Amber and Nisha, The Broken Hearts

Position at Beyond Retro

Head Buyer 2002-2009 (Amber) & Head of Press 2005-2009 (Nisha)

Where do you live?

East London

What are you doing now?

Predominantly we’re DJs – live and on the radio – but we always have about a million projects on the go! Our radio show, Peppermint Candy on Jazz FM, is a weekly celebration of inter-war culture focussing on swing music and the trends that the era continues to influence from fashion to food, film and literature. It’s on Thursday evenings from 6-7, www.jazzfm.com/peppermintcandy and you can find out more about us at www.thebrokenhearts.co.uk

Right now we’re loving…

Vivienne Westwood for Melissa shoes and Paperself eyelashes.

A favourite piece of vintage clothing that we own is..

We have two matching girls showgirl dresses in black and white stripes that still have their names written inside them. When we found them at Beyond Retro we used them for all our earliest press shots and gigs.

A designer that inspires us is…

Barbara Hulanicki of Biba.

A person whose style we admire is…

Iris Apfel – we are SO excited that the Maysles Brothers are making a documentary about her as they also covered our other style icon, Little Edie in Grey Gardens.

Our biggest fashion splurge was…

We were lucky enough to be given some amazing handbags by Lulu Guinness so luckily we didn’t have to splurge! And also custom made shoes by Terry de Havilland.

If we could time-travel to another fashion era it would be…

It would probably have to be the 1920s as our bobs would fit in very well!

We shop…

at Beyond Retro!

A funny thing that happened to us at Beyond Retro:

When Tiny the cat had been playing in the saffron sacks next door and arrived one morning bright yellow!

We would like to be remembered at Beyond Retro for…

Diving through the clown costume boxes as soon as they arrive and obsessing over twin outfits!

Peggy de Lune, the star of the Tassel Club who performs her own unique ballet-burlesque routine;

Chloe Lloyd, one of the UK’s leading hula hoopers;

The Tassel Club’s boy from Brazil, Latin Circus Jose, performing his hand-balancing circus act; and

Returning to the stage to show us exactly why she has just won best newcomer in the World Burlesque Awards, twirling sensation Peggy de Lune.

The evening will be hosted by the fabulous Russella, which is always a sure sign of good things to come! This event proved to be enormously popular before we even announced full details so there are only a limited number of spaces left. To make a reservation, please email rsvp@beyondretro.com as soon as possible. For those who have already confirmed places, doors will open at 7.30PM for the entertainment to begin at 8PM.

Ladies and gentlemen, we promised you big news; we promised you a super top secret special event; we promised a celebration that would do justice to the last 10 years of sartorial heaven, and here it is: starting this Friday (18th May), for the first time ever we will be holding a three day sale at Beyond Retro Brick Lane, with 50% off absolutely everything in-store!

Brick Lane is where it all started for Beyond Retro – that disused dairy on a quiet side-street laid the foundations for everything that we’re celebrating this year and so we thought it fitting to put on an unprecedented, one-off event, not only to pay homage to the store, but to say thank you to you, the friends and customers who helped us to get where we are.

For three days, you’ll have access to everything in-store at half price. Just imagine the wondrous vintage bargains you’ll be able to pick up… We’ll see you on Friday at 10am!

Step into any Beyond Retro store and you’ll not only notice the cavernous collection of vintage clothing, but you’ll always hear some damn fine sounds from the playlists of our music-loving team. It comes as no surprise that many of these aficionados are regularly spotted around town expanding their musical prowess in bands or by DJing at the best club nights. On Saturday 19th May our team at Beyond Retro Soho will be spinning their favourite tracks live all day in-store. Bring your requests and have a little boogie!

Playing on the day are:

‘80s Pop, Indie and New Wave from Finn Kidd of Hatcham Social

Soul and Disco by Matty B from The HiFi Club

Unadulterated rock from Mark Carey, founder of Soho’s RattleSnake Shake Nights

As our week of 10th Anniversary celebrations continue we invite you to a special illustrated talk by celebrated fashion historian, Amber Butchart, at our Soho store this Friday (May 18). One half of The Broken Hearts DJ duo, Amber was once head buyer at Beyond Retro and now boasts an array of accolades including writer, broadcaster, design consultant and trend forecaster. Based on the Research Fellowship Amber completed at the University of the Arts in 2007, “Flooded with little Joan Crawfords: Hollywood in London in the 1930s” explores the art of home dressmaking and the influence of Hollywood on fashion in the early 1930s.

Amber will be gracing us with her presence not once, but twice on Friday: first at 9AM and then at 6PM. If you’d like to attend the first talk (which includes complimentary breakfast from our Dalston coffee shop), please send a note to rsvp@beyondretro.com to reserve a space. The later talk is open to all – you only need turn up. Both are free and promise to be a a lot of fun – we hope to see you there!

Following a brilliant day at Beyond Retro Brighton’s Beyond Days Blowout, we’re now giving Londoners a great big piece of the action. On Tuesday 15th May, Beyond Retro Brick Lane will host some of the most exciting acts in music with Skinny Lister, Pete & Kerry, Men’s Adventure and King Charles all live in-store for free!

Oh stop, we know, we’re the best right?

Skinny Lister // 2pm

Kicking off will be Skinny Lister, who have been described by The Guardian as “the new Pogues, but with better teeth”. Fun, folky and fabulous, these guys will be gallivanting around East London on their Vintage Pop-Up Tour starting at yours truly. With the unrelenting, tenacious energy that carried them through their endless summer of touring, the band’s performance is not to be missed – come prepared for flagons of rum, armfuls of fun and the finest young folk group playing today.

Peter and Kerry // 5pm

Come 5pm, we’ll re-kick our musical bonanza with the spectacular Pete & Kerry. The lovely twosome began their adventures as an impulsive side-project and have now gone on to take the music world by store with their unique soulful voices atop of electronic beats. The launch of their excellent EP Clothes, Friends, Photos has gathered critical acclaim worldwide combined with even greater live performances.

Men’s Adventures // 6pm

Formed in early 2011 by Jimmy Casson and Alfie Smith, Men’s Adventures are known for dabbling with a variety of genres mixing together obscure Hawaiian, Country and World Music to Classic and Contemporary pop. Time Out described their music as “Surf-cum-counrty with moments of lush, Florence-esque instrumentation and hints of tropicalia. Currently recording, Men’s Adventures have been tipped to be the next big thing for 2012 who you’d be a fool to miss!

King Charles // 7pm

Our very special guest this evening will be the extraordinarily brilliant King Charles. Celebrated for his unique looks, ideas and sounds and a promise of a performance you’re unlikely to forget. His debut album LoveBlood is out this week and the heart of each song is lit up by joyous pop and the edges are coloured in by wild and wonderful ideas. If you are the sort of person whose mind is still open to magic then you will very much like this…

This week our 10 Year celebrations are in full swing: aside from the plethora of in-store events we’ve got lined up, and as well as the £500 voucher we’re giving away, we’re now offering you the chance to win your favourite item on beyondretro.com. Every day from Monday 14th to Friday 18th May we’ll be giving one person their desired piece for free! Just let us know what it is and you’ll be automatically entered into the draw. How? There are three ways:

On Facebook

Simply ‘like’ us on Facebook and paste a link to your favourite item on our wall.

On Twitter

Follow and tweet us @beyondretrouk with a link to your favourite piece along with the hashtag #beyond10

On Pinterest

Re-pin this image onto your Beyond Retro Give-Away board along with your favourite piece of clothing from the site.

See? It’s easy, and you can enter by all three methods to treble your chances of winning! You’ll have until midnight each day to enter and you’ll need to re-enter every day to be put into that day’s draw.

Click here to choose your favourite item now.

Good luck!

Terms & Conditions:

Competition runs from Monday 14th to Friday 18th May. Entries for each day must be submitted by midnight and the draw will be made the following morning. Entrants may submit no more than one entry per day on each platform (Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter) but are encouraged to enter on all three to maximise chances. Entries must be made each day to be eligible for that day’s draw (e.g. entering on Monday will not enter you into Tuesday’s draw). Winners will be contacted via the site on which they entered.

Name

Hemant Gohil

Position at Beyond Retro

Sales clerk? Worker Chump? Canadian dude?

When?

2003-2004

Where do you live?

Parkdale, Toronoto

What are you doing now?

Nuttin’ fancy. I came back to Canada, became a nurse and started working with the homeless… Fun! But serious…

Right now I’m loving…

Moon Boots. It’s like the future – but now!

A favourite piece of vintage clothing that I own is..

A tatty plaid gabardine shirt that no one wanted even when it was on the pound rail. I brought it home, added to the darling darning that someone had done fifty years ago and then added a button. That was ten years ago and I still have it.

A designer that inspires me is…

“You don’ t need fashion designers when you are young. Have faith in your own bad taste” – John Walters. Amen.

A person whose style I admire is…

Big Joe – he has written all of his rants, delusions and hit list all over his oversized parka. A statement piece if ever I saw one!

My biggest fashion splurge was…

$24.99 for a pair of mint Dayton Driver boots at Value Village. That was a costly visit, I’m telling you…

If I could time-travel to another fashion era it would be…

I’d say 2003-2004 at Beyond Retro. Every 15 minutes involved an outfit change, seriously… It was a fashion era in a sense, for me anyway.

I shop…

I don’t really “shop”; I call it “foraging”. Oversized? I’ll grow into it! Factory irregular? Sounds like my last beau! Stained? Not blood? I’ll take it! Ripped? Torn? Has me in stitches!

The outfit I’d like to be buried in is…

Barefoot in green sequinned mermaid dress. And a sash that says “Goodbye my Coney-Island Baby”. And a ghetto blaster on my lap blasting “Strange Powers” by the Magnetic Fields.

A funny thing that happened to me at Beyond Retro:

I got sooo wasted. You might think I’m kidding. I moved back to Canada with a serious problem.

I would like to be remembered at Beyond Retro for…

Calling the store cat “Mingey”. I loved her to pieces, especially when she got into the curry warehouse and was walking around stained orange for a week. And the rats she would lovingly drop at people’s feet and bat around. Aww, bless.

Oh, and painting the floor! The fumes made me high and a seriously cheap date for a week.

This Sunday our Brighton store is hosting a special sale to celebrate our 10th Anniversary as well as provide a one-stop recovery shop following the antics of the Great Escape. We’re slashing the cost of hundreds of items by a massive 50% so you’ll be able to get your treasured vintage wares for half price! As well as access to all our glorious clothing we’ll be offering special treats from the Brighton Sausage Company, so get down to 42 Vine Street for some serious retail and food therapy between 12 and 6PM. See you and your hangover there!

Ladies and gentlemen, we are very pleased to be able to announce full details for our Beyond Days Blowout, a seaside musical extravaganza and the event that kicks off a week of celebrations for our 10th Anniversary. Performing live at our Brighton store as part of the Alternative Escape tomorrow are four of the bands we are most excited about right now, all playing free for your aural pleasure:

Swim Deep // 2PM

St. Lucia // 3PM

Kins // 4PM

KINS are Thomas Savage, Queline Smith, Alex Knight & Dan Mould. Their sound lies somewhere between Radiohead and Fever Ray with Television-esque guitar. They formed in mid 2010 and began playing shows around Australia and receiving high rotation for single ‘Mockasin’s’. In May 2011 they released their first E.P. ‘Dancing Back And Forth, Covered In Whipped Cream’ to critical acclaim. After many a sold out headline show, they set off for the UK. Now based in Brighton, they are about to bring ‘Dancing Back And Forth, Covered In Whipped Cream’ to the UK and Europe.

Holy Vessels // 5PM

Holy Vessels tell anecdotes rather than stories, of smoke-swept fields a far-cry from their contemporaries’ neon clubs. They are a five-piece from Brighton that play summertime rolling beats and breaks, twirling guitars and blues rhythms. It’s music that stops in the street to look around. Thus far Holy Vessels have supported bands such as Boy & Bear, Cloud Control and The Maccabees, and appeared at Glastonbury, The Big Chill and Lounge On The Farm festivals. Seeing them live, in colour, audiences hear them unfold melody and lyric upon their tumbling break and rhythm; they are a band of roots rock & roll specialists, escaping upstream with the hearts and minds of all lovers of romantic popular song.

While we’d love each and every one of you to come and party with us, we’re a vintage clothing store, not the Pyramid Stage and space is limited, so get there early to avoid disappointment!

Beyond Retro | Brighton will also hold a special “Recovery Sunday Sale” on Sunday 13^th May. With 50% off selected items and special treats in-store, this is the only place to cure aching heads following a big weekend in Brighton. It’s freeeee and open to the public from 12-6PM.

See you at the weekend!