Patio Dress Fantasies

THE February  'BE MY VALENTINE' Customer Appreciation SALE is over, but keep an eye out for FLASH SALES and future DISCOUNT COUPONS.

Get ready for spring with our Etsy shops' CUSTOMER APPRECIATION SALE.  

• Use the DISCOUNT COUPON code number VLM1111 at BeeBeautifulVintage.com between now and February 29, 2016 and receive 10% off every purchase in your cart when you check out.
• Use the DISCOUNT COUPON code number VLM2222 at LuminousLadyVintage.com between now and February 29, 2016 and receive 10% off every purchase in your cart when you check out.

An unseasonable warm spell here in our Oregon winter has reminded me of my Los Angeles childhood, when all the seasons were patio party seasons. It seemed cold to me if I had to put on a sweater, but even sweater-clad, my parents would party on in our garden! 

My mother was quite the fashion icon, having had a professional life in the clothing business during the 1930s and 1940s. But of course as a child I just took her chic taste for something ordinary. She wore light weight, colorful dresses, sleeveless or with short sleeves and fairly full skirts. Her parties took place on our patio which was ripe with floral scents, as it was surrounded by roses, orange trees and a lone avocado tree.  As a boy who was born and raised in Los Angeles I took it all for granted, but she had moved to L.A. from snowy Cleveland after World War II, and she knew how special it was to have roses in the winter!

Dreaming of warm weather and your own patio party?  Get ready now, with one of our patio dresses.

#PatioDress #Tiki

Here fair skinned Sarah is already prepared for the sun in her Tiki ribbon & ric rac accented party dress. 

50's Cheeky Tiki Sand Cotton Patio Dress . Tiki Brocade Ribbon Trim . Copper Ric Rac . Raglan Sleeves . Circle Skirt . Party Hostess .

Purchase Here

#PatioDress

Cami favors gray & white checks to accent her tattoos.

50's Patio Party Dress . Vintage Square Dance style . Red Accents . Gray Check Gingham .'New Look' late 40s . Free Bonus 70s Red Bolero .

Purchase Here

#PatioDress

Sarah trades her parasol for a woven beach bag,ever-so-pretty-in-pink.

Pretty in Pink Patio Cotton Day Dress . 1950's Mexico Style . Calif Party Hostess . Rockabilly Swing Dance . White Silver Ric Rac Ribbon .

 Purchase Here

#PatioDress

A vodka martini?  Justine says "Absolute-ly!" 

40's Rhinestone Patio Day Dress .Vintage Rockabilly & Country Western Square Dance . Dale Evans Costume . Salmon Pink Creme . Circle Skirt

Purchase Here 

Here below are some more styles, which are already partying on our customers' patios! Sorry, but as with everything in LuminousLadyVintage and BeeBeautifulVintage, these are one of a kind vintage and having been sold, cannot be replaced.  So nab your unique patio dress from the items above before they fly off to a party.  And even if you don't live in Los Angeles, you can fantasize sun, flowers and cocktails with umbrellas in them! 

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

 -- Posted by David (the photographer)

Preview of our Wedding Bridal Boutique

Planning for a wedding? Our Etsy shops are offering a CUSTOMER APPRECIATION SALE.  Use your discount on one the wonderful dresses that will be appearing in the new Wedding Bridal Boutique at LuminousLadyVintage.com or for anything else at our stores.

THE February  'BE MY VALENTINE' Customer Appreciation SALE is over, but keep an eye out for FLASH SALES and future DISCOUNT COUPONS.

• Use the DISCOUNT COUPON code number VLM1111 at BeeBeautifulVintage.com between now and February 29, 2016 and receive 10% off every purchase in your cart when you check out.
• Use the DISCOUNT COUPON code number VLM2222 at LuminousLadyVintage.com between now and February 29, 2016 and receive 10% off every purchase in your cart when you check out.

Here is a peek at what is coming. Photographing the dresses was so much fun (see the previous post: Photographing our Wedding Bridal Boutique).  

I kept wondering what it would be like for our model, Sarah, to be trying on all these gorgeous gowns. In my fantasy she would wear blue jeans to her own wedding.  But when I asked her, she said she planned to get married in either a red dress or a black dress! Another thing that made the process fun was having our neighbor, Olivia (who's almost 10) be a flower girl. But from a practical perspective, she could also help Sarah with the train of the gown being modeled. She was a little trooper, carrying some of those really heavy trains up and down the stairs from the changing room. Sarah said it made the whole experience more fun, modeling and interacting with her.

#VintageJuniorBridesmaid  #Vintage50sLaceDress

Olivia in a dreamy vintage 1950's Cream Lace 'New Look' Dress with rhinestone matching belt. 24 inch waste and we clipped bodice to fit her. It would make a great vintage junior bridesmaid dress with alterations or a petite swing dress. Soon to be listed on Etsy

#VintageWedding #50sLaceBridalGown

Retro 80s does 50s White Sparkly Lace Flounce Wedding Gown

#VintageBride #VintageBridalFashion

Gorgeous 80s Cream Satin Beaded Princess Ball Gown Wedding Dress

#VintageWeddingGown #BridalSalon

Exquisite 70s Belle Epoque White Satin Fancy Lace Beaded Bridal Gown

#VintageWW2Bride #VintageBridalGown

Glamorous Vintage 1940s Cream Satin Wedding Gown with Beading

#VintageBridalBoutique #Vintage70sBride

Sublime 1970s Chiffon and Lace Wedding Gown. Queen Anne Neckline. Medieval Sleeves

The gown may be sublime, but the flower girl in the candid snap above is getting a bit tired!

Detail of gown in above photo.

#EdwardianRetroGown #Vintage70sBride

Chic 70s Edwardian Style Chiffon and Lace Bridal Gown and Matching Veil

#PrincessDiWeddingStyle #SouthernBelleBride

80s Retro Southern Belle White Satin Beaded Bridal Gown. This ruched & beaded dress, shown in another view below, had an amazing amount of material, but the proportions were gorgeous, a Cinderella princess fantasy.

#VictorianRevivalBride #BelleEpochBride

Gorgeous 80s Belle Epoch White Satin Gown with Pearls, Sequins and Chapel Train. And the open lace work in the center of this Retro Belle Epoch gown's train was a surprise when I spread it out to photograph it.

#SouthernBelleBride #CivilWarBride

Vintage 80s "Gone with the wind"Ivory Satin & Lace Bridal Dress

Gorgeous 80s "Gone with the Wind" Ivory Satin Gown with Lace and Chapel Train. I loved the 40's lacy straw hat that we styled with this dress.  It seemed sort of "southern belle" to me and really complimented the gown's retro look.

#JessicaMcClintokBride  #VintageBridalSalon

Chic Vintage 90s Jessica McClintok White Lace Sheath Bridal Gown. SOLD

#RetroMedievalGown #70sBohoBride

Medieval Look 70s White Chiffon and Lace Bridal Gown with Matching Veil.The matching veil that comes with this dress deserved to be shown off.  There will be some stunning pictures with the veil in the Etsy store LuminousLadyVintage.com bride & wedding boutique, so be sure to visit it.

After photographing so much fluff & flirty volumes of material, the next two wedding dresses stood out for their 60's simplicity and 90's Jessica McClintok bride or prom dress clean lines.

#Swinging60sBride #60sLinenBridalGown

60s Simplicity Vintage White Linen Sheath Bridal Gown with Ecru Cotton Lace and Detachable Train, as shown below.

#WhiteLacePromGown ##JessicaMcClintokVintage

Chic 90s Jessica McClintok Lace Wedding or Prom Gown

#Vintage50sBride #AlternativeBridalGown

And for the bride who wants an alternative to satin, crinolines and long trains, a "peachy keen" vintage 50s Midi Lacy Peach Dress & Coat Set.

Photographing our Wedding Bridal Boutique

THE February  'BE MY VALENTINE' Customer Appreciation SALE is over, but keep an eye out for FLASH SALES and future DISCOUNT COUPONS.

It may be a cold February, but it is also time for Valentine gifts and romance. Our Etsy shops are offering a BE MY VALENTINE customer appreciation sale.

• Use the DISCOUNT COUPON code number VLM1111 at BeeBeautifulVintage.com between January 14 and February 29, 2016 and receive 10% off every purchase in your cart when you check out.
• Use the DISCOUNT COUPON code number VLM2222 at LuminousLadyVintage.com between January 14 and February 29, 2016 and receive 10% off every purchase in your cart when you check out.

Sometimes romance leads to marriage, and this is also the season in which we are getting set to launch a Wedding Bridal Boutique in our Etsy store LuminousLadyVintage.com. Here are some scenes from our recent bridal photo shoot. Sarah was our model, and our neighbor Olivia joined the fun as a model flower girl.  First of course, everyone has to be styled, which is Kayla’s favorite task.

#Wedding #WeddingDress #BridalBoutique

My part in this production was the photography.

Shooting wedding dresses is full of technical problems, mostly associated with getting adequate detail and depth in the photos of full dresses with long trains. And photographing white satin, lace and pearls has its own challenges, but when the photos come out correctly, they are beautiful.

#Wedding #WeddingDress #BridalBoutique

Of course it is wonderful to have a lovely and talented model, like Sarah,

#Wedding #WeddingDress #BridalBoutique

who can be sublimely ethereal.

#Wedding #WeddingDress #BridalBoutique

So, whether you are a future bride, or just a romantic, "stay tuned” for the launch of our Bridal Salon at LuminousLadyVintage.com, and enjoy these lovely gowns.

-- David (the guy with the camera).

#Wedding #WeddingDress #BridalBoutique #Valentine #romance

VINTAGE KAYLA IN YELLOWSTONE 1965

My cousin David alerted me to the fact that his niece has started a Hollingshead genealogy facebook page. He has added videos of our extended family which I never knew existed. In this one we are visiting Yellowstone Park in our yearly August pilgrimage to it's awesome wildness and my uncle caught just a quick glimpse of me at age 12 next to Morning Glory Pool. I loved that turquoise pool and it had almost mystical qualities for me over the years both in returning to it as a yearly event when I was young and later as a place of pilgrimage to re-connect to the place of spiritual magic deep in my heart. Later the glorious blue pool portal showed up in my watercolor paintings of the sacred feminine.....So on with the show.... I arrive like a will-o-wisp at about 1 min 7 seconds, but first you can see how we strolled with the bears in 65, watch Old Faithful erupt and glimpse the hot spring area.

BE MY VALENTINE Customer Appreciation Sale

THE February  'BE MY VALENTINE' Customer Appreciation SALE is over, but keep an eye out for FLASH SALES and future DISCOUNT COUPONS.

BE MY VALENTINE Discount Coupons

In celebration of placing my first add in the fabulous and exciting VINTAGE LIFE Magazine, I am offering 10% Discount Coupons for both of my etsy stores.

Enjoy a BE MY VALENTINE customer appreciation sale.

Use the DISCOUNT COUPON code number VLM1111 at BeeBeautifulVintage.com between January 14 and February 29, 2016 and receive 10% off every purchase in your cart when you check out.

Use the DISCOUNT COUPON code number VLM2222 at LuminousLadyVintage.com between January 14 and February 29, 2016 and receive 10% off every purchase in your cart when you check out.

It's always so exciting and terrifying to lunge into the deep ocean of the unknown. My Etsy vintage businesses have brought me equal amounts of joy and headache as I traverse a computer realm that is like second nature to my younger vintage lover peers. Luckily I have my I.T. husband David to help me conquer those techno phobias and basically save my bacon when I make a big boo boo.

 He suggested a long time ago that I invest in advertising but then I had this thought that overtakes so many women;."What if it works and I am wildly successful", how will I cope when I am already overwhelmed by doing all the jobs associated with an online business? I watched the movie; 'The Intern' with Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro the other night and recognized my old fear; of being a woman with too many tasks and a new one; of growing old and not having the energy to do it all if I am successful. Both can be true but don't have to be. I do Tibetan Buddhist meditation and that helps overcome these negative states of mind when they pop up, transforming them into positive energy.

I have to visualize myself as that multi-armed Goddess I saw in a feminist cartoon in the 80's, in her case holding; an iron, a frying pan, a child, a telephone, a typewriter, a broom etc in her many hands. For me these days it's a job collage of; computer, photographer, fashion stylist, hiring models, photo cropping, historical research, listing each item, cleaning, mending & ironing the clothes & hats etc, arranging the storage so I can find that one tiny piece of costume jewelry a customer orders (there have been a few panicked moments as my inventory grows, I tell you), lovingly packing & shipping the items and the most fun of all; responding to my lovely customers and the vintage treasure quest itself! Believe me it's hard when a customer asks for a discount after doing all that for each item, but hey that is the world we live in! We put our ideas about things in a box of simplicity and isolation not realizing the complex interdependent causes and conditions that go into the production of every item we purchase, be it the clothes we wear, the water we drink or the food we eat.
Mama Earth isn't too happy with us about that, either!

Luckily David recently retired and has become my photographer. He's great with getting the models to relax and have fun and you'll see a definite improvement in quality there. We are about to re-photograph 60 HATS, for those of you who bought hats in the early days of Luminous Lady Vintage and wondered where in the heck they went. Boy were my  hat photos bad with a capital B when I went back through them. He also does the artwork on my adds, banners, business cards etc with some finalizing help from Kristin at Redbat Designs. I have found a model Sara who is perfectly  supercalifragilisticexpealidpocous (looks like Myrna Loy, my favorite actress of the 30s & 40s) who is a junior in high school and who won't disappear on me for a couple of years at least. I've made some headway in my understanding of blogs and other social media, so bring it on ;-) 

So we'll see how this all plays out. The Vintage Life Magazine which is published in Great Britain monthly, this Jan 26th, where vintage goes beyond clothes and accessories and is a 'lifestyle' for many men and women and has an international following. About half of my sales on Etsy have been international, so help me celebrate jumping into the void of new vintage treasure quests by visiting my stores (to help my Google rating) and take part in the sale if you are a vintage lover!  "Here's to you, vintage gals out there, some customer appreciation Valentine love & blessings and Discount Coupons!" #VintageLifeMagazine #facingfears #roadtosuccess #ValentineDay #DiscountCoupons