Du Er Ikke Alene (You Are Not Alone) Screencaps

Just watched this 1978 Danish coming-of-age film, Du er ikke alene (You Are Not Alone), and loved the set and costume design. You don't get much more covetable than 1970's Dansk / Scandinavian design these days and this movie is brimming with that authentic minimal / modern style.

(The movie was good-natured and takes many very cool moral stands, but was a little shocking to my North American sensibilities in other ways, which you'll likely understand if you've seen it.)

Just added: Retro Floral Bedding

Added lots of fun new things to my Etsy shop today, including all of these awesome floral bedding pieces. Some psychedelic, some retro, all great.

I love these patterns so much I almost want to keep them and make them into a quilt... Except I have absolutely no experience or skills with quiltmaking and could probably use the cash. There are always more florals out there anyway!

New items on Milk & Amber Etsy Shop

Well, it took most of my afternoon and early evening, but I managed to upload quite a few new items on my Etsy shop. Pop over to check out all my items, including this neat stuff!

*Remember, if you're on PEI, I offer 30% off your purchase if you'd like to do local pick-up. Making Islanders more stylish one vintage item at a time, haha...

Milk & Amber Earrings of the Day

Vintage rainbow bright flower enamel earrings. Yes.

Milk & Amber Earrings of the Day

Well, it's past midnight, but I was originally going to write this about an hour ago. (Ends up Homeland is a pretty great show and we had to watch two episodes.) But I was going to say, it's October! Fall leaves! The Walking Dead! Gossip Girl! Toronto trip! Lots of good things. How about some pumpkin orange vintage straw hoop earrings to celebrate this great month?

His & Hers vintage articulated lamps

I think lamps are the easiest way to show off your aesthetic at home without a) breaking the bank or b) taking up too much space. On either side of our bed, Peter and I have these funky vintage articulated desk lamps from my new favourite antiques store, 20th Century Design on Longworth Avenue in Charlottetown. Love the retro wood veneers and hi-lo light options.

This is my little blush-pink lamp.

And this is Peter's little beige lamp. (A little more masculine somehow, I think.)

 

Retro psychedelic florals

My boyfriend can be partially credited with sparking this fascination. All of a sudden I find myself browsing crazy 60's and 70's retro flower patterned bedding, linens and housewares... such as the following:

From BeatriceInBlue

From RaggleTaggleHawker

From RaggleTaggleHawker

From SmokeandOakum

From Patternlike

Maybe soon I'll post some items we've found with funky floral patterns, now that I'm always on the lookout!

New Etsy items

Just threw a new batch of jewellery on my Etsy shop. Check it out!

Black knot earrings (or shoe clips)

Gold crescent moon earrings

Bevelled black rectangular earrings

Big gaudy pink 80's earrings

Southwestern silver feather earrings

Eighties neon flower clip-on earrings

And about eight others were added since yesterday. Fun! 

Labels

Labels matter to me. Yes, I partly mean labels like Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent, à la that awful Sex and the City movie theme song. I do care about finding vintage designer stuff, because it's fun, interesting, and exciting. Same with heritage labels like Great Northern Knitters, a now-defunct heritage knitwear company from the Island, or Hudson Bay Company. 

I also take care in reading and learning about the actual, physical labels on my clothing and accessories. Where was it made? Are there hints about when it was made? Who made it? Was it union-made? Why did the textile industry in Canada have to disappear? Lots of questions can (and, I think, should) be asked about the provenance of things that you buy.

Which brings me to the vintage designer ties I have for sale on my Etsy shop. Many of them were made in Canada, and it makes me happy to think huge labels like Oscar de la Renta and Christian Dior outsourced their labour here, where clothing manufacturers aplenty made super-high-quality garments. If only that were still the case! 

Check out some of the labels on the ties on Milk & Amber:

The three above are of this awesome vintage Oscar de la Renta tie.

Here's another Oscar de la Renta (above).

Or this red striped vintage Christian Dior tie.

A good label makes a good garment even better. If you have vintage clothing, try looking up the CA identfication number here so you can find more out about the things you own. It's a fun to try to know the history behind what you wear!

My new laptop bag!

Recently, my friend Krista brought her laptop over to do some work for the Jewellery for Japan sale we put together, and I was struck by her choice of laptop bag: a vintage suitcase! Coincidently, I had virtually the same suitcase in different colours, but had never thought of using it to transport my computer. I am incredibly finicky when it comes to bags (all through high school and university, I have slugged my textbooks around in stylish-but-not-very-sensible messenger bags and totes - not a sensible, durable schoolbag in sight), so seeing this was very inspiring. This is what my clunky PC will be dragged around in from here on:

Found during the 70 Mile Coastal Yard Sale a few years ago, with another larger one, for $4 total. Steal!

Grape Earrings

Typically, my favourite style of earring comes in the shape of a bunch of grapes. It may have something to do with my love of all things Grecian, but who knows. When I like a kind of earring, or amass a couple pairs, I start scouting for them... this is my grape earring collection:

My first pair (the gateway pair, if you will)

Fusing punk and Grecian, an unlikely but fantastic coupling

Big ole grapes

Giant chrome danglers

These ones have little leaves at the top!

Because no earring collection is complete without black and gold grape earrings, I guess

These shoulder-grazers came in as donations to the Jewellery for Japan fundraiser sale I co-organized recently - they may be one of my top ten pairs of all time. Just have to find a time to, you know, wear them.

My grape earrings mixing in with my pearl clusters and other vintage clip-ons.

All of these are vintage or second-hand - keep an eye out next time you're perusing earrings at a flea market or thrift store and think of me! :)

- Kat