By Emily Gobel, Illustration by Noora Belcaid
Our Word On The Street (WOTS) podcast, which is part of The Beaver Sound (find us on Spotify), brings you the who, what, where and why of London’s current trends and experiences. This WOTS episode started with an Instagram ad: a post for Vintage & Vino – an evening of vintage fashion and great wine. We were easily convinced to buy tickets via their Instagram bio.
Gen and I went to the pop-up with the intention of checking it out for the podcast. We wanted to get a glimpse of what the London fashion start-up industry might have to offer to non-industry people. Before going, we discussed our own observations of trends on social media, both seeing a similar increase in attention to small-brand, micro-fashion events, along with general promotions for more sustainable and vintage/second-hand fashion (i.e the popularity of Depop, Vinted, Ebay etc.). With this in mind, we wanted to see if Vintage & Vino – V2 for short – lived up to our perceptions about fashion pop-ups, and whether such an in-person event added something to the shopping experience that might be lacking in typical online vintage shopping. The non-Depop experience, if you will.
We arrived at Shaman Cafe space in Bermondsey where the pop-up was held, not being exactly sure of what to expect. Pleasantly surprised, we both felt that it was much more open and inviting than we would have guessed. As we discuss in the episode, the cafe/bar environment made it easy to chat to other attendees, with informal seating around the bar – which was selling the selection of sustainable wines – and a dance floor in front of the DJ booth, next to which racks of curated clothing were set up for browsing. We might have made a wine-induced purchase or two, but shhhhhh it was totally worth it for the – for lack of a better term – vibe.
Overall, we can say that it was definitely a fun and unique way to explore vintage fashion, talk to industry creatives and drink some great sustainable wine. It was a cool way to purchase more sustainably without having to really think about it – the focus was more on having a good time and getting to know the V2 brand mission. We were sold: we’re actually going to their next event this week.
Follow V2 on Instagram @v2_ldn to stay posted on their next events and ventures.
– Emily from Word On The Street
