Consider This Your Invitation

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of Sydney's legendary Hibernian House Vintage and Retro Sales, Dear Pluto is your new favourite shop, friend, cinema and second home.

Please join us for a drink (or two) to celebrate our GRAND OPENING on the evening of September 17th at 5a Wilshire Street, Surry Hills. Dear Pluto's collection of hand picked garments and accessories from decades past will be available for purchase on the night, at the same low prices you've come to love us for.

Dear Pluto: No garish shop-fronts, no flashing signs, no bells and whistles, no pretension, just a whole lot of retro goodness tucked away in a laneway between Crown & Bourke St.

Bed of Roses

GUESS WHAT? Two weeks from today, get your night vision on my arse and you will find me asleep, on a BED. For reals. A bed. Like, with slats. And a headboard. And a real mattress, with springs that don't jut into my back. What is a bare necessity for most, has been missing from my life for three whole frickin' years, my current sleeping system being a poor imitation of a bed - twenty-something crates tied together with bits of string and a rock hard, lumpy and stained mattress. The reason I'm finally getting my arse in gear and my back in line is because in two weeks I am moving out of the warehouse I share with four others and into an old coach house with just one other - Bobby. It's almost as though I'm growing up (hah! Almost.) AND I'M JUST AN TEENY BIT EXCITED. I really, really am. I truly will miss Hibernian House however, and I'm not saying good bye to it just yet. But thanks to the ever talented Xiaohan Shen, I now have the perfect keepsake to take with me. Xiaohan dropped by a few weeks ago armed with a camera and a whole lotta patience as I ran around changing outfits more often than Lady Gaga in heat.

You can find the whole feature on her website here.

Moving Sale This Weekend! Nothing Over $20!

Saturday 10th July: 9am - 4pm
Sunday 11th July: 10am - 4pm

SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE

THE MAN AND I ARE MOVING, Y'ALL. We might not know when, or where to for that matter, but we know enough to announce that July's Vintage & Retro Sale will be the last we'll hold for a few months. We need some time to find a bigger, better and sweeter space and build up an equally large and lovable collection of goods. We'll endeavour to keep our policy of the average sale price sitting at a kindly $20, with one exception, and that is this weekend's sale, where there'll be NOTHING OVER $20. That includes a generously sized collection of globally sourced, handpicked vintage & retro clothes, accessories, shoes, books, CDs, records and bric-a-brac from some of Sydney's coolest cats. Prices will be starting at a measly 50 cents – EVERYTHING MUST GO. For possibly the last time ever, you'll find us on Level 6, 342 Elizabeth St (click for map). Check out the Facebook event for directions and further details. Already clued in? Just mark us in your diaries, bring a bunch of friends and just as many bags and, in the words of Daily Sydney, "Grab yourself a bargain."

As featured in Elle Girl Korea, Two Thousand, Daily Sydney, 2threads, Coco + Maria, Sydney Snazzy, Lost At E Minor, Side Street Sydney, XXSAT, This Way In, Concrete Playground and on Unseen TV.

This Weekend! Vintage! Retro! Hibernian House!

"The thought of a vintage sale (yes, an actual sale, where things cost a small $20) creams my jeans. So I'm doubling up, with the rapturous return of the Hibernian House Vintage Sale. This do is a must for every zealous vintage hunter or eccentric, who just wants to own something darling. Gilded with sofa's and tunes, this place is shapely and will cost you nothing but a mere penny and a few flights of stairs. In fact I won't try to convince you, it's the shit, make note." - Two Thousand

Win a $20 Voucher for Some Sweet Vintage Goodness!

Surely you're all aware by now that my partner and I run a monthly Vintage and Retro Sale in the heart of Sydney. It is, after all, more or less all I talk, blog, write and bicker about. Unfortunately, herein lies the problem: Saying "Up at Six Oh One, the space in Hibernian House from which we run our monthly Vintage & Retro Sale" 196.5 times a day is getting rather tiresome so we've come to the conclusion that we need a new business name like Paris Hilton needs a foot reduction (a helluva lot). We've also come to the conclusion that coming up with business names isn't our forte (ideas thus far have included Embob and Moon Face) and desperately need some help from you. If we use your suggestion as our new business name, not only will you be deemed infinitely cool by your peers for having named the sweetest spot for second hand wares in Sydders, you'll also win a $20 voucher to use next time you drop by our sale. And, most importantly, you'll win our hearts (cue sickeningly sweet aww). The name can be as long or short as you wish and needn't have anything to do with clothes or warehouses (as we also host non-fashion related events) but if it does, that's fine too. Be creative. You can enter as many times as you wish by either commenting below or dropping us an email at owlandthegrapes@gmail.com.

Hibernian House's Vintage & Retro May Sale

"I found my holy grail articles of clothing. I thought I'd NEVER find these for a decent price. This thing is fantastic." - Caitlin Still

"Given the multiple contributors, you get all the disparate styles, periods and sizes of op-shopping, alongside the coherence and elimination of hopeless pieces that pricier vintage affords." - Concrete Playground

"So amazing. Going to make this a habit and come every time." - Tanya Ali

"Unique finds at cheap prices." - Unseen TV

"I really love the stuff I bought. Thank you so much for hosting these sales." - Malinda Ly

"[You'll] most definitely wind up looking delicious." - Two Thousand

Live in Sydney? Hibernian House's Vintage & Retro May Sale offers you the chance to pick up a genuine a bargain from a large selection of globally sourced handpicked vintage & retro clothes, accessories, shoes and bric-a-brac (including books, CDs and records) from some of Sydney's coolest cats. Our guest seller this month is Designer/Photographer Kalindy Millions from We Were Warriors. We'll also have some tunes on the speakers and a comfy couch in case you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by all the goodness. Find us on Level 6, 342 Elizabeth St (click for map). Check out the Facebook event for directions and further details. Already clued in? Just mark us in your diaries. Please bring your own bag and a couple of friends and, in the words of Daily Sydney, "Grab yourself a bargain."

Photo courtesy of the venerable Tom Palumbo.

Vintage & Retro THREE DAY SALE at Hibernian House: March Edition

The only excuse I'll accept for not making our sale this month is if you live lightyears away. Or kilometres - kilometres is also acceptable. Not only do we have oh-so-much retro goodness at ridiculously low prices, but we'll also be open an extra day this month for all you early birds and weekend workers. We'll be here with our mountains of sexy second hand on the 12th, 13th and 14th of March (that's this weekend!) I won't spell out all the finer deets lest it drive my overseas readers to insanity (presumably you know them off by heart by now anyway), I'll just direct you to the details which you can find on the Facebook event or, for you non Facebookers, via our mailout.

The lovely - and super talented - Aleesha Dibbs, who very excitedly picked up this amazing tutu at one of our recent sales.

Bird On A Wire

Oh, hi there... buster. No, don't be silly. Of course I didn't forget about you. What an absurd accusation. Hey, don't raise your voice at me! In fact, if anything, I should be the one getting angry at you for doubting my commitment to you, my usually-so-lovely-and-forgiving-readers. Okay. Fine. You're right. I've just been a little slow on the updates, that's all. Hell, I've been really bloody busy, you know? With what? Well... lotsa stuff. Important stuff. Yes, as I've said to Bobby many a time when we've been running late and he's trying woo me out of the house with cookies and the promise of absurd amounts of alcohol, feeding Rainbow Lorikeets IS important and if I don't feed them at least three times a day they WILL die. So it's a good thing I do, isn't it?

Also? You probably shouldn't have got me started on the Rainbow Lorikeets because I have approximately eight billion photos of them and have bored my housemates for approximately four thousand hours with stories of their antics. You know they were spinning around on the washing line the other day? And then, earlier this week, one even flew into my room and sat on my bed. I know, right?

But I have been doing other things too. Like looking for a new housemate. Again. And yoga. Lots of yoga. I'll let you see my yoga gear if you're nice enough. Though, let's just say that I wouldn't look at all out of place with this lot:

I've been eating coconuts, too. And sewing. Shortening hems, taking in dresses, hacking off T-shirts, patching holes, changing threads just for the hell of it, sewing together pieces of scrap to make strange looking animals and generally making a complete mess of the living room. Hey! Speaking of which, check out my new sewing table. It set me back a whole $5 from the charity shop downstairs.

And if, after all that, you're still not entirely convinced of my blog directed diligence, I'll have you know that I taught myself how to make a GIF, just for this post. Yep, it took some serious skill - that was high tech stuff.

Vintage & Retro Sale at Hibernian House: February Edition

SATURDAY 13TH FEB: 9AM - 6PM

SUNDAY 14TH FEB: 10AM - 4PM

Level 6, 342 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills
Nearest train station: Central
What to bring: Cash
Attire: Sexy and Second Hand
Facebook Event Page

You, angel darling, don't need a halo to look heavenly. All you need is a visit to our Vintage & Retro Sale this weekend; a retrotastic blazer/dress/pair of dazzling shoes later and you'll be a picture of perfection. Just what you need to snag the man/lady/lady-man of your dreams this Valentine's Day. Indeed, on the weekend of love, we’ll be here selling mountains of insanely cool hand picked vintage & retro clothes from Hibernian House's very own penthouse. Before you get too excited, I should mention that it is, as per usual, in Sydney and, unless you've invented a transportation device, probably won't be financially viable for you international folk. Though, once you got here, it would be bargains galore so, you know, it'd all probably even out in the end. Not much in store is over $20, with prices starting at a measly $1. Katrina and Dominque won't be selling quite as regularly after this weekend so they've slashed prices on almost all of their stock. If I didn't know better, I'd say that we *invented* the word bargain. Not only is it cheap, it's also good. Very good. We've spent the better part of the last month running around collecting amazing stock for our already bulging rails from Melbourne, Sydney and everywhere in between.

Make your way to Level 6, 342 Elizabeth Street (click for map) for sick tunes, a comfy couch, change rooms, shoes (ranging from sizes 6 to 11), super stylish accessories, some bric-a-brac (including books, CDs and a collection of old records) and rails of amazing clothes from loads of cool cats including Katrina Noorbergen (Cassette Kids), stylist Grace Atkinson (NO magazine), Marissa Ziesing (fashion label FTW), Annabel Wurth and Emma Daniels (OwlandtheGrapes.com). It certainly won’t just be for the ladies though; we’ll have loads of mantastic pieces too, courtesy of Bobby Townsend (Drum Media), David Abram (Jingle Jangle) and Dominique Legrand (Awesometown).

Whether you're after something sexy and second hand for your loved one, or something sexy and second hand in which to woo a loved one, we're here to help. We're pretty ace at deciphering people's styles and helping to choose something they'll love. Check out the facebook event for directions and further details, invite your friends, bring your housemates and grab a massive bargain! Looking forward to seeing you there.

Saturday 13th February: 9am - 6pm

Sunday 14th February: 10am - 4pm

Our House

Yes, this is another post directed only to Sydney-siders. Sorry, international, foreign and sexy talkin' readers.

We have a big and beautiful room available as of the 9th of Feb in our snazzy Surry Hills penthouse. If you're interested, or know someone who is, please pass this on and/or get in contact with us at owlandthegrapes@gmail.com. The room is seriously huge - with high ceilings and stunning views of the city skyline - and so is best suited to a couple but if you're on the larger side/have tons of shit/like luxurious living, we promise we won't discriminate. The apartment itself is also very large - a four bedroom place on the top floor of a famous heritage-listed, graffiti ridden, green maze of a warehouse building with jazz on Mondays and dance class on Wednesdays if you know where to look. We have a balcony for breakfasts, rooftop for beers, courtyard for picnics, dining room and kitchen, two lounge rooms, bathroom and reading room. No parking (we're an environmentally friendly lot) but we're located a minute's walk from Central Station and there's public transport aplenty. Close to Crown St, Oxford St and pretty much everywhere, it's only a short walk for coffee, sambos, beer, music, op shops, tattoos and other fun stuff. For more photos, check out the Facebook event here.

The current residents, of which there are four, are stylists, DJs, writers and runners of a monthly vintage and retro sale which takes place in the second living room (don't worry, it won't impede on your space). They are also incredibly good looking (so, you know, make sure you fit in and all). The new housemate(s) must have a sense of humour and like to keep a clean house. It would be a plus if you had a microwave, a fridge (because we'd like another) and are in some way artistic/musical because that's just the kind of people we're into.

Rent is $1250 per calendar month (which works out to about $288 per week). No water or gas bills but we do ask you to chip in for electricity, though that won't set you back much. Bond is $1250.

Lastly, if it helps, our cat has offered to sit on your face. She's pretty much the best cat in the world. In fact, she was even featured in Elle Korea a few months ago. That's right, a FAMOUS cat on your face. Awesome.

Let us know when you're free for the game of 20 questions by facebooking me or emailing me at owlandthegrapes@gmail.com. Be quick - don't miss out on the place of your dreams!

Vintage & Retro Sale at Hibernian House, Number 10? 9? Who the fuck knows. Crisis averted: *January Edition*

SATURDAY 9TH JAN: 9AM - 6PM

SUNDAY 10TH JAN: 10AM - 4PM

Presumably, by now you know the deal. I give you the deets, you either go, "Yeah nice one Emma, have you forgotten that I live on the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD? WHY DO YOU TORMENT ME LIKE THIS?" Or, "Oh yes, that would be lovely, last time I went it was an absolute blast so I wouldn't want to miss out on this month's, which seems not only to be bigger and better, but cheaper too, something I didn't even think possible." If you're one of the annoyed latter, I implore you to stop reading, right now. If not, I have some very exciting news for you. Our next sale is this weekend, on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th of January. We have mountains of amazing clothes and accessories for both sexes available for your purchase for cheap cheap cheap and we simply cannot think of a better way to spend your Christmas dosh. See, we've marked down a bunch of stuff, making things even cheaper than usual, the reason being little else except that we can't seem to shake the holiday spirit. And so, we're calling it our post-Christmas sale. If I didn't know better, I'd say that we *invented* the word bargain.

Make your way to Level 6, 342 Elizabeth Street to find a bunch of shoes (ranging from sizes 6 to 11), super stylish accessories, some bric-a-brac (including books and CDs) and rails of incredible second hand clothes from loads of cool cats including Katrina Noorbergen (Cassette Kids), stylist Grace Atkinson (NO magazine), Marissa Ziesing (fashion label FTW), Kalindy Sparkle and Emma Daniels (that's me!) It certainly won’t just be for the ladies though; we’ll have loads of mantastic pieces too, courtesy of Bobby Townsend (Drum Media), David Abram (Jingle Jangle) and Dominique Legrand (Awesometown).

Looking forward to seeing you there. Check out the facebook event for directions and further details, invite your friends, bring your housemates and grab a MASSIVE FRICKIN' BARGAIN!

SATURDAY 9TH JAN: 9AM - 6PM

SUNDAY 10TH JAN: 10AM - 4PM

Turn It Around

The wonderful, equally talented and beautiful, singer/songwriter Erin Marshall recently inquired as to whether I would be interested in bathing her in some vintage goodness and taking some press shots for her. My instinctive reaction was, admittedly, to simply stand dead still and gawk, rather like a bit of a buffoon. Style and photograph? There are very few things I'd rather do (the only one I can think of is writing with a purpose which, if you take all my blabbing into consideration, rarely happens.) Once my brain kicked back in however, I quickly and enthusiastically accepted. I invited Erin over to my space in Hibernian House (from which I also run my Vintage & Retro Sales on the second weekend of every month) and she jumped, played guitar and swung on swings with incredible enthusiasm whilst I followed her around adjusting bows and belts and shooting shots. As would be expected I suppose, she's similarly excitable on stage, dancing and grinning the whole way through her sets. Indeed, you won't find any shoe gazing at her shows. Keep an eye on her Myspace for info about upcoming gigs and such. Anyway, here's the finished product of the shoot. More photos can be seen on my flickr.

This was part of a very small series of shots taken downstairs in my dear friend Olly's space on Level 3. He was in the midst of a project himself, which involved a video camera (you can see the tripod in the background) and very limited time, so we had all of about one minute to hoist Erin onto the swing and take some photos.

These were taken on the Level 4 courtyard, getting onto which involves quite the struggle, particularly when one's wearing a dress/skirt. Luckily, there were no little rats with spray cans and/or junkies hanging around on this occasion (as there so often are).

The blue '50s suitcase on the very bottom of the pile played a significant part in ensuring no vintage pieces I had picked up got left behind in Europe on my return to the great land of Oz.

For these, we used my housemate Grace's mini piano and a vintage jacket my bestest friend Elle lent me. They were taken on the roof of Hibernian House, a roof which must be tip toed upon, lest one fall through.

The bow in Erin's hair is actually a bowtie I found in England. It required quite the significant amount of positioning just so, so as to prevent it from falling off. The belt belonged to my Mother when she was my age.

Erin's wearing her own dress here, a vintage number she picked up from the markets.




As the sun was setting, we had a play around with the light in our hallway, taking photos with no real expected outcome, the perfect conclusion to what was a lovely day.