My wish came true! The First Lady wears vintage!

When President Obama took office, I had sights on Michelle. Why? I truly felt she could make a difference in the world of thrift. Maybe it was her personal background. Or maybe I sensed she was not afraid to make a statement.

I made various attempts to contact her to endorse thrift shopping and join us in petitioning to honor a commemorative, American Thrift Store Month. We have a Frozen Food Month - that'd be March - so I thought it not asking too much. I've loads of schemes: grassroots designers recycling thrift sweaters and men's shirts, thrift fashion week, a parade of homes outfitted in thrift, daily tips on thrift...

But I can only imagine there are thousands of people attempting to have the First Lady endorse their cause.

Imagine my delight when the news hit the celebrity circuit that Michelle Obama wore a vintage dress to a holiday event! Some are claiming she is the first of her line to wear vintage. I'm not really certain if that could be true for it hasn't been that long ago that wearing old or reused items was considered tacky by culture at large. Think about how Coco Channel got her start.

Here is Michelle Obama is in a beautiful design circa 1950's. Bought at New York Vintage in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, co-owner Jon Schneck noted, "Other dresses from our archive have been scheduled for use by the first lady later this year". What! More vintage is to follow?

This dress is classic, posh, elegant, feminine, and full of grace and a delicious dignity! Yes! Dignity and style do not need to be enemies when it comes to womens fashion! Tears of joy are forming in my eyes! Look at her! A timeless beauty!

Thank you Mrs. Obama. I certainly am eager to see your next vintage ensemble and have no doubt you will pull it off in spectacular style.

Here we go again! Faux is foe! How hard is that?

A quick visit at an import store nearly put a pie in my face. Kokeshi and Matryoshka dolls are the new black in holiday decor, stationary and cookware. What Japanese Kokeshi dolls have to do with the holidays is one big head scratch.

The sad thing is both dolls have origins in pride, originality and craftsmanship, celebrated for their unique quality. And both traditions have been around longer than anyone reading this post.

Seeing them massed produced and sold for ridiculous prices is heartbreaking. Once again a case where consumerism has made the cheap knock offs more expensive than the originals. I was about to expand on that thought but realized, I all ready have.

That original, hand-painted, bone china Wedgwood tea cup for $4 at the thrift store? It's 80 years old and has a chip! Toss it over your shoulder and buy a mass produced ceramic one instead.

Same with the Kokeshi and Matryoshka dolls. Nevermind they are a cultural tradition. There's a whole display of them at the mall - all made in China. Maybe shoppers can buy one get one free or super-size.

Faux is foe!
August 27, 2009

I encounter it all the time. Say it’s a dainty teacup with elaborate crazing and a blurred emblem with letters that look like they might be from a French restaurant long past. I think, “Why, that’s darling!” I am so enraptured by the prospect I fail to note the finish is a bit too shiny, the style too modern. I turn the teacup over to see that cursed Made in China sticker stuck to the object like a canker sore devaluing it and my confidence that I can sniff out a fake. I feel infected.

Why do we have an entire retail movement dedicated to presenting a vintage appearance to NEW products? Isn’t vintage earned? Fading and crazing often accompany use. Add a slight chip to represent honest use. Now that’s a real treasure, a piece of history. With age, don’t we chip and craze? Many cultures place a high value on scuffs and tears; signs of wisdom and experience.

I like to imagine that these items, products, have little souls. Take that fake vintage teacup I referred to and serve it at high tea. THAT teacup, with no experience, would shout, “Help! I’ve never done this before! Quick, I need Valium! Oh, I’m starting to shake and hyperventilate!” Who wants a shaking teacup? While, an old, experienced teacup would lovingly say, “How many lumps of sugar, dear? Milk? Lemon?” The aged, experienced teacup provides comfort.

The fact that manufacturers attempt to create vintage in factories in China is a complete head-scratcher. Add in that people actually buy this stuff and it gets troubling. Now, think about the prices people pay for these new, old-looking items! Is having something that looks old in pristine, new condition a sign of a refined style? I don’t think so. I've fallen prey to this before but those days are gone thanks to the thrift store.

In many ways, thrift stores are a mere reflection of the new product market but with a wonderful dash of estate goods. The fakes run out onto the field but at least there is competition from the originals. In thrift stores we have level playing field and the shopper is referee. I blew an “Out of bounds!” whistle at that fake teacup.

I’m not writing about furniture found in alleys and thrift stores brought back to life by painting and refinishing and sold in boutique home stores. That’s reuse or repurposing. It’s imaginative; art. I’m talking about massed produced furniture that is made to look like its distressed and 100 years old. Good gracious!

I guess it’s somewhat parallel to the American ideals of preserving physical youth. We can’t fight off age. So we suck in Botox and attempt to surround ourselves with objects that look old (like we are) but are new in origin (like we are not). Perhaps we are trying dictate what is agreeable and stylish when it comes to signs of age in both plastic surgery and product manufacturing. Perplexing, no?

If I could wave a magic wand on women and I'd convert crow's feet to peacock feathers. Frown lines would become endeared frauleins to keep your spirit young. Frolicking frauleins to accompany you wherever you go making you laugh and smile, getting richer with age.

How a woman ages is not based in plastic surgery, it is based on her ancestry (genetics), her choice of her lifestyle, the scars from mistakes…In the end shouldn’t our bodies be a part of the book of our lives? I agree that trauma deserves help, but everyday living should be celebrated.

Put an end to this madness! Celebrate age! Say, “No to faux! It's off to the thrift store I go!" Acquire originals and be an original.

Good taste has nothing to do with how much you spend

I don’t know what made me do it. Normally I could care less. Perhaps it was because my impressionable daughter, Petite Poe, was glued to it last night.

While going in to check email today I followed the link to the Grammy Dress List. Perhaps you heard me scream at, oh, 5PM Mountain Time.

If the entertainment industry is any indicator of American high fashion, we clearly have no taste. There a saying. It's something like, “The difference between good and bad taste is restraint.” Some of those women couldn’t restrain their over inflated breasts! It’s not sultry! It’s a mess! How about the women who wore dresses so short if they were to take an ever-so- slight bow we’d catch an unsolicited view. I’d like to personally thank all those women, for setting me miles back in teaching my oldest daughter one of the most basics of fashion – don’t publicize your coochee. The woman above looks like she's glamorizing domestic violence with that bruised-looking eye.

I'd like to see the price, not by the hour, but rather the total amount spent for these ridiculous ensembles. I imagine that some of these ensembles rival the grocery bills for a family of four for, oh, TEN MONTHS! And, we're supposed to think this is wonderful?

Money doesn’t buy style. Style is in eye of the beholder and I can offer proof.

What I don’t understand is how I can buy a simple dress for $9 in the thrift store and it has more class than most every dress I saw. I even thrifted my husband a classic Givechy tux for $9 and he would have been rated as one of the top-dressed in that tux. I cannot begin to comprehend the money that was wasted for that event, especially while so many Americans are counting pennies for groceries, literally.

You be the judge, here’s a quick snapshot, not a professional photograph, my husband took as we set off for the 2009 Goodwill Power of Work Luncheon. I paid $9 for this silk dress. I certainly had no money for someone to do my hair or make up. I’m not certain I had time to shower. Tailor the dress a little, put up my hair...

Let’s compare this to Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi. Don’t know who she is but feel sorry for what she is attempting.

Here’s Britney!

Normally I could care less about how the entertainment industry dresses. But, now that my daughter watches this stuff and could be sucked into that funnel of extremely expensive bad taste, I care a whole lot. Not only could she, in her naïveté, send the world the wrong message of who she is but, over time, waste the down payment on a home doing it!

Word up to the entertainment industry, “Stars” are timeless in their presentation. Their gazing beauty lies in their elegant simplicity. Good grief, think of how Audrey Hepburn managed style. It was once said all the woman needed was a scarf and she could transform herself in the most beautiful of ways. Most of the women I saw don’t need scarves. They need therapy.

Sorry to sound like a mother but that’s what I am. If your not one now you will be someday and, I promise, you’ll feel the same way I do now.