Friday 30 January 2015

Mercat Del Encants - Open air flea market at Glories



I recently spent a lovely sunny January morning with my friend Jairo at Mercat Del Encants. Our objective was to seek out some vintage goodies and check out what was on offer at Barcelona's largest and best loved flea market. 




The open air market is on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 08:30 and it really is massive!! It's packed full of everything you can think of, old and new, and at times it reminded me more of a car book sale with it's cheap prices and piles of second hand clothing, shoes, antiques/ homeware and miscellaneous items. 



Some traders had all their items on a sheet in front of them in a pile, so you had to sift through it all. I found some retro inspired patent emerald green flat shoes, but when I wanted to find out the price they had already been snapped up by another shopper, it's first come first served!! 

There are many levels to the market and the higher you go they turn into little shops with higher prices, handmade crafts, homeware and even mattress toppers!

As well as writing and performing my vintage inspired music, I also have my own handmade wiggle dress website called www.justwiggle.co.uk so I was very pleased to find fabrics, cottons, zips, buttons everything a dressmaker or craft maker would need and at fantastic prices!
Although it isn't vintage or second hand, I did find a vintage inspired blue handbag for €8, I really liked the hearts and the cute rectangular shape of it.


Overall I would recommend you to go to Mercat del Encants, even just once for the shear scale of the market and maybe you'll discover your own little treasure. 

P.s...

I have heard that on the 5th, 6th and 7th of June the market will be taken over by 'Vintage in Barcelona' and a full scale vintage market/ fair will take place!! So I will definitely be there and I'll be writing a blog about the event. 

http://vintageinbarcelona.com/en/

Love and lollipops,
Natalie x

Here's the address and nearest metro information! 

Plaça de les Glories Catalanes
C. Dos de Maig, 186
Barcelona, España.


Metro: Glories, (Red Line, L1)

Sunday 18 January 2015

Vintage Fiesta with Lindyhop.cat


Before I moved to Barcelona I googled the vintage scene and I noticed there was a buzzing lindy hop and swing dance movement going on, so it's been on my list of things to do since August to attend one of these popular nights. I have been performing regularly in Gracia, a great arty, fashion and music area in Barcelona and I stumbled upon the Escola de Ball Lindyhop.cat in Carrer de Verdi and added them to my facebook, so it wasn't long before I started receiving invitations to parties and events. Last Thursday 8th January I got my glad rags on and went to investigate the dancing, the music and of course the clothes!!! The event was described as 'Remove the clothes from the trunk of your grandparents, add your innate elegance and bring your desire to dance, so comes the fiesta Vintage!!' Held at the Almo 2 bar in Joanic.

 

The poster of the event on facebook!

It all started with a 'Shim Sham' dance class with the very charming and talented Aitor Leniz. This man can dance! And he has a wonderful teaching method that makes you feel relaxed and willing to give it a go. 

 Aitor Leniz

And after an hour of learning steps and creating routines you could feel the buzz around the room and so when it was time for DJ Swing aka Justswing to play his classic swing records, the dance floor came alive!



Looking around the room, I couldn't help but notice that only 50% of the people there had dressed up for the occasion, but the ones that did looked great!



Then there was live music from The Fig Pickers, who played all the classics and more!
Having a live band to dance to gave the crowd even more energy and really brought to life the vintage themed party.


During the live band I met lots of lovely people including Paco Garcia who is the manager of a vintage shop called Passa Pel Camerino  www.passapelcamerino.com



There was also a cool little retro inspired, dance-friendly shoes company there called 'Ohh my shoes' with a small stand...  http://www.ohhmyshoes.cat/


Then I got to introduce myself to Aitor Leniz, who told me to my surprise that I had been chosen as one of the best dressed girls alongside Patricia and I won a bucket of Moritz beer!!



Overall it was a wonderful night and I recommend it to anyone who loves dancing or wants to try this style of dancing while you're visiting Barcelona!

www.lindyhop.cat 





Monday 5 January 2015

Revolution, Carrer de Verdi, Gracia



I was recommended to go to Carrer de Verdi, a famous road in an area called Gracia, 20 minutes walk from my new neighbourhood of Guinardo. The weather was hot and sunny, I felt like a holiday maker, but actually I had just moved from Guildford in the UK to this new exciting and vibrant city. Carrer de Verdi is a very long street and there are lots of lovely little shops on it. As I walked past Carrer de Biada, I found my first vintage clothes shop called Revolution. Firstly I noticed that from the outside, the shop had a 'mod' look, decorated in a very British red, white and blue with well dressed manikins showing off the latest stock. Inside the shop was floor to ceiling full of second hand vintage clothes. I introduced myself to the owner, who to my surprise was from Wales, a very friendly man called Jimmy. 

  


There is everything a vintage lover would want in this shop and if you like digging around to find a yourself a 'one off gem', whether it's a piece to accessorize your look or a garment to make a statement, then this is the shop for you . The prices are reasonable and the stock is in good condition. 




I came again to write this blog on Friday 2nd January 2015 and got myself a beautiful red (not raspberry) beret to finish off my Barcelona winter look. 



Love & lollipops,
Natalie