Retropreneurs Time Future Contained in Time Past Entrepreneurs are so 1980s. Success now lies with the Retropreneurs - people building their businesses on our love of vintage - as Melanie Tibbs discovers Bunting was the first thing to make a big comeback. Now, everywhere you look we’re reminded of the design heydays of our past; from Cath Kidston’s nod to forties and fifties chic, to the boom in hiring eclectic collections of vintage dining sets for weddings and parties. And this summer saw the Southbank Vintage festival which tied in with a celebration of fifty years since the Festival of Britain and was a runaway success. But what is it we’re looking for when we go retro? We spoke to four people who run business built on a passion for the past. SWEET TREATS IN CHALLENGING TIMES At their shops in Covent Garden and Dulwich, Miss Hope and Mr Greenwood, as they are known to all, have re-established the traditional sweet shop to great success. The shelves are lined with jars of old favourites like sherbet pips and glossy gobstoppers and the reclaimed tables and counters groan with delectable chocolates and marzipan shapes. Anyone entering is sure to be transported straight back to their childhoods when they spot their favourite treat of yester- year; nothing taps into nostalgia like the joys of the tuck box. Before they set up the Dulwich shop in 2004, Miss Hope, an illustrator, worked in publishing and gift design (one of the highlights being when she commissioned the modern classic The Gruffalo) so she undoubtedly knows what makes children tick. But in combination with Mr Greenwood, previously a dealer in 18th century chimney pieces, the pair have an eye for what will appeal to the hearts of adults as well. Miss Hope’s love of 50s graphics, often inspired by the archives at the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture in London, has been instrumental in the success of the Hope and Greenwood range. As she told You magazine, “There was a great creative freedom and style in the 50s. There was room for error, nothing was too perfect and I find that sense of hand touch and simplicity very alluring.” “We established Hope and Greenwood on the premise of that old-fashioned sense of kindness, where life is about making generous gestures without having to go over the top or spend a fortune. And there’s nothing better than seeing customers beam when they walk into the shop.” Since we’re all watching the pennies these days, there has also been a revival of the ideas of being thrifty, of making do and mending. Hardly surprising that there’s an element of ‘cool’ making difficult times easier to swallow. And if you were there the first time round, you’ll recognise the lost values of time gone by, while simultaneously appreciating the modern wizardry which allows you to buy your Parma Violets online! www.hopeandgreenwood.co.uk 28 • CGA FESTIVE 2011 WWW.THECGA.CO.UK Retropreneurs What Katie Did Katie Halford is the founder of vintage-style underwear label, What Katie Did. She was originally inspired by Marilyn Monroe’s old-fashioned glamour. “I’ve been interested in vintage fashion since my mid teens,” says Katie, “there was lots of ‘50s inspired fashion on the high street then and my curvy shape suited ‘50s cuts, so I found it an easy way to dress. “I’ve no training in fashion design. Whilst I wanted to study fashion at college I felt I wasn’t talented enough and should do something more sensible… like information management. A degree in how to design the perfect filing system somehow lead to a job at fetish store Skin Two where I was swiftly introduced into a world of fully fashioned stockings, steel boned corsets and the odd rubber garment. I was working at the top of Portobello Road, so on Fridays I’d get up early and go hunting for vintage lingerie. When Skin Two closed their showroom I was left without a source of affordable nylons so I put £100 on my credit card and ordered some seamed stockings to sell at a vintage fashion fair. The idea was for me to cover the cost of my stocking habit. “I’d love to say that the business immediately took off, but it turned out to be a long haul. Over the next couple of years I built up stocks, set up a little website and shop in Camden and with a little temping here and there managed to make a go of things. “It wasn’t until 2005 when I launched our first wholesale lingerie collection that things started to move and the popularity of our lingerie now far exceeds anything I could have ever imagined. Our best selling items are our Retro Seamed Stockings – they’re affordable, comfortable and durable – you can’t ask for much more in a stocking. Also popular are our Maitresse bullet bra – the first piece of lingerie I designed, and our Glamour corselette.” What Katie Did’s garments have been worn by the likes of Julia Roberts and Christina Hendricks who channelled 50s style so well in the television series Mad Men, and they’ve recently opened a shop in Hollywood as well as garnering their first film credit in My Week with Marilyn. But what does Katie think is the enduring appeal of vintage fashion? “I think people will always look back to the ‘50s as the most glamorous decade as it was the last decade when women’s curves were celebrated. Women could be classed as beautiful whether having a slender Audrey Hepburn figure or a voluptuous Jayne Mansfield one. Since the ‘60s there has only ever been one figure ‘in fashion’ (and I stress ‘in fashion’ as opposed to ‘attractive’) whether thin (60s), athletic (80s) or the rather bizarre ‘silicone on a stick’ we have today. There does seem to be a little hope on the horizon with women like Christina Hendricks and Nigella Lawson veering away from the media norm, so maybe there is a little hope for the return of glamour in the future.“ www.whatkatiedid.com WWW.THECGA.CO.UK Retropreneurs Emma Giffard and Ollie Halls have resurrected a cinema bus, rebranded as the Vintage Mobile Cinema, one of six units custom built for the British government in the late 1960s, and the only one still surviving. After literally digging the bus out of the ditch where it had lain for fourteen years, a gargantuan restoration process was undertaken and completed a year ago. “A group of organisations including the North Devon Museum, the North Devon Theatres Trust, and the Bill Douglas Centre of Cinematic History tabled a proposal to use the mobile cinema as a community resource, taking archive film around the villages. They applied for funding and even though the cinema was still in a sorry state, languishing in a shed, the proposal was approved and a launch date was set. With a definite contract on the table, Ollie and I had the confidence to push the restoration forward,” explains Emma. “The ‘Movie Bus Project’, as the rural archive film project became known, was a huge success and attracted a great deal of press attention. This helped to market our fledgling business, and since then interest in hiring the vehicle for various events has snowballed. “The biggest thing in 2011 was the BBC Two series ‘The Reel History of Britain’. We were approached by them last year, and during the spring we visited 20 different UK locations with Melvyn Bragg, presenting rare archive film to invited audiences. The resulting series went to air in September, taking a tour of Britain’s history as it was captured on celluloid.” With a seating capacity of only 22, Ollie and Emma often show short films, both archive ones and new productions, to give as many people as possible a chance to try out the mobile cinema. Its size is part of its appeal, Emma believes, “One thing always strikes me with our audiences – the nature of the space inspires complete strangers to talk to each other, to laugh together. It’s almost as if the experience is the opposite of modern multiplex cinemas, which can be in some way isolating. I think that people are looking back with nostalgia, to a time when they perceive things were better. “Recycling and even ‘upcycling’ are cool today, but ten years ago it was the realm of ‘tree-huggers’. When we were at this year’s Vintage Festival in London, the crowds were impeccably fashionably attired, yet I expect that a lot of those super-cool clothes came from the racks of the charity shop. This is how it should be – we live in a world with finite resources – and I’m proud to be a part of this movement to not only preserve our history, but to make it come alive again. It’s only by looking at the past that we can learn who we are today.” www.vintagemobilecinema.co.uk 30 • CGA FESTIVE 2011 WWW.THECGA.CO.UK Retropreneurs MANIFESTO The Chap magazine, now in its twelfth year, takes a wry look at the modern world through the steamed-up monocle of a more refined age, occasionally getting its sock suspenders into a twist at the unspeakable vulgarity of the twenty-first century. Here we share their ten point manifesto: 1. THOU SHALT ALWAYS WEAR TWEED. No other fabric says so defiantly: I am a man of panache, savoir-faire and devil-may-care, and I will not be served Continental lager beer under any circumstances.