On September 11, 2001, I sold this raspberry suit to a woman working in the Pentagon. A few days later I heard from her, apologizing for taking so long to pay, but she'd been very distracted by events. I don't even know how she remembered the suit at all.
I remember the reaction of the world to 9/11, particularly the raw, on-the-street reaction of ordinary people all over the world. To them, we were still an ideal. We were Hollywood, Mickey Mouse and Mickey Mantle, T-birds and T-bone Hawkins, Coca-Cola, Apple, Ella and Elvis, Martin Luther King, The Statue of Liberty, great teeming New York, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, golden waves of grain, cowboys and Indians, the railroad, good public schools and libraries, flight, baseball, front porches, The Blues, purple mountain majesty, Mustang cars and horses, Helen Keller, Star Wars, Marilyn Monroe, Broadway, jazz, rock-n-roll, hip-hop, sportswear, white hats and silver spurs, The Alamo, the circus, buffalo and Buffalo Bill, the Bill of Rights, beat poets, Janis Joplin, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, the gramophone and the light bulb, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Thoreau and Emerson, Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Michael Jordan, Kennedy, FDR, Oprah, Bob Hope, Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, emancipation, Muhammad Ali, the Smithsonian, the moon. We were hope. We were, as John Gunther reminded us in the 1947 Inside U.S.A., “the craziest, most dangerous, least stable, most spectacular, least grownup, and most powerful and magnificent nation ever known.”
That was what was attacked, and what remains. That is what is worth preserving and improving upon forever.
It's a dark and stormy night in the big city.
Suddenly a woman screams!
Then there is the sound of running in the hall!
Where is the Maltese Falcon? And where did she get those killer shoes??
For the answers to these questions and more, who do you call? Who else but...
My July theme is up!
{click on image to view...and sound up!}
Little me, in pink as usual
I'm sure you would never know from looking at this blog, my store, my business card, etc., that I love the color pink! ; )
So why didn't I think of this before?!
Please visit my latest theme [click on image]:
...and watch for lots of great pink vintage finds in the upcoming weeks.
Care to take vintage clothing for a spin this month? Get inspired by my November theme, Dizzy.
Click on image to view, sound up.
are in this exhibit:
and these early 70s Fox & Fluevog shoes (on loan from my collection)
are in this exhibit:
Earth Day and I go way back—I remember being very excited about the very first one in 1970, and drew this poster for my father.
Fast forward to Earth Day 1999, when I decided to give the vintage clothing business a try. This is the first dress I sold.
You know that vintage clothing is generally better made and more interesting and beautiful than anything new, but today especially, remember it is recycling. That is one of the main reasons I love doing what I do.
Time out from the Théâtre to introduce my April theme, The Hunt for Vintage Charm! (Click on image to view)
Do you have New Years resolutions? Here’s what I have:
I also have a personal manifesto. You might call this my permanent resolution list—
What is giving you the resolve to wear vintage this year?
Catch some great vintage at denisebrain!
I'm always reeling in something great for you, so stop by denisebrain and get hooked!
Click image to view, and sound up please!
Ready to make a splash?
I've think I've got enough umbrellas for everyone!
[click image to view]
(I think I'm obsessed with umbrellas!)
I might be able to help! Have a look at my latest theme Vintage Blues through the month of May. All month I will be showing my best blues, so please stop by!
Click image to view, sound up
And do you still play?
Click this ancient photo of me to view my newest theme, Dress Up, the inspiration for lots of dress-up clothing and accessories that I will be showing in February.
Oh, and here are some great dressy dresses I have listed this week:
Please stop on by my store!
Can you believe it? I'm a musician, and I'm selling vintage clothing and accessories that have music prints/themes! These are hard to come by, I'll tell you, as I have been searching for over a year!
Twirl on by my eBay store by way of my latest theme, Music Box, to find some great items.
Click image below to view, sound up.
Here are a couple of items up right at this moment:
This month at denisebrain, I'm just doing the usual:
Getting carried away with vintage!!
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I am really honored and touched by a portion of a personal web page devoted to me here.
Mary Beth, who wrote this, is someone I met through sales on eBay. I do often meet wonderful people, and am so gratified by their kind comments about my work. I am so grateful for what Mary Beth has written because it really helped me realize that I am offering something positive to people. I need that.
Mary Beth is struggling with a disease that I have just barely begun to understand. From what I can tell, she is battling just to live, at the same time living a gloriously positive, meaningful, beautiful life. I deeply appreciate knowing that too, because sometimes I struggle to get by, in various ways. If she can do it, I'll try!
She wrote about me as an inspiration to her, and I can only begin to say what an inspiration she is to me.
This was written by my niece, Flora Wilds, who is in 8th grade. Love this girl, and love the way she thinks!
Attack of the Shoes
Click-clack, click-clack
Can you hear them talking?
Click-clack, click-clack
All the shoes are walking
Sitting in a cardboard box
In the stores all day
Waiting for some lucky buyer
To purchase and take them away
Stilettos, pumps, boots, and flats
Each have different personalities
Dressy, sporty, new, and old
Living in their own realities
Designer, vintage, men's, and women's
Plain, bold, and polka-dotted
Sitting lonely on a shelf
Anticipating being spotted
But when they are purchased and taken home
Off the shelf to be free
Worn by their owners (a shoes greatest joy)
So they, too, can click-clack happily
Some shoes smile, some frown, some have a pointy nose
Some like to show five white teeth (or toes)
Some shoes are short, others are tall
And to each other they endlessly call
In voices big and small:
"Hey! Look at me!
I'm the most beautiful shoe!
I'm shiny, I'm red, and I'm new!
I click and I clack
And I'm on the attack!
For I am the prettiest shoe!
Shoes can be vengeful and ever so tight
Yet some can be comfortable and free
But no matter what, they love to be worn
By you, and by her, and by me
So be kind to your shoes and wear them alot
Because they have feelings, too
Keep your feet clean (and don't ever smell)
Because they're the ones carrying you!
