It’s late Sunday afternoon, traffic bustles past as snow lightly bounces off the windows, lights fill the streets, as the run up to Christmas well and truly takes grip of the nation. Most are curled up on the sofa with a hot chocolate, yet others are bracing the cold to get their hands on some little gems bought to you by Miss Bits and Bows – Sarah Warner.
I spoke to Sarah whilst she displayed her beautiful vintage jewellery and one of reworked pieces at Birmingham’s vintage fair earlier this month. An inspiration to anyone thinking of setting up a business off their own back, Sarah used all that she had learned at University and decided to set up a regional business so she could stay close to home.
Through the reams of adoring fabrics and textured pieces, Sarah displays the quirky jewellery which makes her stand out from her competitors. Scattered amongst her finds are postcard photos on necklaces, scrabble rings, flowers and clips.
Describing herself as ‘Quirky, creative and organised’ she talked of her proudest moment to date, which was seeing her collection be entered into graduate fashion week 2009. The excitement and elation she felt on securing such a triumph propelled Sarah into the stratosphere where she began serving the people of Birmingham with those vintage gems and one of pieces of splendour.
The business first began on the ever trusting and old friend MySpace, Sarah’s never looked back since and now has a thriving business on Facebook as well as her own website with hundreds of orders and praise received each day.
As well as stating Vivienne Westwood as her greatest fashion inspiration, for her ‘courage and never being scared to shock or blend in the crowd’ she also talks about her dear friends, who she says will always be a great inspirations to her.
Hoping that one day Pixie Lott will be pictured wearing one of her pieces she says ‘Pixie just seems to carry anything off and has the quirkiness about her that I like’. I think there’s no doubt that one day this could become a reality.
Sarah says she hopes that in the next two years she will get a shop of her own in the centre of Birmingham and continue to grow and expand her business. There is always something new and quirky which comes from Sarah’s collections, definitely one to watch in my opinion, we haven’t seen the extent to what Sarah can do yet.
