About
Where it began...
Lucy's love of vintage started with teenage weekends and holidays exploring vintage shops in the arches of Camden Market and Portobello in London. The purchase of her first vintage Chanel handbag (a bag she’s still using today) and a pre-loved handmade prom dress were defining moments.
She then spent time in Brighton; gaining a degree in Sustainable Product Design. Surrounded by creative friends, whole days were spent in antique shops, charity shops and at carboot sales searching for clothes and accessories that no one else had.
Later, and having ‘moved up north’ in England, Lucy continued to seek out new places for vintage finds. With the time that lockdown brought, she soon realised the sheer size of her vintage collection, which had made its way into storage units as she moved around the country.
Handbag Appreciation Society...
Starting on Etsy back in late 2019, Lucy launched ‘Handbag Appreciation Society’; quickly selling out her collections. She began to source for clients wanting the perfect ‘everyday’ or ‘event’ bag, from artists and tv and film production companies, to vintage shops across the world and to some major fashion brand houses (though she’s keeping those a secret!).
Glamour UK included the online shop in their Best EtsyVintage Fashion Edit. The Edit pulled together locations for customers to shop better for the planet and where to head to give your wardrobe a personality boost.
Vintage Appreciation Society...
Having established an online shop, it seemed fitting that Lucy would make a converted shop her home in York, England. In early 2022, to keep up with her customer’s increasing demand for vintage handbags, Lucy followed a lead to see a collection. What awaited her was an entire barn of exceptionally high-quality vintage clothes…she bought all the bags and all the clothes. The finds perfectly complimented her existing collection of vintage branded and handmade clothes and ‘Vintage Appreciation Society’ was established.
“I walked into the barn and was wow-ed. It was the vintage of my dreams…I kept saying it’s ‘vintage but with space for boobs and bums’. I feel immensely privileged that the previous owners trusted me to take on their collection; they wanted it to go to the next generation of vintage lovers”. - Lucy
Get the Outfit and the Bag...
In June 2022, a physical selling space was curated upstairs in ‘the vintage room’ in The Antiques Centre on Stonegate in York, England (a stone’s throw from the York Minster). This brings together Handbag Appreciation & Vintage Appreciation into a combined shopping experience; get the outfit and the bag.