VINWAY: 2010-01-10

What ever happend to just telling it how it is?? None of this political correctness business, no anecdotes to save peoples feelings and more o the point ...........Just telling it how it is! For a while now i've been getting increasingly aggitated by the 'corrupt vintage on the highstreet' copying trends from flapper dresses, using dyes and acid washes to create authenticity and my most favorite of the noughties has to be the restyle of the brogue! All this patent plastic with the Laurel and Hardy black finish what's all that about. Claudie: Wow thanks so much for letting me invade your store, the layout in here is fantastic! So Junk can you tell me what you think makes vintage unique?Junk: No problem we like it don't we guys (all nodding), well the entire concept of vintage is creativity and rejuvination of the old to new. Designers are doing it everyday on the catwalks, but a singular person being inspired by the area of vintage is really what drives fashion forward. They create the styles by mixing and matching different generations/cultures and most of all (one things our girls like) they aren't afraid of anti-fit!Claudie: OOh Anti-fit: Sasse and Baid totally cashing in on that style, well Im a huge fan of the 20's Victorian styling, whats you oppinon on the influential silhouettes such as the crinoline, hoop? Really gave women their identity don't you think?Junk: Not just an identity but a fashion fohpar! Did you know it was only men allowed to design clothes back in the 19th Century, effectively men gave women and identity which backfired big time on them! They became seductive and figurative in the sense, they dominated the scene where ever they went. The introduction of skirts, peticoats and even the bussle played a bit part of what we see in modern silhouettes today. Again just another example of how apt designers are today! Cyclic fashion.Claudie: Do you have a fave piece in store right now?JUNK: (Cat holding up) This is one of my favorite pieces, (Designer unknown)- It came in about a month ago and the straight shift silhouette is just so flattering, the pattern print is delicious, kind of reminds me of Monet's waterlillies painting if it were in daylight! Another fantastic mind. If it were a smaller size i'd have snapped it up in a minute. I also love all the chunky knits we have in, no matter what size you are anyone can pull of a chunky knit, there a true investment piece and the beauty is you can always modernise them by changing the buttons or cuffs the possibilities are endless.Claudie: I can see what you mean its stunning, i'm especially drawn to the zip, very original! What do you look for when buying in you products? Is it a case of just get what ever is the oldest? JUNK: Not at all, just like the buyers for Selfridges would do, we have to focus what we think can sell, if there are any trends we can follow up on, however the emphasis is not as great becuase as mentioned before Vintage is in its own right the creative that makes trends. You can't dictate what you want in Vintage becuase it has already happened. I especially love the jewellery, its what is most mistifying about the world of vintage, there not just accessories but heirlooms, however small they are small preservations of our asscent in fashion. Claudie: What inspired the layout?JUNK: The name of our store, anything a little controversial always works and we think its a true reflection of how sometimes vintage is received by the general population. We love the mingling of the rails and units, its a kind of metaphor for the way fashion and trends have been merged across the decades. We wanted so quirk and originality in our store. Claudie: Well thanks you for this little insight into Junk, I'll be sure to spread the word!So I spent my weekend searching Manchester for just those few Vintage veranda's and here is my must have stop! My travels set me in the Northern Quarter, chatting away to shop workers in Junk, just really what do they think? Has the highstreet slaughtered the word 'vintage' into nothing more than a subcultural trend- heres what they had to say!Time for another stream of Vintage as I paid a little trip to one on Manchesters most authentic Vintage stores. Fittingly called Junk, this store offers a truely audastic vintage experience, even the smell of priory opium streams in buckets from this store. Situated in Manchesters Northern Quarter, set in a cosmopolitain highrise surround. Quaint is probably a niche word to describe it!Liking my interview or not, there are other stores out there reflecting class and quality in our choices, sometimes a little non conformism to the highstreet really seperates us from the world of mass manufacture and clonism!Chic you all later x09/01/10: Highstreet bombardmentRusted hinges haggedly fell open added to the originality of the building, as cluttered and flambouyant as anything from the 20's right up to the pre modernism. We define vintage as ' anything over 20 years that has been maintained in its originality and not adaptations or alterations', Junk held treasures of all sorts, silhouettes, styles and sizes, (hows that for alliternation)