First step accomplished today! Storage unit rented to clear out room. Excited that I am soon to completely own my business with much reduced overhead and commissions!

 

Had a very "vintage" Christmas with decorations I have collected and "newly" collected vintage items.

 

Vintage Dinnerwar from Noritake. Repro vintage tablecloth.

 

Vintage bottle brush tree fro my mother in law and vintage Character Bear Made in the USA!

Bottle brush tree and deer collection. Felt deer and Made in Japan deer.

Deer with hair/fur.

Vintage bottle brush with reproduction Santa.

And my epic "tacky"  with vintage plastic Santa, Frosty, Noel Candle, Knome and candleabra!Elf made it up there, too! Main attraction - inflatable moose head.  We have forever have been looking for something for our mantle. Our room is very eclectic. We have a rear fender from an off road race truck above our flat screen tv. A vintage CocaCola sign on another wall. A two foot tall ceramic duck on a book shelf. We do not take ourselves seriously nor do we in home decor!

But the best part of this season is receiving family hierlooms! My wonderful mother in law is completly convinced that no one in her family wants anything of hers other than to sell and make a profit. I must say, if you look at history, some family members were only looking to sell so I can understand her angst. I have never sold one thing she has bequest me! I have cherished and continued to cherish all gifts.

(Beautiful sequins and felt pin made by my husnbands great grandmother. I wore it all day yesterday. Below pointsettia pin. Items never to be sold, but worn with love.)


After being given a headvase, I decided I would "collect" headvases. I scoured eBay for headvases and amassed a collection, only to realize it wasn't my cup of tea. I wanted the headvase she gave me to have as a memory. I quickly unloaded the headvases that held no memories.
She has recently decided to purge her massive Christmas collection of houses, decor and tree trimmings. She told me to take whatever I wanted. She has other children, grandchildren etc. I was not comfortable with this but had her great grandson with us. He chose a "new" ornament and a broken one. It didn't matter the meaning. He chose those two. He is proud that they are on my tree and they are his. And they will forever be his and on his tree. And he tells everyone that they are from his Grandma Z and he picked them himself!

There are still things in her house that I have requested (as long as no one else wants) and a metal bed that I convinced her to buy because I had no place for it (or transportation) years ago because I loved it. I sleep in it whenver I am there. And it always reminds me of the story of purchase.

She asked me about my images on my site. She said "If you don't have these types of dresses to sell, then why do you have these images?"

My "vintage" is my image style. Those outfits are hard to come by. But my "vintage" is not always for resale. My "vintage" is what I keep, what I cherish and the memories I keep dear to my heart.

On my new adventure I will be more tenacious on keeping truly vintage in my merchandise. I hope to bring you more stories behind my "finds". My next post will be titled Auntie Elsie's Suit . . . .

Greetings!
Big changes are on the horizon for Simply Vintage!
First, I will be boosting my etsy image and listings as I move to a more online image. In the next few days I will know more, but for now keep checking my etsy page http://www.etsy.com/shop/SimplyVintageAZ.
The furture for Simply Vintage is looking bright with more and more people privately contacting me to look at their wares to stock my virtual store!

Thanks for the support my vintage lovers!

So for some reason could not write on the posting of the fashion show. Could be I'm technically challenged or couldbe I have no clue what I am doing!

As for the show, I had 6 volunteer models, only one has professionally modeled. One I got off Craigslist, who was extremly shy and wanted to get out of her comfort zone. When I saw the video I was so proud, that DD got outsideher box!

My first model is Tahlia Vandegrift. She modeled for me for some shots for my shop. She enlisted her own makeup artist and brought a complimentary professional photographer. I will be forever grateful for her helping me jump starting Simply Vintage! The photographer was more into her than my clothes and toted a gun in his skin-tight Wranglers, but I take what I can get!

Ann Donahue was another model who has been a near and dear friend for over 17 years. All it takes is a phonecall and we are there for one another in a heart beat. It will always be like that. She is my constant promoter in all my ventures and I will ever be grateful!

Amy Conner is a friend from a former hell hole charter school we worked at! We talked to survive at that place always waiting for the next shoe to drop.  and it always did! But we are kindred spirits in our love for the Steelers as we are both Penn natives (well I not so much but another story). Although we don't see each other enough, we always pick up where we left off.

My next model Casey a daughter of my friend previously mentioned, Pamela. Casey eagerly joined the show, tried on several dresses on a day before and then ended up modeling different ones! She was so easy going and seem to like the opportunity!

Sierra is the daughter of another Brass Armadillo comrade. She was hesitant about doing the show but once it began she was at ease. She wore the clothing beautifully and actually bought the vintage 40's prom dress!

DD, my newbie, responded to my craigslist ad for a model. We had many correspondence and she became more aprehensive. She is very quiet and shy, but I tried to set her at ease. You can see by the video that she relaxed a bit and enjoyed herself! She told me she is ready for the Spring Show!

That being said,I have to compliment my dear friend Pamela Magadlia. She took my fashion show writeup and ad-libbed amazingly when I screwed up the schedule and order! I never realized until the video how long it was between the last model and the coat finale! Sorry! She did give an awesome plug to the New Life Shelter (however not a homeless shelter, but a battered womens and children shelter). And, yes, every one of the outfits in the show can be worn to the grocery store!

Thanking all my friends for thier support!

xoxo
Lisa

iAntique.com - View Video - Vintage Clothing Fashion Show

iAntique.com - View Video - Vintage Clothing Fashion Show sponsored by Simply Vintage. First show a few glitches.