Around Town - The Santa Monica Vintage Expo

After years of following Mary Kincaid's Zuburbia blog, I was pleased to finally get a chance to meet Mary last weekend at the Vintage Clothing Expo show in Santa Monica. 
Mary is a specialist in vintage clothing with the eye of a museum curator.  She can spot a Lilly Ann, a Suzy Perette, a Galanos, a Ceil Chapman or just about any other classic American fashion designer at a distance.  Her blog is highly informative with posts about vintage designers, where to shop for vintage items, vintage picks of the week and a weekly eBay round up. 

So, not only does does this busy woman blog, she has an online boutique where each item in her vintage collection is hand picked for its special design aesthetic. 

I'm really excited for Mary because she will soon have her vintage clothes featured on 1stDibs...and if that isn't a recipe for success, then I don't know what is.

(perhaps Beladora will be invited to join the 1stDibs crew one of these days...........)

Yep - It's That Simple

It's pretty obvious about how I feel about supporting my fellow fashion bloggers, especially those who promote vintage fashion which is both economical and green. And, I'm thrilled to read that my favorite vintage blogger, Mary Kincaid, whose Zurburbia blog is the top aggregator of vintage shopping info, has been nominated for 2009 Glam Awards. I'm going to vote for her and you should too.
Here's where you go.
Remember you can vote everyday so vote early and vote often!

Vintage Value Venture - Mill Street Mink and More

Once again I've got Mary at Zuburbia.com doing the legwork for some great Vintage Value Ventures.
I just don't have the patience to peruse EBay for vintage...searching Google is exhausting enough.
But...I have to admit that while about 99% of the vintage jewelry that you find on Ebay is absolute garbage...the choice on Ebay for vintage clothing is sometimes superlative.

While Yahoo weather says that the temperature outside is 48 degrees, my cold nose from the short walk that I just took tells me that that it was more like 40 degrees...which in my neighborhood is really seriously cold.
Luckily I had my shearling coat and hat to wear...but if I wasn't so well clothed I would have liked to have worn something like this.

Vintage Wool Coat With Fox Collar on EBay from Mill Street Vintage

Or...if I was back in that "Aeroflot circa 1970's" mood I would have opted for this.

Vintage Wool Dress and Coat with Mink Collar on EBay from Mill Street Vintage

I'm so loving the Julie Christie - Dr. Zhivago vibe of this outfit.

Something About Mary

I'm sure that you know by now that shopping on the net takes a certain amount of energy...especially if you are searching through the vintage websites.

Where I go first to learn about all things vintage is Zuburbia.com which is the premier aggregate site for all things vintage by Mary Kincaid.

Without Zuburbia I wouldn't have been able to have found all of the great vintage value ventures that I have posted over the last year.

So...Mary... for the next fashion weblog awards I nominate you!

VPOD - More Versatile Than An Olympic Medallion

Look who else has been going for the gold with precision timing worthy of an Olympic gymnast.

Another perfect Vintage Pick of the Day from Zuburbia.

Vintage Value Venture - Coral Caprice

I love to read Zuburbia.com because not only do I find great new links to vintage websites, like her recent VPOD from Contentment Farm, I find thoughtful and well written commentary like this:

More than a quarter of the world's coral reefs have already been destroyed by pollution, global warming or overfishing, and at least one statistic predicts that at this rate, we'll lose over 57% of the world's coral reefs in our lifetime.

Mary is right of course. I'm often asked why coral jewelry is so expensive, and I have to explain that natural - un-dyed coral is a truly rare material and the current prices reflect this lack of supply and potential loss of more coral reefs.

So staying with the coral theme I found this brightly printed 1960's silk dress by Suzy Perette from Contentment Farm, and paired it with this natural un-dyed coral torsade bracelet from Beladora.com.

Savvy Shopping - Vintage Estate versus Costume Jewelry

With the countless number of existing clothing and accessories lines and new brands appearing everyday why would anyone choose to purchase Vintage clothes and accessories?

Mary Kincaid of Zuburbia.com gives us 5 reasons to shop Vintage.

FIVE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BE WEARING VINTAGE CLOTHING
1. Outstanding Quality

Once you've examined a quality piece of vintage clothing you will readily see that it just can't compare to one of today's contemporary garments at a similar price. It's actually possible to wear couture-quality garments for the price of ready-to-wear! Vintage clothing was often lovingly sewed by talented home seamstresses or made by designers who put extra-loving care into each garment--and it shows.The fabrics, many times, are unbelievable. A similar item in the same fabric today could conceivably put it out of your price range. Outstanding silks, cashmeres, wools, leathers and furs are available at prices that pale in comparison to walking into a boutique and purchasing a similar item today.

2. Unique Details

Hand embroidery, unique buttons (many collectible on their own), outstanding beading (sometimes glass), blazers with printed silk linings. The kind of detail that today is often found in only the high-end designer or couture garments is available on many vintage clothing pieces of yesteryear.

3. Individuality

You can be assured that if you are wearing a vintage clothing item, you will not have to worry about another woman walking in the door with the same dress, blouse, or handbag. The confident vintage fashionista knows that she can wear her beautiful hand-embroidered tulle blouse even when lavish embellishments aren't the "Season's Trend." These vintage clothing pieces turn heads because of their uniqueness. If you aren't a cookie-cutter personality, then vintage clothing is for you. Vintage allows you to have what no one else can have-let them drool over your one-of-a-kind pony skin handbag! You can look fantastic without looking like anyone else.

4. Financial Freedom

Okay, quick quiz question: Which would you choose? A new Chanel suit or Gucci handbag from the current season or 2 Chanel suits or Gucci handbags from a decade ago? Buying vintage clothes, especially non-sought-after labels or individually tailored pieces, makes you clothing budget go a lot further. For the same amount of your hard-earned cash, you can compile an outstanding wardrobe by buying vintage clothing and accessories. Talk to anyone who is a vintage-aholic and you'll hear the stories: an authentic Christian Dior handbag purchased for $1, a fox fur stole for $15, a no-name wool suit with black fur collar for $35. Now these are the extreme vintage bargains that make one jump up and down with glee, yes, but purchasing that handbag for $100, the fur stole for $125 and the suit for $150 is entirely possible using eBay or a quality vintage clothing website or boutique. Or maybe you'd rather blow your entire yearly wardrobe on just one of these trendy pieces? I didn't think so.

5. Environmental Contribution

According to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, over 4 million tons of textiles are sent to landfills each year. Recycling these beautiful pieces of vintage clothing means one less piece of clothing left in our landfills. It also honors the designers who created them, the seamstresses who poured hours into their creation and the women who initially owned and loved them. Also, most of today's textiles requite petroleum in their manufacture, so wearing vintage clothes also helps with our fossil fuel concerns.

For fashion magazines Harper's Bazaar has always been one of my favorites. But I'm blown away with the 3 page article titled The Return of Costume Jewelry from the May print issue. This article actually states

Best Investments From CHIC chokers to key cuffs, here are all the season's MUST-HAVES for accessories while recommending a Balenciaga crystal necklace for $9,875 and other items priced well over $1,000. Are they insane?

Costume jewelry (like the Balenciaga necklace pictured above) is a total waste of money. Even before it goes out to fashion it tends to falls apart. And... if it manages to stay intact, it has no lasting monetary value. You can't break it down to its intrinsic worth of metal and gemstones.

"It" bags and "It" shoes are over. Jewelry is the accessory to wear this season and the next. Just make sure that you wear fine jewelry, and if you want value at at reasonable price, buy Vintgage Estate Jewelry and spend less than what you would pay for designer costume jewelry.