Vintage shopping is good for the soul

It's the smell. You recognise it as soon as you enter the world of vintage clothes. Seventh hand, passed on from generation to generation. Or lost in a wardrobe corner and found when there was no one left in the house to wear it. An outfit lost in time and space. 

It's the age, the dustiness of being old. The kind that makes you sneeze.

It's the colours. Paler than they were fifty years ago. Washed out, worn out. The colour of old skin. 

It's the music. Swing, golden oldies straight from a plastic fantastic record player. Yelling through cheap sound boxes. Trying to overtake the loud cheering and screaming of girls gone wild.

It's the people. Their concentration, focused on one and one thing only. To find the best freaking thing in the place and make sure no one gets it before they do. Their shamelessness. The way they remind you of animals. Grabbing their prey after running their lungs out with their fur coats on. Tearing it apart, because competition wants it as bad as they do. Biting, scratching, showing their teeth. And in the end it's the winner who pays the bill. 

Vintage markets, you've got to love 'em.

If you love them as much as I do, make sure to come over to the Brabanthal in Leuven on Sunday for sniffing around in old goodness, tasty goodness and just plain spine-tingling goodness. I'll be there, selling clothes, shoes, music, books, and all the other stuff that doesn't fit in moving boxes direction Brussels. Make sure to come and say hi and buy something granny would be jealous of! Or, exactly, buy your dear grandma a present! Or twenty!

With thanksgiving and christmas and all that jazz, there are plenty of reasons to empty your purse for vintage finds. I personally don't believe you need a reason. Except for the fact it might turn you into a broke person who one day finds herself selling her own things on a market so she can pay rent. Join the club! It's fun! There is wine and friends and most important: you are surrounded by preloved (the more beautiful term for second hand) clothes and at the end of the day you have a little extra cash. To spend on vintage. Exactly. See you Sunday!