Cheri Pinktrix

One of the reasons I wanted to join the online vintage fashion community was because I wanted to meet more smart, interesting and stylish ladies like the one below. Cheri Pinktrix bought the purple dress from my Etsy shop and sent me this fabulous picture of her in it. I know it's dumb, but it makes me feel so happy when I see a dress that looks THAT good on someone. Like it was MADE for her.

Aside from looking amazing in dresses, Cheri has an awesome blog set up called The Vintage Lesbian Project. For one whole month, she is committing herself to wearing nothing but authentic 1945-1960 clothing. She also has some great links to vintage reproduction clothing shops. And to top it all off, she has an excellent book collection! Look how great she is:

Fall Fashion Candy

Steven Alan did everything right for fall. As I sit in the muggy, humid heat, my mind drifts away to crisp autumn mornings and train rides upstate to see the leaves change; in my head I am wearing everything from this collection. The navy military inspired jacket and those red tights are my two favorites, and I am going to start hunting now for them!

The play on proportion and the perfect pops of bright color have left me drooling; I may add some pants to the very last look for good measure but it is New York, and Lady Gaga does it, and I once saw a homeless man in the Salvation army in nothing but pink ruffled panties... but that's a whole different story and I won't go there.

Best Friend Plus Best Dress Equals Happy

I was in a bit of a rotten mood this morning until I opened up my emails and saw the pictures below. I had terrbile, interrupted sleep and wierd nightmares all night and woke up feeling tired, cranky and very sluggish. I fell asleep on the train on the way in to work and gulped down the biggest iced coffee I could get my mitts on and was still feeling quite bad.

Then, much to my delight I discovered that my good friend Victor, who is the boyfriend of my best friend and an amazing photographer sent me these pictures that he snapped off while I was in California visiting. I instantly became happier. The beautiful redhead below is Caylin, my best friend since jr. high school. The dress I am wearing was purchased about ten years ago at a giant warehouse in LA, and I always loved it more than any other dress I own but didn't put a zipper in it until recently.

Seeing my best friend's sweet face and my pretty dress and the California sun really made my morning better. If you like Victor's work, you can check out his website here.

Getting in on the action

I wanted to try something new for the store this week; I noticed that all the successful Etsy sellers tend to get into their pictures to model and display clothing. My friend that works there told me that Etsy stats show that stores with people in pictures do better in general, so I decided to give it a go.

Usually when I shoot I wear jeans and don't bother to brush my hair, but yesterday I took my time getting ready and used a comb. I paid my boyfriend in food and alcohol to help me take these, and I have to say I am really pleased with how things turned out. Something about feeling dressed up and polished inspired me to style things differently than usual and I like the result quite a bit. Here are some of my latest treasures, all going into the store (minus my yellow dress!)

415 East Bay

Our Beach House at 415 East Bay in Balboa Beach, California has so many layers of paint that the corners of the windows and door frames are round. To be exact, the house is 99 years old this year. My grandparents bought the house in 1960 for a song. At that time, lots of Hollywood celebrities like John Wayne, Shirley Temple, and even Frank Sinatra all had houses on Balboa Island, which is just a short swim or ferry ride away.

My grandfather put countless hours of labor into that house while he was alive; it seems that the whole place is held together by nails and putty and will collapse at any given moment. The porch is slanted, the floor is creaky and in some parts of the attic, you can actually see down into the house. When they purchased the house, it was full of 40's rattan, bark cloth covered furniture which was eventually thrown out. The house has been host to endless family summer parties, overnight stays and I even lived there as a kid.

Though it is tiny, weathered and rickety, I still think it's the most charming place on earth. Staying there makes me want to abandon New York, throw away all my nice shoes and just live barefoot on the sand, selling good like a gypsy somewhere so I have money for cocktails to sip on the porch. This is one of the places I like to visit in my mind when I am stressed or sad; these pictures might explain why.

Welcome to 415 East Bay!

The California Collection

Sorry for being the worst blogger on earth lately, but I have been up to some really exciting things. Namely, a whole lot of shopping and giving my Etsy shop a makeover! Vacation turned out to be not just relaxing and fun, but a surprisingly amazing vintage shopping field trip! Funny enough, I never found much when I lived out in in southern California, but I think I just wasn't as good at looking.

The second day I was home, I saw an estate sale sign in my neighborhood. I was in the car with the entire family on the way to the beach, and even though I practically cried over it my dad would not follow the signs. I thought about it all day and was anxious. The first thing I did when I got home was leap into my dad's Volvo and swerve down the block like a bat out of hell.
When I pulled up to the house, there were piles of black trashbags sitting on the driveway and it was there that I saw it; a tiny piece of vintage red gingham poking out. I ran to the front door and rang a bunch of times (it was already pretty late) until I annoyed the poor woman into coming out. I told her I was looking for vintage clothes and she raised her eyebrow at me and told me to follow her.

She began to rip open the bags in the driveway and out fell hundreds of pieces of beautiful clothing from the 50's!!!!! It all belonged to her mom and her and her siblings when they were young, and nobody wanted it. I could not beleive my good luck. Then, to my amazement she came down the stairs with armfuls more from a cedar hope chest upstairs! She just wanted all the clothes to go to a good home where they would be appreciated. I ended up having to bring it all back home in the biggest duffle bag I could find. I've been so bad at blogging because the past two weeks I have been at work washing, mending and ironing all these fabulous things so they are ready to wear. Below is just a fraction of all the great things that will make it into the store over the next few months. Enjoy!