Behind the Scenes: 1960s Vintage Inspired Shoot "Les Filles Nouveaux"

What happens when you take two adorable girls, add a sprinkling of vintage from the 1960s, tossed with pretty braids, and a dash of poppy red lipstick? You get wonderful vintage inspired loveliness!

The Adorevintage April lookbook went without a single hitch. I just love when what I envision is exactly if not better than the final results. Well, we haven't quite gotten the final results, but the previews on the camera were amazing already, so I know the final stills and video will be vintage wonderfulness!

The following photos are behind the scenes I snapped during the shoot. I got to work with really wonderful, talented, and down to earth people. I've been so lucky in Los Angeles to have been connected with creative guys and gals that inspire me to keep doing what I love to do (sell vintage and wardrobe styling!)

Enjoy the Behind the Scenes and hope you're looking forward to the lookbook coming in a couple weeks! (click on thumbnails to view full size)


All above images were taken by me. Please feel free to share and credit/link back.

This shoot wouldn't have been possible without the following wonderful people...
Alexandria Martinez for the lovely hairdos, Maria Alejandra Barrios for 1960s inspired makeup, Rodellee (*c'est moi*) for wardrobe styling with vintage clothing from Adorevintage.com, videos and photos directed and shot by Scott Laytart (portfolio under construction), and last but certainly not least our lovely models Jessica Today and Laura Hand.

The Most Amazing Vintage Skirt I Ever Did See

On a random afternoon I ducked into one of my favorite vintage shops in LA and happened upon a late 40s circle skirt. At first glance there really wasn't much too it, it's pale maize yellow with faded doodles all around.

BUT THEN... upon a closer inspection...


Names of people, of places, and even dates! "How curious!" I thought. "What a strange and fantastic textile pattern." I wore it the very next day and was peering down at the dates when I noticed spots along the hem which appeared like ink spots. And a few signatures barely legible.

Could these be ACTUAL signatures? Not a textile print? Later that afternoon I rushed back into the vintage shop and inquired about the origins of the skirt. And here is what I was told...


"The skirt was purchased at an estate of a lady who had worn it during her travels, and when she traveled, if she met some interesting and friendly folks, she would have them sign her skirt. The illustrations were all hand drawn and hand painted. Some of the signatures have faded away since she didn't always have the right pen. But, yep, all those signatures are authentic!"

Now... as someone who has always answered the question "What do you love about vintage?" with "Because I become a part of the story of this garment of clothing"... this little back story to my vintage skirt made me feel like I had sprouted wings and was dancing on cloud 9 with the vintage gods.

I flitted and floated on home and was very extremely tempted to twirl my way down the sidewalk past curious onlookers as I literally skipped home.

For those that sell and collect vintage, this is what it's all about isn't it? That happy magical feeling when you know you now possess something so special to someone at one point in time and you'll treasure it as much as she previously had.

And yes, I will be adding my signature to the skirt. :)

Happy New Year! Happy New Vintage!

Bonjour 2011! Adieu 2010! I feel that wonderful tingly feeling of promise, or perhaps it's the champagne... (Happy New Year!)

Wonderful vintage clothing is coming soon to the shop...above is a preview and only a few of the items on this rack are stocked in the shop at the moment (and this isn't even the entire rack!)

I've added a few lovely things already the past couple days, I just couldn't wait to share my most recent finds with all of you!

/// Recent Additions to the Shop ///

= { SHOP ADOREVINTAGE } =

Coffee Date with Bella Vintage

This week flew by so quickly! We arrived back on Monday from Sacramento, Tuesday was spent doing laundry for the family (we've been out of town, on business trips for the past THREE WEEKS, that's A TON of laundry!) and later on a dentist appointment for the kiddo, Wednesday I met with the lovely Gisela from Bella Vintage at La Mill Coffee Boutique in Silver Lake.


Gisela got the most amazing looking "Cream Brulee" latte, it literally had a burnt sugar foam on top. (Jealous was I, yes, yes) but I did go for a safe bet, a plain latte.

Gisela was such a sweetheart! We both have daughters (hers is 13, mine is 12) who are both into fashion but follow their own little styles. Her daughter's name is Zoe and my stepdaughter's name is Chloe! Isn't that a happy chance?

On Thursday I had a lovely 1940s inspired photoshoot with Caitlin Bellah that will hopefully appear in a magazine soon! I'm so excited for the photos!

And yesterday, what I thought was going to be a quick pop into FedEx to pick up a most important package turned into a 6.5 mile WALK to Koreatown in 90 degree heat. I meant to get work done for my kiddo's birthday party this afternoon, but I passed out on the bed with my workout clothes still on.

My poor vintage shop has been so neglected, I did add a few little vintage goodies yesterday, but trust me, I have so MUCH more to post up along with lots of lovely new pictures to share of my latest styling jobs!

Behind the Scenes: Adore Vintage Fashion Editorial

Last weekend we drove along the PCH and shot along the beautiful California coastline. We spent the day shooting and got some amazing shots during sunset and then woke up at 5 AM for make-up/hair to be shooting for sunrise at 7. *phew*

Photoshoots are always fun but very draining. (And I've got 4 more comming up! *phew*) Aside from selling vintage wares, I'm also a wardrobe stylist, but the past year and a half have been on hiatus due to our move to Los Angeles. But now, work is picking up again and I'm really excited to push up my sleeves and start getting creative again.

I can't wait to share the final images with all of you, I've seen the previews and they're amazing!

The Adorevintage Fashion Film Project

I've just finished ironing all of the beautiful vintage pieces we'll be shooting this weekend for our fashion film collaboration with Williams + Wade. The 1930s ruffled dress with pink velvet bow was quite a pain to iron as our steamer is on loan to a theater that I was wardrobe assisting. I literally ironed it square by square with a cotton kitchen towel over it. It took a good 30 minutes. *phew*


We'll be shooting in San Diego on lovely fields and forests and then along the shore with pebbled beaches and large cliffs. *dreamy* I know all will go well and it's going to turn out amazing! And hopefully the Williams + Wade team will want to collaborate on future short film projects!

If you're curious how the shoot is going and want behind the scene access on Adorevintage's first fashion film, be sure to follow us on Twitter as I'll be tweeting about our adventures the whole weekend!

Behind the Scenes at the Beverly Hills Planet Salon Fashion Show

Last weekend I was hired to style a group of lovely ladies for a fashion show for Planet Salon in Beverly Hills (very exciting) and I was able to snap a few backstage photos... unfortunately I am not so skilled at taking photos when there isn't much light and when people are always moving... The experience was fantastic. It was the first time I had ever styled for an actual show instead of shoots. (And this weekend is my FILM styling debut, woo-hoo!)


The girls all had very romantic hair, so to coincide with the hair, I wanted them to look ethereal, a little fairy-like even. Some of the models felt like they were walking down the aisle instead of a runway... *hehe* I wish I had photographed more of the actual show and the people that came to see, there were a lot of fantastic outfits to be found! Perhaps another time!

Adorevintage Site Changes, New "FAQ" updates!

The last two days I spent revamping the F.A.Q. section so that it was easier to navigate and information was more accessible. I removed a lot of the "site embellishments" so it was straight to the point but also looked pretty.

I also changed the link colors and the banner colors to this pretty peachy/orange color (picked from the Vargas girl illustration). I'm hoping it's just as pretty on other people's monitors as it is on mine. *hehe* It would be awful if it looked lovely on my screen but horrendously orange on other peoples' screens!

It took awhile, I had to redesign new banners, new graphics, and create all the new pages and change the stylesheets. *phew* But it was worth it! I love the Adorevintage.com F.A.Q. section, it's so clean!

Behind the Scenes: Packaging Orders for AV

When I package orders this is what my dining room table turns into. A mess, I know. I need to come up with a "conveyor belt" way to package orders, it always seems so haphazard and most of the time I'm hunting down tape or the scissors or string. Any advice?

P.S. - See my new polka dot paper? I adore it so much! Can you tell I love polka dots? It's on my business cards too!

New in the Shop: Pinks, Blues, & Summer Hues

Vintage skirts from the 50s, 60s, and 70s and a few new pieces of jewelry from the 50s and 60s.

My polka dot wrapping paper came in! I'm so excited! I'll be packaging and shipping out orders the rest of the afternoon before I pick up the kiddo from school and go run Mommy/Wife errands :)

I hope you are all having a good week so far! Pretty blog posts coming soon, it's been hectic this week!

My Directing Debut: Saturday at Griffith Observatory

Well, it's not very vintage related I know, however one of my monthly goals (all right, it was March's goal) was to purchase a video camera, and so I have at last!

I spent most of Saturday evening splicing clips together and adding the soundtrack. I've never created a video in my life, so sorry it's a bit shoddy. The quality isn't the greatest, I think I compressed it too much. But, I hope you enjoy!

Also, for those who have made videos on Youtube, any advice? I am so very excited to start making little films about vintage and even to get my toes wet with a new creative medium, but my thoughts and ideas are really too scattered. Thoughts? Ideas? Advice?

The (mis)Adventures of Owning a E-Biz

Oh dear... I've messed something up. *sigh* So this morning I was trying to set up domain forwarding for AdoreVintage and did it backwards so I reset so I could fix it and do it right and instead I got added in the "Slow Reset" list for my hosting company. Usually these things fix themselves ASAP but apparently mine is going to take 3-4 hours. *cries*

So, what to do in the meantime as I can't access any part of my site (sorry for the broken images)...

Guess I'll get to organizing the stock closet. I usually organize by color, but since I literally have a closet now (as opposed to having an entire room) to house everything, I need to rework how everything is laid out because I am having the hardest time finding anything.

Hopefully my site is up and running again in a few hours! *crosses fingers*

A few of my favorite AdoreVintage banners...

One of the reasons I love what I do so much is because Adore Vintage is in short a reflection of who I am and the things I love. I think it's very important that when running and starting your own business, you stay true to yourself and your ideals.

My love for vintage, nature, art, and just pretty little things are quite apparent in the banners I design for AV. Don't you think so too? *hehe*


{ click here to shop }
In case you are wondering... I use Photoshop CS3 to design the banners and the main font I use is Cambria, which comes with Windows Vista. For simple animated banners I use Adobe ImageReady.