Happy Earth Day...what are your plans?

I have to gush that we've added a member to the family: A honey locust, now settling into the parking strip:

And yes, it's snowing today, as it has most days since October!

FAQs

FAQs

1. Why "denisebrain?" I answer that in my second blog here.

2. Where do you find your vintage items? I haunt 2nd-hand stores, antique stores, thrifts, estate and garage sales, auctions; make friends with vintage dealers who sometimes pass on items or connections that might interest me; put ads in various papers; occasionally sell items on consignment from good customers and/or friends; carry my business card and tell people what I do at any opportune time.

3. Do you actually fit in all the clothes you sell? Abso-LUTE-ly not!! I wear a sort of small to medium size, about a US size 6. If the item I'm modeling is too big for me, no trouble, I just pin it with clothespins to approximate a good fit. If it is too small, that's tougher. I sometimes have to tape the dress to me, or clip openings that won't close. I can pretty easily portray a good fit from about US size 4 to 18. BTW, I NEVER show an item with a fit other than the one that was intended. So, if the dress is cut as a shift, I won't clip it into a sheath.

4. What is your favorite vintage decade? My very favorite is 1940s, followed by 30s and then 50s. My favorite years in fashion are 1946 and 1939. I also love the 70s styles that emulate 30s and 40s. My favorite designer (so far!) is Claire McCardell, followed by Bonnie Cashin. I have a very big fascination with Charles James...but who in her right mind wouldn't?

5. How do you sell things that you love and fit you? I don't ALWAYS have the willpower I'm sorry to say, but it is my business, and I do really, really love to put out the best things I can find. I occasionally save unusual items that I figure I can appreciate more than anyone...usually not the most valuable, but indelibly me.

Am I forgetting any of the other questions I often get? Please let me know!

Take it From the Top

This month, denisebrain is Tops in Tops!

A day to remember

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

"When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative."

"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase."

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

"Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others."

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."

"Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ’What are you doing for others?’"

"A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live."

"I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land."

Martin Luther King, Jr.