CHilly CHi and Spotlight on Closet Case Vintage!

Frigid ice temperatures in Chicago today through next week is perfect for me to stay and get work done! And it helps that this is my favorite kind of work, I mean, spending all day surrounded by clothing and playing dress up! Who wouldn't want to do this daily?! That pretty much sums up my week. Waking early to catch the light, shopping at wonderful estates, Thrifting, reading blogs and fashion magazines gathering inspiration, putting together playlists to make the soundtracks of each day and then playing dress up coming up with the perfect outfits for Dethrose. It's bliss. SHop update in about an hour! 

But first.....

Once again, I would like to introduce you to another lovely vintage loving lady that is part of my daily vintage fix. Another Nashville native, Carmen of Closet Case Vintage. I came across Carmen's blog and shop through Quincy from Q's Daydream. Ever since I have been a avid reader of her blog. Stylist and vintage shop owner, Carmen has a wonderful and modern take on vintage that is truly an inspiration. Enjoy! 

1. What made you start your blog and easy shop?

The plan to sell online and create a brand was in place many years before it came to fruition. The idea came to me sometime in 2006 and after careful collecting, I started selling by appointment at my house and at various pop-up shops in 2008. I opened my first etsy shop in the Spring of 2009. The blog followed shortly after. In the summer of 2010, I opened my storefront in Nashville, Tennessee. 

2. Closet Case Vintage  is your shop/blog name, where did this come about?

I will never tell ;) 

3. What do you find inspires you most?

The thousands of individual hand stitches in just one flapper dress. 

4. If you could live in any decade, what would it be?

Can I be more specific? I wish I'd been born in 1955, so I could have done my growing years in the 60's and my teens/twenties in the 70's.

5. Who is your style Icon?

My great aunt Joyce. She, at 86 years young, is still the most glamorous woman I've ever met.

6. Do you find music to be a big inspiration for your creativity?

Absolutely. Nostalgic music makes me especially creative. What can I say? I live in the past. 

7. If you could have the wardrobe of anyone, who would it be?

Catherine Baba's. No question about it. 

8. Do you find the time of year, seasons, to be a big influence on your style?

Yes! I think I'm most excited about dressing at the beginning of a season when the weather changes. Spring is my favorite because I get to start wearing my sundresses with boots and cardigans. Winter is lovely too, because I do a reverse bohemian summer and layer all of my hippie paisleys, leathers and free-flowing clothes.

9. Were you always interested in vintage lifestyles and fashion? 

Since I can remember, I've wanted to be a flower child. So. Yes. 

10. What colors are you mostly drawn to?

Any and all, but especially when deep and rich. Jewel tones mixed with neons mixed with pastels mixed with neutrals. 

11. Where are your favorite places to shop? Online, thrift, antique shops? 

I've been bad recently with the online shopping. It's my favorite. Antique shops are fun when I've got a pile of cash. My patience for thrift stores is wearing thin. 

12. Describe an ideal day for you?

Being awakened by my boyfriend and my kitties and a cup of coffee. After that, the rest of the day doesn't really matter! 

13. What is your favorite part about being a blogger and shop owner?

My favorite part of the blog is having opportunities to do fun things like this feature! My favorite part of having the Etsy shop is being able to ship internationally. The storefront in Nashville? My favorite part of having it is getting to know my customers personally. The occasional celebrity shopper is always high on my favorite list too ;) 

14. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

On a vegan commune in California. Not even kidding!

Thank Carmen!! I can't wait to visit Nashville and see your collection first hand! Shop Carmen's Collection HERE.

Spotlight Dear Golden Vintage

It's another snow day here in Chicago. So far my morning has consisted of, Mad Men, fruit salad & toast, and pilates. My afternoon will consist of blogging, taking photos for Etsy and new Dethrose Vintage shop updates.

Today is the next spotlight that I have been very excited to post. Dear Golden Vintage, shop owner Lauren, was lovely enough to take time out of her busy day to answer a few questions for me! Lauren shop is one of the most lovely Vintage collections I have ever seen. I think if I was to see her collection I would have a heart attack! Lauren has such a great eye for Vintage and has such a great modern yet timeless style.  Enjoy! 

1. What made you start your blog and easy shop?

I started my shop in 2008, but I started collecting vintage when I was about 15. My mom collected antiques so I was always around old things and in high school I came up on a barn sale with 10 cent vintage dresses as far as the eye could see, I bought all the ones that fit me and have never been the same since! Oh to find a barn like that again! I started my vintage shop simply because my husband saw me looking at vintage on Etsy and noted that since I had such an obsession with vintage clothing I should give selling it a whirl. Three days later I opened my shop!

2. What do you find inspires you most?

It's different all the time and can be almost anything. Movies, books, other people, but on the whole I think old movies inspire me the most, naturally!

3. If you could live in any decade, what would it be?

I'd love to live in the 1920s, the mid-to-late 1950s in New York (just to see the jazz!).

4. Who is your style Icon?

I can't say that I have one in particular, sorry if that's boring!

5. Do you find music to be a big inspiration for your creativity?

Hugely, I am very very into music, I played the violin for 14 years so I love classical music. I listing to jazz the most but outside of the in terms of popular music I listen to more than I can list. Both of my parents were very into music and I am married to a musician, so it's just part of the fabric of life.

6. If you could have the wardrobe of anyone, who would it be? 

Heck, my own! 

7. Do you find the time of year, seasons, to be a big influence on your style?

Living in Michigan? Yes, there's no way around it. My style changes a lot from summer to winter I think. In the fall I tend to dress sort of boyishly, then in the winter sort of more feminine and snow bunny like and in the summer a bit more edgy mixed with very pretty vintage pieces. 

8. Were you always interested in vintage lifestyles and fashion?  

Completely.

9. What colors are you mostly drawn to?

Non-colors really. My favorite color is gray. After that I love all the neutrals with some peach and mustard thrown in. I've never really gotten into the colors blue or red though...and subsequently I find it hardest to stock pieces in those colors in my shop although I know other women like them. I am always working on that!

10. Where are your favorite places to shop? Online, thrift, antique shops? 

Antique malls for sure. Such an adventure. And since I like more vintage/antique things than clothing I can basically spend hours and hours in antique malls (and do!)

11. Describe an ideal day for you?

Hmm, wake up to coffee from this amazing independent coffee shop near my house. Do some listing of vintage pieces in the shop then head out for some vintage hunting. Outside of work stuff, I think an ideal day would include a woody hike and then some evening cocktails... 

12. What is your favorite part about being a blogger and shop owner?

I like being a shop owner much more than being a blogger...and my favorite part is that I am completely immersed in something I love, nay, am obsessed with! I feel like I use all of my skill-sets in my job which feels so great compared to other jobs I have had. I also love seeing girls in vintage they have purchased in my shop, that makes me really really happy. 

13. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? 

If I am lucky I hope to be selling vintage, cuddling my kitties, listening to jazz, taking hikes, getting lost in antique malls, drinking coffee, having cocktails and seeing girls in Dear Golden Vintage. :)

To shop Lauren's wonderful vintage visit here, and to catch up on her daily blog visit here! 

Spotlight Slubird! & Giveaway Announcement!!

I decided for the New Year to start doing 2 things, a few giveaways and spotlights on some of my favorite people in the vintage/creative world that inspire me on a daily basis. First off I want to announce the Winner of my first Giveaway!!! That Damn Green Dress!! This lovely blogger shares her passion for Anthropologie and Vintage on her lil blog:) I can't wait to send you your gift. I will post picks after you receive it that way I won't ruin the surprise for you!

 As for the spotlight, over the next few weeks, you will get a chance to meet some of the darling ladies who are part of my daily reads and shops that I frequent often! I picked 6, a Michigan Vintage Maven, a Las Vegas Vintage Lovely and 2 Southern Vintage Belles and todays spotlight Miss Sarah Louise! This list will probably grow a little longer as the year continues:) 

I have gotten the wonderful chance to actually meet and work along side of Sarah Louise at a few vintage showcases. Besides our shared passion for Vintage and Mad Men, I really adored her style. So soon after I began to read her blog and frequent her 2 etsy shops...

1. What made you start your blog and Etsy shop?

I've been blogging online in some form or another for years (Livejournal mostly) so it just seemed like a natural transition. I got bored with Livejournal, I had an "artist" blog when I was in Columbia [getting my BFA in photography] but after a while I wanted a clean slate. I started reading a lot of fashion and lifestyle blogs about a year and a half ago and I've been into it ever since.

As for the vintage store, that also felt like an extension for me, as I've been selling vintage on eBay on and off for a few years. I started going to Etsy looking for vintage and liked the shop format better than auctions, and I just got addicted! I got so inspired looking at all the handmade things, too, that I realized I can learn to make jewelry, a passion I always had. 

2. Slubird is your shop name, where did this come about?/Tzipporit is your blog name, where did this come about?

Slubird is a nickname I've had since 2005 or so. My name is Sarah Louise, my friend Claire started calling me Slouise, then shortened it to Slou, then Slü. So my nickname was Slu (umlauts optional) and I started drawing myself as birds and I can't remember how it turned into Slubird, but it stuck! Some of my friends even call me Slubird in real life. 

Tzipporit is Hebrew for "little bird." Slubird was my blog account at Columbia, and I wanted a clean slate, so I stuck with that one. I'm part Jewish and I wanted to get a tattoo of that word in Hebrew, so I love it.

3. What do you find inspires you most?

Two things; colour and seeing what actual people wear. It's obtainable since most of us can't afford designer clothes, it's nice to see what you can slap together with pieces that are thrifted and from fast fashion stores, especially mixed with a few higher quality garments here and there. Colour inspires me a lot when I'm shopping and getting ready in the morning. I'm so confident when I'm wearing the perfect colour combination, regardless of the pieces themselves.

4. If you could live in any decade, what would it be?

I really wouldn't mind living in the Gilded Age in America or the Victorian Era in England. That era introduced so many things that we have in our society right now, while also still being into classical art and history. It's a perfect mixture of vintage and modern.

5. Who is your style Icon?

I can't pick one. Honestly, it changes a lot, especially when I change my look. Since I currently have a pixie cut I'm looking at what other celebrities and bloggers with pixie cuts wear so I know what flatters it, as well as what redheads and curvy/petite girls wear. It's nice to see other girls flaunt what you are also proud of about yourself!

6. Do you find music to be a big inspiration for your creativity?

It was a lot when I was studying photo, but not so much these days.

7. If you could have the wardrobe of anyone, who would it be?

Michelle Williams and Carey Mulligan have some super cute things that I'm coveting, as well as pretty much anything worn on Mad Men. I'd love to raid their costumes when the series ends.

8. Do you find the time of year, seasons, to be a big influence on your style?

Oh yeah. Since Chicago has all four seasons I have to dress for comfort in each one. I'm always layering, so I own many cardigans. When it gets too hot I only wear cotton dresses; when it gets too cold I cover myself in wool. My style sense kind of reverts to plain and survivalist in the winter which is why I want to live somewhere warmer; more time to wear cute clothes!

9. Were you always interested in vintage lifestyles and fashion? 

There were Victorian curios all over the house, my mom loved them and that always reminds me of her. She and my dad also loved weird kitschy things from the 40s and 50s, too. They also grew up in the 60s and 70s, and they kept a lot of things from that point in time. There is still a lot of vintage artwork, records, toys, photos, books, clothing, and barware in my dad's house today; I feel like I grew up with just as many old things as modern things.

10. What colors are you mostly drawn to?

I really love red, blue, and green, in different shades. Teal, chartreuse, red, and forest green are a lot of my wardrobe; I really love jewel tones. My closet is definitely a rainbow, though!

11. Where are your favorite places to shop? Online, thrift, antique shops? 

If I'm looking for something that I definitely or might want vintage, I check Etsy and thrift shops first. There are a few online stores I like, even just to get ideas, and even places like Forever 21, H&M, and Target have a few gems that I've had for years.

12. Describe an ideal day for you?

Sunny, warm day around 80 degrees, me and my boyfriend have a leisurely brunch, then do some vintage shopping. Then we have a nice walk, and later get dressed up and go to a nice dinner. Luckily I've had this happen a few times! I'm lucky to have found a boy who loves vintage as much as I do.

13. What is your favorite part about being a blogger and shop owner?

Being able to share things with other people, and have them be excited about them as much as I am. I love when people buy a dress or jewelry from either of me and tell me how much they love it; I've been so excited about something vintage or handmade I recently acquired and it makes me happy, it's nice to be on the other end, too. I also love on the blog when I can share an event or memory I've had and it makes them happy, reminds them of other wonderful things. 

14. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully living in the Southwest somewhere, doing whatever makes me feel most fulfilled (whether it's Etsy or something else), still with my Michael, and just feeling very happy and healthy!

Find Sarah Louise here, here and here!!!