Southampton finally get designer vintage at Hepwright’s

Southampton; once the city of boring brand names, grey skylines, grey buildings, and no decent vintage (or beach) to it’s name. Not the best place to spend my University days, but alas now the city is on it’s way to getting a chic face lift, thanks to Catherine Wright of Hepwright’s Vintage. Clare Saxon chats to the vintage studio owner about Dior, Audrey Hepburn and losing your dream shoes to a stylist in Milan.

Hello Catherine! Where and what is Hepwright’s, and when did it all start?

At Hepwright’s Vintage we promote vintage clothes as an alternative to high street fashion. We run vintage clothing sales and offer a range of other events all based around encouraging and inspiring people to enjoy and value beautiful old clothes.

We are based in Southampton, UK, right in the middle of the south coast (just above the Isle of Wight if you are looking on a map). I started selling vintage clothes from home about four years ago. Then I moved out to a tiny shop in the basement of a lovely cafe-bookshop. After a year I moved here to my studio in Queen’s Terrace.

Southampton is a funny old place; we have very few independent shops of any kind for a City of our size, not just fashion. But we have a big community of creative, arty people. There are popular and well respected art and fashion courses at our universities for example, but there are very few options for people who want to dress outside what the high street has to offer. We aim to fill that gap.

What makes you different from other vintage shops?

Well, for a start, we’re not a shop! We run Hepwright’s Vintage from a big studio space in the area of the City famous for its association with the old liners, where you will find all the nice restaurants and cafes. There’s a vibe down here that makes it feel very funky and Southampton is not famous for being funky!  People come and shop either at our monthly Saturday sales, or they make an appointment and come and have the place to themselves. People seem to enjoy the fact that Hepwright’s is a bit of a “secret”. Word of mouth is definitely how people find out about us.

You must be a big vintage fan. How did you get in to it?

I have loved clothes all my life. I think it all goes back to my Mum’s dressing room when I was a girl. She was an actress in the theatre, and I adored the ever changing rail of costumes. I was very good at lacing her into a corset from a very early age.

I was a teenager around the time of punk, and that inspired a DIY approach to fashion in all of us. Also in the Seventies, very few fashion shops sold garments larger than a size 14, so big girls had to find their own way to look cool. I sewed dresses for my dollies from very young, and so it was no big deal to cut up things I bought from jumble sales in the day, sew them back together and wear them out that night.

My working life took me in other directions, but I have always loved art and design and I see vintage clothing as part of that interest. Couture is just art on a catwalk after all.

Which are your favourite designers (and if relevant which eras?)

I have so many favourites it is hard to pick. For the sheer innovative artistry in recent times you can’t beat Vivienne Westwood. I used to go into Liberty in London just to pour over the cut of her jackets. If I had to pick a name from further back, I would say that Christian Dior in the Forties and Fifties; both before and after the introduction of the “New Look” which was sensational.

Which celebrity do you think has great style and why? (dead or alive or one of each!)

The name Hepwright’s comes from an amalgamation of my name (Wright) with the ‘Hep’ of two of my favourite style icons, Katharine and Audrey Hepburn. Gorgeous women as well as gorgeous clothes. As a teenager I loved Debbie Harry and I think Alison Goldfrapp today has a similar stylish vibe. I’m not really inspired by stick thin actresses who put on a designer dress (chosen by their stylist) and call that a ‘look’. I like to see people who express something of their personality through the clothes they wear.

What is the best vintage item you’ve found?

In the early days of Hepwright’s I bought a job lot of satin shoes from an auction and found an original pair of ice blue 1960s Roger Vivier shoes for Christian Dior in immaculate condition. If they had fit me I would never have sold them, but alas they went to a stylist in Milan. Sigh.

Where do you source your stock from?

These days I mainly buy from the original owners of the garments, or their family members. Part of the allure of vintage for me and so many of my customers is the stories that go along with the clothes. A woman tried on a Seventies soft black leather maxi coat the other day, and she said she could feel the energy of everyone who had ever worn it. Sounds a bit crazy, but I know exactly what she means.

Do you love vintage homewares or just fashion?

I think if you like vintage colour, shape, texture, then you can’t resist it in whatever form it comes. I have a worrying obsession with Welsh Tapestry blankets! I must have about a dozen of them. I can’t help myself.

What is your style – Do you live and breathe vintage or mix it with high street and new designers collections?

I have some fabulous customers who are totally dedicated to a particular era – the Fifties for example. That’s not me! I adhere to the ‘dressing up’ school of personal style: I put together bits and pieces from all over the place to reflect whatever mood I am in today. I still design and make my own clothes when I have the time.

I buy very little from the high street – that’s not my thing. I find the cheap, throwaway attitude to clothing very troubling, especially from an environmental point of view.

How do you think vintage will fare through the recession?

Pretty well, for a couple of reasons I think. Firstly, economic pressures are driving an ‘austerity chic’ trend which you can see everywhere. Top Shop and now even M&S are full of garments inspired by (or some would say copied from) decades gone by. Many people are preferring to follow that trend by seeking out the real thing rather than buying a poor copy of 50s cocktail dress in polyester.

Then there’s the people who are coming to vintage for the first time, looking to get their hands on something of quality and style at a lower price than they might be used to paying. Everyone has to work harder during a recession, but I hope we will be OK.

Are you running any events soon?

As well as monthly vintage sales? Loads! Over the Summer I am running some teen workshops on fashion styling. We will create some instant looks and put them into a fashion show that day. We’re running a pop up shop at the Wayzgoose (summer fair) run by our friends at Red Hot Press. We’re also organising a Hepwright’s trip to see the movie Coco before Chanel when it comes out in late July. It will be fun to sigh over the clothes with other fashionistas.

In the early autumn, we are inviting women who like the look of vintage clothes but are a bit scared to wear them to come to an evening with our stylist friend Min Sandhu. I hope that we can convert a few people who just need a little bit of encouragement to break out of the high street look and embrace vintage! We running some “Sewing for Beginners” workshops and we’re also working with the lovely ladies of the local Burlesque scene (but that’s a secret at the moment……). It’s all on the Hepwright’s website.

Any more future plans?

So much! Southampton is really trying to work on changing people’s perceptions of our City as a cultural desert and I am working alongside several other creative businesses down here on all sorts of ideas to promote our creativity and coolness. Watch this space!

If we should be hunting for one vintage item this Summer, what should it be?

As a redhead, I am super conscious of the effects of the sun, so how about a Seventies kaftan as a cover up? There are some amazing prints and you can glam it up in the evening as well as use it on the beach or in the back garden during the day. Or just look divine while you make the kids’ tea; vintage is for every occasion!

Hepwright’s Vintage