That Vintage Girl

My latest vintage find are these charming and whimsical strawberry earrings that were sold by Avon in the 1990s.  During my research to discover the origin of these earrings, I found that fruit themed jewelry has existed for centuries. Gold jewelry from Ancient Greece included carvings of fruits and flowers. Artisans from the Renaissance period in Europe used enameling techniques, like champlevé and cloisonné, with precious stones, like rubies, emeralds and sapphires, to create jewelry with colorful motifs of fruits and flowers.  Famous jewelers from the Art Deco period of the 1920s, like Cartier and Trifari , began designing colorful jewelry inspired by designs from the East. This style of jewelry assembled bright and colorful gemstones in fruit-like designs that is now fondly described as "Fruit Salad" or "Tutti Frutti" jewelry.  During the 1980s and 1990s, fruit salad jewelry experienced a revival with contemporary designers drawing inspiration from the past.  ...

During a visit to a used book store, I saw the edge of a little red booklet peaking through a stack of books and it looked like it was trying desperately to be discovered.  I pulled out the booklet and thought it was a Christmas card, but when I opened it I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a little memento from 1956!  It was a booklet of Christmas Carols that were given to customers and friends of the Nance Chevrolet Company in Bellflower, California for Christmas in 1956. I felt the spirit of Christmas past in that little red booklet and it reminded me that Christmas carols, old and new, make the holidays brighter! May all the happiness of old-time Christmas be yours, not only at the holiday season, but also throughout a prosperous new year!  ~ Nance Chevrolet Company 1956 🎄  

I am delighted to share my latest vintage find  ~ a 1960s Miss Elliette dress.  It is a lovely black gown with layers of pleaded chiffon and lace trim.  I found this dress at the amazing  Antique Adventures ,  a consignment shop that sells mostly vintage furniture and home goods.  Finding a lovely vintage dress wasn't part of my shopping agenda that day, but it was a very welcomed surprise.  Without a second thought, I purchased the dress from a very nice women who said the dress belonged to her aunt.  I took it home and it fit perfectly!!! Miss Elliette was a very successful brand of women's dresses  that were designed by Elliette Ellis.  After studying fashion at the Traphagen School of Fashion in New York City, she opened a dress house in California in the early 1950s and started designing her own line of romantic and feminine dinner and cocktail dresses. In a Fort Myers New-Press  article dated December 25, 1968, Elliette Ellis ...

I found these lovely blue floral earrings in a vintage boutique in Los Angeles. When I spotted them in the jewelry display I assumed they were vintage because of the screw clasp, which was popular from the late 1800s to the 1950s. They were so pretty and I couldn't resist purchasing them, but I needed to do some research to confirm if they were truly vintage earrings.  So,  I started researching and discovered some fascinating history about the jewelry manufacturer.....  These earrings were made by Coro.  At first, I thought Coro was a European jeweler because "Coro" translates to "Choir" in Italian.   On the contrary,  Coro was an American company that made women's jewelry between 1900 and 1979.  The business name was created by combining the surnames of the two business partners: Emanuel Cohn (Co) and Gerald Rosenberg (ro).  Coro began as a small accessory boutique in New York and eventually became one of America's largest jewelry manufactu...

I have always been enchanted by vintage objects that conjure sentimental nostalgia for bygone eras. Today I am writing about my vintage find from a local thrift store ~ a 1920s portable Corona typewriter.   This was a popular typewriter in the early 1900s and it was built in America by the Standard Typewriter Company.  In 1926, the company changed its name to Smith Corona, which became one of the largest producers of word processing equipment in the world.  This vintage model would have included a black carrying case, but that missing piece didn't sway me from rescuing this 100 year old typewriter from a lonely existence on a shelf in a thrift store.  Its design and craftsmanship is beautiful, but it is surprisingly heavy for a small typewriter because it is made of solid metal parts ~ nothing plastic on this machine.  I wonder about the people who may have used this typewriter during the last 100 years.....was it a local school teacher or someone who immig...