Saturday, October 15, 2011

Weekend in LA

People might have figured from my style posts, that I don't own a lot of clothes that I didn't make/design, but every once in a while I do like to do a spot of shopping when I go out of town. Last weekend we flew out to LA to hang out with some friends and I was able to go crazy on a rare shopping spree! (and eat my body weight in tacos)

This trip close to my favorite retro candy and soda shop Rocket Fizz I found my new favorite vintage everything shop, Playclothes. The unit is huge (heheh) a cavernous gilded space crammed with vintage clothes from just about all eras, helpfully grouped by type and decade.

Kid in a candy store! (even before we got to the candy store) Although I fell in to the usual vintage shopping trouble of right clothes wrong sizes, I did get unusually lucky on others!

I was on a mission to find a nice 60's floral sweater to match some of my dresses and found a lovely Darlene sweater in the right size and right color, and perfect print! (Score!) Another dash of serendipity was when I found that an unrelated skirt I picked up (dead stock and perfect size) was a Darlene Colormate made to match their sweaters, and in a color that matched said sweater. happy days! The only trouble I have is that the tiny buttons wont stay closed in the 50 year old buttons holes, but hey finding an ensemble like that is too good to grumble about a few springy pearly buttons so I wont. ( Felt even better when I found the same sweater only in pink in another shop for $130 more than I spent on mine) Aside from that amazing luck I picked up a floral hat and an 2 piece 60's sheath dress and coat combo from there too!

The other thing on the top of my must see shop list was the Vivienne Westwood boutique that opened earlier this year. Much bigger and brighter that the ones I've lived close to in the UK, the staff were really friendly I snagged a red mock croc Chancery heart bag to match my legions of red shoes, (because nice girls wear red shoes)
The rest of the time I spent hanging out with some great friends which are worth more than even sweater set luck, and playing on a bouncy castle with lots of grown ups and my best 3 year old pal Max! I wish all our friends were closer, this country is too damn big. (also, want Santa to bring me a bouncy castle for my house and a yard big enough to keep it in, those things are fun!!!)

 
(The song I had in my head the whole trip) 

6 comments:

  1. Love your new finds! Especially that sweet hat.

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  2. I love that you post sweet and unique places to shop! Have you been to Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles (also a store) in Berkeley, CA? It's amazing in there.

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  3. You know I got so close! I was out there a few years back but they were closed when we got there :( One day I'll make it inside!

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  4. OH S**T! There's a Vivienne Westwood boutique!?!?!

    I need to take a road trip!!! So exciting!!!

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  5. (Sorry! But I am super excited about that!!!I want the white rocking horse shoes to wear for my wedding!!!)

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  6. Yes there is! One thing to warn is there weren't any rocking horse shoes there when I went (I don't know that many Western boutiques stock them) but it might be something you could order through them if you call ahead first?

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