Friday, September 4, 2009

DRESS FOR LESS

I have a new addiction...
EBAY - well, not new, I have had this addiction for a while. It started with Vinyl - I bought a collection of 200+ from The Pixies to Nat King Cole's Christmas Hits - even The Muppets Picture Disc!! Then I got into DVDs... I was very much a gadget girl too and all of which I could find cheaply on EBAY - even my microphones that I used to record my 'bedroom demos' arrived in the mail with a paypal invoice!

Then... one day I needed a smart pair of high heels for a party - I was about 18 and all my 'heels' were disgusting lime green wedges or clumpy Doc Martens - I was a bit grungy, to say the least! So I looked on the internet and discovered a whole new world on there...

Clothes shopping on EBAY!
It started my longest love affair...

Recently I have have an influx of post and its all because of a discovery of an EBAY shop - Dress 4 Less where every item of clothing is £5 each and guess what?... there is some REALLY nice stuff there- I am trying hard not to check everyday for new items.
My best 2 buys from them are these... so far:

£5 each!!!

OK so they were cheap but I have had some amazing luck with FREE CLOTHES recently - which is even better for my (very angry) band manager right now.

YES, more FREECYCLE beauties!! I picked up 3 black bags of clothes last week and there are some real gems in there. The others that I'm not so into/don't fit/suit me aren't going to waste though... I have a new project : GABBY YOUNG MAKES THINGS (working title- *please let me know if you have any ideas for this*)
I have finally started using my sewing machine (another amazing freebie!) to customise lots of great items to be my new merch range... I'm not going to say too much yet but they will be for sale online and at all my gigs- oh and EVERY piece will be a complete one off!

Which ties me in nicely with my exciting news for the week... (seems like a good time for a drumroll!! ;o)
I can finally tell you about something my manager and I have been brewing up - a VINTAGE CLOTHES SHOP TOUR!!

Well we have a album and single coming out and I love to tour, and I'm not such a big fan of a lot of smelly music venues across the country so it makes sense to take this show on the road to my favourite places across the country- shops!

Some of these will be solo, some of them will be with the band but ALL of them will have clothes, lots of clothes, amazing hair and makeup (the lovely Jen is joining me for the whole thing!!) And all of them will be different - I will be asking suggestions for set lists and outfits nearer the time.

I really want lots of people to be involved with this and if you are someone that is reading this thinking - 'I live in Newcastle and would love Gabby to wear to knitted hat and mittens for her gig there' then write to me - gabby@gabbyyoungandotheranimals.com ...although mittens may make guitar playing pretty tricky... but you get the idea!!

So here is the GIG LIST:

SATURDAY 10TH OCTOBER - VINTAGE FAIR @ MANCHESTER MET UNIVERSITY
THURSDAY 22ND OCTOBER - *ALBUM LAUNCH* @ BUSH HALL
OK, so it not exactly a shop but I have ways and means... so we have having stalls of fashion, art and crafts (this deserves a blog in itself so watch this space!)
FRIDAY 23RD OCTOBER - FLASHBACK BOUTIQUE, LIVERPOOL
SATURDAY 31ST OCTOBER - STYLE AND THE CITY, PORTSMOUTH
FRIDAY 20TH NOVEMBER - BLUE RINSE, LEEDS (TBC)
SATURDAY 21ST NOVEMBER - BLUE RINSE, MANCHESTER (TBC)
SATURDAY 28TH NOVEMBER, BETWEEN THE BUTTONS, NEWCASTLE
SATURDAY 5TH DECEMBER - MOTEL, BRISTOL
SUNDAY 13TH DECEMBER - BANG BANG VINTAGE, SHEFFIELD

STILL TO COME - BIRMINGHAM, EDINBURGH AND CARDIFF
***If you have any ideas for this tour - ie, other shops that might be happy to have us or designers that may want to lend us a piece or 2 etc etc etc.. you know who to call... GABUSTERS!! aka: gabby@gabbyyoungandotheranimals.com

Now to end with some slightly shaky pictures from our last gig- a very special night @ Monkey Chews. Hair and Make- up by the ever lovely Jen Nash and dress by DRESS 4 LESS (on Ebay!)

(I did say they were shaky!)

Love and customised denim roses
xoxooxo gabalos xoxooxox