A short round-up

Just a quick one today... in a few hours, I will already be on my way to Frankfurt and from there on to Australia, on my second trade conference trip. The reason you haven't heard from me for so long was that I was on a 2-week trip to New Zealand, and then doing all the follow-ups on that and preparing for Australia took just too much time. Still, I like it, I admit, and I love traveling. Okay, unless a plane gets into violent turbulences, as experienced on an A-380 on the last trip. That's no fun, I admit.

Though I had some free time, there was no vintage shopping over there - though I did pack some vintage to wear, like my grey "power"-jacket, which I think still makes for a nice piece of business wear. I did spot some secondhand/charity shops though, that certainly looked like good options if you're looking for well-known brands for less. Queenstown has a very nice and well-stocked Salvation Army store that sells mostly clothes and shoes, but also books. There was also what looked like a consignment store in a small shopping complex on Shotover Street, but I can't remember the name of it for the life of me!
Napier, the Art Deco City, didn't yield and vintage shops either, though I admit, there wasn't much time to poke around there on my own. It is a sight to see though and one that I would recommend to everybody to visit! The buildings are so beautiful and decorative, and there is so much imagination that wen into all the decoration. I really loved it. The culmination was of course to be driven around town in a 1939 Packard as part of my Art Deco tour. The volunteers giving these tours are all locals, and they all dress up in 30s style for work. Not kitschy, but fun. The second night in town, at a small tourism networking function at one of the hotels, two not-so young gentlement turned up in dark blue pin-stripe suits and hats, looking like they could give Al Capone a run for his money - what a sight to see! They looked so sharp!

 Art Deco Napier.

The town's most incredible building, the National Tobacco Company. Lots of Art Nouveau decorative features as well!

Otherwise, the Hawke's Bay region surprised me with the great variety of wine and produce they grow, it's general green-ness, everything being close by, stylish accommodation, incredible restaurants - it is a gourmet's slice of heaven, no question!

I've also made it to the African art exhibition at the Rietberg Museum. I know very little about African art, but it was stunning - and quite interesting. The variety of styles was pretty big, and it was very well set up, giving even people like me a good clue about traditions, meanings etc.

I have also been to the opera again, probably the last time for some time, as it looks like the new intendancy starting soon is going in quite a different direction. Lots of singers that we enjoyed here will leave from the look of it. Anyway, I enjoyed this Die Entführung aus dem Serail a lot. Okay, the music is... not always "mine", but it was so well acted, and well done in a more modern way, and with a lot of humour, without veering off into kitsch. Long-time ensemble member Alfred Muff certainly got the "star" part as Osmin. Michael Laurenz as Pedrillo looked like Waldo with his nerd-glasses and beanie hat, but he too was exceptional - a natural as a comic actor - and making it all seem so natural not like he was acting.
As it was so hot the other week, I took the opportunity to wear one of my fave vintage cocktail dresses, which is so light that it takes temperatures like that to wear it. It would just be too much of a shame to cover this up with a jacket!

The dress is from Bonwit Teller originally, 60s for sure. The delicate fabric is shot with golden threads that make up flower shapes, and the gold braid is set with three rows of Aurora Borealis rhinestones. It glitters all the way! Shoes are as usual, S.Oliver sky-high heels, and my fave evening bag by After Five.

Good news - but not so good news for my wallet... the Caritas store around the corner now takes credit cards. Oh dear! And to top it all off, I found two great vintage dresses there yesterday!

 

This early to mid-60s dress might have been a bridesmaid's - or just a formal for a young lady. The label it seems is from a shop and which is still in existence - at least this Schellenberg boutique in Winterthur has almost the same logo! I love the simple shape with the pleats in the back that creat a bit of a bustle effect. There's also a stiff tull layer under the skirt, giving it a nice shape.

The second dress is a bit less dressier and more boho:

It's a fully lined, floate acetate-poly mix dress, almost floor-length, with a beautiful print. I haven't been able to find out anything about the label either, except for several hits on auction sites, showing dresses with the same label ranging from the 60s to the 80s.

So, this is it from me for the next couple of weeks!

The plates on your wall...

The one thing that has caught my fancy lately are vintage souvenir plates (but then vintage souvenir pieces are often so über-cool anyway!). Now usually the term "souvenir plate" or "collector plate" would give me the shudders, and the image before my mind's eye would be of stacks of Albert Anker plates gathering dust at a thrift shop, or Ashton-Drake, Franklin Mint or whatever ads for Thomas Kinkade "art" plates or cheap souvenir plates that nobody would ever venture to display at home voluntarily.

However, two years ago, I happend to find two super cute vintage American souvenir plates, very 50s style, at a thrift shop here in Zurich. Resistance was pointless - I had to have 'em, even if I've never been to Iowa or Nebraska. Of course it would have been nice had there been more of them, but how do you find them, when there's not even a maker's mark on them?

Talk about finding a needle in a haystack! Well, something over a week ago, I had purchased a showcase spot for my sexy Isabelle Allard cocktail dress on Etsy. Not that it helped... but when I checked the spotlight at work (I don't usually do this kinda stuff at work, but honestly, I'm a curious person!), I spotted a collection of souvenir plates on the same showcase... and not just that, one plate looked just like the two I had! Now, how much luck is that? I was giddy to say the least, quickly logged in, dashed off a convo to the seller asking for the shipping costs to Europe and went back to my work. And yes, it did work! I have met another wonderful Etsy seller, who was very helpful.

Today I went to pick up the parcel at the post office. They all arrived undamaged - and nicely wrapped! And there was a surprise - two extra plates at no extra cost!


So here's the Vermont plate to match the other two (and after all, I have been to Vermont!). They're a nice dessert plate size, so I hope to find more to match them, even though I have have enough tableware already (yes, that can be addictive too!).

And here are the other ones:


Featuring Colorado, Williamsburg (note the funky pink buildings!), the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, Gettysburg, Connecticut, New Hampshire and the Niagara Falls. Most of them are transfer printed, and the Niagara plate is meant to be hung on a wall, it comes with a string attached for that purpose. Most of the plates have no mark, but the Vermont one has one, it was actually produced in Burlington VT - so I'm continuing my search. Two plates are marked "Japan" which probably dates them to anywhere from the 50s to 70s or so (I think later, "cheap" production moved to other countries - at least that's how it was with Barbie doll). Interestingly though, the Vancouver plate was produced in Germany! But my search for the mark has turned up nothing so far.

The New Hampshire plate, though produced in Japan, is they only one which *might* have been handpainted.

Maybe this was sold at Franconia Notch? It's not shown (which really is too bad), but was added in writing at the bottom like almost an afterthought.

I don't know yet what I will do with these other plates. The only kitchen wall that could be decorated is already decorated with things that I like a lot (and at least one is just as kitschy):

A friend pointed me to this site - some fun ideas how to display souvenirs. Great! That lead me here - a dish rack full of colorful souvenir plates might be fun, I think. Or one might go full monty like here. Oh, choices, choices... Of course, the ultimative thing would be a wall full of Marimekko plates! Now there I could get envious....!

I have one other plate (from the same friend), which I display in my "kitsch corner", and which features another very tacky piece of china.



Honestly, isn't this vase fab? No, it's not high quality, but it was just too much fun to not buy it. Ah, the glory days when our offices where in the city and I could venture a visit to the flea market on a Saturday morning, before going to work!

Well, going back to thinking what I'll do with all these plates now...

Karin