Happy New Year! Happy New Vintage!

Bonjour 2011! Adieu 2010! I feel that wonderful tingly feeling of promise, or perhaps it's the champagne... (Happy New Year!)

Wonderful vintage clothing is coming soon to the shop...above is a preview and only a few of the items on this rack are stocked in the shop at the moment (and this isn't even the entire rack!)

I've added a few lovely things already the past couple days, I just couldn't wait to share my most recent finds with all of you!

/// Recent Additions to the Shop ///

= { SHOP ADOREVINTAGE } =

Coffee Date with Bella Vintage

This week flew by so quickly! We arrived back on Monday from Sacramento, Tuesday was spent doing laundry for the family (we've been out of town, on business trips for the past THREE WEEKS, that's A TON of laundry!) and later on a dentist appointment for the kiddo, Wednesday I met with the lovely Gisela from Bella Vintage at La Mill Coffee Boutique in Silver Lake.


Gisela got the most amazing looking "Cream Brulee" latte, it literally had a burnt sugar foam on top. (Jealous was I, yes, yes) but I did go for a safe bet, a plain latte.

Gisela was such a sweetheart! We both have daughters (hers is 13, mine is 12) who are both into fashion but follow their own little styles. Her daughter's name is Zoe and my stepdaughter's name is Chloe! Isn't that a happy chance?

On Thursday I had a lovely 1940s inspired photoshoot with Caitlin Bellah that will hopefully appear in a magazine soon! I'm so excited for the photos!

And yesterday, what I thought was going to be a quick pop into FedEx to pick up a most important package turned into a 6.5 mile WALK to Koreatown in 90 degree heat. I meant to get work done for my kiddo's birthday party this afternoon, but I passed out on the bed with my workout clothes still on.

My poor vintage shop has been so neglected, I did add a few little vintage goodies yesterday, but trust me, I have so MUCH more to post up along with lots of lovely new pictures to share of my latest styling jobs!

Behind the Scenes: Adore Vintage Fashion Editorial

Last weekend we drove along the PCH and shot along the beautiful California coastline. We spent the day shooting and got some amazing shots during sunset and then woke up at 5 AM for make-up/hair to be shooting for sunrise at 7. *phew*

Photoshoots are always fun but very draining. (And I've got 4 more comming up! *phew*) Aside from selling vintage wares, I'm also a wardrobe stylist, but the past year and a half have been on hiatus due to our move to Los Angeles. But now, work is picking up again and I'm really excited to push up my sleeves and start getting creative again.

I can't wait to share the final images with all of you, I've seen the previews and they're amazing!

The Adorevintage Fashion Film Project

I've just finished ironing all of the beautiful vintage pieces we'll be shooting this weekend for our fashion film collaboration with Williams + Wade. The 1930s ruffled dress with pink velvet bow was quite a pain to iron as our steamer is on loan to a theater that I was wardrobe assisting. I literally ironed it square by square with a cotton kitchen towel over it. It took a good 30 minutes. *phew*


We'll be shooting in San Diego on lovely fields and forests and then along the shore with pebbled beaches and large cliffs. *dreamy* I know all will go well and it's going to turn out amazing! And hopefully the Williams + Wade team will want to collaborate on future short film projects!

If you're curious how the shoot is going and want behind the scene access on Adorevintage's first fashion film, be sure to follow us on Twitter as I'll be tweeting about our adventures the whole weekend!

Behind the Scenes at the Beverly Hills Planet Salon Fashion Show

Last weekend I was hired to style a group of lovely ladies for a fashion show for Planet Salon in Beverly Hills (very exciting) and I was able to snap a few backstage photos... unfortunately I am not so skilled at taking photos when there isn't much light and when people are always moving... The experience was fantastic. It was the first time I had ever styled for an actual show instead of shoots. (And this weekend is my FILM styling debut, woo-hoo!)


The girls all had very romantic hair, so to coincide with the hair, I wanted them to look ethereal, a little fairy-like even. Some of the models felt like they were walking down the aisle instead of a runway... *hehe* I wish I had photographed more of the actual show and the people that came to see, there were a lot of fantastic outfits to be found! Perhaps another time!

Adorevintage Site Changes, New "FAQ" updates!

The last two days I spent revamping the F.A.Q. section so that it was easier to navigate and information was more accessible. I removed a lot of the "site embellishments" so it was straight to the point but also looked pretty.

I also changed the link colors and the banner colors to this pretty peachy/orange color (picked from the Vargas girl illustration). I'm hoping it's just as pretty on other people's monitors as it is on mine. *hehe* It would be awful if it looked lovely on my screen but horrendously orange on other peoples' screens!

It took awhile, I had to redesign new banners, new graphics, and create all the new pages and change the stylesheets. *phew* But it was worth it! I love the Adorevintage.com F.A.Q. section, it's so clean!

Behind the Scenes: Packaging Orders for AV

When I package orders this is what my dining room table turns into. A mess, I know. I need to come up with a "conveyor belt" way to package orders, it always seems so haphazard and most of the time I'm hunting down tape or the scissors or string. Any advice?

P.S. - See my new polka dot paper? I adore it so much! Can you tell I love polka dots? It's on my business cards too!

New in the Shop: Pinks, Blues, & Summer Hues

Vintage skirts from the 50s, 60s, and 70s and a few new pieces of jewelry from the 50s and 60s.

My polka dot wrapping paper came in! I'm so excited! I'll be packaging and shipping out orders the rest of the afternoon before I pick up the kiddo from school and go run Mommy/Wife errands :)

I hope you are all having a good week so far! Pretty blog posts coming soon, it's been hectic this week!

My Directing Debut: Saturday at Griffith Observatory

Well, it's not very vintage related I know, however one of my monthly goals (all right, it was March's goal) was to purchase a video camera, and so I have at last!

I spent most of Saturday evening splicing clips together and adding the soundtrack. I've never created a video in my life, so sorry it's a bit shoddy. The quality isn't the greatest, I think I compressed it too much. But, I hope you enjoy!

Also, for those who have made videos on Youtube, any advice? I am so very excited to start making little films about vintage and even to get my toes wet with a new creative medium, but my thoughts and ideas are really too scattered. Thoughts? Ideas? Advice?

The (mis)Adventures of Owning a E-Biz

Oh dear... I've messed something up. *sigh* So this morning I was trying to set up domain forwarding for AdoreVintage and did it backwards so I reset so I could fix it and do it right and instead I got added in the "Slow Reset" list for my hosting company. Usually these things fix themselves ASAP but apparently mine is going to take 3-4 hours. *cries*

So, what to do in the meantime as I can't access any part of my site (sorry for the broken images)...

Guess I'll get to organizing the stock closet. I usually organize by color, but since I literally have a closet now (as opposed to having an entire room) to house everything, I need to rework how everything is laid out because I am having the hardest time finding anything.

Hopefully my site is up and running again in a few hours! *crosses fingers*

A few of my favorite AdoreVintage banners...

One of the reasons I love what I do so much is because Adore Vintage is in short a reflection of who I am and the things I love. I think it's very important that when running and starting your own business, you stay true to yourself and your ideals.

My love for vintage, nature, art, and just pretty little things are quite apparent in the banners I design for AV. Don't you think so too? *hehe*


{ click here to shop }
In case you are wondering... I use Photoshop CS3 to design the banners and the main font I use is Cambria, which comes with Windows Vista. For simple animated banners I use Adobe ImageReady.

How to start an online vintage clothing store

Here are some quick tips and some sound advice from yours truly on "How to Start an Online Vintage Clothing Store"

I don't claim to be an expert at this, but I have been running an online vintage shop for a little over 5 years now and it has been trial and error for me along the way as I discovered new things and made quite a few mistakes.

A couple times a year I receive emails on how to start up an online vintage clothing store. I always respond with a few quick tips and some advice, but never spell everything out for anyone (as I don't think that would be fair for me to do your homework) ^_^. Below is some advice and pointers for opening up your own e-commerce vintage shop. I am assuming of course you already have vintage inventory, know a thing or two about photography, HTML, and can navigate the web.

#1.] WRITE IT DOWN
What should you write down exactly? Anything and everything related to your vintage clothing business! It could be just ideas for colors combinations, or maybe write down URLS of other websites you like and get inspiration from. Write down what categories you want to use for your shop. Do you want to divide everything from the get go and have separate sections for each type of jewelry and clothing or just lump it all together under "jewelry" and "apparel"?

The reason why it is so important to "get it in writing" is that your brain will better remember ideas and thoughts this way. Remember in grade school when the teacher made you write vocabulary words over and over again? This is kind of the same thing. You don't even have to write down business-y stuff, you could write words of inspiration, or your goals. Bottom line, get it on pen and paper and go from there.

#2.] TEACH YOURSELF SOME GEEK CODE
If you don't know anything about web design or HTML, then get cracking! You do not need to be a CSS, Java, PHP expert by any means, but you NEED TO KNOW SOME BASIC HTML! You can visit Getting started with HTML to get the very basics or visit this site: Basic HTML. If you are going to be using Etsy or Ebay, you don't need to know much more than the basics. If you're going to be designing your own site and do not know was a cascading style sheet is...then best to leave it to the pros. ^_^

#3.] KNOW YOUR VINTAGE!
This one should be pretty self explanatory. I shouldn't even have to touch on this but I will, just a little. Learn the basics of vintage clothing such as dating vintage dresses. What makes a dress a 1970s dress instead of a 1980s dress? Why is this blouse from the 50s and not the 60s? Learn different types of sleeves, collars, skirt styles, pant styles, etc etc. This will help you in accurately describing your products and also help you date them.

#4.] KEEP A FOLDER FOR ALL YOUR STUFF
I have a folder on my comp for all my work stuff as well as a physical folder in a file cabinet for other things. The most important thing when starting up your own vintage clothing store business is to STAY ORGANIZED. Unless you have plenty of other gals to keep everything in order for you, it's best to start organized and keep organized. Keep folders for site images, product images, ideas, inspirations, rough drafts of html pages or even text you are writing for your website. Just keep it all in one, easy to find place.

#5.] PRCING YOUR VINTAGE WARES
Ok, so running an online vintage clothing store means you need to know some business stuff. What kind of stuff? Well, you need to know how to price your items. You need to do some research on other stores to see how much everyone else is charging and most importantly WHY or even HOW? I see a bunch of vintage stores selling a-dime-a-dozen 80s and 90s "vintage" at steep prices and wonder "WHY are they selling it for this much?" and "HOW are they able to sell it for that much?" Ask yourself the same thing.

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All righty, those are my tips and advice for now! I hope you found them helpful! More tips on "How to start an online vintage clothing store" soon!

December Monthly Goals

I recently found Modish Biz Tips and decided to jump on the bandwagon for posting "monthly business goals." I'm a bit bummed the monthly meetups are now coming to a close right when I found a new network of like minded business gals. In any case, this will help me keep a little more focused as December is the busiest month out of the entire year (personal and work life)

December Business Goals
1.) Purchase new garment steamer
2.) List at least 30 new items in the shop before the Xmas break
3.) Contact models and mua for an upcoming photoshoot
4.) Organize "accessories" section in the shop

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Well, that seems quite good for now. I do have more things I need to get done, but I really don't want my "Goals" list to become a "To-Do" list because when it comes to those, they are never ending for me. *hehe*

If you run an online business, what are some of your goals this month?

Vintage slips, nightgowns, and intimates?

In the past couple years I have amassed quite a collection of vintage nightgowns, slips and robes that it got me thinking... perhaps I should bring back the 'Vintage Intimates' section of Adore Vintage?

I always wonder if women would want to buy these and actually wear them, but then a light bulb went off, I myself buy and wear vintage slips and robes... so why wouldn't others? I've actually worn a few slips as dresses before, they're just so pretty!

I have to figure out how to photograph the slips though since most of them are all quite sheer. I suppose just on the dress form will do, but I kind of like the appearance of them laid flat as if thrown casually on the floor. *hehe*

Will play around with the camera tomorrow to see how it goes.

Image credits (in order): Sugar Pie Honeybunch. What Makes the Pie Shop Tick,

New Designs for Adorevintage

www.adorevintage.com

I really enjoy working on new graphics for Adorevintage. I actually designed websites and graphics (freelance, of course) before AV, so it's nice to be able to brush up on some of my dusty skills.

Now, some of you also operate your own vintage shops and I want to ask how do you organize your day to day tasks? I was on The Switchboards earlier (if you are a small business owner and a gal, be sure to visit this networking forum!) and I noticed many of the women on the boards not only juggle their business/craft but are also mothers, wives, and also have full time jobs.

How did women do it in the 40s when their men were away? Taking care of a house, a job, children, and at the same time staying focused and positive?

Adorevintage.com Autumn 09 Edition

Well, almost all the boxes are unpacked for the office, nothing is organized unfortunately, but at least I can start working again.

First things first... a new Autumn inspired front page...

The current Autumn 09 Edition


The temporary one (during the move)



It was really quite fun making the Autumn front page. I went through a few different versions of it using black and white photos, flowers, ribbons... but in the end I decided it was better with one central focus image (from a vintage cosmetics advertisement) and keeping everything else fairly simple and easy to navigate.

I am so excited for the future of Adorevintage! I'm going to focus back on our roots of providing exceptionally beautiful vintage clothing and accessories. I will only be selling vintage items I would wear and select for myself and focused on what you love and adore.

That means less 80s (since I don't particularly care for it, unless the garment is just too pretty to pass up) and less run-of-the-mill type vintage you see too often online.

STAY TUNED!