed to be the fact that Leicester Cathedral was awash with over 50 traders of vintage apparel and accessories.

It was speculated that over 1000 people turned out and, the queues stretching the entire length of the walkway certainly supported that. The quirky and cool from around the city flocked to the doors in their masses and once inside it was easy to understand why.

The fair included an eclectic range of vintage and off-the-wall items, from handbags to shorts and jewellery to makeovers. It was pretty hard not to find something you loved amongst the rails and rails of fashion inspiration.

Jewellery stalls were selling all sorts of innovative products like rings in the style of cups and saucers, burger meals and slices of cake, oreo and bourbon necklaces alongside the ever classic scrabble tile accessories. If you have given up eating confectionery for lent then wearing it seems to be the next best thing.

Many of the stalls also had exclusive sales and discounts to boost their profile; finding a pair of vintage Levi’s shorts for £10 is always going to make the day seem a little bit brighter. Levi’s shorts were not the only things seeming popular on the day, military jackets, vintage leather handbags and denim shirts were flying of the stands.

All the classic brands were available and, although it felt quite cramped at times with the sheer volume of visitors and stands on offer, everything was easy to access – it was quite clear that some major profits had been made.

With a café towards the back of the hall as well, everyone had been catered for (there were even benches scattered around which played host to a number of confused looking husbands/boyfriends).

Leicester is not renowned for its forward thinking in fashion and it certainly is not about to rival London for its ‘fashion capital’ status but this vintage fair has most certainly boosted its street-cred. With a high-profile and so many people coming to support the local traders, this will be an event that certainly will not be forgotten in a hurry. From now on, ignore the fact that Leicester are not exactly great at playing football and focus on their penchant for hosting fantastic vintage fairs.

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