So many of you have asked me to profile individuals on Lindy Shopper and, while I think that is a lot of fun, I wanted Lindy Shopper to remain focused on retail sources and helpful ideas – however, when I combine powers with Yehoodi, anything is possible. 🙂 Yehoodi pitched the idea of me interviewing fashionable Lindy Hoppers at the International Lindy Hop Championships and I thought it was a great idea, to approach people who catch my eye on the floor about what they are wearing, why they are wearing it, where they got it, and their personal dance clothing and shoe preferences. Due to some technical difficulties, this was delayed and released this past Monday by Yehoodi, but here it is! Enjoy!
(turn on closed captioning if you have difficulty hearing – the DJ’ed music was louder than we anticipated)
I’m delighted to have been asked to be a part of the From the Top podcast‘s exploration of fashion for swing dancers. This is the sixth episode from this podcast that, in general, explores topics surrounding swing music and swing dancing. The host of From the Top, Vienna-based dancer Alexei Korolyov, explores modern lindy hop fashion with discussions from New York dancer/DJ Voon Chew, Vienna University’s Dr. Elisabeth Frottier, Russian dancer Yana Sanamyants, Saint Savoy owner Rani-Patricia Dirnhofer, and yours truly. Clocking in at 19 minutes, we can keep you company on your commute to somewhere this week – enjoy!
Tomorrow (Wednesday, March 21, 2012), Lindy Dandy and I will be special guests on the next #lindychat, the “worldwide Twitter chat for Lindy Hoppers.” We’ll be chatting for an hour, starting at 6:00 p.m. EST, about swing dance clothing, shoes, fashion, and all things related. Bring your questions, your insight, or just come and enjoy the discussion!
How do you #lindychat? #lindychat founder Rebecca Brightly has created a helpful How To page on the #lindychat website with some great tips on how to interact, but essentially you will need a Twitter account and will need to run a search for the hashtag #lindychat to see what is going on.
Looking forward to seeing everyone online tomorrow! I’ll be tweeting as @lindyshopper and Lindy Dandy will be tweeting as @MQAvatar.
A few of our participants at curtain call, from L-R: Abigail Browning, Elizabeth Tietgen, Patrick Draus, Kyle Kettner, Dominique Blouin, Mia Goldsmith, Bobbly White, Emily Shuhmann, Heidi Rosenau, Joe McGlynn and Valerie Bissig - photographs by Patrick Hovan
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):
Dominique Blouin, Bobby White, and Shannon Butler model evening wearKate Hedin, Joe McGlynn, and Brandi Ferrebee show off their cockail attireHeidi Rosenau in beach pajamas and Joe McGlynn in a Palm Beach suitA closeup of that Palm Beach suit - looking sharp, Joe!Mia Goldsmith's gorgeous black and gold gownLindy Shopper's gown and cape, with Carla Heiney sporting a velvet and fur coat over Valerie's grandmother's black and white evening gown
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:
Lindy Shopper 