1950s style on offer at Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair

May 7 2009 Liverpool Daily Post

Dawn Collinson talks to the woman who is bringing designer elegance at High Street prices to Liverpool

THERE’S the rumblings of a fashion rebellion happening, and Judy Berger is on the front line – armed with a wardrobe of fabulous 1950s dresses.

Stylist and personal shopper Judy is the woman behind the Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair which comes to Liverpool this weekend.

And, she says, secondhand has never been more in demand, especially as shoppers look to combine individuality with credit crunch price tags.

“Because fashion is so easy to get on the high street, a lot of girls these days like the challenge of looking a bit different,” says Judy.

“When street style took over in the 1950s and 60s, kids started dressing differently to show what tribes they came from and that’s what has happened with vintage.

“You can go into shops like Primark and buy a designer copy for £4, but there’s been a backlash against that. Now there’s that thing of, ‘I don’t want to look like 10,000 other girls on my high street and every other high street in Britain’.

“If you walk down the street and see someone else wearing vintage, it’s like a nod to them that they’re getting out there and learning how to dress for themselves. It’s the ultimate compliment if someone can look good in vintage.”

It will be the fair’s third year in Liverpool but, she says, despite the city’s reputation for designer label loving, there’s no shortage of girls willing to experiment with fashion, too.

And that includes a few famous faces.

“When we first did Liverpool, I was really conscious that everyone associated it with the WAGs,” says Judy. “I wondered if maybe there was only a small number of people who were vintage lovers. But, fortunately, one of the girls who works for me is from Liverpool and she told me that although they still go out and buy their Jimmy Choos, now they want a really beautiful 50s dress to go with them.

“Even people who you might not expect are getting interested. Alex Curran, for instance, is a big vintage shopper and a lot of my stallholders from Liverpool sell to her.

“She’s an example of someone who wears or carries vintage without it being obvious, whereas someone like Alexa Chung is the opposite.