Written November 2011.

Sitting in the middle of Bedford Place (Southampton) is Hepwrights, a vintage shop, selling a variety of clothing and accessories from previous decades. Although many shops surround it, there is a certain charm to the shop that forces you to look inside. The shop itself is comforting; the deep green colour of the carpet, the buzz of the customers, the positioning of the lighting. Rated as one of the best vintage boutiques in the South, Hepwrights offers more than a simple shopping experience. Here, these clothes have lives, stories of how they got to where they are.

Catherine stands at the front of the room, head to toe in vintage clothing; a maroon Windsmoor skirt, a long flowing crepe lace jacket and a beautiful hand crafted necklace, which was originally a brooch, adapted by one of her suppliers. It is obvious she takes pride in her appearance. “I cannot help but express myself through clothes,” she beams. “It’s just who I am.”

She is an expressive character and even describes herself as eccentric and sharp, saying she has similar characteristics to those of a Spaniel; excitable, interested in everything, full of life and energy. She shows this in how she presents herself, using hand gestures when she speaks and sighing heavily with wide eyes before explaining a long winded story.

She is pleasant to talk to and a joy to watch. She’s infectious. Even when talking about harder times in her life she emphasises how overcoming those times made her a stronger, braver person and how light can always come out of the dark.

        “Life just throws shit at you sometimes, doesn’t it?”

Catherine started her business 7 years ago. The reason she was open to a change in her life was due to having just recovered from severe depression. The tone of her voices lowers slightly as describes how the disease affected her. “With most people who go through trauma, there tends to be a before and an after.” But battling her issues helped her overcome new fears. “I wouldn’t have been brave enough to do it otherwise,” she insists.

She and a friend, Donna, decided that between the two of them, they had enough clothes that they didn’t wear that it made sense to sell them on to people who would appreciate the beautiful pieces of clothing that were just gathering dust in their wardrobes. ‘A Lass Too Fat’ was one of the original names for the business, as that was the main reason - they believed - for the clothes to be sold. However, they settled with the name ‘Spy Baby Vintage’. And that’s where it all kicked off. With a budget of £250 and Donna’s spare bedroom, Spy Baby Vintage was steadily materialising.

As all successful companies do, it expanded. “First, we moved into my front room but there wasn’t enough room there either. So we moved into the basement of my friend’s coffee shop,” Catherine recollects. She never intended on owning a shop and wanted the business to be online. But as soon as the customers upstairs learnt what was beneath the floorboards, they couldn’t resist taking a look.

“To begin with, I said the clothes weren’t for sale, but I gave in. Most of the time we hadn’t even worked out a price so if a woman came to me asking how much, I would say, maybe, £120 for a skirt and if they replied ‘Bargain!’ I remember thinking ‘Damn, I should have priced it higher!’ ”

They stayed in the basement for about a year, until one day, not too long after they officially put a sign up announcing themselves to the public; the owner asked them to leave. “It was only temporary,” admits Catherine.

And as they left the basement, Donna left the company. “She’s a musician,” Catherine clarifies, “This was more a hobby for her, where it was something I wanted to do full time.” Although the partnership ended, Catherine still respected Donna’s wishes. “She asked me to change the name. ‘Spy Baby Vintage’ was our project.”

 This is where ‘Hepwrights’ came into play. “I wanted something classic,” she explains, “So I took ‘Hep’ from Katherine and Audrey Hepburn and also the Hep Cats,” which instantly says a lot about her style and taste. She rented a small office space, and although she planned on staying online, held an open door sale once a month.

But then life got dark again for Catherine. Between 2007 and 2008, both of her children fell ill, her house burned down and she was in two separate car accidents. The strength she shows whilst talking about this time is astounding. Having lost the majority of her possessions, she had to rebuild her life again from scratch. The only thing she had intact was her business.

After two years of being in the office space, Catherine decided to start looking for a shop. “I started put all my energy and focus into the open door sale and public buyers. I would have one, and then spend the month planning the next.”

She signed the lease on 34 Bedford Place, Southampton on September 27^th 2010. Having just celebrated it’s first birthday, Hepwrights is constantly moving forward, from a homemade business to one of the best vintage stores of the south. The combination of the clothes and the atmosphere and of course, the lovely Catherine Wright, makes Hepwrights a shopping experience to remember.

She sees her store as more of an adoption agency. “Each piece fits one person. The sizes vary in vintage clothing, the woman’s shape were entirely different.” And she knows the story behind practically every piece of clothing in the store, which is helped by having private suppliers where everything is sourced within Hampshire.

Visit her website http://hepwrights.com/ or follow her on Twitter @hepvintage. And if you’re ever in Southampton, pop in and say hello. Catherine herself makes the journey worthwhile.

I say males. The only person who stuck out for me in the ‘Men’s Catagory’ was Gerard Butler.

Donning an immaculate Ferragamo suit, Butler looked pristine and healthy at the after party. The reason I’m drawn to him in particular is that I am a fan of his work and am very happy to see that he’s back on his feet after a stint in rehab and looks as though he’s doing well. Commendable. 

Anyway, the couples segment will feature more of the mens’ attire. 

Until then,

So, my favourite part of the awards season is understandably the red carpet. But for the Oscars, this year, I felt the best looks took place at the Vanity Fair Afterparty.

My top five female looks:

Emma Stone in Chanel. Very popular style for the Oscars this year. Many dresses had black sheer detailing.

Michelle Rodriguez in a beautiful black, embellished dress. Designer unknown. Trust me, I looked everywhere.

Lily Collins in Monique Lhuillier. The base colour of this dress against her skin tone is flawless; she looks practically painted. Beautiful.

Selena Gomez in Dolce and Gabbana. The embellishments on this dress are stunning and the cut of the neckline suits her perfectly. The sheer fabric in panels at the bottom give more flair and volume to the standard fishtail cut. Moved beautifully.

Kate Hudson in Versace. Now, I know that the front of this dress was impressive, but the back was breathtaking. The detailing of the curves are so precise and the point at the small of the back is flawless. Such an interesting asymmetric design.

I will do both the males and the couples looks tomorrow. I’m tired and I spent about three hours trying to find out who designer Michelle Rodriguez’ dress.

Caio.

You see, this is what I look like when I’m generally going about my business. My skirt has holes in it, my fake leather jacket is literally being held together with safety pins and my hair severely needs dying. I also wear too much eye liner and boys t-shirts. 

People always look at me strange when I say I’m a fashion journalism student - they looked at me with utter bewilderment when I was just a fashion student, so mild improvement - but I think because of how I look, people don’t take me seriously. Which personally, I find really offensive. I work just as hard as the next girl, and I get over looked. Not just for with this either. In general, work placements, job interviews etc.

It’s how I feel comfortable though, so I’d rather look like this and be happy then dress like everyone else and feel so incredibly awkward. I guess I just need to push myself harder. 

Wish me luck,

Come to the conclusion that no matter how hard I try, this won’t be like other fashion blogs, simply because I’m not like other fashion bloggers. I’m not a size 8; most of my clothes are from Tesco/Matalan or handed down from my Mum or sister and I’m not that big on people taking photos of me.

Best I can maybe do is make up styles? Except on a scarce budget - my power is an ‘All About Face’ Tesco one for £1.50. In saying that though, it’s a fairly decent powder. 

We’ll see.

If anybody reading this has any comments, questions, critiques etc. please feel free to email me on:

kimberleylouisemiller@gmail.com

Any suggestions/advice or maybe just some conversation would also be greatly appreciated.

I’m severely failing at keeping to any kind of routine on this blog, which is unacceptable, but in all honesty, I have been very busy: Uni and life and the like. A lot more work is to be added to the research, designs and photography pages and I’m currently working on a project that will involve a lot of illustration work. 

I’ve currently been working on a piece on newspapers in general but it still needs some editing and there’s a few facts I want to get straight first. Fingers crossed, that shall be posted by Saturday.

First and foremost, Happy New Year! I’ve haven’t been more excited for January in a very long time. This year holds a lot of promise for me. I’m at University doing a course I love, I’m looking for opportunities to expand on my portfolio and experience and things are finally starting to look like they’re getting on track and I’m heading down a path that can determine my entire life. 

My focus and determination has never been stronger. I’m trying so hard to work on everything that I can to improve on every aspect of my life. 

My aim for this blog is to post at least once a week on things I feel are relevant, be it fashion related, current events, or just an update on myself. First genuine post should be posted on Saturday the 7th, when I arrive back to Southampton, all wide eyed and bushy tailed. 

Until then.

Hi, my name is Kimberley Louise Miller. I’m 20 years old and currently living in Southampton, studying Writing Fashion and Culture at Southampton Solent University. I’m originally from Leeds, where I have just completed a National Diploma in Fashion, Clothing and Textile Design at Leeds College of Art. 

This website is a combination of my portfolio and my blog. It will show my past work and, hopefully, give a glimpse into what I’m capable of, as well as showing where I’m heading and my thoughts, plans and opinions of current events and the future.

Over time, I will be adding to each of the pages leading off of this page, but the general activity will be here, on the home page.

I hope to entertain, enlighten and maybe even inspire you on my journey through University and whatever doors I choose after I have graduated. Fingers crossed.