Hey, Do You Have $1,250?

Good! So you can buy me this vintage Chanel letter necklace from What Goes Around Comes Around?

($1,250, vintage Chanel, shopwgaca.com)

Lace Tees and Other Pretty Little Things

Why do I suddenly want a black lace T-shirt? Seriously, why? I have no clue what I'd wear it with. I'm not the Material Girl. Or even Rihanna. So why do I have this bizarre urge? I actually almost bought this today, and then came to my senses.*


Victoria's Secret scoop-neck lace tee, $19.99. I mean, what am I gonna wear that with? I have no idea. I think I got this bee in my bonnet after days of walking by my local American Apparel store, which I have privately (and now publicly!) vowed to boycott after years of being thoroughly disgusted with their ads. It hasn't really been tough to avoid stepping in there until recently...



...when I spied this cute lace top paired with a circle chambray skirt. American Apparel leaf flower lace tee, $38.

But: boycott. Instead: vintage!


Lace fringe scrimmage top, $28, from a cute new San Francisco–based vintage shop run by a couple of stylist/bloggers called American Apocalypse. I bought it: sorry kids!


Someone should definitely buy this Polka-dot two-piece, $100, though. It's not lace but it is RAD. Even radder if you chopped off the skirt.

*I did buy the following:


Square-neck top, $19.99.


Racerback snakeprint tank, $14.99.

Must. Stop. Shopping. And yet, on this fine summer Friday, I have set for myself a mission: hiking boots! Oh yes! We're going to Yosemite in August, and I need some appropriate footwear. Here's hoping I find something even mildly cute.

Cute New Brooklyn Store Alert! Black Bear Vintage & Handmade

Guys! Yay! Listen, listen! There's a brand-new vintage boutique that just opened in Windsor Terrace. (That's in Brooklyn.) It's called Black Bear, and it's adorable. Now I'm not just writing about it because it's my best friend's store (but it helps). I'm writing about it because it's awesome and it's worth going to Brooklyn for if you don't already live there. (And if you don't live in Brooklyn, you really should). And it's even right off the train! And there's an ice cream place next door! See how easy they make it for you?

Anyway, Black Bear is a brand-new vintage boutique that sells vintage clothes, shoes and accessories at prices that are totally fair and reasonable since someone has actually WORN said clothes before. In other words, it's a great vintage selection at prices that aren't Manhattan's idea of vintage. So most everything's around $20. (!!!)

To prove to you that I'm not making this up, here's what I bought last Sunday on the first day they opened (because I like to stay on top of my vintage):


I got these two tops, a cute little handmade soap (more on that in a second), and a vintage mood ring, and it all came to just under $40.

AND they have super cuters little handmade pillows made by Black Bear's co-owner, Julia. Pillows of dachshunds with cones on their necks! And pillows with centaurs on them. And more locally sourced handmade goods. Like sweet little soaps in the shape of GUINEA PIGS! They're scented (but not like guinea pigs)! Can you even? I'd go on but I'm like braying with excitement and I'm starting to embarrass myself. Oh yeah. And the store, which occupies what used to be an old liquor store, feels like the basement from "That '70s Show." In the good way. (In the no-Ashton-Kutcher way.) And, they buy vintage too! Again, making things easy for you.

Come for the great vintage selection, stay for the bear wearing a party hat in the window.

Black Bear is located at:
469 16th Street @ Prospect Park West
Brooklyn, NY, 11215

Phone: 718.768.0250

Tues - Sun: 11:00 am - 7:00 pm

Closed Monday

Black Bear on Facebook.

Seriously.

Why Aren't I Wearing: This Vintage Frank Usher Dress?

POWER DRESSING JACKPOT! The description of this bonkersly rad 1980s dress basically parallels everything I want my life to be. (I've bolded the most attractive parts to emphasize how much they relate to everything I love and strive for.)

(Apprx $240 USD, Frank Usher, Freudianslipvintage.com)

An incredible vintage 1980's Frank Usher beaded cocktail gown, with substantial shoulder pads. Literally dripping with beading, bold silver sequins and bugle beads are encrusted across the shoulders and cuffs, and in a zig zag band across the front and back bodice. The dress is in black silk chiffon, with a sheer panel across the top of the bodice. The remainder of the dress is sprinkled throughout with sparkling black bugle beads. An exceptional dress for the party season, and in a really wearable size!

The extent to which I'm considering buying this is troubling me.

+ SWEET 1980s Frank Usher top on eBay. Remember the name "Frank Usher" and save it your eBay searches AHORA.

The MOST Beautiful Vintage 1950s Wedding Dresses Evar.

If you dream of wearing a 1950s vintage Mad Men-inspired wedding dress (though hopefully you don't aspire to a marriage like Joan or Betty's) AND have a waist that's less than like 27 inches, check out these dream-worthy vintage wedding dresses from Etsy seller Fab Gabs, who even styles her seller's photos so it looks as if she's partying like it's 1959.

($395, William Cahill, Fabgabs.etsy.com)

This dress has FIVE -- count 'em, FIVE -- Mcdreamy layers of tulle. You could be riding a bike or wearing snow pants under there and no one would know. It's so gorgeous I can barely breathe. Bury me in it. But leave the back unzipped, because this bad boy's got a 25" waist. Talk about waiting to exhale. (Shooby!) And credit where it's due -- The Bridal Wishlist scouted this one out!

($225, Fabgabs.etsy.com)

SIX layers of tulle! FOR WHEN FIVE will not do! It's SO beautiful, and I love the sweetheart neckline, but with a 28" underbust: 28" and 24" waist, I'd have to get several ribs removed and drink all my meals through a straw. Ah, but what price fashion? (Side note: the woman who sold me my wedding dress told me that a girl she sold a dress to had to cancel her final fitting because she'd starved herself to the point that she fell over and cracked her head open and had to get about 40 stitches. AHH, admirable committment!)

($250, Fabgabs.etsy.com)

My absolute favorite for that super lacey post-modern dash of Madonna.

PS -- I know I'm probably tardy to the party, but did you see Christina Hendricks on/ in In Style Weddings? (That's my only other non-barfy bridal mag besides New York Magazine Weddings.)

TEAM JOAN! Girl, you could do sidebends and sit-ups, but PLEASE don't lose that butt!

Wanna Buy Cute Shoes?

Rmkay. I'm selling REALLY cute shoes on eBay to fund my Avon 3-Day Walk For Breast Cancer!

Here's a preview of the amazors shoes I'm selling on eBay:

Evan-Picone, resoled

Jeffrey Campbell

Calvin Klein

Vintage -- probably early '60s, resoled. Wore them to a wedding. Which isn't important, but they were worn to a happy event!

Never worn! FOR REAL!

Most are size 7.5 or 8. Hurry! Act now! Buy cute shoes for a good cause!

Wanna just donate because you don't care about shoes?
Do that here: http://walk.avonfoundation.org/goto/tamar

(But how do you not care about shoes?)

I'm Doing The Avon 3-Day Walk For Breast Cancer! Wanna Donate? Wanna Buy Shoes?

DOODS! I am doing the Avon 3-Day Walk for (against, really) Breast Cancer in New York in October. 39 miles, 3 days, rain or shine -- hopefully shine.

Chances are you either HAVE boobs or KNOW someone who has them or BOTH! So, wanna give me money? Donate here http://walk.avonfoundation.org/goto/tamar

And/or, if you're the type of person who needs AN INCENTIVE, which is fine, I'm selling these FUCKING AWESOME vintage heels and putting the $ into my fund!




They're a size 8M but would fit a large 7 or a 7.5 best. They're J. Renee and look pretty much unworn (I bought them online and they didn't fit. Wah!)
3" heel with amazing gold hardware on toe and heel and metallic animal print squigglies against black material.

The bottoms are marked $56.00 from a previous resale shop, but I'm selling them for $32.00 -- most of that will go straight into my Avon Breast Cancer Walk fund (with the exception of shipping bucks.)

Want 'em? First person to email me at tamron at gmail dot com gets them! (US only pleeeeze!)


Want

Whose Shoes?

All right, who's gonna buy these? Tamron? I think I need to take a little Etsy break....



Vintage dove gray peeptoe pumps, $26. With lace! Okay, okay, I'll buy them.

Also, these made me gasp when I saw them...



Jeffrey Campbell "Spring" sandal, $96. Love the giant purple bow! Alas, not the most practical shoe of all time. And so I restrain myself.

Also cute:



These DKNY wedges, $98. Don't they look so comfy? I'm hoping they'll go on sale. Until then: Practicing restraint.

Restraining.....

OMFG! 1920s PEACOCK PANTYHOSE AD And More Deco Ads By Coles Phillips

Illustrator Coles Phillips created this PEACOCK Art Deco design for Holeproof Hosiery in the 1920s. (Image via Squidoo.)

More amazing Coles Phillips images:

(Via Artdecoblog)



(Via Day-Lab)

Retroandbeyondvintage.com -- BEST VINTAGE SHOP EVER?

Is this real life? I'd never heard of Retroandbeyondvintage.com, until a few minutes ago. But thanks to the black hole that is Google, I could be just a few clicks away from a Wendy's "Where's The Beef?" hat and this ULTRA '80s lady-face splatter paint Bedazzled t-shirt-shorts set. I feel like I won at life tonight.

($14.99, Retroandbeyondvintage.com)

($29.99, Retroandbeyondvintage.com)

AND they accept returns. In case the lady-face splatterpaint outfit turned out to be not such a good idea...

This Cat Bathing Suit Is The Best Thing On The Internet Ever.

I used to think THIS was the greatest thing on the entire Internet.

But I was wrong.

This is:
It's a vintage Fiorucci bathing suit WITH A GROWLING BABY TIGER on it, and it WAS available at Shopnastygal.com, until some brave and lucky soul swooped in and chickenhawked that shit. (Via IsMental)

By the by, I'd never heard of Nasty Gal, but I'm down with some of their stuff for sure. Wishlist wants =

($68, Shopnastygal.com)

Because it's jumper-y, and you KNOW I love a jumper...

($58, Shopnastygal.com)

And you KNOW I love a horse!

To-Die-For Vintage Wedding Dress On Etsy!

($300, VonlenskaVintage.Etsy.com)

Granted, you'd definitely be flipping the script a little, but if you're looking for a super non-traditional vintage wedding dress, then seriously? Yes. This cream-colored, beaded drop-waist dress has more potential than Lindsay Lohan circa late 2004 -- like, right after she did Mean Girls but before she slid down the coke ladder and into the anorexic abyss.

I love how it's sorta '30s-meets-'80s but not overly either, which makes it still sort of modern without screaming "I THRIFTED THIS AND THEN WORE IT TO MY WEDDING!" Because there's a time and a place for yelling about thrifted stuff, but maybe your wedding isn't it.

Anyway, this could also be a lovely end-of-night dress, if you're so inclined. I'm not, but if you are, then go for it.

I Bought It Files: Pade Vavra Cat Stud Earrings, Other Stuff I'm Wearing In A Weddng This Weekend

($138, Pade Vavre, BlueLuxe.com)

Oops. Accidentally bought these: 22KT gold plated cat stud earrings with sapphire eyeballs. I may or may not wear them to the wedding I'm in this weekend. I WILL not, however, wear them with THIS belt, if I wear it at/ in the wedding:

($136, Moss Mills)

I got it on sale at Epaulet. (Remember when I was losing my mind over this Moss Mills horse bracelet? And, speaking of horses, RIP TRAGIC FLORIDA HORSES!)

BTW, the dress I'm wearing in the wedding is...
... A Christiane Celle fuchsia satin dress -- the bride found it for me on eBay for a song! Can you BELIEVE how great that is! I actually factually WILL wear this again. And I'm wearing these vintage gold heels from Olive's Very Vintage in Brooklyn -- Gorgeous, perfectly curated and preserved dresses, skirts, tops, shoes and jewelry. Definitely vintage and not thrift. you should go. It's great.


That's new kitty, Sim. I adopted her from Beauty Blogging Junkie's Amber! BTW, this completely out-of-sequence, highly unedited post brought to you by Gruner Veltliner!1!!

Zachary's Smile Sale Is ON!

Zachary's Smile, of my most favey shops in all of NYC, is having a their annual Zachary's Smile Attic Sale starting today, Thursday, February 5 at 1pm EST. Seriously, GET THERE! I have one of their remake/remodel long-sleeved jersey dresses with vintage trim and two sleeveless dresses, and they're the BEST!

WHEN: Feb 5‐8, 12‐15, 19‐22 and Feb 26 ‐ March 1.
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays are 1pm to 8pm and Sundays are 1pm to 7pm.

WHERE: 303 Mulberry Street between Houston and Bleecker Street around the corner from the 317 Lafayette location entrance.

WHAT: Lotsa vintage stuff, and Zachary's Smile's awesome remake/remodel line, priced from $5 to $50. Vintage shoes and accessories, from $5 - 10.

Also, Catherine's trip to Zachary's Smile's attic sale back in 2006 was one on FashionBinge's virgin posts! Ah, (painful) memories!

Also also, there's a Zachary's Smile in L.A. now too!

Yoox Vintage Earrings I've Been Sweating For A Fortnight

Actually, more like three fortnights... Anyway, Yoox has had a selection of vintage jewelry for a while now, and I've been lurvin' all up on these blue '80s earrings more than I should probably admit. Like, slobbering and shit. They're clip-on (one strike against them), and $70, (strike two), therefore I'll continue to covet from afar.

($70, Yoox)

Also, Yoox is having a one-day-only 25% Christmas Day sale where they're taking 25% off (like I says!) on all of their Fall/ Winter merch. But again, it's ONE DAY ONLY! Use promo code YOOXMAS on December 25.

You COULD walk away with/ in these SERIOUS Lanvin heels -- currently $312, $234 with promo code discount!

THINK ABOUT IT!

The Ones That Got Away

Dammit, I am pissed. I missed out on these awesome furry boots last night because I was busy buying other things and forgot to rebid. I’ll just have to keep watching indie cult vintage, I guess.



Curses!