Since this Valentine’s Day will be spent indoors rather than out for a romantic meal or cocktails, it will be harder than ever to make it feel like a special day.
However, one way to bring some romance into your home on the 14th is through a bunch of flowers.
The arrival of a bouquet on the doorstep is always a welcome sight, and there are some florists right here in Manchester going above and beyond to create the kind of elegant, eye-catching bouquets that leave your loved one grinning ear-to-ear.
Millie and Ben are local siblings creating dream bouquets in their Chadderton studio – and their Valentine’s Day offerings are their dreamiest selection yet.
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If you want to make a statement with an Instagram-worthy bouquet for your other half, there is no better place to look than Amelia Rose Floral Couture.
They also offer nationwide shipping for their artificial bouquets, which you can love way beyond the Valentine’s Day celebrations.
Blue Door Flowers offer natural flowers from their base in Heaton Moor – and are well known as one of Manchester’s most reputable and trusted florists.
If you’re in the market for a more traditional, elegant bouquet then this is definitely the place to browse.
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Blue Door is also offering luxurious gifts including reed diffusers and locally baked brownies, giving you the whole package for a Valentine’s Day present.
View the bunches in all their glory via Instagram.
Another option for fresh, luxury flowers on the 14th is Bud & Pot in Prestwich.
This closed studio has a wide range of bouquets ready to go for the most romantic day of the year – including peach roses, white roses, pampas grass, eucalyptus and various luxury flowers.
Dried flowers are also available – arriving assembled in a beautiful pink vase.
Bud & Pot is currently accepting Valentine’s pre-orders for £20, £40 and £65 right now. If you wanted to get your order in nice and early…
Stores like Cow Vintage, Blue Rinse, and Pop Boutique, not to mention the numerous charity shops and pop-ups that line Oldham Street, have turned that corner of town into a haven for lovers of the fashions of yesteryear.
But now there’s a new outpost in the heart of Chinatown – and it’s possibly the most stylish, charming vintage store in the city yet.
Stare Society opened last December, and has put some serious effort into both sourcing the items it sells, and decorating the space it sells them from.
Tucked away up a flight of stairs in a corner unit above Red Chilli, you’ve probably walked straight past it a dozen times already.
Stare Society in Chinatown, Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
But glance up above the long-standing Chinese restaurant and you’ll notice a slowly rotating disco ball in the window, giving just a taste of all the treats in store.
Venture inside and you’ll feel like you’ve stepped right back in time to the 1970s, greeted by the sound of Fleetwood Mac being piped through the speakers (the legendary group are also the stars of a huge framed photo above the fireplace inside).
Stare Society is decorated to the nines – fringed lampshades, rattan screens, glitter ball plant pots, guitars, and a huge leopard print chaise lounge in the window, draped in retro-printed cushions, vinyl records and vintage hats.
There are 1970s-inspired scented candles named things like Cherry Bomb, Tiny Dancer and Rebel Rebel, and all sorts of knick-knacks (sunglasses, tiny mirrors, antique glassware) hailing back to the glory days of rock n roll.
Then there’s the clothes – racks full of leather jackets, leopard-print furry coats, and fringed suede waistcoats.
Retro t-shirts with contrasting collars, with ‘Manchester 1970’ and ‘Chinatown 1970’ scrawled across them.
Cowboy boots painted with stars, piles of colourful felt berets, and loudly-patterned blouses.
The space is so beautiful, it’s actually available to hire, for things like photoshoots and private events, with a vision to host intimate gigs inside in the future.
Stare Society joins the booming vintage scene in Manchester, like Bare Necessities, the online giant that recently hosted a pop-up store on High Street that everyone lost their minds over.
You’ll find Stare Society at 20 Nicholas Street on the edge of Chinatown in Manchester.
Featured image: The Manc Group
Style
The surprisingly affordable luxury eyewear brand made famous by Peaky Blinders’ Cillian Murphy
Daisy Jackson
Most of us who watched Peaky Blinders finished the later seasons with a new-found obsession with stylish eyewear, thanks to the glasses Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby started wearing as his character progressed.
But did you know that you don’t need to run a dodgy racketeering enterprise to afford his accessories?
The lovely tortoiseshell frames were made especially for the hit BBC show by IOLLA, a Scottish brand who opened their first English store right here in Manchester last summer.
The brand specialises in fashionable, innovative glasses with a totally transparent pricing strategy – no hidden costs or added extras.
The Peaky Blinders glasses by IOLLAIOLLA’s Frosted Collection. Credit: SuppliedPic copyright Phil Tragen 2021
So that means you can get a stylish new pair of specs for £85, which includes prescription lenses and coatings.
What’s the catch? Erm, there genuinely isn’t one.
The new store at St Ann’s Square is a stylish space where shoppers can browse and try on the full IOLLA range, from the tortoiseshell MacDonald frames (the closest you can get to Tommy Shelby’s) to the bold cat-eye shape of Kelly.
Then there are the Frosted collection glasses, launched today, which take IOLLA’s best-selling styles and create them with new frosted coloured acetates.
All the glasses and sunglasses are handmade, uniquely designed and built to last – something that caught the eye of BAFTA-nominated costume designer Alison McCosh, who approached them to create a pair of frames for the fifth season of Peaky Blinders.
Anyone who visits IOLLA can have a styling session with an eyewear expert and build their own eyewear wardrobe.
Customers are encouraged to have their eye test prescription to hand (IOLLA don’t offer eye tests) before placing their order through their digitally enabled platform either in person or online.