We share our private collection and vintage (in all sense of the word ;p) thoughts here:

 As we begin our journey here with you, we thought we might share how our love for vintage began. 🙂

Happy Laundry day owner, Lydia, is a vintage luggage bag collector. Almost a hoarder!

This is her story:

When ebay first came about, it was a fabulous source of researching and searching for vintage. The first item I ever bought was a carpet bag. I can’t seem to find it now! But I certainly have not lost my love for vintage. What I love about vintage is the feel of the materials and the mind-boggling variety of prints. Some were inspiring, some gawdy, some so eye-catching and some just plain strange. But they were never uninteresting or repetitive. There’s always something to love about each piece, be it a button here, a snap there, a tuck here or a pleat at the most unexpected place – Vintage conjured up stories of the people who wore and more than that, made these pieces.

The flower power luggage bags of the 60s and 70s was the first vintage bug I caught. I think i was so crazy over them I almost always spent nearly all of what I earned on my weensy intern pay in my search for that elusive floral-print luggage bag. And one needed to be a night owl too! Since most of the auctions then were in the USA and it got really hectic when it got to close to the end of the auction. Countless times I would bid all I could only to be outbidded at the very last second by someone else. It was addictive!

Here I’d like to share one of my happiest and favourite finds. It is a small sized Batam flower power print luggage over-nighter from the 70s and it has such clear, vibrant print and the interior is in such pristine condition. It was a fist-pumping moment when I managed to get this one!

And that is the great thing about buying vintage. That moment when you realise you found something that belonged to you as much as you belonged to it. And since sizes for clothing are fixed (most  vintage pieces are one-of-a-kind), it’s truly a truimpant moment when the cut, style and print that you have fallen in love also came in your size! Of course most of the time it’s easier to buy a size or two larger and you can always wear it loose or get it altered to fit. But whatever it is, vintage has that lure that will have you hook, line and sinker once you start. It is not so much about the obsession with the material as it is about the history and emotions.

Kismet, always.

18 Oct 2014

Vintage in the family

Sometimes the best vintage finds are right under your nose. Literally.

Maybe in the dusty old cupboard (which could very well be a rare handmade vintage treasure itself!), a figurine or a mug or a glass or a bowl. Or look in your grandma, aunt, mom’s wardrobe.

That’s how we started our vintage collection. Right from our fabulous aunt’s wardrobe.

It’s like Narnia in there. Another world altogether!

This is one of my aunt’s handmade dresses.

She is our family’s superwoman. An adventurous traveller (which is quite a big deal considering the times they grew up with), a good cook, an amazing seamstress,  and an accomplished accountant.

My mom tells me of how when they were young girls, my aunt and her older sister, used to stay up all night sewing away at her Singer sewing machine and those creaky mechanical pedals rushing a new dress for a tea party the next day, or just before the Lunar New Year and getting reprimanded by my grandma for it (you know, that old superstition of not touching anything sharp on New Year’s day ;p).

I’m lucky and privileged to have some of her amazing vintage pieces. Though I cannot fit into ANY of them because she also had one of those infamous 18-inch waists of her time!

But I hope to share more of them along the way.

And maybe find some of your own in your family’s own cupboard.

Best kept secrets are meant to be shared after all!