I used to sell vintage.

I used to sell vintage. It’s one of the many many jobs I’ve done over the years (waitressing, bartending, event planning, modeling, cupcake-selling, boutique-launching, fashion-brand-building, craft-making, art directing and wardrobe styling), but more on all that later.

A few years ago I got into vintage – before it became so main stream that you could buy ‘retro-inspired’ clothing items anywhere. This was the real-deal. Beautiful old clothes, made in a time before mass-production, before cheap polyesters and child-labour factories. Clothes made with care and love, and hand-sewn seam lines and beading. Dainty gloves made for dainty hands. Hundred percent silk scarves which are so delightfully soft, with hand-painted patterns.

Clothes that pull in at all the right places – high waistlines, and perfectly penciled pencil shirts. Clothes whose quality and craftsmanship, an d undeniable design have pulled them straight through four decades, five decades, sometimes six, seven, eight decades and into our wardrobes! Will we be able to say that about the items we buy from retail stores today? Will we be able to transport them through the decades into the future? I don’t think they’ll make it.

I have stopped selling vintage now. I don’t like how main stream it has become. It is not something that is truly appreciated by the masses. It’s just the next big fad that you can buy at a store near you. It was always a side business for me anyway – something I sold once a month at the DeerHunter JunkSale.

I had a lot of fun while it lasted though, and I am still utterly in love with the shapes these brilliant clothes create. How flattering they are, how timeless they are, how well made they are.

So last weekend I set up a big sale at my parents’ house – I emptied out endless drawers, baskets and vintage suitcases, all packed full of the items I’d purchased over the years, and attempted to sell off all my remaining stock. I don’t think I realized just how much I had! I’ll probably be having one last sale before we jet off around the world.

I also had some items from my brilliant cousin Joel on sale, and will be selling more of those too.

And then, after that I’ll be letting go. It’s been amazing, buying, building, adjusting, creating all these little vintage delights. But now it’s time to move onto the new. I’ll never stop creating, that’s for sure.