Currently in the Shop.

Borrowed From the Boys

I've been sorting through tubs of vintage clothes, separating the keeps from the sells, the donates from the cut-into-rags. I know for sure that there were more amazing items from my teen years, but I'm pretty sure that my parents threw those out long ago. One treasure I recently unearthed was this big ol' brown cardigan:

There you are, old friend!

I was pretty excited to find it, as it was a staple of my wardrobe as we rolled into the 90's. For whatever reason, by the time I turned 13, I had developed a penchant for menswear. Let me be specific: old man menswear. Inspired by the style of the bands I loved, mostly male, I scoured the thrift stores for cool t-shirts, big cardigans and tweed pants.

Man, I loved Sassy. This is precisely the look I was going for. Kurt, not Courtney. I blame my parents for dressing me like a boy when I was little, and for sending me to ballet in a kilt.

Inevitably, the pants I picked out would drown my lanky frame, and I would end up pinning the hems, belting the pants tightly in place, and pairing with a small polo shirt or a short-sleeved plaid button down. The perfect cover up for this ensemble? An oversized cardigan. I had many. I remember one in particular, a dark brown and yellow Nordic knit, with a metal zipper up the front. I wore that one constantly when I was in 8th grade. With my old man pants and my Doc Marten ankle boots, I felt such a part of the music culture that dominated my life.

They always seemed so short to me, I wanted tall ones so badly. Not until a couple of years later did I score a second-hand pair of oxblood 20 hole Docs at an army surplus store. I died them black. Of course I did.

Thankfully, this phase didn't last long. One learns quickly that teenage boys aren't really into girls who dress like old men. I embraced the babydoll dresses, fishnets and garish makeup of my rock n' roll idols, but I still cuddled up in my oversized cardigans. Almost twenty years later (cripes!), I still like to borrow from the boys once in awhile. Of course, no more outifts that look like I wear my Dad's hand-me-downs. Menswear-inspired is more like it. I love pairing really feminine pieces with something boyish.

I own this gorgeous Vanessa Bruno Athé dress. Very feminine, and fun to pair with unisex or menswear inspired pieces. The A.P.C. Madras cardigan in the top left would be the perfect, well-fitting replacement for the beloved vintage cardigan of my youth. Acqua di Parma Colonia is one of my all-time favorite scents. I love anything that smells like a handsome man.

Perfume Stories: My First Fragrance

When I was growing up, it seemed that my nose grew first, and the rest of me took about 20 years to catch up. I was obsessed with my nose, and it was a hateful relationship. I plastered my walls with ads of beautiful, button nosed models from the pages of Teen and YM magazine, and fantasized about one day having the offending body part surgically altered.

The early 90's Bonne Bell series of ads featuring tiny-nosed Denise Richards adorned my walls of self loathing. At the time, very sad, In retrospect, absolutely hilarious.

Of course, mine is a perfectly acceptable nose, and once I got older, I became friends with my nose, and we have lived happily together ever since. In retrospect, I think that my nose was smart. It had to grow up faster than the rest of me to accomodate my sense of smell. I have a dear friend who grew up feeling similarly about her own nose, and is also wildly driven by her love of perfume. Together, we agreed that we would never have been able to enjoy all the luxurious fragrances we adore with crummy little button noses. Thus, years of youthful angst were forgotten, and new lives embraced! I can build my life story out of perfume bottles, as every story has a scent, and each scent a thousand stories. From the Avon Tranquil Moments stocking stuffers in the 80's, to my current day love of Hermès, my nose and I have had many an adventure. I shall start at the beginning.

Incidentally, when I learned to write in cursive, I tried to make my J's like the J in Jean Naté. Yes, I did.

Most of my earliest memories take place in the bathtub. Perhaps since bathtime is full of soaps, hair products, bubbles and other luxuries, it is the perfect place for scented memories to form. I can still remember the smell of the wheat germ shampoo that my mom would wash my hair with, and the Jean Naté talcum powder she would sometimes let me dust myself with. On special occasions, I'd get to use the after bath splash as well. Very exciting stuff. Mom wore Yves Saint Laurent's Rive Gauche back then. It clung to her skin, and her snuggly sweaters, and was such a comfort to me when traces of it would linger in the room after she had kissed me goodnight. Even though she hasn't worn it in at least 25 years, it is the fragrance that will always remind me of my mom.

Even though I had limited access to the Jean Naté after bath products, I really wanted my very own perfume. After all, what five year old doesn't have their own signature scent? It wasn't until Christmas of 1984 that my dream came true. My sweet little friend and kindergarten classmate Louise, gave me a Cabbage Patch Kids perfume gift set. Oh, how I loved it! It looked exactly like Pine Sol, but thankfully it smelled a bit better. It was a rose scented elixir like nothing I'd ever smelled. Cabbage rose, to be sure, it's only fitting. I wore it constantly, surely in offensive quantities. I mentioned the perfume to my mom the other day, and her comment was, "You used to wear some really awful perfumes". She's right, and this was one of  them... but cut a kid some slack, I was only five! I think it was that dear little Cabbage Patch Kids scent that made me fond of rose for ever after. As I write, a Claus Porto Rozan candle is burning away on the mantle, and I shall raise a cup of rosehip tea in a toast. To Louise from Kindergarten, wherever you are, thank you!

My Cabbage Patch Kid looked just like this one, a redhead like me! I got her for my birthday when I turned six. Her given name was Cleo Adrienne, but naturally, I renamed her Twinkie.

Stocking the Shop

I've been hard at work getting ready to stock my Etsy shop, and it has begun! I'm listing lots of winter wear over the next couple of weeks, and starting to shop for spring. I really love coats and jackets, so you'll see the outerwear department at the Pomme shop expand rapidly over the next few days. My favorite coat is a gorgeous dark grey and pink bouclé coat that is straight out of Isabel Marant's book. I wish I had better photos right now, it's so hard getting used to a new setup, winter skies and minimal daylight... blagh!

Lots more to come... lovely vintage outerwear and more pretty things to get us through this long winter!

Winter Luxuries

Warm nubbly knits, scents of leather and pine, sweet delights, vintage pendants, tickets to the ballet... these are a few of my favorite things!