So I ventured beyond the M25 up to UK's 2nd largest city Manchester for the very first time over the weekend (yes I'm the person who has been to many a random place in the world but never to UK's 2nd metropolis...) and actually found a place that was FAR easier to navigate than the higgelty piggelty-ness of London.  Straight forward, no-mess/fuss and inexpensive are my first impressions of Manchester. 

However, aesthetics does tend to win me over and though I could well have gone on a bitterly cold and possibly painful charity shop bargain hunting trail, in the end a shop like Rags to Bitches in the Northern Quarter had to find me and win me over with its bucket loads of charm.  The name of this vintage shop doesn't quite befit the abundance of PRETTINESS going on inside the store but I suppose that's the point.  It's quite the visual feast and given my love of atmsopheric shopping, I couldn't help but snap away and report back here.

Cue eclectic French boudoir atmosphere, flocked wallpaper, lush textiles and haphazardly placed random objects that of course don't look haphazard or random.  There are nooks and crannies displayed with the sort of stuff that I'd collect if I was older and had many an empty day to go scouring car boot sales.  A bit of a visual feast that gives me much inspiration for what I want to do with new abode seeing as my present hovel is... well.... a shit hole (fingers crossed for moving in May!)   

But what of the clothes, the clothes, the important stuff?  Well, it's obvious that the prices aren't rock bottom but neither are they sky high.  I'd say it's the happy medium between ridiculous London prices and eBay and with many of the dresses being specifically sourced and usually having an older and a more unique provenance than 1980's deadstock (and let's face it, so many shops have now taken to selling 90's Matalan/C&A stock and calling it vintage...), £30-£50 for a 1950s' purple taffeta dress with a pleated boddice ain't bad at all.   

Rags to Bitches also has its own atelier where they make their own range of vintage inspired dresses as well as making vintage alterations and offering dressmaking courses.   

I could have stayed there for a few fairy cakes (which they're apprently well into!) and a cocktail (to celebrate their 3rd birthday) but it was onwards and upwards and this pale blue lace dress quickly caught my eye for its heaviness and mass of very old blue lace.  Though the fit is not absolutely perfect, there's got to be scope here to do something with it in the direction of a Prada AW08-9 lace robot.