Running away.

Tomorrow morning, Steven and I are packing up the car and heading up to my family's mountain house, where we'll spend a week exploring, lounging, swimming, relaxing, eating and I CAN'T WAIT. Some of my Mom's family will be coming from Wisconsin and elsewhere to do the same. I am looking forward to nights around the bonfire, drinking beer and listening to my uncles, who are pretty fantastic storytellers.  I'm treating this week like summer camp. I'm packing books, my camera, ratty bathing suits, every pair of shorts I own, and maybe even my old journal to jot down ideas.

We're leaving first thing so that we can take our time getting there. Steven and I really enjoy taking the long way to so we get the chance to stop in small towns and peek into dusty shop windows, hoping to make a discovery. I'm also planning lots of small day trips to mountain town thrift shops and antique stores to look for the perfect pieces for Inherited.

See ya later, civilization! We're hitting the road.

LAM wrap-up.

Yesterday was the Lowcountry Artist Market--the first one I participated in as Inherited. 

Here are some of the pieces that were brought home yesterday by lovely gals:

 late 1960s nightgown

 1960s eyelet top

 1960s Lady Donlin oxford 

 1970s lilac top

 1980s signal flag blouse

 1960s pink lace dress

1960s A Mendel Creation hot pink dress 

1970s schoolgirl dress

1970s Christian Dior necktie 

1980s floral button-back top

It was a great success and so much fun!

My baby.

A week ago, my baby sister graduated high school, and the week before that, she turned 18. I am so, so proud of the woman she's becoming and I know she's going to accomplish great things. 

At the same time, I can barely handle that this gorgeous, intelligent, talented woman is the same baby sister I prayed and pleaded for for the first 10 years of my life. It's been amazing watching her grow, though, and I can't wait to see what amazing path she takes through life. 

Lowcountry Artist Market: June 2012

Next Saturday, June 16, is the Lowcountry Artist Market and  Inherited is one of the vendors! Vintage, handmade and edibles will all be available right in the middle of downtown Charleston at the Music Farm.

The Lowcountry Artist Market blog is also hosting a giveaway, so take a peek, do some Facebook liking, and you could be a winner!

The threads of history.

One of my favorite things to do when I find vintage pieces is to to as much research as I can about the item, from the style to the designer, to whatever other information I can dig up. At first, I thought this dress was an anonymous, unlabeled piece, as many vintage items are. But then, down in the lining of the dress, near its hem, I saw a label with the name "Renee Firestone" in script.

After a short amount of searching, I learned that she was a well-known fashion designer in America who went on to teach fashion design at the University of California in Los Angeles. But before that, she lived a life filled with more horrors than one could imagine. Born to a Jewish family in Czechoslovakia in 1924,  at the age of 19 she spent over a year imprisoned in Auschwitz, losing all of her family (including her 16-year-old sister, who died at the hands of Dr. Mengele) except her father. Despite the unimaginable horrors she faced, when she came to America in 1948, she created a life for herself and her family by creating beautiful things.Now 88, she is an outspoken Holocaust survivor, speaking out whenever and however possible so that the stories of those who did not survive would never be forgotten. 

This dress is a simple piece. The tasseled collar is the focal point of the front of the dress, with the  a deep-V back and buttons adding some detail to the back of the dress. While this dress was most likely created in the 1960s, it has some elements obviously inspired by the Roaring Twenties, and is a fun staple for any closet.

More importantly, its designer triumphed over tragedy and became an outspoken voice for the victims of the Holocaust, and that in itself gives this dress a whole new meaning.

Click here to watch Renee Firestone's survivor testimony.

Road trippin'.

We launched our long weekend in Chapel Hill with a meandering drive through South Carolina, avoiding major highways and stopping in thrift stores and junk stops along the way (shout-out to Camden, SC, and one of the most vintage-packed Goodwill stores I've ever seen). We even stopped for ice cream at the World's Largest Strawberry, which was the jam. I don't know if you're able to observe the unbridled excitement that Maya and I were feeling, but trust me, it was there. 

Once we got to Chapel Hill, we were stuffed to the gills: delicious dinners at Vimala's and Acme, drinks at Lantern,  lunch at NanaTaco,  and homemade brunch at Amanda and Reid's house. 

We took a morning walk around UNC Chapel Hill, went thrifting around Durham, hugged puppies, and admired the amazing handiwork of Cathy and David and their incredible home renovations. I love watching their progress and it makes me so eager to have a home of my own to play with one day.

As it often does, the weekend flew by at lightning speed, and I'm feeling that familiar homesickness of having left some of the greatest friends a gal can have. Already looking forward to the next visit!

Inherited.

A lot of things have inspired my love of vintage clothing. I love the shape and cut of old clothes. I love their fabrics and palettes and metal zippers. There is a romance in old clothing--I spend way too much time imagining the first owners of my vintage finds, wondering what purpose each dress was purchased for.

The other reason is envy. I hear all the time about how people are trying to get rid of the piles of clothes left behind by the stylish women of their family.

Both sides of my family became, after World War II, people without place. Boundaries were redrawn, and postwar Germany was in shambles. Prussia no longer existed--where my family is from was absorbed by the Soviet Union--and neither did the German settlements in Poland. My fractured families all decided to try to start new in America. A war-ravaged economy and emigration do not make for a glamorously packed suitcase, so everything besides the necessities was left behind.

My mother's mother, Antonia,  married in Germany, shortly after the end of the war. People didn't have very much, and my grandfather gave his soon-to-be bride a white dress from someone he knew in another village. After some adjustments, it fit my grandmother like a glove. On her wedding day, she hung small garlands of herbs on its sash. Afterwards, it was passed on to friend who needed a wedding dress. No one knows where it ended up.

My father's parents first met in a refugee camp in Schwartau but were separated as the families moved on. They reunited several years later in America, having kept in touch for that entire time. When they married, Lucia wore a brand-new American dress, but it was then passed from cousin to cousin to friend, each one making alterations to it--letting it out, hemming it up, adding and removing details. What happened to it in the end, no one can quite remember.

I wasn't lucky enough to inherit wardrobes bursting with silks, sequins, and lace (though I did inherit that good old German stubbornness from both sides). But I love rescuing beautiful and unique pieces of clothing that have lasted decades, and with care, could be passed down again and again.

With that in mind, I'm relaunching my vintage shop under a new name: Inherited. My goal is to keep it stocked with unique pieces for everyday wear and special occasions--hopefully pieces that you'll reach for in your daily dress, and pieces that you'll pack away for your own daughters, nieces or granddaughters.

Since this post is wedding dress-themed, here's an example of one of the pieces I'm offering in my new-and-improved shop:

This amazing 1940s wedding dress comes with a little something extra--the portrait album from the first bride who wore this dress:

I'm also starting a new Facebook page for this endeavor, so pleaseplease like me there!

Supermoon.

Last night's supermoon was quite the visual spectacular. At nearly midnight, the brightest moon of 2012 lit up the sky like dusk. A thunderstorm was rolling in and sporadic lightning flashes popped, adding some extra drama to the sky. Overall, a gorgeous show. Encore, please.

Check out other (better) photos of the supermoon here.

The Hippo-what?

Steven Fiore + The Lovely Few = a musical party in your ears and heart

Please click on allthedeets.info for all  the deets (and info).

A family visit.

My family spent the past week (my sister's final Spring Break of high school) with us in Charleston. Though I wasn't able to take any days off to spend with them, evenings were filled with family dinners, dusky beach walks, Mario Kart races, and lots of laughing. Even though it's a lot quieter and calmer without the whole brood here, I already miss them.

(Clockwise from top left: a Monza lunch date with my sis and her boyfriend / paparazzi-style shot of my folks strollin' / a sunrise Easter service on the pier at Folly Beach / the Pip doing a somber impression of the Easter Bunny.)

A colorful closet clean-out.

I don't know about all y'all, but every time I buy new clothes, I feel the need to make room in my closet. Maybe the years of living in notoriously small-closeted Charleston homes have trained me to constantly edit. Some things I give to my sister, others I donate to local thrift stores, and then I put the more fun things up on eBay. Here's my latest ROY G. BIV selection:

See all my eBay offerings here.

Pins and Needles (Urban Outfitters) sheer red blouse

 J. Crew wool/cashmere bright orange cardigan

Gap gold dolman sleeve draped blouse

American Eagle Outfitters chambray moto jacket

Lauren by Ralph Lauren silk menswear-inspired blouse

Ella Moss fringed shimmy-shimmy top 

Anthropologie racerback tiered chiffon tank

Leifsdottir ruffled wool straight skirt

Elevenses (Anthropologie) gray wool pleated skirt

Gap European Fit draped dress

 Elizabeth and James relaxed boyfriend-fit blazer

This weekend's theme: Mad Men.

Looking at this weekend's activities,  my excitement for the two-hour season five premiere of Mad Men has been obvious the past few days:

 

peacock blue early 1960s bridesmaid dress (with removable over-skirt and matching veiled fascinator!) / bar stash for tonight's vintage cocktails / Art & Copy (a great documentary about the creative rise in advertising in the 1960s) / vintage-themed Newsweek 

Fundays.

Steven came back from Nashville/Columbia on Saturday afternoon, and we immediately launched into having the most easygoing fun we could manage. We started by meeting up with people at Taco Boy. I love spotting David Boatwright's murals all over town, and I especially adore this sort of mixed media mural in Taco Boy's patio. After that, we met up with Elizabeth, Andrew, and Elizabeth's lovely house guest, Caroline, at Bin 152 for some more imbibing. We completely lost track of time there, and barely managed to make it to goat. sheep. cow. before it closed. We got four amazing cheeses and a baguette, which is an ideal dinner, if you ask me. One of our selections was Ewephoria, which is a sheep's milk cheese like Gouda, and it was aptly named, to say the least. If I ever become lactose intolerant, my quality of life will decrease 87 percent. I have charts to prove this. Before we left downtown, we picked up some macarons for the road. With our cheeses and baguette and cornichones, we watched Martha Marcy May Marlene, and now Ashley has been replaced by Elizabeth as my favorite Olsen. 

On Sunday, we got completely whacked out by daylight savings, and ended up not getting our biz together until 1pm. We went to our safety spot, Rue de Jean, for brunch and a Bloody Mary. Second Sunday was happening on King Street, and I always use this as an excuse to shop too much. But, whatever. I got some cute pants from it. And other stuff. Oops. Then we met up with Elizabeth and Andrew for another Bloody Mary, this time at Thoroughbred Club. We wrapped up the day with a beer at Closed for Business -- I'll take any excuse to have a White Thai from Westbrook Brewing.

What a weekend.

P.S. Every time I see this gorgeous vintage Mercedes, I am filled with jealousy. It's officially on my Christmas wish list for eternity.