The Rise of Boutique Vintage and the Vintage Inspired

Once upon a time, shopping for vintage meant a treasure hunt in a dusty and musty thrift shop.  I remember spending hours combing through clothing poured into piles on the floor or crammed into crowded racks on bent wire hangers.  Then in the 1990s, vintage swung in the polar opposite direction.  Stores like Decades in Los Angeles emerged offering vintage couture...gorgeous gowns and other garments from the past stamped with the best labels money could buy.  Chanel, Givenchy, Yves Saint-Laurent, Madame Gres, Balenciaga, Gucci.  This launched a new trend in Hollywood on the red carpet, where stylists started turning more and more to options in vintage for their star clients.  A notable example came in 2001 when Renee Zellweger took a huge fashion step forward in a 1960 yellow strapless Jean Desses dress (above) from Beverly Hills' Lily et Cie.  Vintage gave her this shining moment and she hasn't looked back since.

For years, it was difficult for people to find anything in between these two vintage extremes.  One was affordable, but not necessarily the best shopping experience.  The other was like shopping a shining museum, but tended to cost just as much.  So slowly there has been an evolution in both vintage and its vendors to bring about the rise of a new tier in vintage shopping.  Call this boutique vintage, highly curated collections of vintage clothing and accessories that are maintained, merchandised, and presented as if they were new.  GlamAmor is an example of boutique vintage, often doing it so well that customers are convinced my vintage is brand new.

There are other talented vendors who are great examples of boutique vintage as well and sell with me at Los Angeles' high-end A Current Affair show and the Helms Design District Vintage Boutique.  Like any great boutique, the wonder of the best of these various vintage collections is how each is vastly different and carries its own voice.  Some are sophisticated.  Some are progressive.  Some are boho chic.  Some are over-the-top glamorous.  And GlamAmor, as you know, is classic.  What each vendor has in common is the high quality of their clothing and the respect that what we're selling is truly art.

Vintage shopping then and now--

thrift shop (above) and some of the GlamAmor collection at A Current Affair 

It's not only the collections that have evolved...shoppers have become aware of the value of vintage over the past few years and women are now mixing more and more of it into their wardrobes.  It's such a part of my own style that I am working to match that in a shopping experience. A few stores like Scout, just featured in Lucky magazine, successfully sell vintage alongside new labels.  That will soon be a part of GlamAmor as well.  My vision is to offer a boutique that sells the collection of one-of-a-kind GlamAmor Vintage next to a new line of vintage-inspired GlamAmor Originals.  Customers often miss out on their favorite dress simply because it's not in their size, so I aim to include a selection of colorful classics from 0 to 16.  Also be assured that all of my clothing will continue to be MADE IN AMERICA and fully celebrate classic American style at its best.

Incredibly, both boutique vintage and vintage-inspired lines are becoming hot trends in the fashion industry right now.  The media has really begun to take notice, starting with this New York Times article in February and recently with an entire Sunday Image section in the Los Angeles Times.  And the LA Fashion District just did a whole series on their blog dedicated to the trend, profiling various vintage vendors in the downtown area...starting with GlamAmor.  Read the great article by Annie Chang, which includes links to my recent style podcast with Turner Classic Movies and the GlamAmor Store.

If you're interested in taking a closer look at boutique vintage at its best, there are two great shows coming up in Los Angeles.  First, the fall edition of the Helms Design District Vintage Boutique takes place on September 10th at the historic Helms Bakery in Culver City.  And after Fashion Week toward the end of the month, GlamAmor once again joins A Current Affair September 24th and 25th at the Cooper Design Center penthouse in downtown LA.  Both shows promise to offer some of the most spectacular boutique vintage out there, so be sure to come and experience the evolution for yourself.

GlamAmor at the Helms Design District Vintage Boutique in Culver City

This past weekend, I took GlamAmor to the Helms Design District Vintage Boutique and joined 14 other vendors selling some of the best vintage apparel and accessories around.  The event took place at the LightSpace Studio at the Helms Bakery and everyone was an absolute delight.  They were also extremely knowledgeable about their collections and, much like A Current Affair, each person had a unique artistic voice that was expressed through his or her curated collection.  If you missed the show, you really missed out.

As a fan of all things associated with classic cinema and the history of Los Angeles, one of the other pleasures of being there was was that I was able to spend a day at the Helms Bakery in Culver City.  Since the 1920s, Culver City was home to the famed MGM Studios, which was once so big that it boasted more stars at the studio than there were in the heavens.  The production quality and talent associated with MGM was unparalleled. If you think of major movies and their stars, then MGM was behind it--The Wizard of Oz, Ninotchka, The Women, and Gone with the Wind were all produced in 1939 alone.  Gone with the Wind's Tara plantation inspired the architecture of the Selznick International Pictures building, which still stands in Culver City as a reminder of MGM's legacy.  And the MGM lot is still in use as well, but is now reincarnated as that of Sony's Columbia Pictures.

MGM studios in 1922's Culver City (above)

and coaches lined up for delivery at the Helms Bakery

The Helms Bakery is another structure that dominates much of Culver City and played an important part in the foundation and history of Los Angeles.  From 1931 to 1969--very nearly mirroring the Golden Age of Hollywood itself--Helms sold baked goods to millions of people.  This was a time when grocery stores did not exist, and Helms was well known for its coaches (i.e. trucks) that drove all across the Los Angeles Basin to deliver "daily at your door."  Both the vehicles and the Helms brand became iconic.  Drivers would ring their familiar bells and everyone would chase coaches for donuts, cookies, pastries, and of course their famous fresh-baked bread that often reached customers while still warm.  The bread was made even more famous when it became the official bread of the 1932 Olympic Games.  And in its final year of operation, Helms even won the bid to be the "first bread on the moon" through the Apollo 11 space mission.

However, with the advent of grocery stores, Helms could no longer compete with influx of so many other bakeries and quickly waned out of business.  But thankfully its wonderful Art Deco building was protected and still stands...repurposed to now house many businesses associated with design.  In fact, Culver City as a whole took inspiration from Helms and went through a renovation of its own in the 1990s.  The result is a city now known for art galleries, design studios and showrooms, and great restaurants.  Even The New York Times praised its art scene in 2007, calling Culver City "a nascent Chelsea."  Though I am enjoying exploring all of that new artistic territory, it's still the Helms Bakery that brings me the most joy. 

Upscale pub Father's Office at Helms

The fabulous furniture showroom of H. D. Buttercup

Art Deco design still ever present in Culver City, especially around Helms

The Helms Design District Vintage Boutique at the LightSpace Studio

Welcome to GlamAmor!

Teasing from the show's organizer, 

Dave Temple of Clever Vintage Clothing (in stripes!), while setting up shop

The colorful clothing of GlamAmor was featured on the cover of this week's California Apparel News

as well as a wonderful profile on the GlamAmor brand inside

Lori and Christi of Lorimarsha shopping GlamAmor
before returning to their own colorful booth (below)

Conne' of Re-Threads with Lori (above) and Christi

Visiting Conne' in her ethereal Re-Threads booth

Shopper Shauna scoring a lovely white lace dress from Re-Threads that's completely on trend

Susan and Michelle with the extraordinary designer dresses and jewelry of Tresor de Vintage,
including Pauline Trigere who designed for Breakfast at Tiffany's

The vivacious Patty Hubbard with her tempting dresses

The lovely Renee with her treasures from Renee Vintage Designs

Lauren choosing something special from Renee Vintage Designs (above) 

and Sari saying yes to a perfectly fitting red brocade dress from Clever Vintage Clothing

Sari doing a little more shopping...this time a must-have marigold Chinese dress from Vintazia

The glam side of vintage with fun frocks and accessories from Vintage Blue Moon

Sari wanting more--this time it's a vintage hat from Clever Vintage Clothing

The extraordinary collection of jewelry and purses from Maxine's Antiques & Collectibles

Thanks to the sweet and lovely Carin Krasner, who owns LightSpace Studio and hosted the event,
as well as all the wonderful vendors from the show!