Fashion L'amour

Vintage Fashion | A constant renaissance |

In fashion, many things come and go. For some, vintage fashion is a way of life. While most of us randomly browse and bargain hunt for items at vintage markets and online, for some it’s a daily look, and inspired by a very specific era. Some end up having a signature aesthetics because of it. Nora is one of those people. We first spotted Nora in Brick Lane. It was a Sunday when the busy Sunday market is on, and yet, she stood out in the crowd. Like a pin up model from the movies. Several street style photographers kept requesting her picture. She does vintage fashion blogging and also researches on fashion.

1.Tell us about how Nora fell in love with fashion?

I fell in love with vintage before I fell in love with fashion. I’ve always been able to appreciate beautiful clothes and designs, but it wasn’t until I started wearing vintage myself that I found the right way to express myself. In a way, I fell in love with fashion when I learned a bit more about myself.

2. How did the specific love for vintage fashion come about?

I have always loved history and vintage fashion is just an extension of this. The quality of vintage clothes is just amazing – things were made to last!

3. You list Chinese, Indonesian and Australian heritage on your IG. Tell us more.

I was born in Indonesia, and lived in Australia from the age of 16-28. I am also a third generation Chinese Indonesian.

4. Is there a specific era you simply love and why?

1940s might be my favourite – make do and mend was important and this really resonates with my passion for sustainability. I believe in reuse, recycle, and repurpose and the war era pushed people to be more thrifty and creative.

5. What would say is your favourite vintage item in your wardrobe?

My favourite item is actually a Victorian name brooch that bears my grandmother’s name. She was very poor and didn’t have a lot of jewelleries, so I never inherited any. I was in a vintage market a few years ago when I walked past a jewellery cabinet and something caught my eye. It’s a brooch with the name Bertha engraved onto it. It’s a very old-fashioned name so I was really surprised to find it. It felt meant to be and I absolutely treasure it.

6. What’s the one thing you hope comes back into fashion again?

Hats! I don’t think we wear hats often enough – we seem to only wear them on special occasions like wedding or races but gosh we should wear them all the time!

7.  If you were to let a designer dress you everyday for a year, who would it be?

Christian Lacroix. But if we could resurrect Elsa Schiaparelli that’d be great too!

8. It says on your website you also study the history of vintage fashion too, tell us something you’ve learnt?

I appreciate how slow fashion was back in the days. That people spent good money to buy their clothes, get them tailored to their sizes and they kept wearing them again and again.

9. Are there days you can’t be bothered and get tempted to just put some jeans and trainers on?

Of course – life’s too short and sometimes you just need to be practical.

10. For anyone interested in vintage fashion, what would be your best advice?

Start small. Get something that you can wear with what you already have and don’t try to change your whole wardrobe at once!

11. What’s next for Nora?

Well, currently I’m busy working on my new website vintagepillbox.com where I combine my passion for science and history, I am doing more TV presenting with BBC Bargain Hunt, and working on building my skills as a science writer. On top of that i’ll still be running norafinds.com of course – I like to be busy!

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Follow Nora HERE

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