Creative Common Occupation

As much as I love the idea of supporting small, independent fashion designers, I often find the garments unwearable.  They're more like pieces of abstract art then something I could actually figure out how to put on.  So yesterday when we plodded up the stairs to check out the Creative Common Occupation pop up shop I was blown away by the collections.  They were beautiful!  They were so simple and yet unique in their design, and best of all I could see myself wearing almost every piece (unfortunately my bank account was less cooperative otherwise I would have come tripping back down the stairs with a whole new wardrobe).
I've got to say though, I really fell hard for My Deer Fox's diamond bags (Ooo they're like origami) and Jyoti Kalyanji's seamless knitted homeware.  
Anyway listen to me prattle on!  I just wanted to tell you to go and check them out.  Their opening party is TONIGHT and they're only sticking around for a couple of days so don't dawdle. 
Creative Common Occupation
4 Cross St (behind Krd)
Opening party 7 - 9pm
More info here

Cultural fix

A lot of people don't know this but I'm half Eritrean. 
You're half WHAT??
Half Eritrean.
What's that?
It's a country.
Never heard of it.
You're not alone, most people haven't.  It's a tiny little country, in case you were wondering.  It's nestled in along the coastline of the Red Sea in Africa.  I'm sad to say that I've never been there before and know very little about the culture, but there are two things I am very well acquainted with... the food and the coffee!  Ask me what the one food is that I could happily eat for the rest of my life and I will tell you injera.  Glorious, delicious injera.  And then I'll wash it down with a little cup of your best Eritrean coffee. 
Injera is this sour sort of yeasty pancake that gets piled up with spicy sauces, vegetables and salad.  Then you use the pancake to scoop this irresistible mountain of goodness up and shovel it into your mouth.  Mmm and then you savour every last bite!  I am yet to come across somebody who isn't utterly in love with injera from the very first taste. 
Then comes the coffee.  Oh my, it's like no other coffee you've tasted.  It's coffee the way it was always intended to be brewed!  Fresh green beans are roasted in a little pan over red hot coals, then ground in a mortar and pestle before being boiled in a long necked vessel.  The end is stuffed with horse hair to filter out the grinds when the coffee is poured into tiny cups piled high with sugar.  All the while a chai smelling incense is burning away on coals beside you filling the air with a smell that makes you forget you're sitting in a West Auckland sports field. Traditionally you drink three cups in a row, but if your caffeine tolerance isn't up to scratch you're probably jittering after the second hit.
So you see every year we wait for the International Cultural Festival like it's Christmas.  We head straight for the Eritrean tent, say our hello's and take our place in the semi circle around the coffee lady.  And we don't budge for the next few hours!
xx

Downtown

It's days like this that leave me wishing we lived in town again.  I miss the huge variety of different people (the North Shore isn't exactly known for its diversity), I miss the cafes and I miss just being able to walk down to the local shops.  Country life is great too of course and has many, many benefits but occasionally the grass (or concrete I suppose) looks a little more inviting on the other side.  Anyway although we had a lovely afternoon of exploring downtown Auckland, the real aim of our mission was to check out the Vintage Fashion museum exhibition.  What a fantastic and altogether unique location for such an event!  These gigantic, eery old Silo's make such a great exhibition space, although probably less appealing to those with claustrophobia.  As for the clothes themselves, hmmm they didn't particularly blow my socks off.  I mean yes, there were some beauties in the mix, particularly the blue 50s  El Jay frock, but on the whole it was a little sparse.  From what I understand a number of garments where being photographed at the time we were there so perhaps that's why there were so many naked mannequins. I'm glad we went of course, especially because I think it's important to support these events so that they can grow and educate more of the public, but it wasn't quite what I had hoped.  All in all we had a great day though, so no regrets there!

 

EVENT: NZ Vintage Fashion Museum exhibition

New Zealand made vintage has always been a bit of a mystery to me.  It's not that I have anything against it or think we had no particular fashion sense, it's because it is so incredibly difficult to track down!  It seems that anything before the mid 60s just sort of vanished (or is still tucked away in grannies closet).  Back when I had the vintage store it was always a great day if I stumbled across an earlier piece with a 'Made in NZ' label hand sewn into the back, or an old designer I recognised.  Part of me just wanted to pack it away for safe keeping.  I know of course that during the war and in the time afterwards, almost all clothing was sewn at home.  You didn't head down to your local clothing store and pick something off the rack, rather you would wait impatiently for the latest pattern books to come out at your fabric store and devour the pages in search of the latest styles from Europe and America.  Then you would zip home, jump on your old sewing machine and whip up the closest resembling frocks possible.  How times have changed.

Anyway if you're as curious about these old treasured garments as I am then you have a precious few days to head down to the Silo in Auckland for the New Zealand Vintage Museum exhibition.  I had the pleasure of meeting founder Doris Du Pont for coffee one afternoon a couple of years ago (whilst setting up a Dashfield pop up shop on High St) and was blown away, if not a little intimidated by her knowledge and fashion experience.  I can almost guarantee that this exhibition is going to be a goodie with her at the helm.

I'm hoping to make it down there tomorrow so will be sure to report back for those of you that can't make it.

 

Venue:  Silo 6 at Silo Park in Wynyard Quarter

Address:  Silo Park, Jellicoe Street, Auckland, New Zealand

Date:  1 - 9 March, open daily (except Mon and Tues) from noon to 6 pm

Ticket:  Free

Website

A snippet of the Glory Days launch party

This past Friday night the first official issue of Glory Days magazine was celebrated with a hiss and a roar!  Burlesque beauties shimmied and teased the audience, the DJ had the crowd bopping to every ones favourite rockabilly tunes, the bands had us shaking our hips and wow did people bring out their best vintage finery!  The hair, the make up, the dresses... it was amazing!  Unfortunately for me (with my due date being a mere two weeks away) I had no hope at all of fitting any of my vintage dresses and felt distinctly under dressed!   Still I was kind of proud of myself for making it out at all ;).

The party itself sold out before the night and the magazine has had a fantastic response from readers, so it's full steam ahead for the next issue!  I really enjoyed being part of the first issue and look forward to working with everybody again.  Although my content may be a little limited this time while I adjust to life with a newborn.  I will certainly keep you posted though.
x

Read all about it! Glory Days releases its first issue today!

It's here, it's happening... Glory Days is released today!  You can go and check it out right over here.
I haven't seen the final product yet either so make sure you let me know what you think :).  I have two articles in it and so do a whole bunch of other very talented contributors, familiar bloggers and regular faces on the vintage scene.  The lovely ladies who came up with the idea and threw this magazine together out of nothing are amazing!  How they pulled it all together I'll never know.
x

You're all invited to the Glory Days launch party!

 

Psst have you heard the whisper about town?  There's a brand spanking new vintage magazine coming our way!!  To celebrate the very first edition, Glory Days is throwing a big shindig next month and you're all invited!  Shimmy into your finest frock, set that hair in rollers and dust some rouge on those cheeks.  Bring your finest dancing shoes and get ready for a night of rockabilly bands, saucy burlesque beauties and a whole lot of other vintage treats.

For more information you can check out Facebook here or look it up on eventfinder in a few days.

Hmm now lets see if I can find anything to squeeze my big baby belly into!

x 

Vintage textile fair 2012

First of all I apologise for the quality and lack of photos of the Vintage Textile Fair this year.  It was really crowded and there was awful lighting so alas this is all I got.  Did anybody else manage to make it?

As always as soon as I got off the elevator and stepped into the room I felt like I was going to completely loose it!  I never know which direction to turn in or what to look at first!  It's heaven I tell you, heaven!  There were frocks, shoes, hats, bags, fabrics and all sorts of other delicious vintage treats.  We wandered around for about an hour and a half... and then wandered around again in case we had missed anything.  The only difference this year is that I didn't go on a mad buying frenzy.  In fact I walked out empty handed (I know, what the hell right!).  You see here is the thing I realised being pregnant and all... none of these clothes are going to fit me anyway!  And of course I kept a really good eye out for kiddie clothes, but seeing as how I don't know whether this is a little guy or girl I couldn't really buy much for that either.  It didn't stop me from having an amazing time though.  It's basically like one big museum, except you're allowed to touch everything!

Anyway so as you can see I am still very enthusiastic about it.  The retro version is coming up in November and you better believe that I'm going to be showing up to that one too.
xx

The Gypsy Fair

 I know, I know these markets!  Somehow I just can't stay away!  Golden Dawn emailed me the other day though and asked if I would be interested in doing another.  My first reaction was no but then I realised that I am moving office/ storage room in the next few weeks and could really do with down sizing.  So you can expect to see us at Golden Dawn in a couple of Sunday's selling every item in the shop for a mere $10!!  As if that wasn't enough incentive, you can check out a previous Golden Dawn Gypsy market here.  They really deck the place out in Gypsy style and there are also live jazz/ bluegrass bands playing.  This one is going to be held inside so it'll be all snug and intimate while winter rages outside. 
Hope to see you there!
xx

And that was the grand opening...

Wow thank you very much to all of you who made it to the opening night of Hold Fast last night (for those of you who didn't, it's open for a whole week so go check it out!).  I think we were all pretty blown away by the amazing turn out.  The whole place was just oozing cuteness from every corner and everybody who contributed is so incredibly talented!  The beer and cider were flowing free, the music were awesome and the little wee cupcakes nothing short of delicious! Within the first half hour we already managed to snap up two awesome prints by Keiran from Two Hands Tattoo and we're eyeing up a third one.  I realised at the end of the night that I totally forgot to take any photos of my shop section... so here's one from while I was setting up!  Ha ha, oops :).

xx