birdcage boutique bridlesmith gate


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There was Etam too, they had good reasonably priced stuff. The thing was at that age we wanted to follow all the fashions and our clothes didn't get much wear before we went onto the next trend. I loved Ravel for shoes.

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Can't fault you youth ! Me & a mate had some great times at the local "Grab a granny night".

Exactly, they even worked, I’m ashamed to say, when I would go on my own to the Palais for “grab a Granny night”. I think that was a Tuesday night when everyone else was at work. 

Hi Basfordred, don't get me started on the halcyon days of the 60s because they were the best times, and was privileged to be part of them !!!?

I bought a pair of boots from Paul Smiths on Byard Lane - think they were what models wore then they sold them off in the shop but they were not cheap.

Also bought some shoes from Lotus which I ordered from a catalogue and had them delivered to the shop - wore them until they dropped apart but they cost me 69/11 which was a fortune then. (got them on in this photo :laugh: )

Spent all night outside Wallis' shop in Jan 67 (with your sister in law Mudgie) to get a pure wool red coat that was reduced to £4 then decided I didn't like it and sold it to a friend for the same money.

Culotte dress from C & A was another favourite and my "best" maternity dress was from Biba and the buttons from it have been on at least 6 garments and still have them.

The girl I shared a flat with still has all her Mary Quant clothes and will not let anybody touch them never mind wear them.

Never bought anything from Birdcage - spent all money on shoes.

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We lived in a disposable era. when fashion changed every week, and last week clothes were discarded. I kept some of my Biba, bus stop, Paul smith which my daughter now wears. But funnily it is my original viv Westwood that has had the most wear, and now she has a I shop in Nottingham it was my first choice for mother of the bridegroom attire !!!!!!....how fashion comes full circle ?

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I've always worn Paul Smith clothes - must have known Paul back in the old days. They used to have warehouse sales where you could buy their clothes very cheap. I also shopped at Birdcage - I remember Chris working there it seems forever, can't remember his surname.

I'll Leave It was owned by the parents of someone called Mandy I believe and I knew Justin and Julia who worked in there.

Micky did a lot of her shopping at Bus Stop - 2 who worked in there were called Jane and Mary, who now run a good guest house in Whitby, where we stay whenever we go up there.

I remember a shop in the Bridlesmith/Byard Lane area that sold amongst other things afghan coats but can't remember it's name.

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I only bought one shirt from 'Birdcage',around 67,five times the price of a 'Ben Sherman',fist time I wore it was the last.A mate who slipped, used me to save him from falling grabbed the front of the shirt,that was that.

Decided to invest in buying Levi shirts from then on.

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You lot buying clothes from these boutiques must have had pots of money ! :jumping:

I can remember about '64 or '65 we used to go to the Army and General Stores (later Flittermans ?) facing the Ice Stadium and used to buy all sorts of ex-government jackets .

Ones I remember were a black shiny waterproof coat almost like a trawlermans coat and then there were some bright blue jackets single breasted jackets that we were told were hospital porters jackets ! Well we thought we looked good !

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'Yer mustabin one a them bloody beatnicks'. :)

Nooooh.....just skint !

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My mates and I bought loads of clothes from the Birdcage when it first opened. A lot of them were one offs.

I think it was first owned by a girl called Janet Campbell and her partner Ian. We knocked about with them and Paul Smith. It was great at first, but some people became totally obsessed with what was 'in' and the latest fashions took over their lives. I got fed up with this shallowness and grew by hair long and became scruffier.

Paul did get me a pair of knee length snakeskin boots as I had seen Robert Plant of Led Zep and Ray Moon of Juicy Lucy wearing similar ones. Must have been 68 or 69. Great days, everything seemed so new and innocent.

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They sure were hippo girl, from 62 when I left school till about 69 were amazing years. Festivals, gigs, clubs, pubs, parties, trips to London and St Ives especially Summer of 67, great albums and clothes, Yates Sweet Australian Mountain Wine, 10/6 a bottle, draught 'champagne ' licked off the top of their copper topped tables, thrown out of pubs for having long hair, ousted from the Calypso Club on my 20th birthday, refused service in the Sailors Arms in Newquay for being too scruffy, ejected from the Sloop in St Ives for getting German tourists paralytic on Courage AK bitter. A girl my mate knew worked in a small chippie next to the Hub in St Ives. She told us to turn up at closing time mid after noon and at 10.30 for all the left overs. All good fun, never any violence or vandalism. Brilliant!!!!!!

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In my old 1967 diary I found a list of the boutiques I liked. They include Birdcage, also She-Wear, Madcap and Gaby. For guys there was Oscar, Paraphenalia and Sir Jeffery. I think they were independent shops but not sure about that. Also, what about the little shop on Parliament Street, the corner of the jitty next to the Co-op. Was it Vicky's? There was always something in there I liked. Though in fact many of us browsed the boutiques then went home with some fabric to make our own. Very rare to meet someone dressed in the same dress as yourself in those days.

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Bought my very first dress from a boutique in Hockley, the corner of Stoney Street/Goosegate in 1965 short sleeves, round neck, high waist in floral needlecord very mod. The shop is long gone and I don't know the name of it, but I do rememeber Vicky's and bought from there often, another shop was Barbara's just up from the then Broadmarsh Bus station.

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