Hey guys! Laura and Micheline's recent Memphis shopping videos got me wondering.. are there any other gals out there who like to shop vintage and antique stores not only for clothes but for decorating their homes too?
I got started at an early age shopping antique stores for Victorian through 50s era furnishings and decorations with my Grandma and Mom when I was a kid. Usually 20s furniture and 30s decor being what we looked for. A love for antiquing and hunting for retro decor is something that stuck with me. Growing up in southern CA we mostly went to old town Orange and some higher-end antique stores in the beach cities. Being used to those prices, moving over to VA it still doesn't cease to amaze me how many lovely things are hidden away in little back road antique and vintage shops, and the prices are 1/5th of what they would have been in CA. There's a few stores nearby that have boudoir type things- 50s compacts and lipstick containers, vintage perfume bottles, bakelite bracelets and brooches, lamps, sweater clasps, loads of celluloid vanity sets, lucite, chalk-ware, mirrors, combs, ladyhead vases, gloves, stocking still in the packaging.. It's like a 20s - 50s screen siren's dressing room was frozen in time. They also have a HUGE brooch selection, and my favourite thing about it is almost everything is under $10.
There's another store in town that sales mostly vintage clothes, and accessories like gloves and silk scarves and purses, but everything is all piled up, old lady attic style. It takes some digging but I've found some vanity accessories there and my sister found a Christian Dior hat for $5, and another time I found a 1890s (so the shop owner thought, I think it's 20s) velvet cape. At the time I didn't know this but I was told after I bought it that the trim is monkey fur... I don't know how I feel about that :/
I also recently bought a very fancy silk velvet floor length coat. It has a wide beaded collar that folds up into a hood. It's such an unusual design that I knew if I didn't get it I'd never be able to find one like it again. It was owned by the woman who modeled it for the department store in the late 40s and she just stored it all these years, so it's like new. I've bought chandeliers there, and at a nearby Goodwill I found my pre 1900s vanity for $64
I think one reason why there is such an abundance of wonderful finds out here in The Small Town South is that there are hardly any younger girls into retro and vintage items, at least none that I've seen. Whenever my sister and I go to these stores the only other people shopping are very old ladies.
Does anyone else have good luck in small towns? I love reading about other people's good finds. Here are some of the most recent things I found last week:
Little empty black and gold compact for my sister. She's going to put her powder refill in it. French kitty and rhinestone brooches in the back.
The back of the compact is meant to look like a little record. How cool it that?!
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