Oh! For the Love of Vintage!
Image credits: Ashleigh Passmore
For Ashleigh Passmore, a Perth-based fashion designer, stylist, and curator of online designer vintage store, Be Femme, vintage fashion isn’t simply a love affair, it’s an extension of her identity.
Effortlessly, she flicks her long Lourde-esque wavy brown hair to the side and greets me with a warm kiss on the cheek. Daring complimentary colours – reds, yellows and deep royal blues – dance together in a symphony of peculiar prints, on her vintage straight-leg pants. She pairs them with a tight white singlet, coupled with an oversized buttercream collared men’s shirt, which she has left unbuttoned to reveal sparkling layers of gold necklaces.
Sitting in the leafy side corridor of a Butters café, we are enclosed by trails of ivy, clinging to terracotta coloured brick walls. The leaves reflect white and gold light, where the speckled rays of morning sun hit their rich green tendrils.
“I’m like a chameleon with my style,” exclaims Passmore with a beaming smile. Ironically, her outfit is on par with the black, red, pink and green paisley print on her coffee mug. Passmore is deeply inspired by the sexy, edgy, boyish style of 90’s icon, Kate Moss, like many, but also adores the currently trending silhouettes of over-sized vintage blazers, and bold flares.
“Putting on an outfit is like putting on your armour,” she says.
“We should practise non-attachment to material items, but it is important to have those items that make you feel invincible”.
My favourite black slip dress, from Flannel, springs to mind.
The memory of its fabric is so tangible, I can sense the softness of the spaghetti thin black straps on my fingers just thinking of it. I can feel the weightiness of the double lined satin, smoothly caressing the curves of my hips. Timeless, sensual and simple, it’s the ultimate LBD, that lets me channel an innate feminine charm.
For Passmore, her armour is a thrifted pair of Plein Sud black trouser pants.
“They’re flared, minimal and sleek,” she says.
“When I put those on, I feel sexy, strong and empowered”.
Be Femme, is the offspring of Passmore’s love for vintage pieces – conceived from more than a decade of treasure hunting through the troves of Australian and European vintage stores and charity shops.
From the silky cascading of a Botticelli dress (right), to the floral mirage on a pair of Just Cavalli jeans (above), each collection is made up of unique, quality pieces, which are presented on the website bathed in sunlight and photographed on film.
She believes discovering a unique style is a quintessential part of forming and empowering our identities – that there’s a certain “magic quality” about embellishing our wardrobe with unique vintage pieces, which enhances the expression of our identity.
“The joy of finding something special that no one else has, kind of feels like treasure in a way… when girls put them on, I want them to feel unique and special.”
“It’s a feeling you can’t get from fast fashion… you can’t get that sparkle, that magic”.
Like many fashion devotees, Ashleigh’s vintage love story started from a young age. Early-childhood memories of dancing in her grandmother’s nightdresses, pulled into her waist with a silken scarf, blend into flashbacks of patiently rummaging through the sales racks of high fashion outlets.
“Something else that I live by is mixing the old the new, so, mixing something really old, and special, and unique, with really good quality, ethical local and international designers,” she explains, placing her coffee cup on the table.
She shows me her fingers, densely studded with brassy bejewelled rings, almost all of which are vintage. She twists one off – a plain gold band adorned with delicate floral engravings. It’s a promise ring a high-school sweetheart gave to her mother decades ago, which Passmore now wears as a staple part of her daily outfit.
With a nostalgic twinkle in her eye, she says there’s something about wearing pre-loved items that feels “like wearing all your memories,” even if you don’t know who wore them before you.
“There’s emotion and heart,” she says.
“It’s like real love.”