Retro/Vintage Archives - Be Kind, Thrift and Rewind

This is one of my favorite fall outfits thus far this year. I bought this 90’s blouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in some little vintage shop that was mostly loaded up with stacks of books. In the rear of his shop, he had a couple of racks of clothes and I am a sucker for anything floral so I ended up with this lovely blouse. The detail on the collar also caught my attention. I found this last spring but it was getting warm by then so only recently have I been wearing it quite a bit. It is old enough that it was made in the U.S.A. before so many clothing companies started having their products made overseas. It is a My Michelle brand piece with the slimming darts in the back. I have been wearing this blouse with blue jeans, black jeans, the black Japanese culottes in this post and various skirts.

My pink sweater was a gift. It is cashmere and from Uniqlo. The Japanese pants are also from Uniqlo. My shoes don’t look so great since the ones I have on in the full outfit photo are my post-surgical shoes. They are from Dansko yet they still have that post-surgical look. They certainly protect my toe joint which was the reason to buy them! I just bought a pair of Dr. Martens this week. I have wanted a pair for years but they never fit due to my bunions. Now they fit so I bought these Mary Jane shoes. I am thrilled about their British Rocker look, yet at the same time, they are black and professional looking for office attire. I love to walk so I need solid shoes. I bought them at Trash and Vaudeville.

My brooches are all vintage and the little umbrella brooch I have had since I was about seven years old! The tiny leaf one is gold plated and from a company called Krementz. I looked them up online and they made lots of beautiful leaf brooches back in the midcentury. The Infinity brooch I saved for myself since I have been buying some for my Etsy shop.

The black wool coat I found on the Lower East Side of the Village at a stoop sale. The lady was smaller than me. It must have been huge on her but of course, I was absolutely thrilled to buy it at a $5 a bag price. It has served me very well when the weather is around 40 degrees. Everything else the lady had for sale was also great but this was the only thing I could fit into and needed. That large green brooch I found in a vintage shop and have worn with this coat since. I really enjoy finding great deals and doing a bit to help save the environment but purchasing items further down the chain of production.

My daughter, Emily was here for six days. We had so much fun walking around and going places. We didn’t get as many photos taken as we planned. She did take these of me inside the Eastern Parkway subway stop. It was a cold, dreary day so the location seems better than outdoors. I took the one of me in my jeans and the same blouse and coat. When Emily arrived I was still hobbling around with my cane but after I saw my doctor again I was able to let that go. I still have physical therapy ahead of me but I am getting there and it is very exciting to be outside again more often!

I am still struggling with my eyes. I can’t wear eye makeup for awhile, if ever again due to an oil production difficulty. I am telling you if it isn’t one thing its another! I suppose now I will focus more on lipstick and blush. My nose is a bit red in this post due to heating up my eyelids. One just has to have a sense of humor about these things!

Today is Halloween so I intend to dress up as a Harajuku Décor Gal and go to the West Village to see people walking around in their colorful and lively costumes. I will try to take some pictures for the blog!! Also, I will aim to get a picture or two of me dressed up. I bought the rainbow knee highs that I have seen some Harajuku Gals wearing in photos. Aside from that, I am using my own clothing. I did buy some of the tiny bright plastic barrettes as well to add color to my outfit. I hope you enjoy Halloween!

blk thrifted 90's blouse MY Michelle

cluster-of-brooches

thrfited blouse 90's

blk thrifted coat

Blk thrifted coat from the Lower East side

Philly Aids Thrift and a Few Vintage Shops in Philadelphia

August 10, 2016

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I went back to Philly Aids Thrift, at 710 South 5^th Street in Philadelphia, this past weekend, and it was once again a lively, upbeat, rocking place to visit and go shopping. Every time I have been by there, which is at least four or five times now, there are people hanging out at the tables and chairs outside and it is the most fun thrift shop I have ever been to. They have the usual sections that thrift shops have but they also have a separate vintage section, a whole book shop section, a dollar room, and a large variety of items. It is all very well organized. The book section is super affordable and they have a large selection of books. The small collectible vintage items stay downstairs near the cashiers. If you are in the area I would definitely recommend checking it out. The store is a non-profit and most of its funds go to AIDS research and the remainder goes to various to HIV organizations.

Right on the same block is Nostalgia, at 704 South 5^th Street, a vintage shop that also sells contemporary women’s clothing designed by Earl Salko, which is made in the USA. They have jewelry, some houseware items, collectibles, men’s wear and some vintage women’s wear as well. They also repair and refurbish some items.

Philly Aids Thrift

Philly Aids Thrift Vintage Room

Philly Aids Thrift

Nostalgia

nostalgia 1

Around the corner at 508 South Street is Retrospect, which has a variety of housewares, clothing, and costume jewelry and is a rather large shop with a fun assortment of items. I was there a few weeks ago and they have been having a summer sale for a while now. They are associated with Goodwill Industries, which I only just found out by reading a Yelp review. It is stocked and run as a vintage shop and I would say most of the vintage clothing ranges from the mid 60’s and 70’s to the early 90’s. In comparison with vintage shops in New York City for instance, the prices are great for clothing and accessories of that era.

However, as in New York, the shops that specialize in the older vintage from the 30’s to the 60’s are few and far between. Those items are generally more expensive, as is to be expected. I haven’t made it to all the vintage shops in Philadelphia yet so if I find more later on I will let you know.

Briar Vintage has a warehouse space now out at 4324 Tackawanna Street, which is in the Frankford section of Philadelphia. The warehouse space is open on Saturdays. The owner specializes in men’s wear from the 1800’s to the 1960’s. He has a large collection and prices vary depending on how much work he puts into the pieces. Apparently the business sells a lot to theatre companies. They had a downtown location in Bella Vista but now they have a small shop divided with Sazz Vintage at 618 South 6^th Street. I didn’t get a chance to see that location, which will be getting a name change due to the two businesses combining.

Retrospect

The Strange And Unusual Oddities Parlor

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What really blew my mind was finding Jinxed, a housewares shop on South 4th Street. They also had a collection of costume jewelry, a variety of small items, such as cameras, and a very small amount of clothing. The first location I went to, at 609 South 4^th Street (there are two locations right next door to each other), had this beautiful armoire for the screaming deal price of $178!! In New York a piece like that would run closer to $1,000. At a price like that it’d be worth driving to Philadelphia and back to buy vintage furniture. They have an online shop you can connect to via their website. Plus they have several locations within Philadelphia.

At 523 South 4^th Street is The Strange and Unusual Oddities Parlor, which carries taxidermy, novelties and antiques. They have the strangest collection of taxidermy I have ever seen. I lived out in Colorado for about 15 years so I have seen a lot. They had small mice with antlers mounted on frames. There was a fox suspended in a mid-air leap. Numerous religious novelty pieces in the jewelry cases and a variety of antique items fill up the shop. They had bison teeth with a small hole to make a pendant out of, deer teeth, all kinds of oddities.

If you like thrifting and vintage you also most likely like old architecture like I do. That will be for another post, as I took many photos the last few times I was in Philadelphia. Old City Philadelphia has a lot of really beautiful architecture. Several streets have houses that were built before 1800. I really had a great time walking around the city and exploring.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post and are having a fun summer! I will keep my eye out for some more fun vintage shops or antique items to share with you!

Jinxed

Philly Typewriter

Briar Vintage

I Opened My Etsy Shop CosmicRenegade

July 26, 2016

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I opened my Etsy shop CosmicRenegade with my costume jewelry designs. It is starting out small; however, I will be adding more items on a regular basis. Right now it is mostly necklaces and some earrings. As time goes on I will add some bracelets and handmade items other than jewelry.

During the 80’s I wholesaled costume jewelry to a lot of shops in the West Village, East Village and a few shops in Westchester County and New Jersey. This is a new venture for me to be selling online retail but I have been getting some experience with my vintage Etsy shop recently. I have been making some Pins on Pinterest for a few of the items and slowly the shops are getting noticed. I still have a good amount of beads that I saved from the 80’s so some of my stock is vintage. This pink chain-link necklace with silver chain link on the back is a one-of-a-kind necklace since I have not been able to find pink chain link again that dimension.

CR necklaces 019

If you have been to this blog before you know I like upcycling. I recently upcycled the necklace in the photo below out of vintage metal buttons. It took some playing with but I figured out how to make it work. I am hoping to be making more items with upcycled pieces. Another necklace pictured below is made from pink vintage shells. When I found it the metal links were rusty and falling apart. I upcycled it with new jewelry hardware and used faux pearls instead of the dark wooden beads it originally came with. The result is a lighter, brighter necklace that mixes a more contemporary look with the vintage shells. Also while many of my pieces will have all new beads, a large number will have a mix of vintage beads, or mixed media in general. I made my first necklace when I was seven and I have always enjoyed designing jewelry and making things. It is tremendously rewarding to be creative. I included a few pictures of other various pieces I have made.

The center round pieces are buttons

Pink shell necklace

I did go to a really cool thrift shop in Philadelphia recently, Philly Aids Thrift. It was totally awesome and an incredibly fun store. The music was lively and the way they set up the shop into various sections, even with a vintage section, created an atmosphere that is quite unique. I will wait and do a whole post about Philadelphia vintage shops, along with more about Philly Aids Thrift, when I get a chance to go visit more of the vintage shops there. I went on a Monday so several were closed.

Philly Aids Thrift

I have a feeling I will be going back to Philadelphia quite often. As far as day trips out of NYC it is a five-hour trip from Brooklyn and back but it is great to get out of Dodge and go somewhere different. The architecture there is rather awesome too in terms of old homes and historical buildings. I included just a couple of photographs.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia old homes

Well I hope you are all enjoying summer. We are having heat waves so I am postponing the Dottie Angel dress post about the last dress I made just a bit longer. I made it out of a thicker fabric thinking I could wear it year-round but it is a tad too thick for a heat wave!!

Six Links to Some Great Upcycling Ideas

July 9, 2016

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I am going to try this out for a while and see how it goes. Every month I will find my favorite upcycles of the month. I will try to find a few that are recent, and doubtless some of them will be older posts that someone made but that I still consider relevant.

Here are a few I found recently:

1. The first one has various ways you could recycle a ladder. Indoor and outdoor ideas are shared. All are very good ideas. I particularly like the pot-holding ladder suspended from the ceiling. I think the black one is a really attractive way to store pots and pans and retain more space in your cabinets for other kitchen items.

2. This next one is 25 DIY hanging planters. It includes some really great ideas, and also some of them have links to tutorials. I like a lot of them but my favorite is the bird cage filled with succulent plants. I think that is just beautiful.

http://www.architectureartdesigns.com/25-lovely-diy-hanging-planters/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=google_plus&utm_source=socialnetwork

3. The next one is a lamp made from a recycled mannequin wearing a WWII helmet. It does not give instructions but if you are handy with electrical wire it is a wonderful, unique idea that is sure to be a conversation piece. This one was made by Danish Re-Design.

4. This is about how to repurpose wine corks into children’s toys. Several ideas are listed, from figurines to stamps to a pirate boat. Fun and playful ideas to entertain children! The figurines would be fun even for adults, as you could let your imagination run wild and make figures of your favorite celebrities or anyone else you choose.

Photo by Secondsguru.com

5. This one is a fun way to take a men’s dress shirt and tie and upcycle them into a summer sleeveless blouse. A super simple idea, no advanced sewing needed. In fact if you don’t have a sewing machine there isn’t much sewing involved so you could sew it by hand. Erin Stevens is the designer, who was so nice as to share her tutorial for this project. You might enjoy checking out her Etsy shop, GarageCoutureClothes.

6. This last one is an upcycled top made from silk scarves that I found on Pinterest. The top was made by La Pristic Ouiston, a brand created by the designer Laurence Mahéo. She made the top from various silk scarves and then cut the silk with a laser cutter, which gives the top a very modern look. The result is a stunning top with a very classy look. La Prestic Ouiston is based in Paris; however apparently Saks Fifth Avenue carries some of their clothing. I have included a link to Saks. The woman who is modeling the top is Linda Wright and she is a blogger.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post. I will aim to do one monthly with my favorite finds and perhaps it will be a dozen next month. I hope you are busy enjoying summer!

Be Kind, Thrift and Rewind

To be conscious of recycling

Category: Retro/Vintage

Vintage 90’s Blouse and a Thrifted Black Coat

Philly Aids Thrift and a Few Vintage Shops in Philadelphia

I Opened My Etsy Shop CosmicRenegade

Six Links to Some Great Upcycling Ideas