Getting Real.

In a world dominated by social media, it seems nearly every aspect of our lives has become dominated by things, brands and people who are "fake". Accusations of news being fake, fake accounts leaving fake feedback and opinions, fake faces representing brands, fake lifestyles on display on our phones and computers daily. The results have been devastating. It has become very difficult to trust what your own eyes tell you.

In that vein, I have changed my tag-line to "real vintage for a real life". I refuse to be one of the vintage dealers who pretends to live a carefree, 100% vintage lifestyle. I refuse to be friends with those who pretend to be my friend while working to undermine my business and financial stability with lies and cattiness. I refuse to be told that being real and honest with people is a turn-off to customers.

I've been thinking about this for a very long time.

I've tried, over the years, to play the game- to pretend my very vintage life is very perfect and very pretty and very trouble free.

It isn't.

It isn't even very vintage. Sure, I am surrounded by vintage fashion and vintage decor in a 100 year old house. So in that regard- pretty vintage, yep. But it's also real. Real stuff happens every day. I work a full time retail job to supplement my income and provide a steady paycheck and health insurance for my family. There is no vintage involved there at all. The necessity of doing that, spending 40 hours a week away from my home, places stress on every other aspect of my life. I'm not home to cook dinner, or able to pick my daughter up from school. I have to do website work either in the early morning hours before work or later at night after. I get 2 days off a week to do everything that isn't done during the other 5 days, plus help my disabled mother, plus spend time with my child, plus laundry and house cleaning, house maintenance, yard work, etc. I spend a solid 70+ hours a week working between the FT job and the website just to keep bills (mostly) caught up, and try desperately to have a happy fulfilled life with my family.

My life is messy and full. I can be organized one day and then 3 days later be completely behind again. Sometimes I'm there for my daughter when she has troubles- sometimes I'm not, and feel like a total failure. Some weeks I'm on top of planning meals for the week- some weeks we eat whatever we throw together at 7 PM. I'm not done up in victory rolls and cat eye liner every day, attending pin-up events (though if that IS your life, lucky you!!). Some days I don't even brush my teeth (days off, at home of course!). I struggle to sleep, battle anxiety, worry all day every day about keeping my house out of foreclosure. I'm juggling a lot every single day and I'm not going to pretend to be anyone I'm not just to fit into the expectations some have of what a vintage dealer's life should be. Those who do live that life- more power to them, sounds fun. Those who pretend to live that life to feel like they fit in- more power to them, sounds difficult. But it isn't my life and I'm going to be real about that.

I have thousands of pieces of vintage in my storage that are very real. Much of that is on the site, a lot of it isn't and that's something that weighs on me as well and something I'm working on. Closing my shop, while necessary financially, created a mess of merchandise that I've yet to totally organize. With little time to do it, it happens in bits and pieces. But it is indeed all very real, and very well stored and cared for.

My passion for vintage is real, too. From day one the reason I started doing this was because I wholly believe that these pieces of clothing (or accessories) were loved enough to be held onto by someone for decades, and that they deserve a chance at being worn and loved and cherished again. The joy it brings people to know that that those things will have a new life is one of my favorite parts of what I do. It pains me every day to go work a job that isn't doing this because, after nearly 10 years of doing it full time, I miss it horribly. But know that I'm trying as hard as I can to stay on top of it despite the hours away.

I won't always get it right. But I will always try. And I will always be real with you.

Thank you for still being here.

- Ang

Suit UP!

Every once in a while I find customers in my local boutique have NO idea that the woman's suit exists. They pick up the jacket and are aghast to find it has a matching skirt! Unfortunately, I think the suit in modern times has become equated with mediocre business women. And maybe some modern styles are mediocre. But the vintage suit is far from that!

A well styled vintage suit is every bit as fabulous as a vintage dress. Great textiles and colors available, cuts for all shapes...the boxy Jackie Kennedy jacket, the nipped waist of the classic Lilli Ann. Gorgeous trims from fur to lace to unique buttons. Instant class. And if the matching set isn't the right look for you, consider the jacket and skirt as separates! A great pencil skirt will go with nearly anything, modern or vintage...it's simply a must-have for a basic in a vintage wardrobe! The jacket can be dressed up over a cocktail dress with a statement necklace or brooch, or dressed down over a v-neck tee and denim. The possibilities are endless!

So next time you run across a vintage jacket you love with a matching skirt you don't think you want, don't sell it short as a fun piece to build new outfits around. Some examples from Dorothea's...

Happy 8th Birthday To Dorothea's!

Dorothea's Closet Vintage boutique in Des Moines, Iowa turned 8 years old this week! Some photos from opening day....

And today! More photos on our FACEBOOK PAGE.....

suzy parker suzy parker

There are no words. Suzy Parker! Born Cecilia Ann Renee Parker in Texas in 1932, Cecilia soon became "Susie" to her father and once introduced to the modeling world by her sister, Dorian (also a supermodel) she was dubbed "Suzy". She soon outshone her sister, becoming the first model to make $100,000 a year and became close with top designers including Coco Chanel as well as muse to Richard Avedon. She also dabbled, and dabbled well, in acting. Married three times, she gave birth to one daughter, elegantly named Georgia Belle Florian Coco Chanel de la Salle (godmother Coco Chanel), another daughter named Dinah and two sons, Charlie and Christopher. Not content at modeling, momm-ing and acting, she was also a superb chef. Suzy lived the life, no? Radiant!

"Sheer luck. I was lucky to have been born with cheekbones."~ Suzy Parker

Suzy's sister, Dorian Leigh, who introduced her to the modeling world and is often considered the first real "supermodel". Suzy and Dorian fell out and remained on bad terms for their adult lives, sadly.

Pics link to Dorothea's Facebook page with many more images and discussion of the beautiful Avedon muse, Suzy Parker.

~Ang

silver screen

Orry-Kelly, designer to the stars. Orry George Kelly was born in Australia where he studied art and was an apprentice to a tailor and a window dresser. After relocating to New York and changing his name to Orry-Kelly (and sharing an apartment with Cary Grant!), he started working as a mural painter. Kelly moved to Hollywood in 1932 and quickly found work designing costumes for films, working with all the greatest actresses and filmmakers. His work can be seen in Casablanca, the Maltese Falcon, Some Like it Hot, Harvey, Arsenic and Old Lace and Auntie Mame. Below, Louise Brooks, a gown from An American In Paris and Kay Francis....pics link to our Facebook page where we're looking at Orry-Kelly's work all day long!

Dorothea's kicks off a HOLIDAY VINTAGE sale on FAB.COM tonight! Pic links to an invite so you can join and shop!

lacquer red

Chen Yu was a Chinese cosmetic line popular in the 1930s and 1940s, considered to be the main supplier of cosmetic color at the time. Nail polishes and lip color were their strength, with the ever popular red being their best seller. Asian influences in packaging and advertising played perfectly to women fascinated with the exotic Orient. Truly some of the best cosmetic ads of the era! Pics link to our Facebook page, more images there and being posted all day long.

~Ang

Top Ten!

Giddy over this article in DEPARTURES MAGAZINE listing the top 10 vintage boutiques in the world, including Dorothea's Closet! A superb WRITE UP about the appeal of vintage to the fashion savvy and it's place in the sartorial conversation, with a few quotes from your truly!

To be mentioned at all is amazing, but in such stellar company!....LE MONDE du VOYAGE of Paris , ZOLA'S EVERYDAY VINTAGE in Dallas, TREASURE ISLAND in Naples, FL, COLLETTE in Southhampton, NY, TIME AFTER TIME in Chapel Hill, NC, GRANDMA TAKES A TRIP of Sydney, Australia, RELLIK of London, CORACHAN y DELGADO in Madrid, Spain & VICENTE GANESHA of Ibiza, Spain. Tip of the hat to you all and a big thanks to Departures Magazine!

Dorothea's Meets Bauble Bar!

In case you don't follow us on facebook, or on twitter OR on tumblr, the big news around here is Bauble Bar! A website devoted to modern accessories (yay!) presented in chic collections making it easy to pull together the look-of-the-moment. And what's more modern right now than mixing vintage with contemporary fashion? Just nothing! Dorothea's was thrilled to provide the very vintage apparell you see on Bauble Bar's site setting off their weekly collections as they travel back in time to the 20s, 40s, 50s and 60s. So far they've presented 1920s and 1940s with 2 more decades and collections to come. Go see and get your jewelry fix at Bauble Bar, and and Bauble Bar on tumblr!

the Hole Thing

A couple of weeks ago Viktor & Rolf showed their Spring 2010 collection, allowing fashion critics and bloggers world wide to rejoice at finally get to mention Edward Scissorhands in a review. I rather loved it, despite the flack they took for taking things completely over the top (isn't that what runway is for?) and blogged about it HERE. Quite honestly I never expected to see any of those dresses again, so was pleasantly surprised to see on GO FUG YOURSELF that one of those magnificent, mind blowing tulle confections was actually worn in public by a a celebrity....though not surprised that it was KATY PERRY, seen at the MTV Europe Awards. Which I missed, because A) I live in the US and B) MTV is utterly irrelevant. Anyhoo.....

Strange that I like the runway model's make up better. Next time go for a mini with the ta's gnawed off, Katy!

~Ang

Dorothea's Closet Vintage Goes Glossy

This weekend was the big unveiling party for DSM MAGAZINE'S WOMEN'S ISSUE, and Dorothea's Closet Vintage was honored to have contributed to not only the runway event Saturday night (pics as they are available) but also to the fashion spread within this special issue. What resulted was a superb example of how well vintage pieces can serve to add a dash of individuality to a modern wardrobe! Collaborating with local boutiques offering brand new designer pieces, vintage from Dorothea's meshes perfectly.

60s autumnal floral print velvet dress with modern leggings & heels,

Dorothea's vintage necklace and bracelet make perfect accents to modern pieces.

DCV vintage umbrella and boots.

Dorothea's Closet adds a vintage touch with a 70s leotard and 80s fishscale metallic belt.

~Ang

Honey, I Shaved Your Prom Dress

50s prom dresses get the razor from Viktor & Rolf for Spring 2010, with a mean dash of 80's asymetrical geo shaping. Brilliant.

~Ang

Vintage Vogue

My recent inclusion in the September issue of VOGUE MAGAZINE lead me to several conversations at my boutique with clients who found the photography of the Steven Meisel shoot unusual. I wasn't surprised at all when I saw them, rather, I was impressed at how true to 40's Vogue styling they appeared! Here is a 40s shot (credit to MY VINTAGE VOGUE...

And here is an image from the 2009 Meisel shoot (hat available on the website!)...

Something a little more unusual for a vintage Vogue is an outdoor shoot, like this one from the early 40s...

And the 2009 spin on fresh faced, outdoorsey types, both hats from my site, hat on left still available...

Another great shot, which happens to show a model holding a 1941 Vogue I have here at the house, aquired from Jean's estate!

For more vintage Vogue eye candy, be sure to peruse the MY VINTAGE VOGUE WEBSITE!

~Ang

Three Already??

In doing some impromptu digging into the history of the website recently, it has come to my attention that the website turns three years old this month! With that I thought a little week-long retrospective was in order. I'll also have a pretty big celebration to coincide with it coming later this week, but for now I thought it would be grand to take a look at how far the site has come in just a short amount of time.

THE INTERNET ARCHIVE WAYBACK MACHINE is a fantastic little public access tool that lets you type in any url and review how it looked by month for as long as its been live. If I type in my main url, I can take a look (and share) how my page looked the day it went live on August 21, 2006. DAY ONE. Pretty rudimentary. The artwork was a sketch I'd found done by my grandmother, Dorothea, who appears in the photo booth pics making up the buttons down the left side. I was self taught and did all the work myself (still do). Its pretty amazing to look now at how much its evolved!

By October 6 you can see a few of my favorite pieces, now long gone...HERE. A great Claire McCardell recently worn by Tracey Ullman to host the CFDA Awards Show, and 2 really fantastic appliqued 50s sweaters by Helen Bond Carruthers now found in the Archives section of the site. Amazing to look at how the photographs have changed, from having the little faux corner tabs I had liked using on eBay to the bedsheet I used to use before I invested in photo paper!

You can view individual pages too. Lets start with the earliest, VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN. Clicking on AUGUST 19 2006 shows the very first day my very small (at the time) collection of antique apparel was. Four pieces, the headliner being that gorgeous black and blue embroidered and beaded sheer dress with bustle back. That dress remains on every page the WaybackMachine can archive, though it sold in June of 2008. By DECEMBER 2007 the collection had grown a bit to include an exquisite purple and gold Edwardian gown, some beaded bags and a fur trimmed cape. The site itself had evolved into a softer background of grey as I tried to simplify the appearance a bit.

So happy birthday to Dorothea's! I have to say, the gift of being able to track every detail of the site over the years and how its changed, what pieces have come and gone and how its grown is a pretty great present (but not as good as whats coming later this week!)

~Ang

Connections

Yesterday a man came into my shop and told me he had a hat in the car he wanted help figuring a date on. He brought in an exquisite gold 20s cloche with velvet flowers worked in between the layers of fine mesh. After talking to him about the hat he told me it was his Mom's and he planned to give it to a granddaughter. He mentioned after that that there would be an estate sale and when and where it was in case I was interested.

He left, without telling me his name.

Tonight I got the email from the estate sale company, opened it expecting to see the things the gentleman had told me would be there. What I did not expect to see was the name. I knew this woman....spoken with her several times over the years. As I sat stunned I remembered the last time we talked on the phone shortly after her only visit into my shop and remembered that I documented the conversation, I was so moved by it. I revisited this tonight (grateful I hadn't deleted it in the last 2 1/2 years) and I find myself feeling as moved by our exchange right now as I was back then. I only wish I'd made more of an effort to keep in touch with her....she was a wonderful woman.

Conversation 1/23/07

If I don’t type this now I will forget what we talked about.

Maureen & I had spoken by phone several times over the last few years, but not in the last one or so…..she originally had responded to an ad I placed a back then (likely the 1st I ever did to get vintage to sell on eBay). She was articulate then and spoke of collecting and selling vintage textiles over the last 50 years…..also clothing. I remember her describing an apricot coat with a standup collar, but somehow we never got together for me to look at it. She mentioned then that her daughter had passed away when she was young, and something to the effect of decorating her daughter’s old bedroom with these textiles. I remember sending her a Christmas card with a poodle on it, and her calling a few times after that now & then….but somehow we never got together.

This last Saturday a woman and her granddaughter came in. The girl was about 25…..the grandma stooped & using a cane. She spoke eloquently about collecting and selling vintage in St Louis & San Diego (Play it Again Sam?)…….of having a lot of things over the years that she had gotten rid of, and of things she still had that her granddaughters loved. She had her granddaughter (Ana) try some things on that the girl clearly liked, and chatted with me while I dealt with a buy from a woman who came in with some estate things. She never gave her name. Ana bought a yellow sheer 50s to early 60s blouse with embroidered detail, cap sleeves with lace trim. Her grandmother said to her she was glad she bought it, that it would be a nice memory of coming to see her in Des Moines. I was moved by that…..having been a part of making that memory, quite inadvertently, but part of it nonetheless…..that it was because of MY love of vintage, inspired by my own Grandmother, that the place that created a memory for them even existed.

We spoke about the designer Lily Dasche, whom she mentioned having a hat designed by….and strangely I had just had one come in that morning. I showed her & we chatted about it briefly.

She took my card, and called today, leaving a message. I just called her back and we spoke for at least a half an hour….I reminded her of our past conversations…..she talked about the things she still has and what she may want to sell….where she got them, where she’s worn them. A dress to the Val Air 30 or so years ago when she used to go dancing….a peach silk lounging piece from the 30s she got in St Louis. A Valentino coat she still wears that gets attention every time from all ages of women. A black lace dress Ana tried on when she was here over the weekend, she called “very Dinah Shore”. She said it was longer, tiers of lace, but she took off the bottom 2 to make a halter style overblouse for the dress.

She said coming in my shop had inspired her to go back through her albums of pictures of her textiles….she is an avid collector of them. She felt like it was things like interacting with me, seeing the shop….had reminded her of her passion for it and regretted that people think that elderly people don’t “do” much with their lives….that even she herself had fallen into that way of thinking. She was pleased to reacquaint herself with the things she loved.

She talked about her Mother, graduating from college in the early teens….teaching, living on a farm, of how adaptable, intelligent & strong her Mother was. She said she remembered her Mother quoting poetry to her while they did the dishes together……told me her son had interviewed her Mother for a Public Television program in a pinch when the scheduled guest got cold feet, that her Mother “just put on her wig & did it”.

We talked about technology alienating us from each other, and more so from ourselves, an observation her granddaughter made while her last week. I can’t help thinking that not only do I not quote poetry to my daughter….but that due to technology, I don’t even have to really “do” the dishes.

Hearing her talk about textiles, I was reminded of my Helen Bond Carruthers sweaters….appliqued with antique Asian textiles, yet also vintage fashion. I asked her if she knew of Carruthers, and she didn’t think she did…….I described the sweaters and we talked a bit about MY big find when I found those. I told her the one I have on layway is here and I would love to show it to her….I do think she would appreciate it! She told me of a find of her own at an estate sale years ago, an original drawing by a cartoonist for the New Yorker…..she tracked down the artist’s agent & sold it to her for a very nice profit! We talked about keeping a poker face when finding great things at estates or auctions.

She told me a little more about her granddaughters…..there are 2, Jessica & Ana…..and they were her daughter’s children, and thus have never known their Mom as she died when they were very young. She told me about a piece of art one of them gave her for Christmas…..with 3 women, sort of ethereally floating but with definite prescence. She said one of the girls said it was like the 3 of them, and the power and connectedness of women. Then she said there was also a smaller face off to the bottom…..and that one of the girls pointed it out and said “that must be Mom”.

I barely know this women, Maureen. But I have to agree with her granddaughters…..there is a power, a connectedness among women. And I have been shown tonight that we need to reach out to each other more….we have so much to teach each other. Tonight I discovered how in pursuing what I love, I have touched another family. I learned about several wonderful women…..and in turn was reminded that I am one too.

It’s time to do the dishes.

~Rest in peace, Maureen.

~Ang

I Really Am

And I want that shirt. Designed by Walter Van Beirendonck, its sold out and all gone....clearly an indicator that I'm not the only one sick of easy fashion. Hat tip to Susie Bubble at STYLEBUBBLE for her blog today featuring her sporting a Walter paper dress, reminding me to revisit his site (and covet in vain).

This is not to say I dress edgy or high end couture or anything of the sort. I'm as guilty of easy "fashion" applied to daily wear as the next busy Mom & biz owner. What I am sick of is laziness when it comes to design. Designers taking something of someone else's and calling their own, perhaps changing a seam, adding a button...whatever it may be, they call it design and I call it lazy. A skirt made into a halter dress is not a design, its an alteration. A cape with an unusual closure added to it is still a cape. A shirtwaist dress hemmed up to micro mini length is still a shirtwaist dress. These are not original thoughts, nor do they require the kind of talent and skill a great designer should possess.

After watching the finale of Bravo's "Fashion Show" I kept thinking about Anna McCraney's signature dress, that of the multicolor pleats and folds. Today when I saw the above shirt by Walter and considered how much we see today that is utterly unoriginal and lacks intellectual as well as physical effort, it made me think of that dress again....the originality of the design, the selection of textile, the execution of said design and the intense attention to detail. This is not easy. This is a work of art.

~Ang

dated.

aside from my love of the nod-to-the-80s ok kinda 90s Madonna we have going on here, I can't help but notice (or be seriously distracted by) the fact that the layout of MADONNA on the cover of the current issue of DAZED & CONFUSED MAGAZINE gives the illusion of her posing as her retro-togged self in front of the word DATED.

"Burning Up" much? Thats all.

~Ang

just got lucky.

as in, a sweet mention about the website on Lucky Magazine's website! fashion savvy and adorable Desiree Marr had this to say about the site

Current Online Obsession: Dorotheasclosetvintage.com is a meticulously archived vintage shopping site organized by decade, from the 1800s through the 1980s. Browsing through the site reminds me of digging through the closet of the glamorous great-aunt I always wanted.

gotta blush a little. desiree, if you're out there and come across my blog, THANK YOU!

click the Lucky image to read the rest and see the lovely Desiree....

~Ang

i stand corrected.

in an earlier blog i pointed out that most of the lingerie worn in the 20's and 30's was of a peach, pink or nude hue. while i still believe *most* was, my discovery of this piece yesterday certainly proves that there were some women who were willing to be a little more risque! granted it came with a decidedly flapper-style wedding dress (perhaps this was part of the honeymoon wardrobe?), so given that the owner was willing to wear a short dress with feathers on it to be wed in, she clearly had more moxie than most.....

~Click the picture to find it at the Noir Boudoir.

~Ang

of kors!

Thank to Julie at DAMN GOOD VINTAGE I was made to look at Michael Kors Fall 2008 collection from the recent Fashion Week in NYC....and we collectively spotted this killer dress that looks very VERY Ceil Chapman inspired....

Want to see the real deal (sans belt?).....from my website, a killer original Ceil in bold floral silk, expertly draped, clickable pic...

A hot look never dies.

~Ang

40s a la zoe

not a fan of miss rachel zoe, stylist to the stars (styling the likes of nicole ritchie, case in point, but said girl has no style aside from wearing crap that looks like hand-me-downs from paris hilton purchased at forever 21. nice.) and she styles poorly, and as seen on the aforementioned ritchie, demands an emaciated look which is, well, not good. ps, if you need a stylist, then YOU have no style! and if our friend rachel would eat a meal or 7, she may actually fill out this killer 40's gown.....

(ganked from my friends at GO FUG YOURSELF) bless them ever so!

I had a dress even better, but its sold to the fabulous SIMARA of STARLIT! even BETTER! click her pic to see her myspace page to get better acquainted....

THAT 40s dress takes ta-tas and some womanly hips & attitude to make work, which our friend rachel zoe has not, and the dear simara ROCKS. rocks, i tell you!

~Ang