I just shipped a beautiful black linen trumpet skirt, perfect for Balboa or Lindy, to Australia. There are so many excellent Balboa dancers out there. The skirt was a rare find with asymmetrical, angled seams that pieced the body of the skirt together. The fabric is a nice matte black that updates the 1930s styling. Great for dancing but also beautiful for non-dancing activities. This is my favorite skirt style as it really flatters the figure.
Tag Archives: vintage
Links to everything Model J Vintage!
Sales at Jam Circle
At Jam Circle this past friday two beautiful retro wool numbers were adopted by a lovely visiting Balboa Instructor. A bright red bias Chaiken and a wine colored bias Express with huge flowers around the hem. Some other items went home with people as well but this Express skirt was the prettiest.
Skirt Styles and Features Guide added
I have added a skirt styles and features guide to the main page listings. I hope this helps to clarify styles for many of you!
Banner Image for Etsy Shop is Da Bomb!
Ok. This looks good. I have to admit it. Check it out here. Whew. That was a lot of photoshop cutting and pasting. Lots of lovely photos to choose from. I’ll have to keep updating it and switching photos in and out. I have more lovely model photos than I could fit in one banner. Special thanks to the discerning eye of my artist friend John Unger who kept reminding me to keep it simple. I really needed to hear that. It made all the difference. Thanks John!
Etsy Shop Launches on Mother’s Day
As a tribute to my mom on mother’s day I am launching my Etsy shop with two vintage suits she owned and wore. Click here to see my main Etsy page.
My searchable name on Etsy is ModelJVintage: no spaces and capital M, J and V. I decided to start my Etsy shop with items from the 1970’s and 1980’s. From the research I’ve done it seems to be the place to market items from those decades. I believe it’s the younger, hip, DIY shoppers on Etsy that currently favor those styles. It’s funny because if they hadn’t become popular and resurfaced in current fashion offerings I wouldn’t appreciate them as I do now, nor see the connections those decades have to styles from the 20s, 30s and 40s.
The suits I am starting off with are two vintage early 80’s pants suits that my mom wore to sell real estate and work in showrooms. There is a banana yellow linen number by Anne Pinkerton and a magenta wool one by Adolfo. Both are in pristine vintage condition.
1980's Anne Pinkerton Linen Pants Suit
It’s amazing how contemporary they look. These are two wonderful suits that weren’t as big in the shoulders and thighs as those to come in the later 1980’s.
It’s a wonderful sense of accomplishment to get this shop up and running. I look forward
1980's Adolfo wool pants suit
to posting, oh, everything I own! Well, maybe not everything…
Model: Elaine Silver
Photography: Joy Grad
Swing For Japan
I attended Swing For Japan last night in New York City. I decided to dress vintage and represent Model J in all my finery for the evening. I ended up wearing a tulip print wrap dress in beige and black with a lovely satin tie, patterned fishnets, suede open toe pumps with bows and a vintage 1950’s velvet and mink headpiece.
At Swing For Japan in velvet & mink 50's headpiece w/Paolo Pasta Lanna.
The disparate eras worked very well together and I got a lot of compliments. One funny occurrence was that the hat blended in so well with my hair that it looked like I was wearing elaborate bangs instead of a headpiece. Hmmm. Too funny!
This was a wonderful event filled with great music and entertainment as well as excellent donations for some serious raffling. (I think I just made that word up…) It seemed like a sizeable amount was raised to help the Japanese relief effort and many raffle winners went home with boxes of chocolate, gift certificates to a host of establishments and services, as well as a cooking class for 8 as the grand prize. I was excited to find out that George Gee‘s son won my $25 Model J Vintage gift certificate that I donated, knowing that his wife Mutsumi would end up with it. I hope I have something she likes for herself.
Someone else donated some beautiful vintage clothing and I couldn’t resist trying things on. First off the hanger was a green wool skirt and sweater set from the 1930’s. It fit me perfectly. Uh oh. The sweater is cashmere with a wool neckpiece that matches the skirt. The skirt is long, with two front pleats, and curiously only lined in the front. Hmmm. I wonder why. I will have to take a closer look at that. The zipper is on the right side too which is unusual. Next I tried on two 1950’s dresses that were just too darn small. If one of them had been larger than the size “0” it seemed to be I might have bought it to resell. Lastly I tried on a plaid wool skirt that didn’t seem like much until I put it on. Ooh la la! It fit perfect and is a full circle skirt in a light tan color that looked, well, amazing. I am not generally allowed to buy things for myself but these vintage beauties had to come home with me. They fill a gap in my personal collection: vintage daywear. I also took home a purse, entirely hand beaded and handmade in France. I bought this to sell but who knows. It is so lovely it might have to live with me for a while before I can bear to part with it!
Last but not least, I spotted the beautiful blue satin asian themed 50’s wiggle dress with matching jacket and though it didn’t look like much on the hanger I knew it was a knockout outfit. It was in pristine condition. I spotted one of my customers across the room and just knew it would fit her. She tried it on and it was perfect. It was good to help make a sale for the Japanese relief effort and make a customer extremely happy 🙂
Vintage 1950’s Dining Set up on eBay!
A vintage yellow formica Dining Set from the 1950’s went live today on eBay! It will be up for 10 days. Please take a look and see if you are interested. It’s a nice size for NYC apartments. I love the bright yellow table top and the light yellow of the chairs. They work well together and make it more subtle than if everything was so bright. I’m taking a chance listing it for .99 cents to start. I hope that it draws a crowd of buyers. This is only my second listing on eBay so I’m still overly excited about it. More coming soon as well as listings on Etsy!
Private Fittings
I had the pleasure of doing a private fitting with a local NYC Lindy dancer who saw my clothes at an event but didn’t have time to try on anything as her dance card was full. This is often the case. A mutual Lindy dancer friend made the introduction via email and we embarked on some virtual shopping. First she gave me her approximate size and style interests. Then I looked through my stock, measured items and photographed them, and sent her the photos via email with prices. Next we set up an appointment. On the day of I packed a suitcase with the skirts she liked plus a few other items I thought she might like and a couple of skirts that seemed a bit small but that might work. We met up and she tried on all the skirts and we both reviewed them on her. She ended up purchasing five skirts and staying within her budget. A successful first private fitting for Model J Vintage and a very satisfied customer.
Here are a few of the skirts she took home with her:
Super twirly trumpet skirt by Atmosphere, a UK brand.
Red Silk Polka Dot Skirt w/Belt and Pleats
NYC skyline print 1950's style full circle skirt
Gap stretch cotton flare skirt, perfect for Balboa!
She got a selection of skirts great for dancing different swing styles including Lindy, Charleston, Balboa and a little rockabilly.
Photo Shoot a Big Success!
With the help of Makeup Artist Lani Barry to make the models even more lovely than nature I was able to photograph a lot of the vintage clothing that will be put up for sale. You can’t really see the clothes, how they fit, how they move without a person in them. Some of these unique outfits came alive on the models as I had imagined them in my head. What a world of difference to see them in motion on a live human. It points up the flaws in my current mannequins as well. I’m sure there are better ones out there but nothing does an outfit justice as well as a live body.
Many thanks go to the models I used; Emily DeWan of Emily DeWan Photography, who took time out from her own portrait photography of the models to model for me, Lani Barry, my makeup artist who modeled my one Victorian outfit at the very end, my sister-in-law, Kim Grad and her daughter Amanda, who I was able to photograph together for some sweet family portraits, and to New York City swing dancers Elaine Silver, Mimi Liu, Laurel Carpenter and Jeri Lynn Astra Herbert who brought a lot of sass and dancerly grace to the shots.
The models will get copies of their photos as well as a piece of clothing from Model J Vintage. Mimi picked out a wonderful retro 1950’s style jacket with an enlarged herringbone, almost puzzle piece pattern. Jeri picked out a black velvet dress that really flattered her figure and is also great for dancing.
Most of this clothing will go up on Facebook and Etsy.com but some might be destined for eBay so stay tuned!
Model J Vintage 