On March 29th, I was one of the vendors at Trade Union, a newly-established biannual trunk show held at the Mine Factory here in Pittsburgh. It was the first time I've ever sold vintage clothing at a show, and I was so glad that the incredibly talented Laila Archuleta took a few photos of my booth. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, and keep your eyes on the Facebook page for more information about the next one!
I've been sitting on these photos for a while now, because I couldn't decide whether or not I liked them. (I'm trying to get away from the whole look-down-and-away moody blogger pose. In my defense, it was really bright outside?) But this type of outfit--a printed cotton 50's skirt paired with one of my Madewell tees--was pretty much my uniform for the last semester of grad school. Summer already feels over to me, since dance classes start up again on Friday, and I wanted to post this outfit before I'd completely moved on.
I wore this to go see Phipps Conservatory's corpse flower, named "Romero" after the director of the 1968 zombie flick Night of the Living Dead, which was filmed near Pittsburgh. Corpse flowers only bloom once every 6-10 years for 24-48 hours, and for 12 of those hours, they emit a strong odor that resembles rotting flesh (hence the name). Romero bloomed on August 20th, and I hustled over to Phipps right around opening time the following morning. It's a pretty strange-looking plant--like a 6-foot-tall prehistoric peace lily--and I'm glad I was able to catch it while it was blooming. There were also several families there when I went, and it made me irrationally happy watching little kids run around with their noses pinched, dramatically complaining about the smell!
Outfit details:
Madewell tee
Vintage 50's skirt via Very Vintage Store
H&M flats
Earlier this month, a group of 1,900 (!!) volunteers from Pittsburgh and the surrounding area covered the Andy Warhol/7th Street Bridge with 508 knitted, crocheted, and woven blankets. I heard about the project, called Knit the Bridge, a few months ago, and I checked out the finished installation yesterday. It is gorgeous, especially lit by the late afternoon sun, and I couldn't be more excited to see community arts initiatives taking place here in Pittsburgh. So awesome.
Outfit details:
1940's wrap dress via Lawrence
Coach belt
1980's oxfords purchased at an estate sale
In the two-and-a-half months since my previous post, I finished my last semester at the University of Pittsburgh and graduated with an MLIS in Archives, Preservation, and Records Management. (Woo!) My dance teaching job starts up again in September, but I'd love to find an archives-related part-time gig as well. We'll see how it goes.
Yesterday I went to the Fiberart International exhibition at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Unsurprisingly, my favorite artworks incorporated vintage textiles. For her piece Love Letters, Roslyn Ritter embroidered her mother's wedding dress with excerpts from love letters written by Ritter's father. And Samantha Fields' She Speaks Folly in a Thousand Holy Ways consists of a vintage afghan dripping with heavy, dimensional beading. There are a couple more great art exhibitions coming up in the next few months (like the 2013 Carnegie International and Chiharu Shiota's show at the Mattress Factory), and I'm looking forward to enjoying them without grad school deadlines hanging over my head.
Roslyn Ritter, Love Letters, 2011.
Detail of Ritter's Love Letters.
Samantha Fields, She Speaks Folly in a Thousand Holy Ways, 2011.
My sister, Amy, in front of Scott Hunter's Untitled, 2013. The painting was part of the 30 : 2 exhibition, also on display at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.
My sister and I were on our way to Starbucks when we spotted these hydrangeas along our street. We immediately went back to our apartment for my camera (we're ridiculous like that), then spent a few minutes taking photos. And it's a good thing we did, because a day or so later, a heavy rainstorm left the flowers looking pretty sad.
I guess you might consider this post the first in a series of "love letters" to Squirrel Hill, the Pittsburgh neighborhood where I currently live. It's a quiet section of the city filled with coffee and tea shops, bakeries, charming old buildings, and, apparently, outrageously stunning hydrangeas.
What do you like best about where you live?
