Dust off your Mother’s old Levi jeans, grab your childhood Mary Jane’s and head straight for Sheffield. Picture this: rack after rack of authentic and immaculate vintage gear ranging from the military trench coats, the jersey shift dresses and embellished evening gowns of the 1940’s; to the psychedelic, A line shifts, PVC everything and space age looks of the 1960’s and then to the 1980’s puffball and ra-ra skirts, oversized shirt dresses and vivid graphics of tartan, stripes and dogtooth. Sheffield has became a treasured dumping ground for all things old. I say put down that dull Topshop fur coat you'll inevitably see someone wearing the next day and clothe yourself in history.
TNB Indie Arcade- Sheffield’s own time capsule hidden in the quirky area of Kelham Island, in Nichols Building. It has a wide selection of vintage gear, not just stopping at clothes. With a diverse range of traders, the possibilities for what you might find (and isn’t rummaging through the best part?) in TNB Indie Arcade are endless. Supplying wonderfully bizarre items from a pair of retro quad roller skates, an old casino slot machine and a duck shaped vinyl clock, you’d be spoilt for choice.
I spotted myself a dogtooth trench coach and if it wasn't for the fairly expensive pricing and the fact that as a student I seem to be becoming more skint by the hour, I probably would have bought it. The condition was excellent though I'm sceptical on whether the clothes were AUTHENTIC vintage. This is after shifting through each rack frantically looking for bargains I came across a few impostors. Firstly, I discovered a Select leopard print fur coat on sale for £35 (?!?!), fair enough the shop deserve a profit but when I'm hunting for buys, clothes from last week don't really cut it as vintage for me. Below were a pair of snakeskin heels from Atmosphere for Primark going for £16, worth paying the extra £££'s if the stock has ended in Primark I guess, but I don't think it quite qualifies to be labelled vintage. In it's defence, the items mentioned above do qualify as vintage style (but doesn't everything these days) but aren't for those looking for the real deal (but in reality more and more 'vintage' stores are customising, renewing or producing their own clothes). It is without a doubt worth visiting, but not for ten minutes on your lunch break (you'd barely scratch the surface of whats on offer) but for a good hour, to stalk out those truly retro products.
But for all those first-hand lovers, TNB offers a selection of contemporary custom made designs such as Mrs Prestige and The Seam, which use vintage patterns similar to the graphic designs and art-deco style which appeared after the industrial advances of the 1930's. All the (fake)retro without that trademark perfumed musk of genuine vintage many of us would die for. Tea Wear jewellery crafted from Sheffield steel cutlery (a massive part of the history here) is worth checking out, I've always loved jewellery with a backstory and it could be an impressive souvenir from Sheffield. As Cute as a Button supplies the most idyllic jewellery, cards, and frames often using scrabble pieces, though its worth noting that its products could easily be done at home- if you have the time. Twiggeez sells eco-friendly recycled jewellery and accessories which all seem a bit wooden and chunky and unfortunately do not appeal to me (but hat's off for recycling). Finally, Saturday's Kids design Yorkshire themed products including greeting cards and a personal fave which is a door mat featuring printed white roses and the famous Yorkshire term 'Ey Up' (hoping to buy it in preparation for my new flat this year!).
A big thumbs up is needed for TNB Indie Arcade's wide selection of pristine furniture, hard to find when looking for genuine vintage. A lot of the furniture is up-cycled including brands such as Nanny B & Grumpy, TweAk and U-Shade-PVC Ltd and Geoff Lane from Luxury Lanes, so that means no wear and tear and unwanted injuries to your new furnishings but still keeping that retro charm. I found a range of items from mirrored dressers, cocktail cabinets and wardrobes worthy of Narnia, from the most popular brands such as Ercol and G-Plan. Not to mention the grand piano at the entrance of the store. Another personal fave is the newly added customised G-Plan dressing table featuring old theatre tickets on the drawers and going for £120. And there’s still more. TNB has a wide selection of vinyl from the 1950’s onwards. Maybe you’d even bag yourself a classic record player to listen to your new Bowie vinyl.
The store has successfully provided a platform for Sheffield’s independent artists and businesses to unite in their celebration of vintage and offering an alternative to the sky high prices of the city centre (more reason to check it out). The store caters for everyone, recently introducing their very own Man Cave, chock full of oversized granddad knits, old tan brogues and where would it be without an old fashioned poker set. This place definitely deserves a stamp of approval for diversity… or maybe a tattoo of approval? With their very own Little Pink Ink tattoo studio in a 1970’s foldout caravan, TNB could literally become timeless with a story to tell the grandkids.
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