Latest / The Closet Confessional / Amber Habit of A Shopping Habit | Vintage Style, Thrifting, Confidence & Personal Style | Episode 5

Transcript

Amber Habit of A Shopping Habit | Vintage Style, Thrifting, Confidence & Personal Style | Episode 5 · The Closet Confessional

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Closet Confessional, where personal
• 0:03
  style meets personal storytelling.
• 0:05
  I'm Kimberly, and this is a space where closets hold our
• 0:08
  memories, clothing tells our stories, and every conversation
• 0:12
  opens the door. Style has a way of helping us
• 0:15
  step into new seasons of life. Sometimes confidence begins with
• 0:18
  something as simple as putting on the right outfit.
• 0:21
  Some of the most meaningful pieces in our closets have lived
• 0:24
  another life before they ever found us.
• 0:26
  Vintage clothing carry stories we may never fully know and
• 0:30
  somehow becomes part of our own. Today's guest has built a
• 0:33
  community around the joy of vintage style, proving that
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  fashion isn't just about what's new.
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  It's about creativity, sustainability, self-expression,
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  and finding beauty in pieces with the past.
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  Today, we're exploring the stories that shaped her, the
• 0:48
  memories she's collected along the way, and why she's helping
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  so many people see clothing through a different lens.
• 0:54
  Welcome to the closet confessional.
• 0:56
  Let's open the closet, ladies and gentlemen.
• 0:59
  Here's Amber with a shopping habit.
• 1:02
  Hi, I'm Kimberly, and welcome to the Closet Confessional.
• 1:06
  Today we are talking about personal style and the stories
• 1:11
  that it tells throughout our lives, who we have been, who
• 1:14
  we're becoming, and who we are today.
• 1:17
  And I'm so excited to have Amber here with us to share a little
• 1:23
  bit about her story. Amber, can you tell the
• 1:27
  audience, if you will, about yourself?
• 1:30
  OK, I am Amber habit. I am the curated chaos behind a
• 1:36
  shopping habit. This is something that has
• 1:40
  evolved over the last six years professionally.
• 1:46
  Prior to that I was a tomboy, grew up playing sports in cleats
• 1:51
  since I was five years old and to adulthood.
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  Love softball, love basketball. Had kids young, raised 2
• 2:00
  beautiful children. Went into the automotive
• 2:02
  industry under cars quote UN quote.
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  Personal mechanic as people love to call me 'cause I'm a woman
• 2:09
  that's not scared to work on a car.
• 2:12
  DIY everything. Hardwood floors.
• 2:14
  Let's build a deck, let's paint all your walls, whatever color
• 2:17
  you want. So where I'm blooming into AI,
• 2:24
  can say grandmother retiree but can't stop dabbling in fashion.
• 2:31
  Can't stop. Won't stop.
• 2:32
  No, Not not ever. Not ever.
• 2:34
  Wow. Yeah, I am.
• 2:37
  I didn't actually do it. I kept my jaw up.
• 2:40
  But automotive, yeah. Really.
• 2:44
  Yeah. Where did that come from?
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  So I worked for. Ford Motor Company, OK in
• 2:48
  Norfolk, VA, they closed that plant down and that's where I
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  transferred to Michigan, to the Rouge facility where we built
• 2:55
  the F150. So I was a floater as they
• 2:58
  called it. So I did over 20 jobs throughout
• 3:01
  the final assembly chassis and I just loved it.
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  My dad was tow truck driver, so I grew up around cars.
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  I could tell every car by its headlights.
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  Just loved being out with him when he was on his calls.
• 3:16
  I'm absolutely fascinated. I feel like we might be here for
• 3:20
  a while. You have so many stories to
• 3:24
  share. I'm so excited.
• 3:27
  OK, well, that's a lot to wrap our heads around already.
• 3:32
  That's like a fast. Forward timeline?
• 3:34
  No, I love it. I love it.
• 3:36
  Well, let's talk about today. Like how do you describe your
• 3:40
  style today? OK, if I had to like give a
• 3:43
  short term summary it would be 70s boho maximalist OK would be
• 3:49
  my title for my style today. OK, I love that.
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  Why do you feel like that is the style that you kind of migrate
• 3:56
  towards in this season of life, if you will?
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  Dressing for comfort. I find that most items from the
• 4:03
  70s my love is kaftans, house dresses, and then the spin of
• 4:11
  the boho has always been me ever since I was in my 20s.
• 4:15
  I've always loved patchwork. I've always loved fringe, but
• 4:18
  it's just kind of evolved to more of a color pop instead of a
• 4:22
  neutral blend of fabrics. OK.
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  I guess I could kind of see the patchwork when you're like under
• 4:28
  a car, but maybe not the fringe so much dangerous.
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  Just a little bit, just a little.
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  Are there things when people look at you, I guess today?
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  Do you feel like there's things they really get right about you?
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  It's kind of like a snap judgement or maybe even things
• 4:46
  that they get wrong. Just looking at you and your
• 4:50
  style today, but as a person. I I think they get it right most
• 4:55
  of the time. I think when the work side of it
• 4:59
  comes out, they might get it wrong because they see me in
• 5:02
  dresses a lot of times they see me dressed.
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  And then there's that other side to where I take pride into
• 5:10
  taking YouTube university classes on everything and always
• 5:14
  have for years. Like I can do plumbing, I can
• 5:17
  change a toilet. So that's the flip side of like
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  when people see me dressed and I have friends that call me or we
• 5:25
  have some properties that we work on, even our own property
• 5:28
  totally redid it from the top to the bottom.
• 5:32
  People don't, I don't think, see that part of me when they see me
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  dressed today as the Today Amber.
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  OK, the the DIY or but more than just that, like your standard if
• 5:44
  you will DIY or online that you're like pushing your sleeves
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  up and you're really like digging in and getting dirty.
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  I love. Fixing yours?
• 5:55
  Yeah. Yeah, everything.
• 5:58
  Is there anything you don't? Fit.
• 5:59
  I don't do roofs. OK, I've done a roof.
• 6:03
  I have that don't do your. Maybe 10, that I don't know.
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  I don't do roofs. OK.
• 6:10
  Yeah, that's it. That's it.
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  Why don't you do roofs? I just, it's the, I don't know
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  if the comfort of being up on that high of I think in the
• 6:19
  arches, I think that really gets me, yeah.
• 6:21
  OK, well, luckily the roof I worked on at a very young age
• 6:25
  with my dad, it was pretty. It wasn't flat, but there wasn't
• 6:30
  like a huge peak or anything like that.
• 6:32
  Yeah, it was pretty low level. That's why you are so amazing.
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  I'm like, so you kind of already described your style today.
• 6:45
  Let's take it back to kind of where it started.
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  So what? Like tell me a little bit about
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  what fashion look like or style look like in your home growing
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  up? Growing up it was a blanded
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  style. My dad was a tow truck driver so
• 7:03
  he was always in his work. Blue bottoms and basic T-shirt.
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  My mom was a stay at home mom so she loved Agner.
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  So I can't say that it was like a play down version of style
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  because she would curl her hair everyday.
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  She always had a robe on when she was in the house, so that
• 7:26
  actually carried on with me currently today.
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  But she dressed more so for comfort I would say.
• 7:35
  Then I'm styled though. It was a style of her own back
• 7:39
  then, 80s high rise jeans. She always wore the blouses with
• 7:44
  the shoulder pads. And then growing up, yeah, with
• 7:48
  my grandparents, both love them to pieces.
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  You had my dad's mother and father who were always dressed
• 7:59
  to the tease suits, dresses. And then my other side, my
• 8:04
  grandfather, he would wear khakis.
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  And then my grandmother was dressed.
• 8:09
  You never saw her not done to all the way to the like.
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  She had her makeup done, her hair done.
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  So it was kind of like a flip home with my parents was a
• 8:22
  blended like play down version of what fashion looks like to me
• 8:26
  today. But my grandparents kind of
• 8:28
  played a role in what fashion actually looks like for me
• 8:32
  today. That's very interesting.
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  It sounds like kind of a juxtaposition between your home
• 8:39
  with your mom and dad and then both sets of grandparents.
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  Do you thinking or looking back and knowing what you do now
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  about fashion trends through the decades, do you feel like there
• 8:51
  might have been like more to it? And then you said your mother
• 8:55
  dressed for or for comfort. And then both grandmothers and
• 8:59
  even your grandfather's had this elevated kind of style.
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  Were you just seeing them dressed?
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  Did you ever see them in a more casual atmosphere, but they were
• 9:08
  still kind of elevated? Like we, we were all like I was
• 9:12
  very close with my grandparents, like the whole family connection
• 9:15
  back then was we were always around each other.
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  So I, I saw them in casual settings, the house dresses, my
• 9:22
  mamaw, my dad's mother, she always had a house dress on as
• 9:26
  the casual her. But I just feel like that that's
• 9:33
  and now that you say it, I do, I do remember that's like the
• 9:36
  memories that we have of our grandparents.
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  My both of my grandfather's worked for 40 plus years.
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  So they were hard working men. Both grandmothers stayed home,
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  so how I remember them is more of when we were in our outings
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  versus them being in the comforts of their own home.
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  But it's funny, I never even thought about it that way.
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  So you just ask me that question.
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  That, I mean that plays into our memories and plays into who we
• 10:07
  are today. Just the even the snippets and
• 10:09
  the pieces that we gather. It does through our lives and
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  how that sort of like, influences us even without
• 10:17
  thinking about it, right? Yeah, right.
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  It's always very interesting. Do you remember anyone in your
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  life at a young age who really influenced your style or you
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  admired as a young Amber? I would have to say my aunt
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  Sharon, she always had like a boho electric type vibe to her
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  styling and that was my mom's sister.
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  I would say that she played a pretty good influence on how I
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  started to see fashion and to recognize fashion.
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  That's interesting. And were you close with your
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  aunt? Yes, Aaron.
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  OK, very. Do you have any of her pieces
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  that have? I do not know she had years ago
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  but I just remember it. She gave Stevie Nicks and Stevie
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  Nicks is actually like one of my Expos how I dress currently
• 11:11
  today. But looking back at her style,
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  like that's what she carried through even after the Stevie
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  Nicks 70s era, like she held on to that style all the way down
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  to the hair to way she curled her hair.
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  So if I had to say one person her and then secondly my mamaw I
• 11:30
  would have to say with her casual style of house dresses.
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  Right. Yeah, I know you do love a house
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  dress. I love that style so much.
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  I've actually thought back to my own grandmother who passed when
• 11:42
  I was very young, but I remember her just sort of being in that.
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  I guess it's a house dress, like it's the same like as you refer
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  to it. And I wish I had some of those
• 11:53
  pieces. Yeah.
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  But yeah, the things, the things I wish I'd the one too that I
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  did not. Think about it all the time.
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  Yeah, I bet you do. I bet you do.
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  Was there anything with you or a young girl?
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  And thinking about like everything going on in your
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  life, was there anything that you hoped people let that you
• 12:19
  remember? Really wishing that people
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  thought about you or thought about you.
• 12:27
  Not necessarily my younger version.
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  I was known. I had, I loved shoes.
• 12:32
  I was a tennis shoe collector. I mean, my dad would go without
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  to make sure that I had me and my siblings, all the shoes we
• 12:41
  want because we had, of course, had to have one for every
• 12:43
  season, for like every basketball season.
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  Then we had to have our cleats for softball, for field hockey.
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  I mean, it just, it kept going on.
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  But it was the sneakers. Like, yeah, I didn't care about
• 12:55
  what I wore, but I had to have sneakers, which is very odd for
• 12:59
  who I am today. Yeah, it's not odd for the time
• 13:03
  period though, right? You said you were an athlete and
• 13:05
  even through today you enjoy sports and like being active.
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  Yeah, maybe on a different level or whatever, but what about
• 13:14
  sporty spice, amber? You know, pretty spice.
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  Like how does she kind of navigate growing up being an
• 13:25
  athlete and. I don't know.
• 13:28
  It was, it was so easy. I mean, the people that I grew
• 13:31
  up with, that I went to school with, that I played sports with,
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  some of us are still in contact today.
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  So we were friends outside of school, outside of sports.
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  So when you think back about navigating, I mean, when you
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  think about teenage years, that being hard, you trying to fit
• 13:46
  in, I don't feel like that was even a pressure for me back
• 13:51
  then. I, I felt comfort in helping
• 13:53
  other people back then that weren't as recognized in school.
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  And that was kind of the path that I chose.
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  OK, when you talk about helping other people, are there any
• 14:09
  memories that come like to mind? Oh yeah, I cannot stand a bully.
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  So that was a big parts of like growing up, if I saw someone
• 14:18
  being mistreated or being bullied, like I was always that
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  one that had to be their voice when they didn't want to take up
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  for themselves. So that's a very vivid memory of
• 14:31
  multiple circumstances. And I still check up on the same
• 14:35
  people today and they're doing well.
• 14:39
  It's. Good.
• 14:40
  Yeah, good. I'm sure they have fond memories
• 14:43
  of you and you stepping in on their behalf during those years.
• 14:48
  I hope so. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  Do you feel like, was there anyone in particular that
• 14:54
  influenced that in your life, You know, being the person to
• 14:57
  speak up? And my dad, yeah.
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  Yeah, very outspoken, like he did not hold his tongue for
• 15:03
  anything. He was the clown class clown of
• 15:07
  him growing up and he kind of took that role.
• 15:10
  Even with us being children, if he saw something that wasn't
• 15:13
  right, he would make sure that he stepped in and did something
• 15:16
  about it. Yeah.
• 15:18
  So he instilled that kind of sense of, right, He did.
• 15:24
  And that's amazing. Thank you.
• 15:32
  OK, let's think about I guess past a little, a little past
• 15:38
  childhood and all of that. How did you, I mean, you've said
• 15:43
  so many things. How did you transform, you know,
• 15:47
  athlete, child, standing up for everyone and then into young
• 15:52
  adulthood even I don't know at what point you became he started
• 15:58
  working in the automotive industry, if you will, like
• 16:01
  where did that come into play? And then there are lots of
• 16:04
  stories the way he's got to where you are today.
• 16:07
  So it was mom first. At 19 I had my daughter, right
• 16:13
  at 21 I had my son. I started working when my son
• 16:20
  was 1, so, and on a night shift at that.
• 16:24
  So I, I jumped right in. I, I think playing sports and
• 16:31
  kind of the coordination helped me because when you do a job on
• 16:34
  an assembly line, you have to do a certain amount of things
• 16:37
  before the truck passes your job.
• 16:39
  Sure. So of course, the first couple
• 16:42
  weeks of you learning a particular job, it feels like
• 16:45
  you're literally running, like you're out of breath, you're
• 16:48
  tired, you hurt when you go home.
• 16:50
  But after that like 2 week mark, I would say you learn to become
• 16:56
  the robot that I believe we all were at one time to do that.
• 17:00
  So that's what got me into the auto industry.
• 17:04
  I did love what I do. I didn't like doing the same
• 17:07
  thing 600 sometimes a night. So that's why I did love the
• 17:11
  position when I was able to choose to be a floater instead
• 17:15
  of being on that same job every single day for all week, for 365
• 17:22
  days a week. Yeah, that that's a lot.
• 17:28
  And on night shift, where you have two young children at home.
• 17:31
  5:00 in the evening till 4:00 in the morning so I would get off
• 17:35
  work and then go pick them up and take them home, put them to
• 17:39
  sleep and then catch a nap before they woke up.
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  How did you like manage all of that?
• 17:46
  Did you have a strong support system at home at the time?
• 17:50
  Or I did not. I was divorced from their
• 17:55
  father. I, I got some support, but it
• 18:01
  wasn't the support that like I look back and that I yearned
• 18:07
  for. So it was definitely a struggle.
• 18:11
  I would have to drop one of my children off one place, one at
• 18:14
  another place. Then it came to a point after
• 18:17
  about a year of me working, I did find care for them and under
• 18:22
  one roof where it would be easy for me to just drop off at 1
• 18:25
  area and then not have to run around with my head cut off, be
• 18:28
  late for work. And so it was a struggle, but
• 18:32
  it's something I look back on and I believe that that made me
• 18:36
  the person I am today. I believe everyone at some point
• 18:39
  in their time, they do have a struggle.
• 18:41
  But when you get on the other side of that struggle, I believe
• 18:44
  that. It.
• 18:46
  Makes you stronger and makes you it kind of curves you into who
• 18:49
  you are today, of course. Yeah, we just kind of grow and
• 18:54
  learn as we continue to move through this life.
• 18:57
  I don't think our education is ever no completed.
• 19:00
  There's always something new and fresh to come up.
• 19:03
  That's incredible that you are so resilient and that you've
• 19:07
  found ways to support your family and you found people to
• 19:12
  support you to take care of the the kids so that you could go to
• 19:16
  work and do everything that you needed to do.
• 19:19
  So good job, Mama. It got easier as time went on
• 19:23
  and I found the love of my life that I'm still with today.
• 19:27
  So he played a big part in the later part of the auto industry.
• 19:34
  So it wasn't that. I tell everyone, if you're going
• 19:36
  to ride the ride, ride it. It you know, your seat belt
• 19:39
  eventually gets buckled and you can just sit down and enjoy the
• 19:43
  ride. So.
• 19:44
  You're holding on for your life at 1st and then the seat belt
• 19:47
  like yeah, yeah. Well, OK.
• 19:50
  How did OK tell me how your love came into play?
• 19:54
  You said it, so we have to tell still it.
• 19:57
  So I actually met him at work. OK, We were friends for the
• 20:01
  longest time. And then we started dating and
• 20:06
  it was a easy transition because I believe if you're friends with
• 20:09
  someone first, it's kind of you get the raw bones of who that
• 20:13
  person truly is instead of, you know, you going out on your
• 20:16
  first date. And we all tried to be on our
• 20:19
  best behavior and be on our PS and QS.
• 20:22
  So I felt like that was just a very easy transition into a
• 20:27
  relationship. Yeah.
• 20:29
  Did you find it? How did you balance like the,
• 20:34
  you know, going to work every day?
• 20:35
  I'm sure you had some outfit you had to wear, right?
• 20:38
  Some SO. You can wear anything.
• 20:40
  Really. OK, so people.
• 20:41
  Chose coveralls. That's why I think I love
• 20:43
  coveralls, but coveralls. But you could wear any and it
• 20:47
  was so hot in there. It's like we were in Virginia,
• 20:51
  Virginia Beach area and Norfolk so under a metal roof it would
• 20:56
  get like high 90s low one hundreds during the summer time.
• 21:02
  So you wore what would keep you comfortable?
• 21:05
  OK, so going from. From tank top to shorts.
• 21:10
  So so wearing something in layers during the winter time.
• 21:13
  So I think I was just picturing like you had to be in uniform.
• 21:16
  I guess that's what I was looking for, their cover
• 21:18
  coveralls or whatever. But that's nice that you had
• 21:21
  that flexibility. Then what did like date night go
• 21:25
  out with my honey Amber? What was your style for that of?
• 21:30
  The hilarious because I've never been able to wear heels
• 21:33
  comfortably so it was always. I love boots though, so it was
• 21:37
  always like a skirt, boots, boots, and I love the whole vest
• 21:42
  thing. Vest in a skirt or shorts and
• 21:45
  boots. That was like date night.
• 21:48
  That's what date night looked like.
• 21:50
  OK, sounds like that kind of draws even from the 70s vibes
• 21:54
  that we get. It does today.
• 21:57
  OK OK, I love this. So when do you feel like you
• 22:03
  started to really? Was it through that time that
• 22:07
  you feel like you started to develop your own personal style
• 22:11
  or like trust your intuition if you will, with style or with
• 22:16
  some other I? Do think that during that time,
• 22:20
  it's like I tell people to wear what you love.
• 22:24
  So it's, I don't think I truly wore what I love so much back
• 22:29
  then is to what was trending. When we're younger, we want to
• 22:34
  fit in, we want to buy the newest thing.
• 22:37
  And it's, I think that part of my life, I kind of just wore
• 22:41
  what was in fashion at that time.
• 22:45
  I thrifted back then. So sustainability was always at
• 22:48
  the top of my list. But growing into wearing what
• 22:53
  Amber wanted to wear probably came about, I would say, 14
• 22:57
  years ago. So that middle part I think was
• 23:01
  more of wearing what was it currently in the store and then
• 23:05
  finding that through a sustainable way of thrifting.
• 23:09
  Right, right. Because it's kind of we're
• 23:11
  exposed to what we are through media and at the time, like
• 23:15
  whatever magazines we were probably reading and papers and
• 23:19
  news and, you know, the television exposure and whatever
• 23:23
  shows we were watching, not so much.
• 23:25
  There was not social media, no, in our childhood.
• 23:28
  Thank God. I mean, I love it today.
• 23:34
  Oh. Lord, thank you, Jesus.
• 23:37
  Amen. OK, Heard.
• 23:42
  Heard well, I'm so glad that you started to develop your own
• 23:47
  personal style and sense and that you have followed that
• 23:50
  through to today because of course I met you within the past
• 23:55
  couple of years. And where did we meet first?
• 23:57
  Was it, I was trying to remember this earlier today and I was
• 24:01
  like, was it Charlotte 54? Was it through that process?
• 24:04
  I think it we did meet Charlotte 54, but it was even a time
• 24:08
  before that with Savita. OK.
• 24:14
  It was some kind of event that they had there, I believe.
• 24:18
  OK. Down in Camp North End, but
• 24:20
  don't quote me on that, but the the for sure memory is Charlotte
• 24:24
  54 I. Definitely remember connecting
• 24:26
  with the meeting that night and then sort of starting like our
• 24:30
  social media romance, if you will, yes, love for one another
• 24:35
  and following and all of that. And then since I've just so
• 24:40
  appreciated having you in my life and you know, having you as
• 24:45
  a resource, I'm going to touch this piece over here because we
• 24:49
  recently got to collab and I was able to go into your massive
• 24:56
  storage, do you know, warehouse with all of these beautiful
• 25:01
  vintage pieces to explore. And you really like help me hone
• 25:05
  in on what you had that might fit kind of my vision that I was
• 25:10
  still developing for that event. And so I just wanted to say
• 25:14
  thank you for that. I was excited to help.
• 25:18
  Yeah. And you know, talking about that
• 25:21
  collaboration, do you find that you have a lot of those
• 25:26
  opportunities these days or where are you sort of jumping
• 25:31
  ahead again, I guess? If you will, I love those
• 25:34
  opportunities when they come or if it's like something that I've
• 25:38
  ran into, it's actually on my vision board of doing more.
• 25:45
  But I just, it's like I have all these projects I do when running
• 25:50
  a business by yourself, and then I have all these creative ideas
• 25:55
  that I've been putting on the back burner for five years.
• 25:58
  I don't have to tell you, the creative mind is wild.
• 26:02
  There's just not enough time in the day.
• 26:04
  Yeah. So like vision board of I think
• 26:08
  we spoke about renting pieces out.
• 26:10
  I have some great pieces that are probably museum quality that
• 26:14
  are from the late 1800s all the way to the 30s and 40s that I'm
• 26:20
  like, I just will hold these forever.
• 26:23
  But then when I Fast forward to what I actually use for my
• 26:27
  business, which is the saturation of 60s and 70s.
• 26:31
  But the collabs I love, I've done several collabs.
• 26:36
  I've loaned pieces to people on multiple different occasions and
• 26:41
  it's the joy of actually seeing one of my items being used for
• 26:47
  more than just my audience to see.
• 26:50
  I think is what brings me more satisfaction than any
• 26:53
  recognition could ever bring. When someone's displaying that
• 26:57
  piece, it's the eyes on that piece and someone enjoying that
• 27:01
  piece more than what I could visually give for my audience.
• 27:05
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I thought it was pretty
• 27:08
  incredible how that, you know, event at the Mint Museum while
• 27:13
  there was 1, you know, night for kicking off and everything we
• 27:16
  have full month to be on display with like the style and the
• 27:22
  pieces, you know, that we were able to put on mannequins and I
• 27:27
  just both of my mannequins were sourced from thesis from your
• 27:32
  collection, from your personal closet.
• 27:35
  And then we had a full like display with so many pieces of
• 27:40
  your jewelry and some mini top hats, you know, from my own
• 27:44
  personal collection. So I just really, I enjoyed
• 27:48
  that. And we have to get some of these
• 27:50
  1800s pieces out of your like, where are these things where you
• 27:56
  keep everything? I know I haven't seen half of
• 27:58
  it. It's it's storage controlled
• 28:01
  climate. Yeah, I tried to hang out.
• 28:03
  I actually just picked up a piece last week that is a
• 28:08
  crocheted hand embroidered floor length gown.
• 28:12
  It's crazy. So yeah, I'm trying to make sure
• 28:15
  I'm getting my date right on that one before I release her to
• 28:19
  the Instagram Wilds like she's actually in the truck.
• 28:25
  She. Needs to bring it up.
• 28:30
  OK, OK, I'm going to calm myself down.
• 28:34
  Like I definitely could have spent like days in your world
• 28:39
  and I know I didn't even see the pieces that you have at home
• 28:42
  which are in your personal collection.
• 28:43
  But I know some of that is don't you do your online markets and
• 28:48
  things? I do, I do online at home and
• 28:52
  then I do pop ups throughout Charlotte.
• 28:55
  I travel. South Carolina was the furthest
• 28:59
  I had been. Oh, actually Raleigh now, well,
• 29:02
  they're about the same distance, but then I'm going to Jersey
• 29:06
  next weekend with one of the shows that I do.
• 29:09
  So I'm excited to start traveling more.
• 29:12
  Yes. So it's we'll see where this
• 29:16
  goes. When I was, you were telling me
• 29:17
  a little bit about that New Jersey market they were going to
• 29:20
  and that was the same, the same one in South Carolina where you.
• 29:24
  Yabbled and so traveling right? Child time travelers.
• 29:29
  Name of the vintage Expo. They travel all over the United
• 29:32
  States, so they'll be on the West Coast, then they usually do
• 29:36
  Midwest, and then they come to the East Coast.
• 29:39
  Usually summertime. I call it sweating and finesses
• 29:44
  like they travel the East Coast. So Jersey next weekend time
• 29:49
  travellers, Edison, Jersey and then they come to South Carolina
• 29:53
  on August 8th. OK.
• 29:56
  All right. Well, maybe we'll have released
• 29:58
  this by the time it's in South Carolina.
• 30:00
  We'll see. We'll see how our release goes.
• 30:05
  But you earlier when you're talking, you mentioned
• 30:08
  sustainability and that being important to you.
• 30:13
  Tell me a little bit about that. I guess where did that love or
• 30:16
  need or desire to maintain some sort of sustainable element in
• 30:21
  your own style and lifestyle, if you will?
• 30:25
  Where did that kind of? I think it when you I would have
• 30:29
  like from this jumpstart, I would have said it.
• 30:32
  It started as me being a mother and trying to afford more
• 30:36
  things. But when you actually reflect on
• 30:40
  a timeline, I would have to say it goes all the way back to my
• 30:43
  dad. He was an auctioneer.
• 30:45
  He did the flea market thing when I was growing up.
• 30:48
  So I think it probably started there on seeing things reused
• 30:55
  and their different purposes. Then it evolved into motherhood
• 30:59
  of living paycheck to paycheck and being able to make sure your
• 31:04
  kids had everything that they needed and spooled them rotten
• 31:07
  on everything that they wanted. So I think that was like the
• 31:12
  stepping stone of what really turned me into like being the
• 31:16
  person I am today of not overlooking things that even
• 31:20
  though they've been used, is there another repurpose for them
• 31:23
  or is it is something that someone else could use?
• 31:26
  Maybe not if I needed it, but my more concentrations on clothing,
• 31:33
  on accessories, making sure that they have a new life and find a
• 31:39
  new closet. Yeah, Yeah.
• 31:42
  I know today is very difficult because we're constantly
• 31:46
  bombarded with new fashion trends and styles and things and
• 31:51
  think it it moves a lot more quickly.
• 31:53
  So I love how you're able to take pause and some of that and
• 31:59
  go back to vintage pieces and keeping it more sustainable.
• 32:06
  Yes. And it seems like I feel like it
• 32:09
  in high school, maybe it was a trend for vintage pieces to be.
• 32:14
  Yeah, like desired then as well. So I like, are we back in that
• 32:21
  cycle? I think it's another 90s like,
• 32:24
  and I know some of the fashions of today feel very 90s, even
• 32:28
  though we're hitting like every decade anymore, which is
• 32:31
  beautiful. I love it.
• 32:34
  But yeah, it's interesting because I hadn't really thought
• 32:37
  about that either, how vintage was.
• 32:40
  So like, I remember thrifting and yeah, like wanting to do
• 32:45
  more of that at that time in life.
• 32:47
  Yeah, I think it, if you have the opportunity to do that as a
• 32:51
  child or as a teenager or a younger adult, I think it sticks
• 32:54
  with you more than just jumping into it at adulthood.
• 32:59
  It's like AI don't know it's it's like a memory that you
• 33:05
  carry that is something that you still enjoy doing.
• 33:07
  I call it my therapy is what I call it.
• 33:09
  It's I just love rummaging, like finding something treasure
• 33:14
  hunting. It's and then when you find that
• 33:16
  piece, it's the reward that you feel of almost like I call it
• 33:21
  save in a gym. Even if she's got ten holes in
• 33:23
  it, I'm going to repair every hole and I'm going to try to
• 33:26
  save her. Right.
• 33:28
  So. Yeah, look up.
• 33:30
  I need to learn how to sew. I had Listen, I used to sew.
• 33:35
  I have had two sewing machines. The second one is still in its
• 33:38
  box. I do everything by hand.
• 33:40
  Really takes me forever. But it's it's satisfying.
• 33:43
  Yeah. There's something with that.
• 33:45
  Yeah. Like, that's your therapy.
• 33:47
  Yeah. OK.
• 33:49
  I guess, you know, now I'm thinking back to, like, my
• 33:52
  aunts, great aunts, even as a child, and they would sit
• 33:55
  around, like, crocheting. It's just kind of that
• 33:58
  repetitive motion, like, you're able to have a full
• 34:01
  conversation, keep doing what you're doing, is there?
• 34:05
  So is there something to that, to that I mean?
• 34:08
  It's funny, my mamaw crocheted. My sister still crochets.
• 34:12
  She she can crochet anything. She has crocheted me dusters,
• 34:17
  bags. And it's funny because I I
• 34:19
  didn't continue crocheting. We used to make like blankets
• 34:22
  when we were young. Every time we go to my Mamaw's
• 34:24
  house, we'd leave what we did the day before or the weekend
• 34:28
  before and come and pick up. And that's what the evening look
• 34:31
  like for us at Mamaw's house, which we were crocheting.
• 34:34
  But I think it's a busy mind. I think it's a creative mind and
• 34:40
  just working with your hands when people do pick up
• 34:43
  crocheting or if they still do it or did it at one time.
• 34:46
  But I think it's a learned behavior too if you grew up
• 34:48
  around it as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 34:51
  I know. These are more things that I
• 34:52
  just wish I'd kind of carried on, carried on.
• 34:55
  But I was such a young girl, like around those elders in my
• 34:58
  family and my grandmother, who was my very best foot.
• 35:02
  She passed on my 11th birthday. So it was kind of, I feel like
• 35:06
  after 11, not that I didn't have people, but it was her home that
• 35:10
  we were in and it was her home where we were surrounded by,
• 35:13
  like those elders and people. And, you know, things just sort
• 35:18
  of shift during those times. They do.
• 35:20
  It's interesting to think back and reflect on that.
• 35:23
  Yeah. Maybe we're going to be sitting
• 35:25
  here crocheting the next. Yeah.
• 35:27
  We never conversations. You.
• 35:28
  Can you teach me? I don't remember.
• 35:30
  How do you remember? Say it.
• 35:32
  Like a riding a bike, like once you start back, you don't
• 35:35
  forget. It's like counting the stitches
• 35:37
  unless you have to change a color.
• 35:39
  But yeah, it's my sister. She just sit there and watch TV
• 35:42
  and talk to you and answer the phone for work.
• 35:45
  Like, I don't know how she does it, but yeah, it's like muscle
• 35:48
  memory I guess after a while. Yeah, Well, it sounds like you
• 35:51
  have many talented women and people in your family.
• 35:55
  I do. Speaking of, I know your
• 35:57
  daughter also carries this love of vintage and sustainability.
• 36:03
  I'm assuming that comes very directly from you.
• 36:06
  Is that, is that right? Yes, so.
• 36:09
  We would be in the thrift stores when she was young in school.
• 36:12
  Like my favorite day to go drifting was before school
• 36:18
  started so they would have a 50% off sale.
• 36:20
  We would literally me and a girlfriend of mine, Laura from
• 36:23
  Michigan, we would go to Sonic, get the biggest milkshake we
• 36:27
  could buy and take the girl. She had a girl and I had a girl.
• 36:32
  The boys didn't want to come. She had a boy and I had a boy.
• 36:33
  But they stayed home and played ice hockey or whatever they
• 36:36
  wanted to play. But we would literally spend
• 36:39
  four or five hours in the thrift store and that's where all their
• 36:42
  school clothes came from. So they got to just act like
• 36:45
  they were at the mall and we'd fill our carts full of clothes
• 36:49
  and that would be what they got to wear for school for the
• 36:53
  school year. Well, isn't that the best?
• 36:54
  It's the best you. Generally don't have to worry
• 36:57
  about walking in with the same outfit somebody else on you
• 37:00
  don't right like you are finding some unique things and it's just
• 37:05
  amazing I'm I still love like taking the time to do it yes and
• 37:10
  I know you do. Oh, I love it.
• 37:12
  It's an addiction if I have to it.
• 37:14
  Yeah. So your son didn't like it then,
• 37:18
  like going on the shopping trips.
• 37:20
  Does he have any sustainable? Well, he doesn't take up any of
• 37:23
  those. He does.
• 37:25
  He still goes into thrift stores and finds and stuff.
• 37:27
  I mean, not as much as I Mean Girls just love to shop at.
• 37:31
  You have some men that I've ran across that love to shop too,
• 37:34
  but he just, he likes picking out what he wants and then
• 37:38
  leaving. Like I like looking through
• 37:39
  stuff and I I feel like I have to look at everything.
• 37:42
  So I take a long time when I'm in a thrift store.
• 37:44
  We want to touch it. All I touch it all.
• 37:47
  But no, he still goes to thrift stores.
• 37:49
  He does a lot of Facebook marketplace pickups for things
• 37:52
  that he likes, which is his aesthetic.
• 37:55
  So it it carried on to him as well.
• 37:58
  Oh, good. Yeah, I love that.
• 37:59
  Yeah, I love that. I know that has to be very
• 38:02
  rewarding for you as a mom to like, know you're past the one.
• 38:06
  Well, I also feel like that they can learn to appreciate the
• 38:10
  value of money. People put, I feel like price
• 38:15
  tags on items that they buy and someone looking at you wearing
• 38:19
  your item from the thrift store, they have no idea how much you
• 38:22
  paid for it. It's the confidence that you
• 38:24
  carry when you're wearing the outfit that you're wearing.
• 38:27
  I think that makes the most presents to people more so than
• 38:30
  whether you got it at a mall or whether you got it at a thrift
• 38:33
  store. Right.
• 38:35
  And I think that's like amazing with personal style and
• 38:39
  developing that for yourself and coming to an understanding at
• 38:43
  some point in life that it isn't about necessarily the tag or the
• 38:47
  label and the price that you paid for something, but it
• 38:50
  really is about reflecting back to the world who you are.
• 38:57
  Maybe it's who you are in that moment.
• 38:59
  Maybe it's who you are, you know, for a quick moment.
• 39:05
  It's just I find personal style fascinating and obviously having
• 39:10
  a conversation with you about, you know, all the realms of how
• 39:15
  you became who you are today, which is very rooted in style, I
• 39:19
  would say. OK, so talking about thrifting,
• 39:23
  what does thrifting look like for you today?
• 39:26
  So thrifting for me today is what I do for my business.
• 39:31
  I have a business, a shopping habit.
• 39:34
  I specially curate racks of 60s and 70s clothing and I just love
• 39:42
  that it's something that I actually enjoy doing for work.
• 39:46
  It happens kind of post pandemic.
• 39:51
  During the pandemic it was more of like Poshmark platform
• 39:54
  selling eBay, but it just seemed like something more personable
• 39:59
  to actually start my own business, curated more towards
• 40:03
  definitely sustainability but for my love of 60s and 70s
• 40:08
  clothing. Yeah, Now I know you aren't just
• 40:11
  going out and finding these amazing pieces in the Goodwill
• 40:15
  or anything like that. So thrifting, like when you're
• 40:18
  truly doing it and you're sourcing, how are you getting
• 40:22
  there? Like, tell us a few tricks of
• 40:24
  the trade, if you will. So it's a lot of estate sales,
• 40:27
  it's a lot of online trying to find the pieces.
• 40:30
  Originally online auctions, having to babysit the auction,
• 40:34
  and I am the worst at babysitting the auction.
• 40:37
  I will forget, I will set 10 alarms and still miss the end of
• 40:40
  the auction where people wait till the last minute, the bid
• 40:43
  and it's aggravating and you lose the item that you've been
• 40:45
  waiting all week to end. eBay, Poshmark, all the platforms.
• 40:51
  If you have a certain aesthetic that you're looking for or a
• 40:55
  certain size, it's always good to set your searches to let you
• 41:01
  know when something's being posted.
• 41:04
  But rewind 5 years ago, thrift stores were happening.
• 41:09
  Like I would find, I would find the stuff in the thrift store.
• 41:13
  Oh my God. But now that everyone is a
• 41:16
  reseller now and everyone is turning into like a side gig,
• 41:21
  it's getting harder to find. Coupled with the Goodwill just
• 41:25
  for instance, pulls their vintage pieces or what they
• 41:28
  believe to be vintage and then they post them online.
• 41:31
  So they've become the reseller now and they auction off the
• 41:35
  pieces. So sometimes it slips through
• 41:38
  the cracks and it doesn't nowhere near happen as much as
• 41:41
  it used to. OK.
• 41:42
  Yeah, I had no idea that Goodwill is doing that now.
• 41:46
  They auction all pieces. They have websites.
• 41:48
  Yeah. It's disheartening.
• 41:51
  OK, they need to get it together.
• 41:53
  So what do you? What does that Speaking of, I
• 41:57
  guess kind of the ebb and the flow and now maybe being a
• 42:01
  little bit of an ebb, if you will and just more easily
• 42:05
  sourcing some of the pieces, What does that look like for you
• 42:09
  just continuing to dig in those estate sales and.
• 42:12
  Estate sales, the platforms, I search certain items, so I set
• 42:20
  reminders like if something's posted, say on Poshmark or if
• 42:23
  something's posted on eBay. And then of course there's the
• 42:27
  price range that I have to stay in for me to be able to bring
• 42:30
  that to my customers as well. Personal pieces, I'm all for it.
• 42:35
  Like that's where I do a lot of my personal shopping, but it is
• 42:39
  getting harder to find. So we're moving through the
• 42:43
  seniors now that did have clothing in the Fifties, 60s and
• 42:47
  70s where they have more so passed.
• 42:53
  And then then being elderly, they're minimalist.
• 42:57
  They don't carry a lot when they transition into senior living.
• 43:03
  Most of the time, the older pieces, they kind of get left
• 43:05
  behind or, or donated or thrown away.
• 43:09
  Yeah, it's, I've heard some stories.
• 43:12
  Trust me. They're like, oh, we donated all
• 43:14
  the closets. We don't have any clothes in the
• 43:16
  house. I'm like, you've got to be
• 43:18
  kidding me. Like boxes and boxes of clothes
• 43:20
  like from the 70s and 80s, like just gone in in the dumpster.
• 43:25
  So yeah, so I think we're transitioning into a time period
• 43:30
  where you you can still find some pieces, but there it's
• 43:34
  minimal pieces. It's not that closet full of
• 43:36
  stuff. Now we're transitioning to the
• 43:38
  Seventies, 80s and 90s that you're finding more.
• 43:41
  So now I'm at estate sales so. Right.
• 43:45
  It's it's a hunt, to say the least.
• 43:47
  When I know we were talking offline when you got here today
• 43:52
  about what true vintage means to us, yes, and what it means kind
• 43:59
  of to society, if you will today.
• 44:01
  So in your world, you're looking at vintage as.
• 44:06
  True vintage, 60s, seventies to me, and of course, prior to
• 44:12
  those decades, 80s, nineties, I consider vintage, but the love
• 44:21
  that I have is for 60s and 70s, so that's what I tend to have a
• 44:26
  larger saturation of. Yeah, though like trying to
• 44:30
  transition into Y2K, every shopper has what they're looking
• 44:36
  for. So as a vendor at market you try
• 44:39
  to bring a variety of items so you can make sure that you can
• 44:44
  hit every customer price point and though what their personal
• 44:49
  style actually is. Of course, and that's so
• 44:52
  difficult because like there's only so much space when you're a
• 44:56
  vendor at market especially and you're having to take all the
• 45:00
  things with you, all the sizes and but you like make
• 45:05
  connections with people and you'll try to source items,
• 45:08
  right? Like if someone has and in
• 45:11
  search of or what whatever you call it like.
• 45:14
  ISO. An ISO?
• 45:16
  Yes. If you're an if you have an ISO,
• 45:19
  then reach out right? It's because you have your eye
• 45:23
  and your ear to the ground and you're constantly putting into
• 45:26
  different pieces. And it's, it's easier for me for
• 45:30
  you to contact me and say, hey, you know, I have a wedding
• 45:33
  coming up or I have, I'm going on vacation and this is what I'm
• 45:37
  looking for. This is my size, modern size and
• 45:40
  or measurements. My personal shopping I
• 45:43
  thoroughly enjoy. So I've had people over the
• 45:47
  years just give me what they're looking for.
• 45:49
  More than likely I probably already have it.
• 45:52
  So it's easier for me to just go into my warehouse of craziness
• 45:59
  and find what they're looking for.
• 46:00
  But if I don't have it, I do the personal shopping, I do the
• 46:04
  estate sale hunting for them. I do the going to the thrift
• 46:07
  stores and finding what they want.
• 46:09
  And then we, you know, kind of like butt heads do video calls
• 46:13
  and then kind of narrow it down to the pieces that they're
• 46:15
  actually looking for. Yeah, and I would call that the
• 46:18
  Warehouse of Magic, but I get it.
• 46:22
  You're just pulling out rack, Pulling out racks.
• 46:25
  That day, I was like, it was so fabulous.
• 46:33
  What what truly inspired you to just start all of this again?
• 46:39
  I know you said it was the pandemic and.
• 46:42
  It was and I always loved posting on platforms, but it's
• 46:47
  the create. I feel like my creative mind is
• 46:50
  taken away from me when I'm behind a computer.
• 46:53
  I dread posting stuff, first of all, like to type everything in
• 46:57
  the computer and, and just I like the connection of dealing
• 47:02
  with, you know, people one-on-one, even through social
• 47:05
  media. I feel like that there's a
• 47:06
  personal connection that you build with your customers.
• 47:11
  I knew that I wanted to niche down as to what I was selling
• 47:14
  because I was selling everything from sportswear to vintage.
• 47:20
  But I felt like picking what you love and it's something that you
• 47:24
  have a passion about is very important when you're trying to
• 47:28
  create your own business. So that's why I chose to narrow
• 47:32
  it down to specializing in true vintage clothing.
• 47:35
  Yeah, that really like reads through to your audience, if you
• 47:39
  will. And I love your social media.
• 47:41
  I think you have some really like fun reels and stuff that
• 47:45
  you put out and I, I always am looking forward to what you're
• 47:48
  doing. Thank you.
• 47:49
  Even just like showing the pieces or like if you did
• 47:53
  something recently that was like a little drop transition, I was
• 47:55
  like, oh, I. Know it's a learning, it's a
• 47:58
  learning curve and I used to spend hours like creating
• 48:01
  content, but we talked about earlier it's like the time in
• 48:04
  the day trying to make sure because I'm the social media
• 48:09
  manager, then on the content creator and then I have to ship
• 48:12
  packages I have to build. So it's like when you wear so
• 48:15
  many hats when you're running your own business, it's like you
• 48:18
  have to pick and choose your battles.
• 48:20
  But I love making content. I do have to say that I used to
• 48:25
  be very hard on myself how this had to be a certain way, and now
• 48:28
  I just, I don't care if there's a blooper in there.
• 48:30
  Like you're going to get the blooper and that's the end of
• 48:33
  the story. We putting it out there, aren't
• 48:35
  we? We and just they're like this
• 48:37
  life is not perfect, nor are we it.
• 48:39
  Is not and I. Think being a lot of.
• 48:41
  Being authentic, like and being who you are, I think people hold
• 48:46
  on to more so than that typical person that they may see on
• 48:50
  social media. So I think the connections that
• 48:52
  you make, and I've made so many great ones, especially with
• 48:56
  other business owners as well, seeing their journey and looking
• 49:01
  at what they do to make their business successful.
• 49:03
  It's just it's astonishing to see what they actually go
• 49:07
  through. And then you're like, oh, so I
• 49:10
  don't feel like I'm doing this by myself or that I'm not the
• 49:13
  crazy one. Right, right.
• 49:15
  Not the crazy one, no. I love how you talked about kind
• 49:21
  of building community through all of this.
• 49:23
  Was that something that you ever expected to come out of it?
• 49:27
  I hope that it did, especially like during the pandemic, like
• 49:30
  we were all stuck in our homes. So that social media like
• 49:35
  connection was very, very important to me at that time.
• 49:39
  So, and during that time, I had my mother-in-law that was living
• 49:43
  with me. We were her caregivers and she
• 49:46
  suffered from dementia. So that was like my outlet on
• 49:52
  the outside of caring for someone with a disease that you
• 49:57
  just like watching them wash away.
• 50:00
  And it was like an escape for me.
• 50:02
  I should say that's kind of what I would say, push me more
• 50:06
  towards making sure that this was something that was going to
• 50:10
  be sustainable after the pandemic.
• 50:13
  So that had a role to play in it as well.
• 50:16
  Yeah, it sounds like it was kind of therapeutic.
• 50:19
  It definitely was. It still is.
• 50:21
  Yeah, yeah. And that's, it's a beautiful
• 50:25
  gift to be able to be a caregiver for someone, you know,
• 50:28
  going through that. It is just speaks a lot to who
• 50:32
  you are as a person. Thank you.
• 50:37
  All right. Do you want to dig into your
• 50:40
  closet and the items that you brought here with us today?
• 50:44
  Because I really would love to do that.
• 50:47
  OK, Amber, I'm so excited to dig in.
• 50:51
  Tell me about this piece that you have brought to share today,
• 50:55
  this gorgeous stress. So this piece is a Giovanni
• 50:59
  gown. It's heavily rhinestone.
• 51:03
  Each panel of embroidered has a rhinestone on it.
• 51:06
  It is very heavy. OK, I've worn it once and it
• 51:11
  just sits in my closet for me to admire.
• 51:13
  It's that piece that I don't know, it's just something about
• 51:18
  it. I can't get rid of it.
• 51:20
  So where did you wear it? So we had a vintage resellers
• 51:25
  award ceremony in Fort Lauderdale, FL and I actually
• 51:29
  acquired this from another reseller, Michelle with I Can't
• 51:34
  Believe You Found me as her handle on Instagram.
• 51:36
  And she let me borrow it. And then after the show, she's
• 51:40
  like, you just keep it you. That's yours SO.
• 51:44
  It's been there. Yep, that is amazing.
• 51:47
  I love that story. All right, well, it's a gorgeous
• 51:50
  piece, and I understand why you can't get rid of it, but we got
• 51:53
  to find somewhere for you to go in that girl.
• 51:55
  Go to the grocery store. Literally, Literally, literally.
• 51:59
  OK, this is an absolutely gorgeous piece.
• 52:02
  I love the colors in it. Tell me, give me some history on
• 52:08
  her. So this was my transition into
• 52:13
  I'm going to wear what I want to wear and be comfortable era of
• 52:17
  where I'm at now. So this was my actual first
• 52:20
  house dress I ever purchased. Oh wow.
• 52:23
  It was from another reseller, which I still call that thrifted
• 52:26
  because she found it out in the wild.
• 52:29
  And it just I don't know what just calls to me the pops of
• 52:32
  color with my favorite color being black and second favorite
• 52:36
  being all of this. Oh, all of that.
• 52:41
  I love it. And of course it's got a bird on
• 52:44
  it. I have like prone to birds
• 52:46
  because I have a parrot. So anything with a bird on it
• 52:49
  I'm usually going to try to get OK in my collection.
• 52:53
  This is absolutely stunning. Is it a Peacock?
• 52:56
  I can't really. It's a Peacock.
• 52:57
  It is OK. I'm like getting Peacock and
• 53:00
  then Oh my God, that is stunning, stunning.
• 53:04
  Thank you. You're welcome.
• 53:06
  I see a little wild piece peeking out behind there.
• 53:09
  We're going to talk about that one next.
• 53:11
  Yes. All right, well, I don't think
• 53:14
  I've ever seen a leopard or a leopard print that I don't like.
• 53:18
  So I need more details on this one for sure.
• 53:22
  So this is actually one of my favorite thrifted finds.
• 53:28
  Of course, it's a house dress, but it's the print for me.
• 53:32
  I am big into animal print. Animal print is like the other
• 53:35
  form of the color black for me. So I feel like it goes with
• 53:39
  anything. I don't care if you throw pink
• 53:41
  with it, blue with it, it's going to go with it.
• 53:43
  So this would be one of those items that I'm going to wear on
• 53:48
  repeat. You might see me in it 10 times
• 53:51
  in the matter of a season. Yeah, I agree.
• 53:54
  Animal print is just another neutral.
• 53:57
  Like you got to work it in. Sometimes you have more than one
• 53:59
  at a time even. So I love that so much.
• 54:03
  I am really excited to talk about this next piece.
• 54:07
  I see some lace. Yeah.
• 54:08
  Tell me about that. This is fab.
• 54:12
  Like, it's kind of simple, but kind of not.
• 54:14
  Like, I don't even know. Tell me about this.
• 54:16
  Blue Blue, Blue Goddess. So this is actually something
• 54:21
  that's current that I'm excited about that's in the shop.
• 54:26
  If you remember, we talked about the list of things that's on our
• 54:28
  vision board. So this has been on my vision
• 54:31
  board along with dusters for five years now.
• 54:35
  There was an era during a shopping habit where I was
• 54:38
  getting patchwork dusters made with the seamstress.
• 54:43
  It didn't last very long because she retired unfortunately, and I
• 54:46
  was supposed to take up the part of making which has not
• 54:50
  happened, but it is going to happen.
• 54:52
  So this is going to be another item that I hope to offer by
• 54:56
  next summer. But this particular piece was
• 55:00
  actually sourced at Thrift Pony. So she is in Camp North End and
• 55:08
  also on Tryon with her second location.
• 55:11
  But this is going to be something that I'll actually be
• 55:14
  showing on a plus size live this Saturday.
• 55:18
  OK. So this is one of the items that
• 55:20
  I'm most excited about that's in the shop currently today.
• 55:24
  It is popular. So tell me what you mean by like
• 55:27
  this is something you were going like you're going to create
• 55:30
  these yourself? Yes.
• 55:32
  Oh yes, OK, so so I have the fabric, OK.
• 55:37
  So I I want to use vintage fabric.
• 55:40
  I've been collecting vintage blankets and bedspreads for six
• 55:44
  years now, so my thought was to try to sustainably use as much
• 55:50
  vintage fabric as I can, but it's so hard to find in this
• 55:54
  amount. So there will always be vintage
• 55:57
  fabric in every piece that's going to be produced, but if
• 56:03
  not, it's going to be sustainably sourced one way or
• 56:06
  the other. Wow, do you ever look in the
• 56:09
  like deadstock fabrics? So do you have a resource for
• 56:11
  those at all? I do not, but I've when I see
• 56:15
  stuff, I've been buying it because it's like, I'm going to
• 56:19
  do this and then I'm pulled in 10 different directions or it's
• 56:23
  still on the vision board. So I'm glad that I have several
• 56:26
  people in my life being that of other resellers that keep like
• 56:31
  nudging me. Like when are you going to do
• 56:33
  what you've been talking about doing and stuff coming?
• 56:36
  So I've got a lot of patterns that I've taken from vintage, my
• 56:41
  personal closet that I had the patterns all worked out.
• 56:45
  I just have to curve out some time in my schedule and dedicate
• 56:50
  it to producing these. All right, well, I cannot wait
• 56:54
  for that. Cannot wait.
• 56:57
  So I see a little dayglow peeking out of there, which is
• 57:03
  what you're wearing now, right? You've actually taught me that
• 57:06
  word. I was like, I've seen these
• 57:07
  bright, beautiful colors before, but never really knew what
• 57:11
  terminology to put on it. So thank you for it's so like.
• 57:16
  Evolving like people say words on lives and I'm like, what kind
• 57:19
  of color was that? So it's I think it's evolving
• 57:22
  like through fashion, like people use different terminology
• 57:25
  for different things. And then you look up what the
• 57:27
  true meaning of something is, and you're like, oh, that makes
• 57:30
  sense. Yeah, so when I say a who's he?
• 57:32
  What's it? You know what I'm talking about?
• 57:33
  No, me neither. Me neither.
• 57:38
  All right, well, I want to hear about this next piece.
• 57:42
  OK, Dayglow, my love. Tell me more.
• 57:46
  So this particular piece is one of my favorites.
• 57:49
  This will stay with me for as long as I can wear it and then
• 57:53
  my daughter better love it. So this is one of those pieces
• 57:57
  that you will see on repeat and I believe I wore it to the to
• 58:02
  the event that we had here at your house not too long ago.
• 58:05
  Yeah, this one of the VIPIN swab, I think you had that on
• 58:09
  for. Sure.
• 58:09
  So yeah, this is one of my favorite pieces.
• 58:13
  It transitions through multiple seasons.
• 58:15
  It's rather thick. So this is a good piece to wear
• 58:18
  fall, winter, and it's going to keep you warm.
• 58:21
  And then we transonation into boot season.
• 58:24
  So it's like a perfect kind of flow, but it's the color day
• 58:27
  glow for me. And just the oddity of the brown
• 58:32
  bin and the print, I think is what draws me so close to this,
• 58:36
  to where it's a neutral Batty within its own way, but with
• 58:40
  that still sixties, 70s dayglow. Yeah.
• 58:43
  Where did you happen to pick that one up?
• 58:45
  So this one was actually at an estate sale, Yeah.
• 58:49
  I got to get on that thing. Yeah, you would.
• 58:52
  You would die. I probably would.
• 58:54
  And I would need. Especially the HomeGoods like
• 58:56
  most of my house is other than the couches.
• 59:00
  It's is the state sales. Incredible, super fabulous, love
• 59:05
  it. All right, we have a few more
• 59:08
  pieces to go through and I love hearing these moments.
• 59:13
  So tell me about the next songs. Kind of black and silver white.
• 59:18
  Yes, my reading this right from here.
• 59:20
  It's a house dress, OK? OK, so this gorgeous piece is
• 59:25
  another house dress, yes? Well, Hostess dress is what?
• 59:28
  Yeah, I call them all house dresses.
• 59:31
  So like, terminology for me is just like very loose when it
• 59:34
  comes to what's in my personal closet.
• 59:37
  This one is actually a Hostess dress is what they called it.
• 59:41
  It's a late 60s, early 70s piece.
• 59:44
  This is something that's just a staple in my closet.
• 59:47
  It goes many places. It goes to weddings, it goes to
• 59:50
  funerals, it goes to evening events.
• 59:54
  It's got the nostalgia of the the MCM prints with the way that
• 1:00:00
  it borders and goes across. This is another piece that is a
• 1:00:05
  basic Batty in my opinion, but it also speaks volumes when you
• 1:00:10
  have it on. Yeah, she's not basic in any in
• 1:00:13
  any way. So I love that this is like a
• 1:00:15
  basic piece in in your wardrobe. And I was going to ask like what
• 1:00:19
  constitutes like a house dress in your like in your world
• 1:00:23
  because normally obviously a little bit different style than
• 1:00:26
  some of the others we've talked about.
• 1:00:27
  Yeah. So most people consider a house
• 1:00:29
  dress, most of them are Maxis, Most of them have some type of
• 1:00:33
  zip, whether it's in the back or the 3/4 zip in the front.
• 1:00:37
  And like this one, the one I have on currently is actually
• 1:00:40
  was meant to just wear in the house.
• 1:00:42
  It was a lounge where it's actually a quote UN quote piece
• 1:00:45
  of lingerie as they would wear it in the 60s and 70s.
• 1:00:49
  None of my house dresses just stay in the house.
• 1:00:51
  I'm going to wear them outside. You will see me in the streets
• 1:00:54
  and what back then that they normally kept in the house.
• 1:00:58
  Your bedroom attire. Yes, you will.
• 1:01:01
  So I do. The materials range from like
• 1:01:03
  Polly to like a thin nylon. So I think it's a good blend of
• 1:01:07
  giving you all seasons that you can wear, but it's gives you
• 1:01:11
  coverage as well. I guess that's the most
• 1:01:13
  important thing when you're thinking of wearing your bedroom
• 1:01:15
  attire outside. Yeah.
• 1:01:17
  Not like a negligent. Some baddies in the streets that
• 1:01:23
  with like little slip dresses on and that's like a whole vibe,
• 1:01:26
  yes. Yeah.
• 1:01:27
  It sure is. It is.
• 1:01:29
  Those in the 90s, yes, a slip dress all day long slip.
• 1:01:32
  Dress in boots, couldn't tell me nothing all.
• 1:01:35
  Right, You'd probably like some funky like hair, something going
• 1:01:38
  on. Hairspray for sure.
• 1:01:40
  Yes, absolutely, absolutely. All right.
• 1:01:44
  We have up next another. This is more of a Pats work
• 1:01:49
  piece it looks like. Yes.
• 1:01:51
  OK. You mentioned a little bit about
• 1:01:53
  Pats work pieces and those being something that you had made with
• 1:01:58
  a seamstress. Yeah, obviously.
• 1:02:01
  Is that what I'm seeing? Here or this is not so.
• 1:02:04
  This is actually a true vintage one that I actually acquired
• 1:02:09
  again from another reseller, so sustainably found from her
• 1:02:15
  Instagram is amazing vintage. And it's funny how like I can't
• 1:02:18
  remember what I ate yesterday, but I can remember like who's
• 1:02:21
  attached to most pieces that are the most precious.
• 1:02:24
  So this piece actually, I feel like represents who I am today,
• 1:02:29
  the 70s boho maximalist. I'm usually in layers.
• 1:02:34
  It's like 1000° outside. So you only got one layer today.
• 1:02:38
  But I usually have some sorts of duster robes I wear as dusters.
• 1:02:46
  I usually have some type of layering on and with pets work
• 1:02:50
  actually being one of my favorites, like combos of what
• 1:02:54
  to wear. So I feel like this represents
• 1:02:56
  like my style today. If I had to bring one piece that
• 1:03:00
  says this is who I am, this would be it.
• 1:03:03
  That's the one. That's the one.
• 1:03:05
  OK, well, it's beautiful and that's incredible that it's
• 1:03:08
  vintage and it's inspiring you has inspired you to have pieces
• 1:03:13
  made and that you're going to continue with that.
• 1:03:15
  Yes, going into the picture even.
• 1:03:16
  So thank you for bringing that. What do we have up next?
• 1:03:22
  All right, So this next piece is a little bit different than many
• 1:03:26
  of the others that you brought and tell me about her.
• 1:03:29
  So this case I actually wore to my mammals 90th surprise
• 1:03:34
  birthday party. So a lot of my pictures that I
• 1:03:38
  have of her that I'm very fond of towards the later stage in
• 1:03:42
  her life, it was me and this and her and her little church
• 1:03:46
  outfit. So this represents those final
• 1:03:50
  memories, those captures that we have.
• 1:03:53
  So I'm tied to that in a way of that was our last big
• 1:03:57
  celebration of her life that she was a part of.
• 1:04:00
  Yeah, that's a beautiful story and a true testament to how all
• 1:04:06
  these pieces that are in our closets today really do connect
• 1:04:10
  us to pieces of our lives and, you know, to our identities and
• 1:04:15
  to our formation, if you will. They definitely do.
• 1:04:18
  Yeah, that's very cool. I love that you brought that
• 1:04:21
  piece of ma'am all with you today and.
• 1:04:23
  She approved of it. It was all the way to the floor.
• 1:04:26
  OK, given house dress. Ma'am.
• 1:04:29
  All like some modesty, if you will.
• 1:04:31
  Yeah, but it's still beautiful. I love it.
• 1:04:34
  I love that I can stare at this all day long.
• 1:04:38
  It is fabulous and very sassy. She is very sassy.
• 1:04:42
  So this is 1 item of several that I have.
• 1:04:49
  But when I'm wearing this, the movement of it, it gives me all
• 1:04:52
  the confidence I could ever need.
• 1:04:54
  I mean, you can't tell me nothing when I'm in one of these
• 1:04:57
  skirts, OK, with the sandals, boots, it doesn't matter.
• 1:05:01
  I could be barefooted it it's the movement and the flow and
• 1:05:04
  the personality that she carries as your legs are going
• 1:05:09
  underneath of it that is just to me, it's it's breathtaking when
• 1:05:12
  someone's in almost a full circle in the movement of the
• 1:05:16
  fabric. Right.
• 1:05:18
  It's amazing the way you describe the movement of it
• 1:05:21
  because of course on a hanger it it tells a a flatter story, but
• 1:05:26
  because it has that fullness and volume, if you will, at the
• 1:05:29
  bottom, then your legs kind of Kick It Out and give it a little
• 1:05:33
  bit more and more along the way. It does.
• 1:05:35
  It's definitely a presence when you walk into a room and that's
• 1:05:39
  just all the movement of the fabric.
• 1:05:41
  And then on top of that, it's a day glow.
• 1:05:43
  So it's the attraction of that vibrant pop of color and then of
• 1:05:49
  course, this patchwork too. So yeah, that's a plus.
• 1:05:51
  It's got love, love, love layered on load.
• 1:05:56
  It's amazing. All right, I think we have what,
• 1:05:59
  one more piece from your closet? Yes.
• 1:06:04
  OK, so we've saved this one for last.
• 1:06:08
  I'm not going to say the best because you have so many
• 1:06:10
  incredible pieces. I just think they're all
• 1:06:12
  fabulous. Give me your hot take or quick
• 1:06:15
  take on this one. So this one is actually I
• 1:06:18
  brought to this is number 2 of what I'm most excited about this
• 1:06:23
  and the shop. So this one is a true vintage
• 1:06:27
  60s power flower power, but it gives the illusion of a dress
• 1:06:35
  when it's draped, but it's actually a elephant leg
• 1:06:40
  jumpsuit, so this is also available in the shop.
• 1:06:44
  This is something that I also pull inspo from when I plan on
• 1:06:50
  releasing or launching my craziness.
• 1:06:54
  Summer of next, no fall I'm I'm going to throw out some dusters,
• 1:06:57
  but summer of next year these will be available as well.
• 1:07:02
  OK, Yep. I cannot wait to see all of this
• 1:07:06
  gorgeousness that you create. And really, I appreciate you
• 1:07:09
  coming and sharing part of your closet and your story with us
• 1:07:13
  today. Before we fully wrap it up, I
• 1:07:16
  want to throw like a little Fast 5 at you.
• 1:07:19
  Is that OK? Yes.
• 1:07:21
  All right, So don't overthink these, OK?
• 1:07:24
  Just shoot, shoot, shoot your shot.
• 1:07:27
  Tell me, Tell me what you think. What's your snot?
• 1:07:30
  What your style, Mood. In one word.
• 1:07:33
  Vintage. OK, what do you reach for when
• 1:07:37
  you want to feel unstoppable? A house dress.
• 1:07:41
  Dang, I was thought you would say dayglo.
• 1:07:43
  House dress because it does actually be bloated.
• 1:07:47
  I could have just ate like A5 course meal.
• 1:07:50
  Like I feel confident in a house dress like a 24/7.
• 1:07:54
  Love it. Yeah.
• 1:07:55
  What's something you've worn way too many times?
• 1:07:59
  These sandals I have on. Thank you.
• 1:08:04
  What is always tempting you when you are shopping?
• 1:08:08
  Jory's been my most temptation. Now that is Jory.
• 1:08:12
  OK, Yeah, You have a lot, don't you?
• 1:08:15
  Too much? Is there ever too much?
• 1:08:19
  No. All right, if your closet had a
• 1:08:22
  soundtrack, what song would be playing?
• 1:08:25
  Oh my goodness, that's AI would say hot girl summer.
• 1:08:30
  Oh. Yes, OK, yes, I am loving that.
• 1:08:34
  Totally. I would have thought definitely
• 1:08:37
  a 70s song like something's coming out like.
• 1:08:40
  No, it's, it's hot girl summer. Hell yeah, yeah, that plays to
• 1:08:44
  me a lot. OK.
• 1:08:45
  You have to have fun and style and that's what I try to do.
• 1:08:50
  I love that. See in here, I mean, we talked
• 1:08:52
  all this time and I'm like 70s for sure, no.
• 1:08:56
  It's it's 70s but the hot girl summer I think resonates more.
• 1:09:01
  Yeah, we can always be surprised just by having a conversation.
• 1:09:04
  Can't be. We can.
• 1:09:06
  Oh my goodness, this is this is not part of the fast side, but
• 1:09:12
  just in my brain now because we were talking about some trends
• 1:09:16
  earlier from the 90s. And so it's making me think that
• 1:09:19
  it's not that your answer will be, if there were a trend or
• 1:09:24
  style that you could retire forever and ever have to see
• 1:09:28
  again, what would it be? It would be low rise jeans.
• 1:09:31
  OK. Definitely.
• 1:09:33
  That was still stuck in my brain.
• 1:09:34
  Yeah, I feel like we were on the same page with that again.
• 1:09:37
  What? And only because I feel like I
• 1:09:39
  can enjoy them, right? So yeah.
• 1:09:42
  I also don't really enjoy them, not only on myself, but yeah, I
• 1:09:46
  don't enjoy seeing the cracks. Yes, on anyone really.
• 1:09:51
  Unless the plumber's here. I mean, I don't really want to
• 1:09:54
  see that either. If you're my plumber, OK, maybe.
• 1:09:58
  Because I would be I would have on a jumpsuit for this is summer
• 1:10:02
  end. You're like, never would I ever.
• 1:10:04
  All right, That is so funny. This is so funny.
• 1:10:08
  I really, truly have enjoyed talking to you.
• 1:10:11
  I. Have.
• 1:10:12
  To peeking a little bit into your closet and, you know,
• 1:10:15
  talking about a shopping habit. If people would like to follow
• 1:10:20
  you and find you, how should they?
• 1:10:23
  How should they do that? So Instagram is my best way to
• 1:10:27
  contact on a shopping habit. You can reach out to me as well
• 1:10:32
  via e-mail ashoppinghabit@gmail.com.
• 1:10:36
  And I'm local, I'm all over the place.
• 1:10:39
  I do personal shopping experience.
• 1:10:40
  If you give me your ISO's, I create racks or trays of jewelry
• 1:10:45
  and we do video calls and it's like a personalized QVC
• 1:10:50
  rendition of sustainable vintage styling.
• 1:10:53
  Yes. And not to forget that you do
• 1:10:56
  all of those online pop ups. Yeah, so many every single week,
• 1:10:59
  Yes, so you could find. Online as well.
• 1:11:02
  Yeah, and those are a lot of times collabs with other.
• 1:11:05
  With other shoppers, so you're getting to experience what
• 1:11:07
  people find in the Midwest, on the West Coast, and then you get
• 1:11:11
  their taste of what their style is and actually what they carry
• 1:11:14
  in their shop as well. Yeah, which I think is just
• 1:11:17
  incredible because you do, you do have so many connections
• 1:11:20
  across the States, if you will. And so if someone is looking for
• 1:11:25
  something, they absolutely should reach out to you.
• 1:11:27
  Yes, if I don't have it, I will definitely guide you in the
• 1:11:31
  right direction and put you in contact with someone else that
• 1:11:33
  will more than likely have the item you're looking for.
• 1:11:36
  I love it. Thank you again for being here
• 1:11:38
  with us and thank you guys for being with us too.
• 1:11:42
  I hope you have enjoyed getting to know Amber and her story and
• 1:11:48
  learn a little bit about a shopping habit.
• 1:11:50
  And be sure to follow her and we'll see you next time at the
• 1:11:54
  Closet Confessional.