I am Vintage – My visit to The Vintage Store in Exeter.

Visualise this:

Woman (late 30s) walks into a vintage store with her family.
As kids are running rampage, woman bops along to Do you really like it? Not because she really likes it, but because it takes her back. Woman and man peruse the fine array of clothing. Woman sees dungarees and is reminded of Bananarama, woman thinks; ‘that’s ok, that was the 80s’.  But – to her horror – next to the dungarees are a row of shell suit jackets and above those, T-shirts bearing the names of several 90s bands.

For those of you who have never come across a shell suit – congratulations – you missed out on one of UK fashion’s biggest faux pas (see pic below to prove it). Shell suits were the definitive late 80s / early 90s urban attire, usually in turquoises, purples, whites and blacks they were the casual wear of  choice when I was a young teenager at secondary school.

With this in mind, imagine my horror to discover that a) they are considered vintage and b) that means I must be vintage too ?

In my student days shopping in York, retro was 60s & 70s – Afghan coats, leather jackets with big pointy lapels and knee high boots.  That was back in the 90s.  This got me thinking about what qualifies as vintage and I did some *very comprehensive* maths.. If you take 1990 from 2016 (26 years) and 1970 from 1995 (25 years) Vintage begins somewhere between 20 and 30 years ago.

As a woman in her late 30s, 20 years doesn’t seem like such a long time.

After I got over my minor midlife crisis, we had a look around the shop, bought some cool books and some sunnys for my son. The lady in the shop seemed to find the kids quite entertaining. 

It’s a gorgeous little place, nicely decked out with some lovely vintage clothes, the music makes you bop, the staff are lovely and attentive and the Chesterfield sofa looks good for lounging on and reading a book or two.

If you like your clothes retro or (like me) you enjoy a blast from the past, it’s definitely worth a visit.

The Vintage Shop sits comfortably at 3 South St, Exeter EX1 1DZ with its bottom sticking out into Cathedral Green.

Exeter has a wealth of retro, vintage and charity shops, which is your favourite? Let us know below!