The more I go to the Pickwick at The Row downtown (monthly, on Saturdays), the more I love it. Outside of there being
sometimes 70 vendors, almost every decade from the 1920’s on is represented on these wildly colorful racks.
The highly acclaimed 2012 Diana Vreeland documentary’s title has always intrigued me: “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel.” It’s one of Vreelands many (many) style pronouncements, but this one applies to culture and life in general. And definitely to the tents at Pickwick: you’re scanning eleven decades of culture, of aesthetics, all at once. This past Saturday, September 28th, my fashion writing career flashed back in front of my eyes: a Galliano/Dior autumn 2000 jacket, with the newsprint he created: The Christian Dior Daily, which covered gowns, outerwear, jeans. These pieces are very hard to find! There were frilly old Chloe blouses (totally back in style), an avocado green Fendi bag (the color of the moment), one small LV red vernis cylindrical bag that looks like a very small mini-hat box, a vintage tan leather Gucci bag ($1300) that looks like an Hermes Kelly (and gorgeous), varied color riding boots . . . one young woman took boots and covered them with lace and pastel cotton balls. There was so much jewelry – every style – that it made my head spin. One booth had a collection of rare oversized Dior sunglasses that vendor re-tints in more colors like lavender and pea green. So much cooler than modern sunnies. It’s also the BEST place in Los Angeles to see vintage lovers parade their best wares – put together very carefully, to look thrown together, and always, head to toe looks that are so creative these people are more curators than mere customers or venders. We spotted our two favorite L.A. vintage chicks: Randi Molofsky and Judy Jimenez, turned out like they were going to a mini Met Ball. Maybe the best thing about vintage: every piece has a backstory.