Cherish Maree Vintage: Welcome!!

Welcome to my blog, Cherish Maree Vintage, where I will discuss my love of vintage clothing and home wares, travel , fashion in the 21^st Century and how you can be a style queen and have still stick to your budget! In the coming months I will be launching an online store which will showcase only the best in vintage treasure that is handpicked exclusively for Cherish Maree Vintage.

I am very passionate about achieving a designer look on a budget, whether it be recovering an old chair, discovering gorgeous old china for a tea party or wearing an outfit that is the envy of your friends and cost you under $100. For a long time now I have been living by this mantra. I think it all started from being a poor uni student and watching all the budding fashionistas around me wearing their designer threads. I thought to myself, how can I get the same look but on my budget? So I turned to vintage clothing and accessories and since then have never looked back! I am not sure what it is that I love about vintage clothing and home wares so much, is it the chase of a bargain? The thrill when you’re going through racks and racks of clothes that you manage to find a gorgeous maxi dress or cute vintage clutch? Or is it the fact that your wearing something that chances are, nobody else will have in their wardrobe?

There are a few items that I own and my mind starts to wonder about who owned the garment originally? I recently found a gorgeous vintage white 1970’s wedding dress (picture to come) that was tailor made at Gardems in Brisbane. I wonder about the woman who wore this gorgeous dress? Was she young? Did she marry her childhood sweetheart? And most importantly, what accessories did she wear with it? Unfortunately I don’t think I will leave the dress as is as I won’t wear it, it’s too short and comes up near my ankles which I don’t think is a very good look. This is one of the many common hazards with vintage clothing, as people 30 years ago where shorter and more petite that women today. The hemlines are too short, the bust can sometimes be a bit of a squeeze and the arm seams are too high and consequently you find that it is easy to bust the seam.

On another note, I thought for my first post I would share one of my current projects that I am working on. I found these gorgeous retro 50's wrought iron chairs on eBay over 12 months ago and they have been sitting in my shed looking very sad. I was recently inspired by some that i saw at Black & Spiro and thought to myself, it is well time to give these babies a bit of love. Today my goal was to remove the tired looking seats so they are ready to go to the powder coaters. I am going to get them painted white and currently a little unsure on what fabric for the seats. I am thinking something bright and groovy.