Old clothes, poetry, music and the beauty of the natural world inspire me to be present and yet transcend time at the same time. Every day in each moment we have the opportunity to create magic in myriad ways and for me clothing is such a deep part of that. What character do I feel today? What am I going to make and give to the world? An outfit in itself can be a work of art...I guess that is what is meant by style...how we collage together clothes out of how we feel emotionally and physically. It is magic really, the creation of a beautiful illusion that we present to the world that affects those around us. The ability to create is one of the greatest gifts we have as human beings, so in my small way I hope by offering wonderful clothes and old goods I can inspire those who come across my shop to dream their dreams and create their own magic.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

My shop won the best song ever contest!

My shop on Etsy, Moonchild Vintage, belongs to an Esty Team that recently held a contest where everyone was asked to either make, or in the case of vintage shops pick a piece inspired by one of your all time favorite songs and then photograph it with that in mind as well. I chose the Bjork song UNRAVEL which is on her album Homogenic and I won for my listing! I don;t think I have ever won anything! Here is the photo that one with the lovely dress for sale in my shop as well as the lyrics to Unravel.

While you are away
My heart comes undone
Slowly unravels
In a ball of yarn
The devil collects it
With a grin
Our love
In a ball of yarn
He'll never return it
So when you come back
We'll have to make new love
While you are away
My heart comes undone
Slowly unravels
In a ball of yarn
The devil collects it
With a grin
Our love, our love,
In a ball of yarn
He'll never return it
When you come back
We'll have to make new love

I wanna think the leader of the Etsy Indie Free Spirits Team for all her hard work in putting this together and all of my amazing team members! For more info on the Indie Free Spirits team and a list of all the shops on the team here is our blog:

http://indiefreespirits.blogspot.com/2010/11/winners-arrrre.html

SEMINA CULTURE AND STYLE

One of the most interesting visual artist of the Beat era, Wallace Berman (1926-1976) remains, for me, one of the best kept secrets of the late twentieth century. A crucial figure in California's postwar underground, Berman was a catalyst who traveled through many different worlds, transferring ideas and dreams from one circle to the next. His publication called Semina, a loose-leaf art and poetry journal that Berman published and personally distributed in nine issues occupies a legendary place within the California art world as the club for those in the know. An experiment in private, improvised art distributed among friends, Semina can be compared to the fascicles and letters of Emily Dickinson a century earlier; both Dickinson and Berman sought through their hand-made, private creations—often sent out as “mail art”—to coalesce a community that was at odds with the official world. Within the charmed circle of the Semina coterie, distinctions between literature and art collapsed: poets drew and made collages; artists and filmmakers wrote poems. Speaking for Berman, his wife Shirley asserts that he published Semina “because he loved poetry so much”. “We spent a lot of time reading poetry,” she recalls, insisting that poetry was a more fecund source of inspiration for Berman than two other art forms he adored, music and film: “His working process was to read poetry, all the new young poets”

Semina was an unbound journal printed on a hand press in editions of a few hundred and mailed to friends ‘like a surprise communication from an erratic correspondent’. Each installment of Semina consisted of loose-leaf pages of different sizes and shapes and featured works by dozens of the artists and poets who passed through Berman’s bungalow on Crater Lane, a loosely defined scene that included Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, Jack Hirschman, Joan Brown, Jess, Allen Ginsberg, Diane di Prima, Dean Stockwell, Dennis Hopper, Taylor Mead, Jack Smith, Walter Hopps, William Burroughs and many more.

I have included photos to get a feel of what an interesting and wonderful thing Semina culture truly was and it takes me back in time to a place where artist truly made art for arts sake as opposed to the drive for money and fame. Every photo and piece of poetry and art work inspires so much in me, mainly a sense of the magic in ordinary life and the simple style of working with what you have as we are all so full of our own magic as are the things around us.





















A poem by Jack Hirschman

NELLIE

After his shouts, the strops, her screams, the thrown things,
the doorslam, the bitter weeping,
out of the thin box, as the delicate paper was parted,
she'd lift the sheer mojud stockings
and run her fingertips along them,
slowly smiling girlishly again.

She'd begin singing a Perry Como song,
she loved Perry Como and would sing
the same song he sang, all day long,
on the Make-Believe Ballroom Time.

Then, in a black brassiere strapped to her freckled shoulders,
she'd sit on the bed, fit the stockings,
stand up and notch them to the garters
that hung down from her black girdle,
A ripple of fat ran round her waist, squeezed out
by the girdle, different from
the plumps that swelled out from her brassiere.
And I saw a blue bruise, the shadow
of a belt-buckle on her thigh.

But she was singing again, and over the girdle
she'd put on a pair of pink bloomers,
and over everything, then,a brown-and-white flower-print
summer-golden dress.

Her white heels had holes in the toes where her nail-polish
showed through. The bottle of polish, tweezers, lipstick,
rouge, brush and emeryboard were on the vanity table
over there looking in the mirror.

Her lips swam in the Como song with rose-red strokes,
reaching the end with a shiny glow,
like the waxy cameo of her mother
on the brooch in the drawer.

She'd hold out her hand and say, "Come, darling?"

We'd walk hand in hand up and down our street
in the twilight,
and the neighbors would cry out: "Hi, Nellie!" or "Hello,
Mrs. Hirschman," and "Hi, Jackie. My, how you've grown!"

From Endless Threshold (Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 1992)

Monday, October 4, 2010

EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON

Hi everyone,

Sorry to have been away for awhile but the last of the summer days has had me busy with gearing up for the fall in the shop! The latest arrivals all have a very Season of the Witch meets a Russian Fairy Tale feeling that is so appropos of the season and Halloween coming up at the end of the month is my favorite holiday as well. I have so much new and amazing stuff I will be listing over the month and into the holiday season, so enjoy these lovelies and stay tuned for more! Lots of love to everyone in this harvest season!



EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON 1970s Folk Floral Gypsy DressGOLD DUST WOMAN  Black and Gold Metallic Maxi Tunic DressEAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON 1970s Folk Floral Gypsy DressWHITE CHALK Celtic Princess 1970s Maxi DressThe JULIET Black Velvet Renaissance JacketYOUNG EDWARDIAN Black Sweater DressKATE HEPBURN FROM CONNECTICUT Black CardiganBlack Cotton NICO WALKS THE MOORS SkirtTANGERINE DREAM Tie Dye Maxi Hippie DressTIME OF THE SEASON Boho Balinese Maxi Caftan Dress





Tuesday, September 21, 2010

AUTUMN CHILD~

The weather is starting to get a bit cooler here in Colorado and the landscape is changing colors slowly and you can smell and feel autumn in the air. In honor of the season, I have some wonderful new things in the shop and tons more coming for the fall and Holiday season. I hope everyone is feeling cozy and inspired with the colors of indian summer finally dawning~ xo
AUTUMN CHILD Boho Dress
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Navy Blue Polka Dot Maxi Dress
HARVEST MOON Orange Floral Maxi Peasant Dress
MONDAY, MONDAY Faux Fur hat
I DREAMED I SAW SAINT AUGUSTINE Blue Maxi Dress
NORWEGIAN WOOD Royal Blue Wool Cardigan
FELL IN LOVE WITH A GIRL Red Country Western Dress

The IT Girl~

Flappers, Flappers, Flappers!! All the new additions remind me of the feeling of those old 1920s movies with Clara Bow, who was the original IT GIRL~ So learn the Charleston and get out those Black stockings and Dance the night away!
GEORGIE GIRL Brown Polka Dot Sheer Mini Dress

1920s I WANNA BE LOVED BY YOU Pinoir
SHE'S A RAINBOW Psychedelic Art Nouveau Dress
SEASON OF THE FOX Fur Hat
The ZELDA Dress
1960s ANNA MAGNANI Italian Cream Cardigan

CLARA BOW IN THE MORNING Pink and Lace Camisole
I DREAM OF GENIE Gold Metallic Flats
1920s Brown Cloche Hat
Early 1960s Black Suede Scallop Pumps
1940s Black Velvet Handbag
THE DAY OF THE LOCUST Sheer Polka Dot Dress