skirts are the new dresses

i love tube tops. i love empire waists. i love flowy tops and dresses that keep me cool in the summer.
my favorite new top is this elastic waist skirt with huge patch pockets that my silly friend didn't want anymore. (i also love clothes swaps!) i've been finding so many vintage skirts that have interesting patterns or great fabric but look kinda frumpy worn as an actual skirt. the elastic waistline works just as well as a tube top, and a belt at the natural waist - or right under the bust like an empire waist - makes such a pretty, classic-looking shape.
knee length skirts make fantastic tunics. longer, a-line skirts turn into super sexy dresses!
the best part of this discovery....now you can actually wear that full-length, crinkly fabric, hippie skirt with the drawstring with the bells on it that you know you or your mom totally still keeps in the 1990's section of the back of the closet. hike it up, belt it, and tell 'passe' to suck it.

coming soon

and also....tips on how to stay motivated when you are your own boss and make your own schedule....once i figure out what those might be....

i was bad

i found this beautiful joseph magnin 1970's bell sleeve peasant dress yesterday....and kept it for myself. it has actual cotton calico fabric on the bodice and real bloodred velvet for accents - textiles practically unheard of on a polyester dress! unfortunately (for some) the polyester has not made it through the last 30+ years very well and has a few snags so i couldn't put this dress in the shop - shucks.
and, oops! i bought that necklace today too while i should have been shopping for deborah jean. you all will forgive me these grievances, i'm sure, when you see what's coming to the shop over the next week. it just keeps getting better and better.

arizona

i've been shopping in arizona this week and found some amazing southwestern items! let's thank the desert for beautiful denim and interesting leather. and then let's shop.

so that's where that came from

so, i was watching now and then the other night - guilty pleasure #586 - and i realized something profound.
twenty-something girls (like myself) who grew up watching now and then (and maybe still do watch it) are now dressing much like the girls we idolized or identified with at age 12.
i found myself ogling the outfits of teeny, roberta, and sam, and recognizing parts of their wardrobes from my own. we're even driving the same bikes they did.
check out their keds sneakers, high-waisted cutoff shorts, oversize plaid shirts, etc. and see if you can't totally picture yourself all dolled up that way too!


if this sounds about right to you, head on over to deborah jean vintage and find your inner now and then girl.

artist's block

no new blog posts and no items added to the shop in over a week. i've been completely unmotivated and insecure about everything. thinking i'm not artistic enough to be an artist. bleh.
i bought myself a new camera to coax some photo inspiration.
and today it worked! while i'm still being lazy, now i'm blaming it on this insane heat that has no business ruining my may.
my bestest buddy sunita (a.k.a. america's next next top model) helped me out with a photoshoot today, and i've pimped (ick) the myspace page so that it is now most definitely the coolest place to hang out online.
i'll just tell myself that this little post counts as a blog update and hope that you'll come back again to see if i've written anything worth reading yet.
enjoy the fresh face o' suny and stay tuned for new dresses and skirts and sandals oh my to covet at deborah jean vintage.

take advantage of me, please

i'm a sucker. good news for you!

here's a roundabout story for you with lots of information.

the other day i was reading painfully hip, a local fashion blog that's made it big, hoping to see some mention of my little shop or at least get some inspiration from a photo (which i almost always do on this site). i got all excited about short-shorts and pretty sandals.

then i saw an ad for kitty girl vintage. i never click on ads. i don't know why i clicked on this one. but i got enthralled by all her beautiful, authentic vintage dresses - mostly cocktail dresses - pages and pages of dresses i could spend hours twirling around in. and then....i saw a designer name that looked familiar to me. one of kitty girl's beauties is by anne fogarty, who, according to kitty girl, was a very well known dressmaker in the 50s.

a google search for anne fogarty brings up pictures of beautiful 'new look' dresses and pages of bio on this rather famous and esteemed dressmaker. then i looked in my records and found that i just sold an anne fogarty dress last week. a drop-dead gorgeous, black velvet, v front and back, full skirted (with pockets!) stunner of a dress. so beautiful it had been viewed more than 100 times after a few hours. so amazing and unique that my friends were calling me asking about it - i didn't even know they looked at my shop! so wonderful that it sold in one day even at a whopping asking price of $42. oh yeah, other anne fogarty dresses sell for between $200 and $300. and they're not even as pretty as this one was.

what with this steal of a deal and the one a couple weeks ago where i let a guy have a pair of cherokee sandals for $35 which he's probably already sold on ebay for $200, i think it's safe to say that shopping at deborah jean vintage could lead to your acquisition of incredible, rare, and valuable goods at rock-bottom prices. take advantage of my ignorance now because someday i'm going to know what i have!

also, check out this photostream on flickr (i swear, the internet is so big, i can get lost in it for hours). the photos are great, the style is jealous-making, and the degree of hipness is rather depressing. in a good way. i guess.

today

i found amazing items for the shop! included in this list of awesomeness is a brand new denim skirt by levi strauss from the 70's. the label on the back pocket has such a unique design and is in perfect condition! the denim is the deepest dark blue. oh, yeah, and the other stuff i bought was cool too.
there will be new items in the shop in the next few hours. here's a sneak peek....
and yes, those are owls all over this dress!

UPDATE: here's that totally uber fantastic levi's skirt. yum.

i love....

....vintage Cherokee sandals! I've been lucky enough to find two pairs of these incredibly rad platform sandals. They are so attractive and perfect in every way that I started researching them online.
Hugely popular in the 70s and 80s, they're generally wedge platforms with ankle straps. They came in the best colors of leather and suede - I've seen oh so precious baby blue leather ones, somehow-euro black leather ones, and I had my mitts on some amazing burnt orange suede ones too!
They are going for a lot of money on ebay lately because they are so rare and in-fashion right now. I even found a blog all about Cherokee sandals - I'm not sure if he's joking or not, but the guy seems really into them.
Anyhow, these shoes rock. I want some. If you want some, and wear a size 8, go to deborah jean vintage and buy some. If they're not there yet, they're coming soon.....

blogaholic, already

there's too much stuff in my tiny closet! help me find good homes for these clothes so i can go shopping for more!
you will find AMAZING deals on STUPENDOUS outfits at deborah jean vintage.

and now i'm here

since the beginning of the year, i've made a lot of changes in my life. mainly, i decided i wasn't going to wait around anymore to do the things i want to do. i've arranged my schedule so that i work the bare minimum and have lots of time to do other kinds of work that are actually fun for me. i want to write, i want to be involved in artistic communities, and eventually i want to be able to support myself in those ways.
so, i started an online business - something i can do from any city (very important). deborah jean vintage is on etsy.com right now and doing pretty well. i'm still working on making it a real shop and eventually i will move it to its own url and people all over the world will know that great vintage shopping can be done on my site.
this blog is partly for promoting the shop, partly just for me to talk about things i want to talk about. and, of course, a place for you to converse with myself and others about anything and everything - assuming you actually find this blog in the first place.
we'll see, huh?