Violet Folklore

By the Light of the Silvery Moon

From Sasha

 

Okay, I've done the math: it takes three inspirations to make one really cool new creation. For me, yesterday, it was:

 #1 this sari (which actually shimmers with silver thread!); #2 the moon, yes the actual moon, which is growing every night, and making my head spin; and #3 this picture on MissKirstenBeth's Flickr photostream. Mirrors!

 

 

My necklace, which I am wearing as a headpiece, is from likearollingstone on Etsy. Check out Erin's amazing designs! This incredible sari will be in the shop in the next day or so, by the way...

 

Roadside Attractions

From Sasha

Last night I got home too late to take pictures at my house, which is in the shade of a big hill and gets dark early. I was hot to capture these two cool pieces, though, so I did something I have never done before-- got fully dressed, hopped in the car, and went looking for a roadside that still had lots of light left. I found one! Such lovely meadows and cat-tails... even a lane lined with blackberry bushes. The funny thing is that, even though I look like I am in the middle of nowhere, I am actually standing right at the side of the road, with the occasional Ford pickup driving by with someone on their way home from work, people walking their dogs, etc. I even got buzzed by a car full of teenagers who were hanging out of the windows of a dusty beater and (quite genuinely) yelling "whoo!". The things we do for art... 

    ~By the way, these pieces will be in the shop tonight!~

There's Gold In Them Hills

From Sasha

Okay, I just can't wait to show you some of the pictures from this evening's photo shoot! I am up late because I am still so hyped up about it.

Amber and I went to Empire Mine State Park, site of the oldest, largest, and richest gold mine in California. The owner's house and grounds have been restored to their former glory... and Glorious they are. We felt like we were on the set of a Merchant-Ivory film! Here is some of the sweetness... all of these pretties will be coming to the shop in the next few days, by the way, with the exception of the white dress, which we realized was made for Amber alone. Enjoy...

 

Now maybe we stayed past closing time and maybe we didn't... we will let you be the judge!:

An Egyptian Jiminy Cricket

From Sasha

I've spent the last week in a shopping frenzy, and I have a pile of gorgeous dresses to photograph for the shop! Now for some inspiration... I spent a very indolent Sunday hiding from the blazing sun in my blacked-out living room, poring through an issue of Vogue from this May that a friend had lent me. This was possibly the best issue ever, since it focused on the models, complete with Juicy Model Gossip! If they were all like this I would have continued my subscription. Natalia Vodianova did a photo shoot where she channeled famous models from the past several decades, and I was so happy to see that Penelope Tree was included in the tribute. Her outfit was the best, by far:

 

...but then I like things pretty Dramatic.

The real Penelope Tree does not disappoint, in fact I think she trumps Natalia and all the modern models for the fact that she was one of the very first to carry off that "I'm sorry, I was communicating with aliens, did you need to say something to me? How terribly dull" expression whilst wearing her entire closet inside out on top of her head. I heart a good juxtaposition, and this girl had it down.

            (Mamma don't mess around when it comes to pants.)           Personally I see a marked resemblance between Penelope and our very own Violet Folklore model, Candace. Uber-pixie!   People always have the weirdest little catch-phrases for models, and frankly most of them get on my nerves, but Penelope Tree got tagged with the weirdest of all: "The Egyptian Jiminy Cricket". Now that is odd enough for me to love.   Before I go, this one is for my hunny, who would pipe in right now to tell you that there is an excellent song called "Penelope Tree" by the 80s British Band Felt. I present to you the music video!  
  Okay, off to take pictures... wish me luck!

She Comes In Colors Everywhere

From Sasha

I want to share with you one of the most amazing clothing gifts that I have ever been given: 

 

 

My friend Teddi bought this baby in the late 60s at a supercool San Francisco boutique. She'd had her eye on it for ages and finally made the move! It is made of THE SOFTEST pink fur, and no, your monitor is not lying to you, that is brilliant PINK fur! It is fully lined in yummy satin, and closes with a giant fur button in front.

 

 

 

Teddi's daughter had to pass on this one, as it is just not her cup of tea (how is this possible?!?!), so Teddi thought of me. As she says, if I had been around in the late 60s, we would have been the best of friends, and no doubt shopped together like madwomen!

 

 

My cup overfloweth with love for Teddi, who brings so much joy into my life, and now... this! Wow! I am the luckiest fashion freak in the world. Now, I am just waiting for the mercury to drop below 90 so I can actually WEAR this creation!

 

Summertime In my Hometown

From Amber

Yes, I am alive! While Sasha has been R-O-C-K-I-N-G the shop and the blog I have been a busy lady packing for an upcoming move, mothering an almost-three-year-old, trying to get through all my library books, suddenly taking an interest in learning to cook new foods, and making many trips out of town.

Thus far the two weeks spent in my hometown of South Lake Tahoe, CA have been the best part of my summer. My dad moved away from there a few years ago and my mom is moving out in a couple weeks, so this was truly my last hurrah in the beautiful lake town where I was born and raised!

Mycelia and I went up there in late June for my ten year high school reunion and had a blast. Here are some highlights from that trip...

My sis works at an Old Time Photo Booth at Stateline:

Adorable cheesy smile of the century:

At Pope Beach with Auntie Lacey (this was a really fun and unexpected evening- we ended up having four families at the beach, all of whom have lived on the same street in Tahoe. In fact three still do, one of them being the family who moved into the house I grew up in when my parents divorced and sold it a few years ago!):

At Kiva Beach with my girl Alicia's youngest son River:

That's Alicia on the left, Linds, me, and Meg. I've know Alicia and Linds since we were 6 and Meg since we were 11. Later this evening we had a Michael Jackson dance party with Megan's parents and Alicia's husband and three sons (Treyton 8, Vance 4, and River 1) and me and Mycie. So fun!:

So my sister's boyfriend Tyler and our childhood friend Robert captain a ship that takes tourists parasailing out on the lake. For my sister's 26th birthday they took us out to go flyyying! Mycie could have gone up but decided she'd wait until she was older :-)

Check out my dad's face (it's subtle but you get an impression of fear and surprise) as they take off here, love it. He is afraid of heights but he did great!

After dad and sis came back down me and dad went up- and I took my camera!

That's the casinos and the aftermath of the fire that burned here in 2002:

Bored dad?

Later that night we had a pre-reunion gathering at my friend Stephanie's. Her family lost their home in the Angora fire in 2007 and it was just completed, so it was a sort of Welcome Back Home party too. I have known Steph since we were on the same soccer team and in the same dance class at age 5. These boys, Adam and Matt, are also old school friends, as you can tell. I love this picture:

Me (in my favorite Target shirt that I have found twice, both at thrift stores, in two color schemes!), Meg, and Steph:

Adam trying on my favorite sweater ever. You better believe, if you've read this blog at all, that some people are under the impression that Sasha and I are Major Hippies. Well, it's pretty much true, compared with the rest of America at least. I get a lot of shit from my old friends, especially when I wear clothes that look like they used to belong to Willie Nelson:

Oh but don't you know that I also rock the girly pink gingham! And Meg rocks the green. This was taken at a beautiful backyard wedding reception:

No one I know has more fun with clothes than Megan. She has had this cropped red sequined jacket for eons. It is (in)famous in our group of friends. She always wore it on Cinco De Mayo in high school. This year she busted it out for the 4th of July, and dug out some old hammer pants for her brother Christian too! Yes, they wore these to the PACKED Lake Tahoe beach on the 4th. Talk about vintage awesomeness. (And yes that's a troll- Megan never gets rid of anything! She has heart shaped Dylan McKay earrings that she still rocks sometimes!):

Okay, now onto the reunion. It was held at the top of the Heavenly Valley ski resort- pretty rad!! We took the tram up:

All the nervous energy and excitement as people greet one another and prepare to see everyone up at the top:

Hello lake! Nice view for the reunion for sure:

I barely took any photos and this one is the jewel among the few. As we were all sitting down to dinner someone said "Let's go take a picture as the sun sets!" Great idea. It is a small town and high school and we were/are all so close. The reunion was one of the funnest nights of my life and you can see it in this photo:

Alicia's husband Jeremy busted out the tunes as deejay, and once everyone was sufficiently drunk the dancing began:

Most high school reunion attendees probably go their own ways when the official gathering is over at 10, or maybe they go to a bar until it closes at 2. In Lake Tahoe, we have the casinos. Which means we all partied and reveled in each other's presence until morning time. It took me a week to recover. 

Here is me and Aly at Harrah's Casino, and I am including this picture to try and show off my dress! You know I fretted over what to wear for months. It is not vintage but really quite looks so. There are three gold buttons (non-functional) at the chest, slightly puffed sleeves at the shoulder, and two comfy pockets. In the past mixing brown and black was a big no-no for me, but I liked this look. I was the only girl at the reunion in boots! I don't know how y'all can wear high heels all night long!

Dan and Matt. Dan was in a grade lower than us but I called him up and insisted he make the two hour drive to meet us at the casinos afterward. A lot of people who didn't want to kick down $75 did the same, so it was like a second reunion once we got there! LOVE this photo:

And there you have it! Not nearly as much gorgeous eye candy as Sash has been dishing up but fun nonetheless, I hope? Sure was for me.
I'll end with a shot of Miss Mycie in her favorite dress, a gift from Grammy (who gave it to her a few days after I asked her to never buy her clothes with a cartoon print! But she had already gotten it from Disney World and it's adorable and fun and, pretty much, Lesson #374 in Letting Go of Parenting Ideals)):

Here's to summertime, the familiar smell of the warm earth you knew as a child, old friends, and happy memories made again and again...

All The Pretty Little Horses- A Gunne Sax Fantasy

From Sasha

We don't usually do consignments, but when my friend Holly asked if we wanted to sell her Gunne Sax dress in the shop, I didn't hesitate for a second. "Yeah, of course-- if you model it, and if we can take pictures at your relative's ranch!"

I always wanted to take some pictures with a horse in them. I had the My Little Pony Castle, okay?

 

To seal the deal, her relatives have a Big Red Barn-- a dream come true for a Gunne Sax photo shoot! Since solid backgrounds work best for thumbnail pictures, we could use the barn to do the "official" pictures, like this one:

 

 

And then there were the "unofficial" pictures-- my favorite part. Yes, those actually are two happy horses galloping spontaneously through a sun-kissed meadow... we didn't even put them up to it.

 

 

 

Sweet Gunne Sax Dreams to you...

Covered Bridges and Boho Minidresses

From Sasha

There has been a sea-change inside of me lately. It started when I cut down my hours at my day job to part-time; suddenly Violet Folklore could take up a space of its own, instead of being squeezed into the margins of my days and weeks.

The first sign of the change was an almost manic obsession with my own wardrobe. If something was not perfect, it needed to leave the closet right away. If something was missing, it needed to be bought immediately. I probably did more online shopping in the past month than I had done all year!

The next sign was a very fussy, very focused obsession with taking exciting pictures. (I'm sure you all noticed something was up when I brought unicorns into the photo shoots!) Come to think of it, the dresses in the store were good, but they could be better too. I got more particular about what I bought for the store. I wanted every item to exude an absolute ton of "charm".

That's a very long preface to these pics, from my trip to Bridgeport, which is a place oozing with "charm" just down the river a bit from Grass Valley. It's home to scenic barns, the oldest covered bridge in the West, and of course the beautiful Yuba River. As I told my friend, "I want every single picture to be an amazing fairy tale!" I hope you enjoy:

 

Even in the country, it's hard to find the perfect Barn to take pictures in front of. This one does the trick!

 

 

Traditional foothill recreation

 

 

I love this bridge-- the way the light plays on the interior beams, and the way it smells when the sun heats up the wood. It used to be a toll bridge, way back before cars!

 

 

And I love the way they built these windows into the side, soyou can see the Yuba winding its way down the canyon...

 

 

Hiking trails abound in Bridgeport

 

 

I think this one goes in our "WTF?" category.

 

 

Figs

 

 

Wild grape leaf tunnel

 

Yuba

 

 

With a crown of Mugwort, the beloved herb that loves to grow by rivers. Mugwort stimulates vivid dreaming and visioning, sets menstrual cycles back on track, and helps with upset tummies from eating weird food.

 

To get to Bridgeport: Take Highway 20 to Pleasant Valley Road in Penn Valley, follow signs North to Bridgeport. You'll see the bridge when you get there!

Flowers, Feathers, and Fabric

From Sasha

I have been working my butt off to get some amazing dresses for the shop, and you will all be seeing the fruits of my labors this week! Here are some of the new beauties, all hung up and waiting to have their pictures taken:

Meanwhile... while I was out shooting some new shoes for the shop, I spied this beautiful feather on the ground. What a blessing! I have been calling in feathers this summer-- I decided my dashboard shrine in the car needs more of them-- and this is one of the loveliest yet. Here she is exactly as she fell:

 

 

And taking flight. Destination: Honda.

 

 

 

This feather initiated a photographic odyssey, so when I was done shooting the shoes, I spent another hour taking pics of the flora and fauna by my house. I love the texture of this moss:

 

 

This is actually waaaay bigger than a dandelion seed ball. It is from a wild plant called :

 

 

The Panther ZouZou and his kingdom:

 

 

Queen Anne's Lace, the delicate yet sturdy flower which blooms by the side of every road in Nevada County:

 

 

These irises were a gift last year, and they have really added some drama to the garden!

 

 

 

St. John's Wort, which blooms at mid-summer, or St. John's Day. This herb is famous these days for countering depression, but in the Middle Ages it was more popularly known as a plant with a very special, protective energy. It's also fabulous in an oil infusion for aches, nerve pains, and bruising.

 

 

 

Borage, whose flower is said to give the heart courage. I love how that rhymes, "borage" and "courage"!

 

 

 

Here is the amazing flower of the Clary Sage plant. As I mentioned in a previous post, the essential oil is used for "clearing" energy (just like the name sounds, again, I love when that happens) and for balancing female hormones.

 

 

 

Yarrow, or Achillea Millefolium. This name has a cool story, too- the "millefolium" part refers to the flower heads, which may appear to be one solid flower from far away, but are obviously made of many tiny flowers on closer inspection. ("Mille" is the latin for thousand, as in a "Millenium"). The "achillea" refers to the legend of Achilles, who, as you might recall, was felled with an arrow through his heel (that's where we get the phrase about someone's weak spot, which we call their "achilles heel"). It was no coincidence that this heel was his downfall-- Yarrow has always been revered as a protective plant, and babies in Achilles' time were baptized in Yarrow water. However, poor Achilles was held by his heel when he was dunked in, and that one part of his body never was fully immersed! 

 

 

Sweet Pea- a common plant all over the region, even considered a weed-- but she never ceases to delight me!

 

 

Another "weed" who I love-- Mullein. Her leaves are a fabulous lung tonic, and these little yellow flowers are used in an oil for easing ear pain.

 

 

Every veggie garden needs a good arch... and a little lace, don't you think?

 

 

This is Love-In-A-Mist, or Nigella. She grows low to the ground, but she is one of the stars of the garden! Now if someone can remind me the herbal uses of her seeds, please leave me a comment, okay?

 

 

About to burst into flower, this is a weed that even I have a "thorny" relationship with (ha ha ha ha). It is so painful to have a brush with these spikes, and I thought I'd pulled all of these Thistle plants out in the spring. Well, they are tough individuals, and some of them staged a comeback. I was too busy in June to catch them, and sorta put that weed-yanking job on the bottom of my list, as it gets harder to get them out the bigger they get. But now they are about to flower, and my heart softens, because they really are beautiful. Oh, I am such a sucker!

 

These Thistles are relatives of the famous liver-healing Milk Thistle, and word on the Herbal Street has it that Native people's used Thistle for strong Women's Medicine. How she was used, I don't know, but she certainly is a study in Beauty with Boundaries!
 

 

 

As I finished the Flower Tour, I turned my camera to the homestead-- I figured I shouldn't hide the Family Flag from my blog readers any longer. This pair of oversized boxers were given to me by an employee at a cool vintage store on Melrose Avenue in L.A. as a kind of, well, love-offering (this all happened in broad daylight, thank you very much, and no, he was not wearing them at any point!). They have been a sort of lucky charm ever since, and yes, they wave proudly from our balcony. The weird thing is that they stayed out there all winter and didn't mold or tear at all. At one point they even had icicles hanging from them! Maybe they are some kind of Miracle Boxers.

 

 

 

Here is the Manzanita branch from which hang Headpieces From Hairdos Past (yes, including the bird. If you've never worn a bird on your head I highly recommend it!):

 

 

 

Here is where the Magic happens-- the shipping magic, that is! Ah yes, my beautiful tape gun...

 

 

 

Dare to tell me that if you had a shelf like this, you could resist putting weird creatures on it. The trolls are Chris', the Big Eyed dolls are mine, and the Misha Bear is my fathers. It was the mascot of the 1984 Olympic Games, which were held in Russia, and which the U.S. boycotted. It is also the official Soukup Family mascot of buying and selling nostalgic goods in the worldwide marketplace. If you think that is an odd mascot, I can't argue with you-- families are weird!

 

 

 

The corner above our music practice zone:

 

 

 

Thank goodness for the outdoor shelf, where the tschotskes can live when there is no more room inside!:

 

 

And finally, a score from an estate sale this summer: a Japanese bamboo owl windchime! it even came in the package from the 60s!

 

 

 

Hope you liked the Tour. Exit through the Gift Shop, please.

Worth A Thousand Words.

From Sasha

Leave it to Amber to score a shirt with what may be the coolest print in the known world. Both of our hunnies are so blown away by this creation from the Loving 70s that they are (almost) trying to prevent us from actually selling this shirt-- something I don't think has ever happened in the history of our shop! But we are going to let it go, and give it a chance to live out its destiny-- and truly this shirt wants to be worn every single day, and worn to death, by someone who loves it! Behold:

...um, we know.