Well, first, I’ll state the obvious… I love vintage. I love what it represents: times gone by filled with rich experiences and daily adventures, secretary desks and starlight garden parties, class and sophistication. And I love the fact that these same things can be had in this day and age, because, with the right dress and the perfect pair of shoes, a girl can do anything. For that reason I also love sharing this love with others, long-time vintage lovers and newly obsessed alike!
While I have always loved fashion and fabric and sewing, my love of vintage came a little later. I still have my first real “I love this! It’s vintage!” purchase: a cute little 60’s plaid shirt with red ric-rac. Then came the pleated dress. Then the hot pink formal. I was hooked.
The TLV shop started with my personal collection of vintage items. I would see them at estate sales or resale dives, and didn’t have the heart to just leave them!!! So home they came. At first I had a short little stand-alone rod in my closet, which quickly became too small and things kept sliding off. I soon rescued a boatload of dead stock*, and was forced to graduate to a circular rack that still lives in our spare room. This was also the point that I was forced to admit that I was vintage-addicted and could not continue to simply keep everything. And so the shop was born!
*( “Dead stock”refers to items that were purchased as stock for a store and never sold. Essentially new-with-tags, but vintage.)