Sale! Hayden-Harnett

Oh dear. Hayden-Harnett is having a huge 50% off sale full of all the things my closet wishes it needed. Shoes. Purses. Wallets. Swimsuits. All in the fun colorful HH patterns and classic designs. I'm broke, but maybe you aren't:

WWMJW?

R.I.P. MJ! You will be missed.

So, what would MJ wear from animal head? Probably this

Perfect Swimsuit Day

I came across this photo on rachel's blog the other day and fell in love with the suits, the hairstyles, and the idea of lying with your other classy lady friends on the beach.



Buy a print of it here, and email me if you ever find a suit like the second from the right with a fantastic flame-like bodice. I'm serious.

Speaking of great bathing suits, I'm on vacation til June 28, so things will be a little quiet around here, but I'll get the rest of our accessories in the shop when I get back!

Designer - Rebecca Turbow

I have a designer crush and her name is Rebecca Turbow. I have watched her designs for a few years, ever since I read about her all-turquoise outfits (seriously, she only wore turquoise for, like, seven years. she had to dye all her own clothes to get the color right). She has recently transitioned into wearing all gray, which I think is just lovely, and her designs incorporate tiny bits of other pastelish colors into her strict palette.

Her new (and more economical) line, Safe by Rebecca Turbow, launches today and is tauted as a "fast-fashion for thinking-people". I want to wear pretty much everything in the collection:




AND, SAFE F/W (out September) is going to be all lovely, lovely coats. I can hardly wait! Don't be surprised when you see me walking around in this one:

I also will probably forgo pants so that everyone can just focus on the jacket.

Animal Head Art - Laura Meyers

Laura Meyers is an artist living in Brooklyn, and has some really lovely pieces with animal heads on lanky human bodies.

Sneak Peak: Accessories

That's right, dahhhhling. We've got some accessories hitting the shop this week. Shoes. Hats. And one really great vintage pagoda style parasol. Sign up for our Twitter feed to be notified as soon as we post them!

Knowing What You Gots

Vintage shopping is a variable thing. Sometimes you are on the hunt for something specific, and other times you just let yourself be led. A few years back Bex and I spent some time poking around at flea markets and basement museum shops in Moscow. We fell in love with the cold war space art, but couldn't afford any of the big pieces. I stumbled on several strips (about 8 inches long, each image is about 2 inches by 1.5 inches wide) of cosmonaut propaganda. They've been hanging above my monitor at work for two years now. And then!(my favorite of the lot, the nobel dog-mo-nauts)

Yesterday I was purusing the blog world (apologies, since I can't figure out where I saw this), but I stumbled on maraid's match box label set on flickr. What did my wondering eyes see? In addition to some truly beautiful soviet era art, I saw my little images! Mystery solved, I have inadvertently bought unused match book labels. Even better maraid has lots of great notes and info on each label--- their flickr site is a treasure trove.
If you want to get in on this action, and don't want to fly to Mother Russia, you can do what maraid did-- hit this ebay search. And happy surfing-- I could spend hours on that flickr site!

Locksmithing: salvage your locked vintage suitcase

My friend Collin found this little green suitcase on the street yesterday and gave it to me. It was in perfect condition - a lovely green tweed - and the only problem was the pesky three-number combination was locked.


Rendered useless? Not so! Who would have known, but the boy named Derek had some lock-picking experience, and was able to figure out the combination without using force or trying all 64,000 possible combination to find out. He just pushed on the lock as if he were going to open it, and then wiggled each number until it felt loose. Voila! He figured out the combination.

As it turns out, there are lots of video tips online to figure out how to how to open a combination lock, so if you find the perfect vintage luggage, don't let a little secret combination stand in your way!

The best news? The inside of my suitcase was pristine, after having been locked away for who knows how many years!

High Falutin

One thing that is very lovable about *most* vintage clothing is its affordability (yes, we do think the stuff in our shop is a steal). Can I get a "woot" from all the recessionista's out there? This is true except for some designer vintage wear.

I stumbled across this sale of vintage Pucci at YOOX which starts today (you can buy it all from your iphone!). I love this stuff but it's a tad out of my range-- $875 for a bikini?!! Which vintage Pucci would you buy? My fantasy picks are below (but I can't get the pictures of the website, so click away).

Swimmingly
The long and SHORT of it
Out and About

Maker Faire 2009 highlights: Bazaar Bizarre

I went to the Maker Faire in San Mateo over the weekend, and walked around the whole time with mouth agape, coveting bikes and screenprinting machines and staring at the amazing things people have figured out how to make.

They always have an impressive Bazaar Bizarre craft fair section as well, and these were a few of my favorites locals that were out selling their wares:

DoubleParlour:

Aside from the obvious Animal Head connection, I think these guys make really pretty paintings and sculptures out of polymer clay, and then paint them with the most lovely and woeful expressions.



Xylocopa:

They make this delicate wooden jewelry with awesome, moveable gears.

Aye-Aye Captain

I've always had a thing for uniforms-- they just look so crisp, and nicely retro. Cribbing the uniform style is one way to look professional and yet hip (the holy grail of vintage dressing for me these days). Sailthouforth put me onto this site-- a comprehensive collection of stewardess uniforms. So much eye candy.

Basic things to think about if you want to copy this look-- phrases like epaulette, pussy bow, pencil skirt, fitted jacket, and scarves, scarves, scarves would be a good start. Let us know what you find (and yes, we will be posting things that fit these terms in the shop). Be prepared to waste a lot of time looking at all those uniforms, and consider buying some of our adorable vintage luggage to tote with you

Eagle Eye

I've already gone into how much I like Estate Sales, and am on the mailing list for several Bay Area companies to keep me in the second-hand scavenging loop. One of the lists always sends photos of the sales so that you can get excited about the stuff that they are selling before you get there. Problem is, half the time it backfires because the pictures are usually sub-par, and usually look mostly full of junk.

Like last weeks? There were TEN pages of photos like this:

Blech. Precious plush. Booooring.

Wires. Things with wires sticking out of them. Boring.

Yawn. Boring.

Argh. Boooooring.

This picture did peak my interest a little ... because seriously - that carpet and that couch? Together? Living in harmony in the same room? This means these people might have some other tricks up their sleeves.

And then the VERY last picture, on the VERY last page...do you see what I see, poking up out of all that other junk? A red roundie!

I memorized the look of the outdoor location, made sure I showed up right when the doors opened, bee-lined for the backyard, and proudly waltzed out with a new mint red round suitcase.

Estate Sale success!

Sneak Peak: Sequins and Summer and Shirts, oh my!

Just a quick look at a few of the lovely things going into the shop this week! Not just dresses this time around:










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