December 24, 2008

November 22, 2008

Tis the season

I'm heading up north next week on a huge buying trip and I need to clear out some of my old merchandise. Plus, I LOVE my buyers! So here's an early holiday gift from Northstar Vintage - all store items are 30% off

Click on the logo to get to my eBay store.


November 13, 2008

My newest obsession

I can't resist lawn art. The more bizarre, the better.

Random sign letters are good too.


There are so many incredibly crazy, weird old things out there.

Which is why I get crabby in stores like Home Goods or the Christmas Tree Shoppe; all that Made in China decor adds stress to our environment, in its creation, shipment, and ultimately, disposal (because the tchotchkes are so cheaply made, it's easy to chuck them).

We shouldn't be spoon fed our decor. There are a zillion environmentally friendly options out there. While not the hippest gal out there, Martha Stewart is my idol - the woman could decorate an estate using flower pots, cardboard boxes, and a glue gun.

And of course, ultimately (and selfishly), I think we should apply this concept to clothing. Vintage is green, it's non-exploitive, and still, it looks damn cool.

October 10, 2008

Since you asked

I bought a Paul McCobb chair. It looks great on the shiny new floors!


And today I am finally listing some of the great pieces I've acquired over the past few weeks!

September 23, 2008

Overwhelmed - in the best possible way

NorthStar Vintage Corporate Headquarters are being renovated, so like an unmoored ship, I've been floating around Northern New England, finding LOTS of vintage. So much that I had to break down and buy more hangers - a first in the 10 years I've been selling vintage.

One lot is from a woman who was hippie in NYC during the 60's. And she had fabulous taste in clothing. So I have boxes of great platform and baby doll shoes, bohemian dresses, and a big sheepskin/suede Pakistani coat, all KILLING me as they sit, waiting to be photographed and put up online.

Another lot is from someone who collected ethnic wear and costumes. Need a sporran? A beefeater's uniform? Leiderhosen? Brunclek? Bunad?

Still left to deal with is a store's worth of vintage menswear, and huge estate lot with clothes from the 40's and 50's - tons of gabardine women's suits and crepe dresses - all in good larger sizes.

Yay New England!

Jonathan Richman agrees

September 14, 2008

Mentioned

On the Vintage Bulletin! Thank you!

Here's the link.

This is the novelty print shirt they're talking about.


The blouse is from the McMullen Company, who, I understand, used a lot of Liberty of London prints. I done some research, but cannot find any proof. Still, it's a damn cute print, and it totally makes sense that it would be from Liberty, who made some damn cute prints.

September 9, 2008

When it rains it pours

I'm going on a big cross state motorcycle trip tomorrow. I am excited. I would be SUPER excited if I weren't missing some cool local stuff.

Day of Destruction. Smash-em-up at the local speedway. Possibly the most irony-free spot in the country.

Picnic Music and Arts Festival. I want to buy, I want to sell, I want to schmooze. I want to see good live music. Might have to come back early for this one.

Meathouse Wine Tasting. Booze and meat!

Space Homecoming Dance. Not to brag, but I have the best prom dresses in town.

Still - this is the kind of trip I will remember forever. As long as the old girl (my BMW) (and me) can make the trip.

September 7, 2008

My new favorite thing EVER

I freaked when I saw it was a vintage athletic jacket.

I freaked when I saw it was a vintage athletic BOWLING jacket, with pin and bowling ball shaped patchs.

I freaked when I saw that the patches were embroidered with the years the team won (making it easy to date) and that the winning team was Checker Cab (a bunch of cabbies winning bowling tournament in the late 50's is an incredibly evocative situation).


And then while driving it home, my associate pointed out that it was completely reversible, with a black satin, and matching bowling theme patches. These types of things should not be pointed out to me when I'm driving, because I damn near crashed the car.




This is especially timely because I have been obsessed with Rin Tanaka's work - books on vintage motorcycle culture, vintage skateboard and surf fashion, rockabilly fashion, and vintage athletic fashion.

Click HERE to see the auction.

September 4, 2008

Get Your Vote On

This woman is 47.



She is also a professional french horn player, vintage clothing dealer, and one of the coolest, smartest women out there. And good God, look at that skin!

Maggie has entered in More Magazines, "Redefining the F Word" Contest (her "F" word is Finery) and is one of the 25 semi-finalists.

She needs your vote! I might be biased, but she rocks so much more than all the other contestants. She should totally win this contest. Plus, selfishly, what better way to promote vintage clothing?!

Vote Here. Every Day, Please.(you'll need to register, but it's no big deal - that's what hotmail accounts are for).

September 2, 2008

Goth Redux

Because I work from home, I don't have much opportunity to dress up. And when I do leave the house for something fancier than the post office or grocery store, I have a uniform - black top, black skirt, black tights, black boots, silver accessories, big black bag.

And all of a sudden, thanks to the Goth Revival, I am in style, even if it's by default, and even if it's because I've just been holding on to the look since the first go round, in the 1980's. And yes, I had a Bauhaus record. Hell, I had the extended dance remix of "Bela Lugosi's Dead."

So this Goth Revival lets me embrace the things I loved in the past - like these red winklepicker skull buckle boots from *capricornvintage* (Identical to those worn by the one goth girl in my big northeast university who had a name that was spelled normally and pronounced abnormally. She had a leather jacket with spikes (!) that caught on angora sweaters, and once went to a sorority rush dressed as a nun).

Click photo for link to auction.

It also makes me want to go shopping for more black things, as I always need more black clothes (click photos for link):


Moschino Black Patent Platform Mary Janes at Zappos



Flower/Skull Pendant from Vivenne Westwood


Marc Jacobs Rolling Rings Dress at Nordstrom.


80's Black Ruched Dress on eBay


Dsquared Plaid/Black Lug Soled Booties on Zappos


September 1, 2008

9.1

Cleaning up post party beer cans and paper plates never makes me happy, but today, the act actually made me sad, as it's the last "real" day of summer.

Granted, my sadness is nothing like what I would experience as a child, when at the end of our summer on a lake in Maine, we would pack the light blue Ford Econline van (to the gills with all the furniture my father had bought) and drive back to our home in suburban Philadelphia. I would sob from the moment we drove down the dirt road, away from the house, until we made our first rest stop (food always trumped tears).

Happily, it was a glorious end to a glorious summer - 19 of us rode up to the Owls Head Transportation Museum Vintage Motorcycle Show. It was like a checklist for perfection - a dry sunny day, curvy roads through Richmond, Dresden Mills, and Alna, every bike made it to and from the show (almost a statistical impossibility with 19 vintage bikes), over 900 vintage bikes at the show (including a 1950's Harley Flat Track racing bike that filled me with covetous lust).

Though road weary and sunburnt, we all found the strength to come back chez Here to drink and eat and talk with increasing volume (to the chagrin of our neighbors) about the ride.

(And I made the most rocking Thai Peanut Pasta:

6 Tbsp Peanut Butter
1/4 cup water
9 Tbsp Soy Sauce
6 Tbsp Tahhini
1/2 cup Seame Oil
2 Tbsp Sherry
5 Tsp Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2 cup Honey
4 medium cloves garlic - chopped
2 Tsp fresh ginger - minced (from a jar is fine)
1 - 2 Tbsp Hot Pepper Oil

Blend all until smooth. Add in hot water to give it the consistency of whipping cream.

Add to 1 lb cooked fettucine

Toss. Top with scallions, sesame seeds, peeled carrots, cilantro, cukes...whatever you'd like.

Some of the ingredients are little weird, but once you have them, this is so easy to make, and it makes people insane with its flavor - very rich and spicy.)

Now it's the season that I think about field hockey, and soups, and leather jackets, and all of that is good too.

August 26, 2008

Pockycock!

When I was a little girl, I used to alter words to my own liking.

One of the few words that I remember is "pockycock," my own special word for pocketbook. Now that I am 40 going on 12, the word cracks me up to no end.

And I've been elbows deep in pockycocks this week (heh - I can't help it!). Here are a few of my favorite, now up for auction on eBay.

Click on the photo for links to the auction.

1950's Red Leather Bucket Purse


1950's Black Lucite (?) Box Purse with Seashells


1940's Corde Purse with Lucite "Tortoiseshell" Clasp


1950's Minature Doctor's Bag Purse


1950's Pink Patent Modern Purse - My Favorite!

Imitation or Plagiarism?

Anna Sui's "New" Bag.

as purchased from Dorothea's Closet.

August 19, 2008

A very good day

Through my college years and early 20's, Ruth was not only my roommate, but my best friend, and partner in crime. We saw a lot of music, kissed a couple of cute (and not so cute) boys, drank a fraternity's worth of Rolling Rock, and shopped. There was a lot of shopping. Actually, there was a lot of everything in my early 20's.

20 years later we're still having (non-illegal, non-immoral, non-life-threatening) fun together. Today we went to an outdoors, Maine country auction.

It started out poorly - dark clouds, rain, wind. As the auction site was on the side of a mountain, it was damn uncomfortable, even with a tent. My feet were cold and my hair completely exploded.

Saving myself for some dress lots, I managed to resist two charming 40's portraits. And I was rewarded by winning two lots of pretty party gowns.

By mid-morning the sky began to clear (no - that is not an ad for Prius - it's the auction parking lot).

Why do auctions make me so hungry? To keep up our energy for more buying, we had hot dogs with grilled buttered buns, and a big plate of french fries (I've never seen french fries at an auction, and I think it's worthy addition to the auction menu).
The clouds broke and the sun was hot and it felt like summer again. I bid on a sock monkey and sock elephant combo (the elephant was phallic and therefore completely hysterical to me). I bid on a 40's Deco maple bureau. I bid on a black lace 30's dress. I bid on (and won) a mystery shawl - I think it's 20's, and I kind of want to keep it.

And then I bid on this lot. And won! A guy came over to "congratulate" me on winning such ugly things. I don't care. I love them. You love them too. I want to keep them. The green lady statue is embedded with rhinestones and that black "blob" in the center is actually a ballet pair.

So many decisions!

August 16, 2008

My new logo!

So yea....I've been really busy um....developing my business. Yea.

And by "developing my business," I mean doing all the summer things that I have not yet accomplished: eating lobster, waterskiing, drinking on decks, grilling meat, reading trashy romance novels on my front lawn, riding my motorcycle, going to yard sales, taking big walks on the beach....

And there's still so much do accomplish in the next few weeks.

In between all of these important tasks, I have managed to do some buying. I acquired some wonderful pieces from a 90 year old woman who had graduated from Rhode Island School of Design and was a pioneer of screenprinting. Another lot came from a woman who was moving out to a house on a lake and wanted the clothing of her youth to have another life. From her I got loads of beautiful hippie items - lots of embroidered gauze and Indian prints.

The clothing was great, but even better, I got to hang out with two amazing women and hear some very cool stories. Meeting people and hearing their lives is one of my favorite parts of this line of work.

I also got to pick up my new business cards and see my new logo in action. I love it. I love it so much.

These were done by Patrick Corrigan. I adore the Art Nouveau vibe. And how his illustrations are beautiful, but tinged with a hint of sadness. He gets it. He rocks.




July 28, 2008

Vintage Bulletin

Thank you to Carol at Dandelion Vintage for the mention in last week's Vintage Bulletin about this 1960's black sequinned cocktail dress:


July 20, 2008

The Haps

In between hunting down great vintage, listing on eBay and etsy, taking photos, shipping out packages, and learning CSS as I redesign my website (that last one is taking a while), I've also been:

^Meeting (and by meeting I mean having beer with): Patrick Corrigan, who is designing a new logo for me.
^Entertaining: houseguests
^Reading: Nuala O'Faolain
^Watching: Madmen, Swingtown, and Project Runway (it's research!)
^Also watching: Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Weeds, The Venture Brothers, and Trailer Park Boys (not research, necessarily).
^Listening to: podcasts of This American Life, Selected Shorts, and Radiolab.
^Also listening to: Brown Bird (and all the artists on the Peapod label), Kinski, Scissorfight, and The Who.
^Riding: My BMW and sometimes a 1957 Triumph T100.
^Also riding: My mountain bike (though not very well).
^Obsessing over: This.....

Rush on the TV!

July 17, 2008

Yum

The catty gay icing on the deliciously fluffy Project Runway cake

Project Rungay

July 15, 2008

Tex


Wants in. (taken while i was photographing clothing to list online. it's not like i got out a camera to photograph the poor bastard while he was dangling off the screen - i already had it in hand!)

I'm biased

But early advertising for BMW motorcycles is the coolest. Love that teutonic Deco industrial look!

July 13, 2008

Black Sex Jumpsuit



I want:



From the James Brown Auction.

Say it again! Black Sex Jumpsuit.

July 10, 2008

Reading is sexy!


Though I'm impressed with her beauty, I'm even more impressed by the fact that she got through Ulysses!

Via Reading is Sexy (some photos NSFW)

July 9, 2008

I love him.




Hand made wooden Kewpie plant holder? ash tray? peanut dish?

From a yard sale in Western Maine.

The look on his face cracks me up - as if someone just pinched his little bottom.

July 8, 2008

Oh Canada

Some of my favorite things are from Canada - including many of my best buyers.

A few other cool things from the North:

Trailer Park Boys: (warning - bad language and drug use)



My associate does an eerily good imitation of Bubbles. I even bought him a pair of thick large framed glasses and chase him around the house with them, begging him to put them on and sing "Liquor and Whores."

Margaret Atwood (Oryx and Crake is one of my most beloved books)
Jonathan Walford (smart, adorable, and author of The Seductive Shoe)
Vintage cafe racer jackets (not sure why, but most offered sale on eBay are from Canada).
Tourists at Old Orchard Beach in their tiny swimsuits (okay - not necessarily awesome, but always entertaining)

And of course....RUSH: (Double neck guitar, double neck bass, played [gloriously] by bare chested men in satin kimonos! How awesome is that?!)

June 29, 2008

Damn I find good stuff

As my clearout extends to my cyber presence, I've been cleaning out the photos hosted on my server, meaning I get to go through thousands of shots from the past few years. It's tedious, but it's cool to see some of the things I've sold, like:


1930's Art Deco Print Dress

1950's Ceil Chapman Silk Jersey Dress

1920's Cycle Club Jersey (in wool! ugh!)

1950's Reindeer Applique Parka

1950's Harvey Berin Dress

1950's Black All in One Girdle

Iconic 1950's Claire McCardell Blue Dress

1940's Copper Satin Suit with Double Peplum

1938 Embroidered "Beer" Jacket

June 28, 2008

Geek tweak

Yes, I was one of the people who joined in the record-breaking download of Firefox 3. To quote Bubbles, from The Trailer Park Boys, "It's f*cking awesome!"

My favorite tweak, so far, is that I can adjust the colors of jpegs, making them richer, and truer to their original scheme (it always drove me nuts that my photos looked great until I viewed them in my browser).

HERE it is.

June 26, 2008

Tex

really wants to get out.

June 23, 2008

Beauty in Decay

Maybe it was the two root beer vodka tonics (delicious! at night. the next day? not so delicious) but a sentence in this article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine about Floral Designer Daniel Ost all of a sudden gave me a "theme" to some of the crap in the junk drawer that is my brain.

Here's the quotation, in case you don't feel like reading the whole article:

The process of decay interests Ost. “I’ve always wanted to show flowers in their optimum moment, but now that I’m older, I also want to explore the beauty of dying.”

Like Ost, I'm getting older, and find myself increasingly interested in the descendent curve of the arc. And when you start to look for it, you see it everywhere. All of a sudden I realize that my yard is FULL of examples - like the grass and Columbine-choked staircase in the back of my yard.


Or the massive rotting birch tree, planted by the previous owner of the house, when he was a little boy. (Sadly this is going to have to be cut down before it falls into the garage full of vintage motorcyles).

Decay is not so lovely in vintage clothing, rendering most things unsaleable. But I do (emotionally, not financially) love the smear of lipstick and spots of wine and a party dress - the remnants of a good night. Or the wear and tear to an obviously favorite jacket, replaced buttons, pinholes, shredded lining.











June 21, 2008

Best Novelty Print Ever

Like most people who are into vintage clothing, I am a serious sucker for novelty prints. My favorite theme is "the impossible": Reading dogs; Edwardian women riding motor scooters; fuschia horses; hippos on unicycles....

As much as I love novelty prints, I've never met one so cool that I couldn't bring myself to sell it. Until now. I have met my match, and it's formidable. A 1950's blouse in a futurist newspaper print.

It's "dated" April 1, 1999 (get it?). Not surprisingly, the 50's vision of the future involved people living on the moon, atomic devices, aliens, pills instead of meals, a one hour work week, and my favorite, the portable TV, which looks a lot like my Mac laptop.

I love this shirt.