(Mr) Birds the word...

Okay, aside from music I have a bit of a fetish. Nothing to do with rubber, whipped cream and car batteries...not any more anyway...nope I have a bit of a thing for ‘vintage stuff’. I’ve always liked old things, which is handy since I’m rapidly turning into one, but my forays into the world of vintage fashion are relatively recent. Having grown a silly moustache, hell...it filled the time after being made redundant way back in 2009 (blimey, how time flies when you’re having fun) the old jeans, t-shirt and hoodie combo that I’d been rocking for a while just didn’t look right. So I splashed out on a Harris Tweed jacket. Oh boy. That stuff’s addictive.  Look at what it's done to Vic Reeves...

Did you know it’s all hand spun by virgins in heaven...or something like that. Well, that led on to a bit of a splurge on waistcoats, old dress shirts, brogues, hats, silk scarves etc etc. If that makes me sound like Rockerfeller you couldn’t be further from the truth. A lot of this stuff is ridiculously cheap considering the quality and if you don’t mind that fact that the previous owner may well now be pushing up the daisies you can dress like a lord (albeit a slightly dishevelled one) on the wages of a pizza delivery boy. There is a point to all this. Tomorrow Birmingham sees the opening of a brand new Vintage Emporium. Yes. An Emporium no less. Named Mr Birds Emporium it’s located at the old Custard Factory (yes...the old Birds Custard Factory) in Digbeth and, on top of permanent traders there are going to be oodles of stalls each Saturday stuffed full of enough vintage loveliness to make Tim Wonnacott wet himself. The whole thing opens tomorrow at 10.30am and the organisers are promising all kinds of jollity. Be there or be very, very square.