Month: June 2010

Wendy

“Hi, my name is Wendy.

Today I brought my awesome vintage green lamp.

My mom got it for me probably twelve or so years ago. I have had it ever since I lived in my own apartments. I think it is really awesome!

I have a lot of vintage stuff but this one always stands out to me. I think that somehow, I have sort of developed my aesthetic around it as I always kind of decorate my living room around this lamp. It also makes really cool patterns on the wall because of the little cut outs on top. But I don’t plug it in very much because I’m afraid it will catch on fire.”

When asked where her mom got the lamp Wendy replied: “My mom found the lamp at some random auction in Pennsylvania. My parents are these crazy,crazy,crazy,crazy vintage antique collectors. Their house is a scene!”

Brigid

“My name is Brigid.

I brought along my magical charms, necklaces and jewels today.

They’re important to me because everyday my own philosophy involves reanalyzing my own pre-programming from childhood.

So I wear an engagement ring even though I never plan to get married and a lot of crucifixes and Pagan symbols even though I’m not religious.

It’s really just about switching up your ideology and mocking iconography.

I have a cross made of human finger bones that actually belong to my boyfriend. So I guess technically they’re the bones of my lovers fingers around my neck. I also have a crucifix made of yak bones from the Himalayas.

These are my special things!”

Tidbit:

Asked to clarify which fingers her boyfriend no longer has:

“Oh no, no they’re not his finger bones, they were purchased from a store.” She went on to say that you never really know where human bones come from, but there are a few stores around the country that you can actually order a pretty interesting assortment of bones – human or otherwise.

Mary

“My name’s Mary.

The story with the headbands is that two and half years ago I lost 150 pounds and one of the side effects of that is that you lose your hair. I had this really long curly hair that was always sort of my signature thing.

When my hair started to get thin, I was trying to figure out how to put some kind of look together.

I found my solution in the form of a headband from a place in Napa Valley called ‘Cookie & the Dude.’

After that I was always in search of headbands anywhere I traveled. People even started giving me headbands, not always the best headbands, but they would give them to me as gifts because they saw it as my obsession.

But it really wasn’t. It was simply about creating a style while I was going through this major transition in my life.”

Tidbit:

About year ago the original headband snapped in half right at the top. Mary still has it and says it’s a good reminder of what she has gone through and how it helped her out.

Jon

“My name is Jon.

My object of importance is a black tee shirt that says ‘DA’ WEST’ on it.

I got this tee about 12 or 15 years ago, bought it for literally like a dollar or so. The reason I enjoy it so much is because everytime I wear it someone asks me what the hell it means and I, to this day, have no idea what it means.

I like the fact that it irritates everyone with this answer.”

Erin

“My name is Erin.

I know it seems obvious and lame but I brought my laptop. I met my husband on-line at Match.com and started a career that I never thought was possible for myself.

At the time, I think it was 9 years ago, I was socially awkward and a coworker suggested I try on line dating. I was like: Are you insane? So she put up a profile for me. My mother said they’d find me chopped up in the trunk of a Camaro.

I got 600 emails the first couple of days but they were all gross and then I noticed where you could specify your search parameters and Andrews profile came up. I said to my girlfriend- why doesn’t a guy like that write me?

I went to bed- didn’t contact him. The next morning he had e-mailed me. It was really creepy.

I didn’t actually have narrow search parameters. He had to be really tall, graduated college, never married. What’s funny is that on our first date, the one and only date I had from match.com, the first thing Andrew said when we sat down was: Okay- I have to tell you something. I was like great-What? He says: I’m Divorced… I’m Thinking great, what else?…and I didn’t graduate college. And he says if you want to leave, totally fine but I just wanted to tell you and get that out the way. He explained that he was married for only ninety days, big mistake and had dropped out of college to run a business but was now back in college and finishing his degree.”

Tidbit:

Fast forward to 2010-Erin and Andrew have been married now for five years. Andrew earned not only his under graduate degree but also a masters. Erin’s interior design business continues to thrive and her blog http://www.elementsofstyleblog.com has taken off with almost 200,000 hits per month.

Sandy

“Okay! My name. Sandy.

Here’s what I brought today. It’s a vintage Easy Rider motorcycle helmet. I love motorcycles, I race motorcycles, I grew up on motorcycles. I’ve been a gear head all my life.

I always loved Easy Rider. One of my greatest memories of coming of age was seeing this movie. It was amazing.

I found this magazine ad for a place called Justified Defiance. They found all the old styles- a whole warehouse full of them. They kept just the shells, restored them and the brought them back to life.

I had to have it.

When I’m not using it, it sits on the shelf in my house.

You know, it’s a great piece. It’s Americana man!”

Tidbit:

Coincidentally, right after this was photographed there was news of Dennis Hopper’s passing. Hopper had directed and starred in this cinematic symbol of the 1960s.