Judy's Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair hits Manchester's Town Hall

Christmas has landed at Manchester Town Hall and so has vintage. Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fashion fair is in its sixth year and now visits over thirty cities nationwide, returning to Manchester this weekend (Sunday 20th November) for a Christmas spectacular.

Starting as a small event in East London, the fair now boasts the title of the UK’s biggest vintage fair, alongside being featured in prestigious publications such as Vogue, Elle, Grazia, Marie Claire and Stylist magazines. Founder and ex Selfridges personal shopper, Judy Berger, described this title as a “great feeling.”

Speaking of what made her start Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fashion fair, she expressed her desire to “make vintage accessible and affordable.”

“I wanted a fair that everybody would be able to buy something from, from a poor student to somebody in their 30’s, 40’s and beyond.”

But what makes these fairs so popular? “People really like the fact that there’s going to be lots and lots of different stalls there from all over the country. It’s almost like if you shop in a department stall or online, so you’re getting maybe the best picks of things from all over the country without having to go round the country.” And the event definitely did that – from jewellery to bags and gowns to jumpers, there was something for everyone and every budget.

Judy recognises the importance of staying affordable especially in these tough economic times, through rigorous price checks for consumers and employing young people. “Maybe they’ve got families at home and can’t have full time nine to five Monday to Friday jobs and then we’ve got quite a few people who have been made redundant so they’ve decided to go all out and follow us round the country. So they will do two fairs every weekend, week in week out and that’s their full time job. It’s brilliant, it’s innovative – its how this country has to make a living during a recession.”

With plans to expand to one day festivals, Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fashion fair looks set for even greater things. “In a recession, people want a party and they want something that’s going to be affordable so we’re thinking of opening up everything we already do which is bringing in more bands, more DJ’s, putting on big one day parties that go on into the night where people can then dance to the music, wear the clothes, shop...just do everything.”

For the full interview, watch the video below: 

To find out if Judy's Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair is at a location near you see the map below. For event listings, click here and find the fair on Facebook and Twitter. 

View Judy's Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair in a larger map

For more on this story, click here. 

This post was written by Stacey Ford. You can contact Stacey at: SFord1@uclan.ac.uk