Fashion / vintage
Vintage fashion on the high seas
Think of a typical fashion show. Now tear that image from your head and think again, because this fashion show is like nothing anywhere else.
Gill Loats, who owns Recession vintage clothes shop at the foot of Jacob’s Wells Road, stamps her own indelible mark on all of the fashion shows that she puts on.
Her latest, taking place at the Southbank Club on Sunday, March 30, is no different; with a theme of ‘cruising’ and once again a mix of fashion, fun and theatre.
is needed now More than ever
Gill Loats in Recession – a shop that she describes as “eccentric, theatrical and distinctive”
“This particular theme of cruising just feels right because it’s going to be the day after Brexit,” said Gill on a recent Friday afternoon.
“The ideas for these fashion shows just come from my brain. A previous one was ‘The end is nigh’; I think we peaked too early with that.”
Gill – who in the 1980s was a DJ at The Dug Out, the famous former nightclub on Park Row – has been putting on her fashion shows for a decade.
Around 300 items from her shop will be worn by both male and female models, with around 20 changes of clothes during the course of the evening.
Gill only buys pre-1980s items to sell in her Aladdin’s Cave of a shop, with others being donated. “I think that’s down to the fact that I’m old and now a lot of people who are downsizing,” she laughs.
Around 300 items from Recession will be worn by both male and female models at the fashion show
“I absolutely adore every single fashion show,” Gill adds. “I like being that woman who does that thing. I love writing it, the researching and then putting it together like a jigsaw.
As part of the research for this show, Gill visited an exhibition about cruising at the V&A in London.
But has she ever gone on a cruise herself? “I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole! Unless I could go back to the 1930s.”
The theme of this month’s Recession fashion show is ‘cruising’
The Recession fashion show takes place at the Southbank Club on Dean Lane at 8pm on Saturday, March 30. Steerage tickets cost £12 and first class £18, with tickets available to buy in person with cash or cheque only from Recession at 8 Jacob’s Wells Road. Alternatively, reserve your ticket by emailing Gill on recessionfashionshow@gmail.com to pick up later or on the door.
Read more: Shop of the Week: Recession
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