Hello Lovelies

Nadia here, reporting back from the Big Apple after spending a wonderful week with her fellow Caravane gypsy, Beatrice in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.

Yes, yes, we know. It seems like we slacked a bit this week as far as updating and new listings, etc, but we promise we did get a lot of vintaging and such done for you guys! We just happened to be having so much fun doing it we didn't get a chance to let you know until now.

One of the best things about being in the same state with Beatrice is that we get a little more freedom with how we take our pictures for our listings. It's amazing how much easier it is to take really professional-looking pictures when you have a real life second person there, as opposed to MacGyver'ing a tripod by stacking a bunch of shoeboxes and cookbooks on top of a table, sticking a camera on top, setting it to automatic, running to your pose and hoping for the best!

Beatrice and I took advantage of our week together and started playing with a new style for our listings. We're going to make a real effort to make all our pictures uniform in our shop - admittedly a difficult task since we live so far apart. However, both of us happen to have a similar sage-green wall in our respective abodes, so things are looking good on that front.

Of course, our new outlook on our pictures doesn't mean there isn't room for a little fun. We moved the photo shoot outside and might
have gotten a little carried away.

Of course, we didn't spend the whole week at work. La Caravane's Bohème's gypsy vintagers did take some time to sit back and enjoy the beautiful summer breezes and have a little fun. It's hard to be creative when you don't give your brain a chance to breathe, isn't it? Just a few highlights from our wild week in Twinsburg Ohio...

A Beatrice-and-Nadia Classic: bowling! 

Turns out Ohio has a pretty nice beach.

Top off the week with a classy night of slice-and-bake cookies and cabernet!

Stay tuned for new listings this week and next.

Happy vintaging!

-Nadia

The Other Side of the World

I’ve been to lots of wonderful, beautiful places in the world. Some places feel like an integral part of me, like Gdansk, Poland, and others are places I’d visit but never live in, like Las Vegas. Some places are the setting of a fantasy life- Paris comes to mind. Others are simply places where I’ll bide my time until the next city, my home in Northeast Ohio is one.

Then, there was China.

A couple weeks ago, my boyfriend got an e-mail from a connection in Taiwan, extending an invitation to the both of us to visit Shanghai. The next thing we knew, we were in an airplane hurtling ourselves to the other side of the world. I had no idea what to expect or what I would see. I only had the references from movies and books to draw upon. I didn’t even know what a major building was in Shanghai. (The Pearl TV Tower.)

And what I least expected to do was to fall in love with it.

Amid the scary traffic, the horrendous pollution, and the never-ending droves of people, there hid a gem of beauty and surprise. The French Concession offered up boutiques filled with clothes and shoes of incredible style. The Old City had gorgeous old buildings with curvy roofs and dumplings sold out of open-walled restaurants. The Bund revealed the heart, and beauty, of the financial district complete with towering skyscrapers of which their sizes need to be seen to be believed. The best part was the Antique Market. Rows and rows of booths filled to the brim with figurines, statues, jewelry, tokens, coins, perfume bottles, birdcages, wall hangings, artwork, and boxes. I learned the true art of negotiation and realized at the same time, the depth of friendliness and openness the inhabitants of Shanghai possess.

My idea of China has been transformed completely. My newfound love of Shanghai sprung out of nowhere, and it will never release me. Which is why I’m so happy to say, I found a new place to leave a piece of my heart. On my next trip, I plan to bring home multitudes of perfume bottles and exotic jewelry to find a home through our shop!

Happy vintaging,

Beatrice

Nadia Does Chicago Vintaging

Hello Vintagers

Nadia here reporting from the still Hot and Muggy City, Chee-cago. Why, you may be wondering, have I posted not one, but two blogs in a row? How very unlike me, no?

Well, as you know, my semester has ended (and I am waiting anxiously for the last of my grades...), and thus I have much more time on my hands to dedicate to my love of vintage fashion. However, more importantly, or at least more excitingly, the reins of La Caravane Bohème's PR wagon have fallen to me because our lovely Beatrice is currently en route to China. Yes, China. The real one. She'll be there for just a few days (sadly for her, happily for me. We miss her already stateside!) and hopefully she will bring back some fabulous vintage items for us to get our hands on. Or at the very least she'll have hundreds of pretty pictures for us.

In the meanwhile, I've been cruising the wild streets of Chicago's northwest suburbs hitting vintage hotspots and garage and estate sales, and today was a pretty successful day.

Check me out. Cruisin'. Cruisin' just can't happen without my aviators.

By the way, doesn't the weather just look lovely out there...?

What I'm really doing here is trying to make it obvious to any passing police officer that I am NOT TEXTING with my iPhone, as I've come to learn that you can get pulled over for just about anything here. Do I sound bitter? I'm not. Although, I suppose snapping a picture of myself and using the excuse "Sorry, officer, it's for my blog!" isn't really a lesser offense.

My phone did come in handy again today though when I used a combination of my GPS app and some scrawled signs to find my way to an amazing estate sale where I found these deadstock sailor-style jeans. In terms of vintage, a deadstock item is one that has never been worn, and often even still has the tags attached, as these faaabulous jeans do!

They're a little teeny (26" waist!) so as soon as Beatrice gets back from her Far East adventures we'll get these babies modeled and listed for you guys.

Among other finds, I also found this adorable hounds tooth hat, which will be up on Etsy tomorrow morning.

A busy day, vintagers, but I still had time to make lasagna. I just had to take a second to brag about that. My first time!

Keep Vintaging!

-Nadia

Beatrice Wants to Give You Something!

Dear gals and guys with gals,

As you all probably figured out now, Beatrice dabbles in making jewelry from vintage and salvaged jewelry parts and found objects. She also has a weird tendency to just give things away so here she is again, giving away yet another lovely necklace!

This one is a great, great, great giveaway; except... it ends soon! I’m posting this as early as I possibly can so people get a chance to enter and win my fantastic, beautiful gold rhinestone studded necklace! Head on over to the darling little blog named The Little Red House and simply comment to enter.

Facebooking, blogging, twittering is recommended in order to get a second entry. Who really doesn’t love free goodies?

Hurry though, it’s over on Thursday, June 6th, at midnight! What are you waiting for? Go win a necklace!

Happy Vintaging!

Beatrice

This blog post came from Beatrice's jewelry website. To learn more, just go to www.BirdcageBohemia.com. Fly Free!

Vintage Bathing Beauties - Have a Lovely Memorial Day, Everybody!

Hello there, vintagers!

Nadia here, reporting to you from the Windy City, Chicago! And on this unofficial opening day of summer, Chicago is also the hot, muggy, and rainy city. We at La Caravane Bohème think it's time we get ourselves revved up and in the mood for summer, since it seems Mother Nature has other plans for us.

Expect some swimsuits to pop up in our caravan pretty soon, especially for our vintagers who favor the 50s and 60s. We all know how fun it is to emulate our favorite pinup bathing beauties like Betty Grable and Jane Russell. That's why Beatrice and I are keeping our eyes sharp for gorgeous swimsuits. Our lovely vintagers all over the world will be bathing beauties in no time as the sweet weather kicks in.

I do have to add a little side note here - I think a bonafide Moment is in order to appreciate this particular picture of the lovely Jane Russell. It really emulates just what this season is all about: brightness, happiness, and simply enjoying the sun and warmth. I think we can all agree that this particular kind of beauty just doesn't come along all that often anymore.  But that's what we're here for, right?

I've got my eye on a couple of bathing suits in particular at some local vintage spots (I'll be spending a few weeks in Chicago), and I plan on perusing some estate sales for some hidden treasures for our loyal Caravane followers.

In the meantime, enjoy some of our great treasures already hanging in La Caravane like Daphne, an adorable little 70s sundress that doubles as a great bathing suit cover up! Just toss this little number in your beach bag to wear when things get a little chilly at the beach or even to dinner at your favorite boardwalk spot that evening.

We've had a great start to La Caravane's journey, and we still have a long way to go. So here's to a bright, warm summer ahead of us filled with sun, fun, and of course beautiful vintage fashion!

Have a safe, lovely, and bright Memorial Day, vintagers!

Keep Vintaging!

-Nadia and Beatrice

Tips for Identifying Vintage Garments

When the two of us first decided to open up a vintage shop, we had no doubts that we could spot a vintage dress a mile away. After all, when you spend nearly your whole life immersed in fashion and the art of design, you learn a lot about vintage garments. However, we realize that while we know we offer you quality, authentic vintage clothes, you may find yourself in a shop somewhere wondering if the skirt you're looking at truly is from the 70's. There's no Beatrice and Nadia there to help you decide. That's why we compiled this guide. 

Here are a few things you should look for:

1. Find a tag. We find that if you come across a garment with a single tag labeled with "Lot" followed by a number, it was most likely made between the late 50's through early 70's. Another tag to look for is the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union or ILGWU. The use of this tag was prominent from the 1900's through the 70's. If a size label is found- before the 1960's, the number was the hip size in inches, but after the mid 60's the numbers were the better known size 8, 10, 12, etc. numbers. Care labels, if you find one, popped up in the mid 60's and became very common in the 70's. If there are no tags, the item was most likely homemade. This is very common in garments from eras before the 1970's.
 

2. Examine the construction of the garment. Look at the seam finishing. While serged seams have appeared on garments as early as 1900 and 1910, you can trust that the serging will look significantly different from modern-day serging. As time went on, more and more threads were used in a serged edge. They did not become very commonly used until the 70's, but remember that you can find garments from the 40's, 50's, and 60's with serged edges. If the seam edges are pinked, they were probably either homemade or from the 50's or earlier. Handsewn hook and eye closures and snaps are another indicator of vintage garments. 50's dresses usually had internal bra-straps and underskirts made of net, tulle, or muslin.
 

3. Look at the zipper. Metal zips were widely used before the 1970's. There's nothing like the satisfaction of zipping up a heavy metal zip, so you can't miss it. It was not until the late 60's when vinyl zips were common. The location of the zipper is also important. Before the 1950's, zippers were typically on the side of the garment. In the 50's and 60's, the zip slowly moved towards the back.
 

4. Feel the fabric. It's typical that vintage fabrics had a much better quality than modern fabrics. In vintage garments, there is more heft to a heavy fabric, a more delicate feel to a piece of lace, a finer smoothness to a length of silk. It would be a good idea to spend time in a reputable vintage shop, touching the fabrics so you can develop a feel for it. If you find either a fabric content tag, or are able to identify fabrics, the type of fabric is a good indicator of the garment's age: In the 50's- taffeta and rayon were used, in the 60's- polyester and nylon were popular, while in the 70's- polyester ran rampant. Eras earlier than the 50's typically used natural fibers such as cotton, rayon, and wool. Remember, Lycra didn't come about until the 80's.
 

5. Judge the style. This should be the most obvious way of identifying a vintage piece. Of course, given our perchance for bringing back styles- shoulder pads were popular in both the 40's and the 80's, 50's style shirtdresses are popular right now, ballet flats popped up in the 60's, then the 80's, then the present time again- it is not a surefire way of dating a garment. However, if you are able to successfully find a vintage garment using other indicators, the style will easily help you pin a date on it. Some quick tips on lesser known facts: wiggle dresses featuring fitted hourglass shapes were popular in the 50's along the full skirted dresses; miniskirts and shifts came into vogue in the 60's, and maxi dresses and skirts along with tight fitting styles and low necklines were popular in the 70's.

As you spend time at estate sales, vintage shops, and the like, you'll start to gain a feel for what is vintage and what is not. The best part of finding vintage clothes is the thrill of the hunt. What will you find in the very back of that rack? Are these gloves truly 1930's gems? Did you just get your hands on a gorgeous 40's blazer with padded shoulders and a nipped in waist? There's truly nothing better than finding a piece of wonderful history, except maybe discovering that it fits you perfectly!

We love helping people find vintage gems. If you have any questions or additional tips, feel free to comment or e-mail us at LaCaravaneBoheme@live.com.

Of course, happy vintaging!

Beatrice and Nadia

Taste of Success

Aahhhh! Since we've opened up shop on Etsy, we've worked long and hard to get the La Caravane Bohème name out. Lots of discussions (and only one argument!) ensued as we pieced together a collection of the most stylish vintage finds showcased by the perfect banner, the prettiest pictures, and the most creative descriptions we could think of. So when we receive recognition for what we do, it tastes sweet.

Case in point: Our dear Etsy has a blog which thousands and thousands of buyers and sellers read called the Storque. They extend the goodwill by picking and choosing relevant items from lucky shop owners to feature in each posting. Today, we were the lucky ones as Alarice, our lovely 80's black jumpsuit was shown in conjunction to an ode to Denise Huxtable, that stylish girl from The Cosby Show.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived.

Read the blog here and cheers to a lucky girl in Texas who bought Alarice! She's going to be one happy girl. 

Happy Vintaging!

Beatrice and Nadia