Miss Bizio Couture

By Elina Kobzar

6 April 2020

If you walk past Miss Bizio Couture in Stockbridge you wouldn’t think it’s your typical vintage display.

As soon as you’ll step in through the front door you enter a wardrobe where every item comes with history behind it.

The owner, Joanna, sells her vintage clothes collection which she kept in a good condition for 40 years. She started collecting vintage since she was 14 years-old as she wanted to stand out and dress up differently to everybody else.

Photo Credit: Joanna Bizio

“I have realised from a very young age that if you wear something that makes you feel good, it sets you off for the day. Fashion is art, the more you know about it the more confident you become and the more you start to develop your own self. There is also an element of confidence with clothing. Clothing is the armour. The more you understand something, the more confident you become in it”, says Joanna.

Joanna’s background is European and although she was born in Scotland, she travelled a lot and her collection gained different outfits and accessories from all over the world. Every item in the shop was only ever bought with Joanna’s eye in mind; she has things that go as far back as the 1800.

Photo Credit: Joanna Bizio

“When I think about vintage clothes, I think about the things that people went through and what they represent both in terms of joy and liberty. If you look at the flappers of the 1920's or even the early 30's clothing, that’s a different kind of struggle and hardship that those people went through but you still find beauty within them.

I am not really a fan of the 40’s and 50’s. I thought 40's was a very depressing war period and 50's it wasn’t really my thing, as in big circle skirts, unless you were talking about American wear”.

Although every country has different items to offer, trends stay the same. Every designer references vintage including high couture. There are very few that are cutting edge new.

Joanna has high-end designers coming in to buy pieces which end up in their collections; most of them use good quality vintage in their study pieces in which they then build their collections.

Miss Bizio Couture is not a vintage store where you can find a bargain as the prices can start from a hundred pounds.

“In terms of the type of vintage shop, it is the most expensive vintage shop in Edinburgh because everything is in a really good condition and you don’t even think you are in the vintage shop. When you know it is it usually shocks people because it looks like it could be straight off the catwalk”.

At the moment the shop is closed but not only due to the COVID-19. The owner had to close her store a few months ago as she takes care of her husband after he had a stroke. The shop became appointment based only where Joanna works closely with her customers to find a look which will fit them.

“Just now I wouldn’t invite people to the shop because I don’t think it is a fair thing to do. It’s about everybody's safety and keeping the items safe as well. After it is all over my shop might be open full time again”.

Some businesses decided to move their business online. However, Joanna never has been interested in this idea even before the virus.

“It is hard to buy vintage online unless you know what you are looking for. I mean if you know what you are looking for it is a different thing, buying online can become easy. However, even then you can get horror stories where you look at the photograph and it is one thing but in real life it is not the same”.

Joanna thinks that with coronavirus people’s attitudes are going to change and clothes are not excluded from the list.

“Now with COVID-19, people are going to act differently at the end of it. I don’t personally know one person that is no affected and I don’t necessarily mean they will experience death within their family”.

It is going to be interesting to see the difference in fashion consuming after the lockdown.

Fast fashion was always a threat to our environment but with the COVID-19 it can change the way people consume particular products even more.

Joanna believes that everyone should consider “buying pieces that are good and buy pieces that you will want to keep. It is about finding who you want to be and how you want to be seen”.