Bedknobs and Broomesticks

A brief glimpse into the everyday art world of the east village . . .

Exquisite Shopping

The best thing about moving downtown is the vibrant boutique scene right around my corner.
Last week, I called in sick and spent the day pounding the pavement in search of the perfect dress for my brother's upcoming bar mitzvah on New Year's Eve. I needed something special, slightly conservative, and definately vintage!

A stones throw away from my apartment at Exquisite Costume I found THE dress! Exquisite's owner, Stacey Lanna handpicked it for me along with a couple high waisted wool skirts that were pretty awesome as well. The dress is a luxurious navy blue velvet from the 1940's with puffed sleeves and a flounce to the skirt which hits mid-calf. Don't you love the feeling of trying something on and knowing that you will not leave without taking it home! The dress was an instant hit and a perfect fit and I quickly snatched it up, an unexpected finaly to my normal shopping trips that are plagued with indecision.

Be sure to check out Exquisite Costume (see business card on right and click for enlargement). Compared to most vintage stores laden with overpriced and unoriginal polyester threads, the collection at Exquisite Costume is classy and quite impressive. The shop stocks Victorian lace blouses, mod high heels, flowy 1970's disco tops, and antique accessories - hats remniscent of a speakeasie crowd and groovy hand bags of a certain 1960's glamour. Prices are reasonable and although some items are more expensive, take solace in the fact that the vintage clothing and accessories at Exquisite Costume were not picked off the rack of your local salvation army and marked up. Stacey works as a stylist on fashion editorials and has been a vintage collector for years. This stuff is legit. Now if only I could find the perfect heels...

Vintage Par-tay

I have SO much vintage that has just been piling up over the past
few months. I quit doing the market many months ago but I have been
shopping like crazy! I have so much stuff and would like to make it
available to you but I cant possibly photograph it all. So, I think it
would be really fun to have a vintage party at my place! I live in
beautiful Fort Greene, right off the C train on the second floor of a
brownstone apt. I will have plenty of room to try things on, nice big
mirrors and lots of wine! I can do this tmrw evening , Saturday or
Sunday afternoon. Depending on how many people get back to me about
which time is best, I will make my plan. Thanks!!! -Eliza ALSO-this
is a more inexpesive way to shop considering you wont have to pay
shipping, paypal fees etc., and you can try things on!!!

SCARY

Planned Parenthood just sent me this message about a new Bush administration appointee, who is anti-birth control and anti-family planning. Even worse, he's been put in charge of the country's family planning program.

Eric Keroack was the medical director of five so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" hat oppose contraception and do not distribute information promoting birth control. In Keroack's new role, he will oversee hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding meant to provide access to contraception and reproductive health information.

Sometimes nostalgia is awesome

playing hard to get when we're together
hard to get there on your own
when will you ever come to conscience?
i let you be alone
you never had it better
than when i was with you baby
so come back to earth
let's drink some tea and smoke some herb

tuesday's temptation

check out Paper Magazine's TIPS FOR TODAY in NYC:

THE TEMPTATIONS CHRISTMAS AT THE APOLLO THEATER What’s Christmas good for if not nostalgia? Tonight at the Apollo Theater, The Temptations will bring you their motown-y versions of old Christmas classics. Doo wop do waaah. The Apollo Theater, 253 W. 125th St., (212) 531-5305. =8 p.m. $45, $55, & $65.

Don't forget to get the HPV Vaccine

FYI: Studies have found the vaccine to be almost 100% effective in preventing diseases caused by the four HPV types covered by the vaccine. Girls/women do not need to get an HPV test or Pap test to find out if they should get the vaccine. An HPV test or a Pap test can tell that a woman may have HPV, but these tests cannot tell the specific HPV type(s) that a woman has. Even girls/women with one HPV type could get protection from the other vaccine HPV types they have not yet acquired.

cOVer MY pILLs

Last time I checked some of you gave some great advice about Birth Control methods. Last week, I visited the Margaret Sanger Center on Bleeker Street, which is the Manhattan branch of Planned Parenthood NYC.
I had a great discussion with a smart midwife at P squared.

One of the things we complained about was the lack of insurance coverage for birth control pills which we both agreed was a dumb move by misogyonistic health companies and policy makers. She reffered me to a site called COVER MY PILLS which advoces that contraception is basic healthcare for women.

their mission:

We believe that contraception should be treated in the same way as other medical needs. This means that insurance plans should treat prescription contraception the same way they treat other prescriptions, and that to fail to do so is sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. This also means that pharmacists and doctors should make sure that a woman's contraception prescription gets filled, no matter what his or her personal views about contraception are.

According to the midwife, those making these decisions just aren't aren't particularly partial to women's health care, a mistake that could be costly.

Consider the newly released HPV vaccine. Doctor's offices must pay $200-$300 for each vaccine which must be stored at a certain tempature until it expires. As of now, there are very few places offering the vaccine due to the cost, some of which is undoubtedly passed on to the patient. Imagine if pharmaceutical companies, insurance and healthcare providers, and hospitals decided to offer the vaccine on a widespread basis. There is a lot of money to be made in that venture!

Inspirational Boutiques

THIS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY VISIT NEW YORK'S PREMIER VINTAGE MARKET. AT THE SAME SITE FOR OVER 30 YEARS. A "MUST" STOP FOR THE NEW YORK DEALERS!
WE HAVE A VAST ARRAY OF VINTAGE CLOTHING, FURNITURE, LINENS, JEWELRY, GLASSWARE, RECORDS, ART WORK, BOOKS, RECORDS, COLLECTIBLES, SILVER, AND ALL SORTS OF TABLEWARE ETC. ETC.
EITHER TAKE THE"F" TRAIN TO 7TH AVENUE OR THE"R" TO 9TH STREET. HOURS ARE 9:00AM TO 4:00PM. REMEMBER THE DAYS ARE SHORTER. COME EARLY TO GET THE GREAT DEALS.
A PERFECT MARKET TO BUY THOSE SPECIAL GIFTS.

Bargain Blowouts

Since we are all thrifty ladies who like to look chic and put together, but sometimes don't have the dough to do it . . . i thought that this clip i came across would come in handy for us all:

Salon V2 - 153 Hester Street - 212.226.7690

"One of downtown Manhattan's best kept secrets, Gary Liao is the King of Blowouts. Whle blissed out from a 10-minute shiatsu scalp massage, you'll watch this dashing stylist straighten your locks until they gleam, twisting th ends around a brush for a bit of kick."
Price: $10-$15


Carsten Institute - 22 East 17th Street - 212.675.4884

"Like a good tavern during Prohibition, this beauty school and salon has an unmarked entrance. inside are blowouts so cheap and gorgeous they should be illegal. The loft bustles with talented stylist aspirants who specialise in soft, naturally flowing stules, and the intoxicating scent of heral products will give you a guilt-free buzz."
Price: $12

Free Association

In the Fashion & Style section of The Times this week there is an interesting article about a boutique in California called Free City.

800 Very Unsquare Feet

Nina Garduno, a fashion industry veteran opened Free City with the idea to "make things with the simplest elements with the highest of possibilities.” The boutique sells vintage bicycles, jeans, T-shirts, and also "functions as a gathering space." The article discusses the idea of fashion with regard to big corporations and small boutiques and the idea of authenticity. The article talks about the way in which fashion has been redefined.

"But in another way, Ms. Garduno may have instinctively realized that fashion was being redefined. It was no longer strictly about the clothes. It was, as a number of executives grasped, about the accessories. More farsighted individuals recognized that fashion’s ability to confer status or taste was illimitable and, indeed, could be transmitted through other forms, like a style of cellphone, and even by more abstract notions, like authenticity.

Several stores were on the edge of this wave, none more so than Colette in Paris and Corso Como in Milan, which sells fashion as well as books and CDs. But Ms. Garduno believes these stores are no longer innovative, in part, she says, because the shopping experience has grown static and in part because people have developed an almost free-associative view of authenticity.

This just means you can’t get into peoples’ heads so easily, or, for that matter, dazzle them with a few loaded words, as a number of big companies have recently tried to do with advertisements. The Gap’s current ads, with “peace” and “love” in gold, really resemble the style of her hand-printed graphics.

But for something to be perceived as authentic, that value has to be communicated cleanly through every detail — from the quality of the wash, if it’s a T-shirt, to the integrity of the physical environment. This is the almost visceral sense you get when you enter Free City. Not to sound crunchy, but you feel the love."

The article poses an exciting perspective about the idea of shopping and fashion that I thought we could apply to the Communal Closet Online as well as to the future Communal Closet! Essentially, Garduna reveals that

"It’s about the experience. I’m interested in having someone walk out of Free City and having had an experience. That’s what matters. They could buy a cheaper bicycle or T-shirt anywhere.”

So ladies, in regard to the present and future of the Communal Closet (both in cyberland and in real time) what kind of experience is it that we are looking to encounter ourselves and to convey to (potential readers/shoppers)?