This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
Trashy Diva NEVER has a sale, so, even though it’s only 25% off, it’s significant enough to warrant a post on Lindy Shopper. The sale runs from today through Sunday and includes all regular priced items, just use the code TD25 when you check out. Go buy one of these gorgeous dresses!
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
I am a big fan of 1940’s dresses with sequin appliques, but re-creating this look has been almost impossible due to lack of resources for good, ready-made appliques. Most of the appliques I have seen in modern fabric stores tend to be either matronly or childish. It’s hard to place sequin appliques in context during my lifetime (Dallas? Golden Girls?), but people in the 1940’s did some beautiful things with appliques and used them liberally to create embellishment on beautiful dresses, which otherwise might appear plain.
In searching for silver stars for a headpiece, I came across Sequin Appliques, a website devoted to selling…well, sequin appliques. There are so many things here – styles, shapes, sizes, colors – my mind is racing as to what I might do with some of these appliques. The obvious thing would be to buy a plain dress from somewhere and gussy it up by tacking on an applique, on the lapel, bodice, or skirt. I could also see some interesting fascinators made from some of these pieces, or simply pin one in your hair. Maybe shoe clips…or sew them on to your sueded Keds. 🙂
Here are some of my favorites from the Sequin Appliques web site:
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
If you’ve been to just about any website that sells rockabilly clothing, you’ve probably seen Bernie Dexter, a lovely model who looks like Bettie Page reincarnated and makes every dress she models look flawless. I was trolling Mod Cloth the other day (who isn’t? every day? 😉 ) and happened upon a wonderful green and white dress with a distinctly 1940’s shape, which happened to be designed by Bernie Dexter. Until then I hadn’t put a face with a name, but I was delighted to discover that Ms. Dexter has a whole line of 1940’s and 1950’s-inspired clothing, in addition to her illustrious modeling career. Unfortunately, you can’t order her clothing directly from her website, but through a number of other online and brick-and-mortar retailers (including stores based in the USA, Germany, Australia, France, Canada, England, and Austria) you can piece together the wonderful garments from her collection. Here are my favorites:
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
Anyone else wishing they were in Honolulu instead of at their office desk on a Monday morning? I ran across a few adorable tropical dresses, both new and vintage, I thought were worth sharing – enjoy!
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
I’ve been sorely disappointed with Anthropologie’s spring and summer offerings, but they have finally returned to greatness with an eye toward fall in their latest catalog. Here are some highlights:
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
I’ve written in the past about finding vintage clothing in a size larger than tiny, or any size, really, but even for those who find vintage more commonly in their size, it can be a burden of a task to find vintage dresses that fit that also suit your style. While vintage clothing does exist beyond the tiny realm, it is much harder to find, especially when eBay sellers list L/XL as anything from a size 10 upwards – that’s quite a range of sizes to pilfer through! I’ve been touting the benefits of reproductions (ready to wear, made for you, or make yourself), but haven’t found a lot of resources for women who wear over a size 12 or 14.
New Vintage Lady on Etsy has seen this need and done something about it. New Vintage Lady is “proud to stock one of the largest rotations of original plus size vintage patterns and reproductions. I specialize in plus size vintage patterns (but carry items of all sizes!), reproduction patterns 40″ bust and over, clothing, notions, and vintage inspired creations often of my own design.”
I am so in love with New Vintage Lady’s aesthetic – I am actually more enthralled with her own pattern designs than the original patterns she has listed, primarily because she illustrates her own patterns with whimsy, color, imagination, and style. Her patterns are adorable, with thoughtful details like buttons, tucks, contrast panels, belts with buckles, and scalloped edges. She even has hat patterns, and an entire pattern devoted to different types of sleeves that you can add to any dress – imagine that, designers-who-produce-clothing-for-any-mall-retailer – SLEEVES! If anyone has worked with vintage patterns before, you know that the arm holes/sleeves tend to run on the small side, so this add-on pattern is a genius idea.
New Vintage Lady has other great items in her shop, like vintage patterns of all sizes, sewing books, and some vintage and reproduction dresses. Here are some of my favorite items from her shop:
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful Independence Day Weekend, which is a great time to sport some colorful and patriotic vintage for picnics, cookouts, and outdoor festivals. This red and white 1940’s dress, with bow applique detail and stripes above the hemline, would be perfect for this weekend – if this dress were in my size, I’d be sporting it on the 4th to something outdoor and festive, with a wide brimmed straw hat. So adorable!
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
Sale alert – all Shabby Apple dresses are now 20% off and the sale will run through the end of July! Just enter the code SUMMER20 at checkout.
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
I had the honor of working on the committee that produced All Balboa Weekend‘s first 1930’s Vintage Fashion Show this year. The committee was comprised of Valerie Salstrom, Shannon Sheldon, Shannon Butler, Victor Celania, and myself, with some consultation about accuracy from the reigning queen of vintage, Heidi Rosenau. The idea was that we would put out the call for people attending ABW to submit photos of themselves in 1930’s clothing that they either own, inherited, or borrowed and we would decide on themes based on the contents of the submissions to put together a complete show. We would also take people who were interested in modeling and put them in extra vintage clothing, provided by myself and Valerie.
The plan worked. We had enough models, clothes, and themes to put together a cohesive fashion show. Having never actually coordinated a fashion show, I was relieved when Shannon Sheldon stepped up to the plate at our meetings to expertly organize the execution of the show, down to charts of participants, clothing, what rack their garments would hang on, who they would enter with, in what order, who had a quick change and would get priority near the rack, and who needed help changing. I love organization! Victor and I cat-walked in the lobby to make sure the music was right for each theme. After a single run through with the participants we hoped everything would go according to plan.
We knew there would be a bit of a time crunch getting everything in, but when it came time to put on the show everything ran so smoothly that I think we came in under time! The themes/vignettes were beachwear, sleepwear, collegiate, picnic, day wear, cocktail, and evening wear. In addition to helping organize the show, I also participated in the show, in a floral day dress and straw hat and a green velvet evening gown with matching cape. I also had one of those quick changes and it was so fast that, even with two people dressing me and not changing shoes I barely made it out in time for the vignette! I have to hand it to the people who do this every day, getting people dressed, re-dressed, and parading them around a room is hard work!
Thank you to everyone who participated and made this wonderful! Special thanks to Remix Vintage Shoes for sponsoring the fashion show and giving all participants a discount on their lovely shoes, as well as the vintage store Flower Child for providing the participants with props for the show.
Here are some photographs of the fashion show, courtesy of Patrick Hovan (P.S. if there are more photos I haven’t seen them, but would love to post more here! Please let me know if you find others):
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
When we buy vintage clothing we are supporting sustainable fashion, but there are other ways to be an eco conscious fashionista – in addition to vintage clothing, bolts fabric made in past eras to create clothing exist unused and potentially wasted, until someone like Dig For Victory scoops up these glorious bolts and gives them a new life.
From her Etsy page: “Dig For Victory! is a sustainable fashion label that creates limited edition and one-off pieces from vintage fabric. From elegant harlequin dresses and classic prom frocks to cartoon print playsuits, Dig For Victory! celebrates the history of fashion to be found in a wealth of vintage textiles.”
Celebration is an accurate description of her clothes, and I was immediately drawn to one of her dresses in an Etsy collection for its vibrant colors, and was delighted when I saw that her shop was full of joyfully colored garments.
The best part? You can get a vintage patterned garment made from vintage fabric like new for you. Sustainable and more durable! Here are some of my favorites from the Etsy store:
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
To get 20% off any Leluxe Clothing item all you have to do is go to their Facebook page and “Like” them. It’s that simple! If you’ve been on the fence about one of these dresses, perhaps 20% off could get you off the fence and into one of these beautiful reproduction 1920’s beaded dresses? 😉
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
You don’t have to be on a boat to enjoy these nautical-inspired dresses and skirts from Shabby Apple‘s latest collection. Gingham, seersucker, cotton…all the summer fabrics are here! Just add a Dixie cup and set sail…here are some of my favorites:
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
Sweet Lorain (formerly Suite Lorain, now under new ownership) is one of those rare places where there are entire racks devoted to 1930’s and 1940’s clothing, rather than being relegated to a few rare items on the wall or stuck in the middle of a mound of polyester. In fact, Sweet Lorain skirts the issue by focusing exclusively on “Deco to 1960’s.” It’s a huge store, with tons of furniture, housewares, knick-knacks, clothing and accessories, and maybe some random items from a past era you’ve never even thought about. The dresses, evening gowns, coats, and other swing era garments are comparably plentiful and in an array of sizes. There were so many things to see that my partner in crime, Elizabeth Tietgen, and I spent several hours there, long enough for the store owner to offer us each a bottle of water!
We were told that the store had been hoarding swing era items for the ABW participants and people were dropping off things to sell to the ABW’ers the morning of the day we went to Sweet Lorain, namely a pair of 1940’s low heeled sandals that Elizabeth took home and a green 1930’s raincoat that came home with me.
I have heard stories about Sweet Lorain for years from my vintage tailor/couturier, Laura Boyes, who grew up in Cleveland. She and her daughter have had great luck in this store during their visits and Laura has even seen buyers from Anthropologie using their corporate card to purchase items from Sweet Lorain to copy or as inspiration for their designs. Understandably, I’ve been eagerly anticipating this visit to Sweet Lorain and it did not disappoint.
Did I think to take photos of what we bought? No, of course not, but Elizabeth left with a bevy of blue and white items, including a 1950’s sundress, a 1930’s day dress with matching bolero, black 1940’s shoes, tap shoes, and an aqua velvet 1930’s gown, and I left with a gray 1920’s dress, a seersucker romper of unknown decade, the 1930’s raincoat, a tie for the Boy, and a Bakelite bangle. Quite possibly the best trip to a vintage store EVER. Did I mention the prices here are amazing? This store will be a must-do for all subsequent ABWs.
Here are some of the other goodies I found at Sweet Lorain (I apologize for posting photos from my phone, I forgot my real camera):
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
The presence of vendors seems to be growing at larger Lindy Hop and Balboa events, presenting sellers with a unique opportunity to reach a targeted (and sometimes captive) audience. It can be difficult to fly into an event and not have the time to experience local vintage stores, or order online without trying something on, or maybe your dance shoes choose that weekend to fall apart. When the vendors come to you, the event becomes even more accommodating, convenient, and special.
As far as vendor lineups go, All Balboa Weekend this year has had the most vendors I have seen at any single event. Does this surprise the swing dance community at large, with Balboa dancers having a reputation for dressing up? Probably not. 🙂 There were three shoe vendors (four if you count the vintage store that brought some choice 1940’s pumps), a ton of dresses, hair accessories, bloomers, and a smattering of vintage goodies. Here’s a list of the vendors, in the order in which you would approach them entering the hallway of the event:
MY HEINIES
I’ve been singing Carol Fraser’s praises for months, but she has seriously outdone herself again. I don’t think I’ve seen that many bloomers in one place, with dozens of patterns in the My Heinies signature styles. Carol’s exclusive line of footwear from Worldtone, developed for swing dancers, is even more developed at this point and it was apparent that the styles available at ABW are targeted to be good colors and styles for dancers. I found the new shoes VERY appealing and was pleased to see that some of the focus group shoes had made the final cut. She also carried a number of one-of-a-kind styles – featuring more colors, patterns, and detailing – that were just breathtaking. I also noticed a number of follows sporting fancy hosiery from this vendor, both on the social dance floor and in competitions. Top it all off with one of the lovely hair flowers Carol sells and you’ve got a winner.
REMIX VINTAGE SHOES
What can I say? Remix Vintage Shoes makes the most drool-worthy reproduction shoes out there, with dance-friendly heel heights and soft leather galore. There are always a few new models and colors, as well as some shoes that may not be made anymore (i.e. Remix is looking for a new manufacturer for the Balboa t-strap, so if you’ve been on the fence get them NOW because we don’t know when they will be available again!). I had the high honor of having my vintage two-tone oxfords photographed by Philip Heath, the owner of Remix – perhaps there will be a reproduction made and named after Lindy Shopper? *swoon*
BOMBSHELL BAUBLES
Shannon Sheldon is the mastermind behind both the execution of a flawless 1930’s fashion show and the line of adorable hair flowers known as Bombshell Baubles. Shannon personally tests each flower to make sure that, no matter how much your head shakes, the flower will not fall out. As someone who has abandoned flowers mid-dance because they simply could not stay in place, I salute you! Etsy store coming soon…
FLAPPERFLY
Flapperfly makes cute, crafty, and recycled items, such as earrings, hair accessories, fabric bags, charm necklaces, and has some vintage finds worthy of the cuteness of this vendor. I only wish I had seen Flapperfly’s wares out more often at the event, I feel that I am lacking in accurate commentary. Please check out her Etsy site for goodies, especially the sequin sparrow barrette, which is my favorite.
LOCO LINDO
Loco Lindo saw some heavy traffic at ABW, and for good reason – their line of dresses and skirts are flirty and practical, made from an infinite number of crepe prints, both modern and vintage reminiscent. The best parts about this kind of crepe are the nod to vintage crepe fabrics (common in swing era clothing), the comfort and wearability of the fabric, and the washability – no dry cleaning necessary, just throw it in the washer and hang it up to dry. The crepe travels well, being somewhat wrinkle-resistant, which is good news for traveling swing dancers. I would also file these dresses under dance and work-appropriate, so there’s double duty potential. I picked up a lovely gray and white polka dot dress with smocking detail at the shoulders – it is so rare to find dresses with smocking – superb!
DANCESTORE
The staple of almost every swing dancer’s wardrobe, Dancestore‘s shoes are always well received at dance events and tend to be the anchor vendor with their vast inventory. I think I spent most of the weekend in their white mesh oxford. They were not at ABW the entire time, so I am afraid I am remiss of additional tidbits relating to the event or new products. I will use this opportunity to reiterate Teni Lopez-Cardenas‘ plea to make the trumpet skirt available in more colors (and sizes) – please! I’ve been waiting for years for the black trumpet skirt to be in stock in my size.
FOLLOW FASHIONS
More hair accessory cuteness, this time from Follow Fashions‘ Ohio based designer, Lisa Curry. As you can see from the photo, there are wonderful flowers and feather fascinators, in lots of color options, shapes, and sizes. I am particularly grateful to see the smaller flower options, for short haired follows, for embellishing up-do’s, and perhaps for use as a boutonniere. Special thanks to Follow Fashions for outfitting some of our 1930’s fashion show participants with hair accessories!
FLOWER CHILD
The token actual vintage vendor at ABW was Flower Child, who looked like they had been hoarding swing era goodies for us for a while, as there were some really choice items available for purchase. Things that stuck out in my mind were some great 1940’s cocktail dresses, pumps and wedges, bakelite jewelry at not outrageous prices, vintage sewing notions, a fairly substantial menswear and accessories section, gorgeous hats, and the 6 yards of 1930’s printed cotton the ladies brought for me to look at after I told them about some of my dresses being handmade. These ladies were diligent and stuck it out all weekend, into the wee hours of the nightly dances. Special thanks also goes out to Flower Child for letting the 1930’s fashion show borrow some of their accessories – such lovely things!
And those are the vendors! Stayed tuned for more possible future ABW-related blog posts.
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
My love for Trashy Diva and their rayon print dresses knows no bounds. Their latest collection of dresses is no exception, with bright and cheerful summer prints in their classic dress shapes that are so flattering on so many figures. Here are some of my favorites from the collection:
Lindy Shopper 