As some of you may already know, I love antique and vintage clothing and accessories. Earlier this year, I talked about the environmental, ethical and creative advantages of wearing vintage and secondhand clothes in my Halloween lookbook, which you can check out here. Sometimes, it can be difficult to get your hands on certain vintage items due to their rarity and prohibitive cost, but you can get around this by buying vintage reproduction or “repro” items from artists, independent designers and small businesses. Since it is the holiday season, I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite female-owned small businesses for “repro” clothes and jewellery to provide you with some gift-spiration.
- Blush Daisy
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Blush Daisy is a small business selling a variety of colorful and quirky 60s-inspired jewellery, including earrings, necklaces and hair barrettes. All jewellery is made by hand with clay by the incredibly talented and hard-working Alex Danko. Danko works long hours to keep up with the very high demand for her accessories, which (naturally) sell out within minutes of each restock. Her designs are unlike any I’ve seen before, and I would even say they’re better than the vintage originals by which they’re inspired. The amount of love and care placed into each item is clear from every meticulously arranged stripe of clay to every carefully poured layer of glaze. My personal favorite designs of hers are her rainbows, floral hoops and iridescent clouds. If you’re interested in purchasing an item of jewellery from this unique artist, make sure to find out the date and time of her next restock beforehand so you can purchase immediately before it sells out! Check out her Instagram page for tips on how to check out as fast as possible to ensure your purchase is successful; you can make your purchase at https://shopblushdaisy.com/.
- Saudade Vintage
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Saudade Vintage sells handmade 60s and 70s vintage reproduction clothing and shoes. The business is owned by Meaghan Syrjälä, a highly skilled 21-year-old couturière. Syrjälä’s clothing is made to order; you can provide her with your measurements and choose the fabric and design of the item of clothing you would like her to make for you. Quality is incredibly important at Saudade Vintage, which is why Syrjälä makes her clothing from high-quality, beautifully patterned, true vintage fabrics. She is best known for her bellbottoms, crochet rompers, jumpsuits and coordinating skirt and top sets, but she has also started making 70s-inspired platform heels. Recently, Katy Perry even bought one of her incredible patchwork jumpsuits and wore it in her new music video for “Harleys in Hawaii.” This is only the beginning of Syrjälä’s success, whose versatility and innovation as an artist is sure to win her further recognition in the world of vintage reproduction clothing. You can contact her via Instagram DMs to buy a custom piece of clothing for yourself (however, as is the case for Blush Daisy, her items are in very high demand so she must occasionally close her commissions to complete her many orders).
- Nicoletta Carlone
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Nicoletta Carlone, eponymously named by the owner, is an e-commerce shop selling jewellery and clothing inspired by the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, especially by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles of those periods. With its recurring images of spiderwebs, stars, fruit and snakes, I can only describe Carlone’s work as dreamy, haunting and ethereal. Her signature pieces are her rhinestoned star crowns inspired by that of Hedy Lamarr in the 1940s film Ziegfeld Girl. What really impresses me about Carlone is that she posts different prototypes of upcoming designs on her Instagram page and asks her followers which they would prefer, using their feedback to shape the design to their liking. She is constantly interacting with her customers, even sharing images of her inspirations on her Instagram and therefore giving them some insight into her creative process. It’s so cool to watch an antique or vintage piece of jewellery or clothing posted on Carlone’s Instagram be recreated, or to see how different elements of different pieces are combined to create something entirely new and unique. You can shop for her fabulous clothing and accessories on https://nicolettacarlone.com/.
Even if you don’t wear vintage fashion regularly, any item from these unique shops could be seamlessly incorporated into modern outfits for a tinge of old-time charm and glamor. The artists behind these businesses may be inspired by the past, but their designs are timeless and sure to last a lifetime in your wardrobe.