Located on Cheshire Street, information pills I Dream of Wires is an Aladdin’s cave of vintage 80′s and 90′s treasures. Established by Lou Winwood and Pete Voss this gem of a shop recently launched their own clothes line, an eclectic interpretation of the fabrics hoarded within their East London treasure chest. Amelia’s Magazine spoke to Lou, about the development of the new label in the same week that saw the arrival of her new baby, Iggy.
Congratulations! How are you both doing?
All Good.
How has the arrival of Iggy impacted upon your working life?
I sit on the sofa in pjamas with a baby clamped to my gigantic bosom directing other people to run around like maniacs doing all my work for me, including my husband & partner Pete! I am the definition of multi-tasking
How did the new label develop from the opening of the shop?
The I Dream of Wires label formed gradually. We had all these great vintage children bed clothes, duvet covers etc, with Batman prints, Edd The Duck, Mickey Mouse & the like that we had picked up when hunting down goodies for our vintage shop. I decided to have them made into harem pants & they sold really well from the shop. Then I began adding other styles adapted from vintage 80s patterns, and creations of my own & soon there was enough to call a label!
Now we have gold bumbags and matching Wren’s hats, oversized dungarees with wild prints, snake-print clown dresses and jumpsuits and playsuits in clashing metallic’s and stripes. It’s playful, bright & shiny, a kind of modern take on 80’s glam trash – a bit Bananarama meets Spinal Tap – or something!
It’s an exciting time for the label. As well as selling from the shop, we have just got our first stockist in Japan, a really cool little chain of shops called Faline which sells some of my favourite labels; Jeremy Scott & KTZ. Also we are just about to launch I Dream Of Wires on-line. The label and our most favoritest vintage pieces will all be available from our website.
How did you find the timing of the new baby and the launch of the new label? Sounds potentially exhausting, with echos of being a superwoman!
It just so happened I created a baby at the same time – so it’s all go! I’m just a hopeless workaholic I guess. I just never get round to changing my clothes or having a bath and I live in a pigsty! While I’ve been answering these questions I have breast fed twice & changed a shitty nappy. It’s a glamorous life right now!
What is it about 80′s and 90′s clothing in particular that draws your eye’s attention?
I have always loved the ballsiness of 80’s fashion. I’m a big show off , lashings of big jewellery, shoulder pads & bright clashing colours have been overcrowding my wardrobe for years. I was a teenager in the 80’s & 90’s when I first really discovered dressing up, mostly in my Mum’s glam cast offs mixed with jumble sale finds.
How was the decision made to set up the shop originally? Where you on a shoot or in a coffee shop or even in a shop thinking you could find more interesting original stock?
I was working as a stylist when I had my first son Gus. I was styling Amy Winehouse, The Manic Street Preachers and some other music artists, as well as various advertising campaigns. The hours were really demanding, I was out all the time & my husband was at home with the baby. He used to be a stylist for ID magazine, so we both had a love of fashion. We are both hoarders of the weird & wonderful. So we decided we could work together doing what we both enjoy most, sourcing the kind of vintage craziness that we could not find anywhere else. So we set up I Dream Of Wires to share it with the world!
Categories ,Aladdin’s Cave, ,Batman, ,Ed the Duck, ,I Dream of Wires, ,Jeremy Scott, ,Lou Winward, ,Pete Voss
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