No Fleas on Me!

My favourite place in the world to be (other than in bed) at the moment is the Brooklyn Flea. This adventure into a world of antiques, vintage clothes and hand-crafted wonders, takes place every weekend in Forte Greene, Brooklyn.

All winter I have enjoyed travelling to the handsome former Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower at One, Hanson Place for several hours of truffling for treasure! As of next weekend, the flea market will be outside on Saturdays, and stay indoors on Sundays. Personally, whilst I love the great outdoors - you can't beat the breath-taking splendour of this building.

It was constructed in the 1920s, when banks liked to show off their wealth (before they started stealing ours). The sheer scale of the place is incredible - a soaring, vaulted gold dome would be more at home in a European cathedral than a bank, and there's an incredible mosaic map on the far wall, which I presume shows Brooklyn, with Manhattan in the far distance! It's amazing to imagine what it would have been like to be a bank teller working there in the 1930s and 40s. As it stands today, it's one of the best flea markets I have ever been to. Actually, I'd call it an antiques fair as the prices are on the steep side, particularly for clothes. But the stuff is great quality. My favourite finds so far - a 1950s picnic set (a snip at $20), a gorgeous 80s silk summer dress and a book from 1972, entitled 'What Makes Men Tick'.. more of which to come in a later post!

Liberty Targets Me

I am a complete sucker for collaborations between high end brands and high street stores. Way back in the olden days (just checked - it was about 5 years ago), I went faint over Bella Freud for Miss Selfridge, and my heart raced for Luella at New Look. Since then, I fell in love with Celia Birtwell all over again - and her dreamy dresses for Topshop. I've even swallowed the hype by dabbling in Kate Moss for that same store. So I didn't surprise myself by joining the hordes in Bryant Park, New York city for the launch of Liberty of London for Target.

As soon as I heard those two brands in one sentence, I got palpitations. I could never afford a Liberty pencil case at their normal prices - so the idea that some of those fabrics could end up in my wardrobe had my heart beating faster. For a home sick English rose, the shop itself was a slice of everything that's good about Spring in the mother country - daffodils, hydrangeas and tea pots were the right side of twee - and created a sense of nostalgia akin to a Lula magazine photo shoot. Despite the empty shelves (well, I am always late so of course I missed the queues, the stampede and consequently a lot of the good stuff) it was still a beautiful space as you can see from these pictures.

The clothes were lovely - though I could have told Target that five changing rooms wouldn't suffice. Being broke, I left with nothing for myself - but clutching a present for a friend (baby clothes). It doesn't actually matter to me that I didn't buy anything for me, I think the anticipation of seeing the collection and knowing I could afford it if I wanted it is enough.