Talk of the Town

Back at Hibernian House when we used to hold vintage sales monthly, rather than weekly, I used to get rather bored. I'd sit and twiddle my thumbs for the better part of the month, stocked up and ready to go without a sale in near sight. I wouldn't blog or be otherwise creative, I'd just mope around resisting the temptation to go out treasure hunting for new stock. For me, by far the most exciting thing about having moved is that we can now hold vintage sales as regularly as we like (meaning I also get to treasure hunt as regularly as I like). And so we're now officially open every single weekend, Saturday and Sunday. I've included below a little interview I did on the subject of my new *gulp* shop with Sydney's coolest culture guide Two Thousand.

Contrary to popular belief 'Dear Pluto' isn't an advice column for grounded space men but a warehouse of teen dreams and second hand seams, curated by ex-Hibernian House kids Emma Daniels and Bobby Townsend. Emma tells us more.

What is the meaning of the name?
Basically, we chose it because we like the concept of Pluto being an outsider, an Enid Coleslaw or Margot Tenenbaum type character, and wanted to dedicate our shop to the beautiful loser.

What do you look for in an item of clothing?
The first thing is the condition - heartbreakingly, we've had to turn down so many beautiful pieces due to a small stain or hole in the lining. We choose pieces less based on their colour, style or material, and more on their personality. It really comes down to whichever film/friend/fmusician is my muse at the time (e.g. Madonna circa Desperately Seeking Susan). My partner's also got an amazing talent for finding ladies shoes that was - up until a few weeks ago - completely undiscovered. Our customers are lucky I have abnormally large feet (like, Paris Hilton large), or I'd surely pinch them all for myself.

What will we see as we walk in the doors of Dear Pluto?
Expect a projector screen, bare walls, a velour couch and a wonderful selection of vintage and retro clothes, shoes, bags, glasses and scarves. We've done our best to maintain the warehouse aesthetic of Hibernian House but thought our customers would appreciate the addition of some modern fittings like chrome rails, wooden hangers and proper changing rooms.

5a Wilshire St, Surry Hills
Saturday 9am-5pm & Sunday 10am-4pm.

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

I Forgot

The man and I held another Vintage and Retro sale last weekend and it was a massive bloomin' success. I only failed on one account: I totally forgot to tell all you lovely readers about it - I know, it's an epic fail, isn't it? Best sign up to the newsletter (email me at owlandthegrapes@gmail.com with 'Subscribe' in the subject line) or join our facebook group to ensure this never, ever happens again. Hopefully though, if you're a Sydney kid, you heard about it anyway. We were featured everywhere from uber cool newsletter Two Thousand to independent radio station FBi (or so my friend Guy says). And honestly? It's probably for the best that I didn't tell you because if it had been any more packed on Saturday I think the place would have burst. And then we'd never be able to have another sale again. So really, I did the right thing. Alas, I feel bad so, to make up for my abandonment, I will tell you well in advance (ie now) that the next sale will be on the 12th and 13th of December. If you play on my guilt enough I might even give you a discount on the weekend. Which, given how cheap everything already is, basically means I'm offering to GIVE you a heap of awesome clothes. How can you be angry with me after that? I'll tell you: You can't.

Here are some of the man's photos from the weekend:

Sweetest dog ever. I offered his Mum a swap: Clothes for dog. She wasn't too keen.

It was 7-Eleven Day. This meant free slurpees for everyone. I had two (or maybe it was three?) and then hit a major slurpee low mid afternoon. I'm pretty sure I had the sugar shakes. Amazing.

Millie threatened to jump out the window because someone stepped on her tail. It was pretty traumatising. She's okay now though, thanks for asking.

We Dress Up Like Snowmen

Our Vintage & Retro Fashion sale last weekend was such an overwhelming success that I've almost been rendered speechless. Almost. On Saturday, I didn't get a pee break until 4pm because we were just that busy. The little room had a really amazing atmosphere and almost everyone who walked in, walked out clutching an absolute bargain between their little fingers. I want to say a big sloppy thank you to Two Thousand for featuring us again and making us out to be much cooler than we actually are. Hah! JUST KIDDING. We really are that cool. Not so sure about the 'young' bit though (I'm looking at you, Bobby). And, of course, an even bigger thank you to everyone who came. It wouldn't have been the same without you. Seriously, we've tried it sans people before and it just doesn't work. Our next one's on the 10th and 11th of October (we're trying out the whole 'second weekend of every month thing') so come along and hopefully, together, we can make it even bigger, better and bloody more brilliant than the last one.

Red Turned White

I'm on a roll. Not in the way that a tumble weed might roll but more the kind of roll the toilet paper gets on when you pull a little too hard and suddenly it's all over the floor and oh shit now you have to go down to the shop and spend your last $6 on some more before the housemates stink up a shit because you used the last toilet paper roll. On a wee. Or maybe even the kind of roll Einstein was on when he discovered that yes, E really does equal MC squared. Okay, I know, I'm not no genius or anything (double negative, anyone?) but, he was German and I'm half German and Hitler was Austrian. So let's just let that double negative sit there.

This much spoken about roll and the successes of the weekend can't be published in a Cheat's Guide to the Owl and the Grapes kind of post because we all know I'm not very good at summarising (you should hear me explain my dreams. They. Just. Don't. Stop.) So make yourself a cup of tea as it's going to be a long one - if you call a few paragraphs long. By my standards, it is. Despite taking a very intense speed reading class when I was in high school, I'm still a slow reader. It's taken me six months to get half way through Lolita.

The long awaited - mostly by me - Part Two of our Vintage and Retro Fashion pop-up store proved more successful than a full-bellied polar bear's nap in the winter time. The extraordinary numbers that came through our door on Saturday was absolutely overwhelming. Thankfully Sunday was a little quieter as, with a hangover the size of Turkey, using the mathematical skill it takes to calculate someone's change proved relatively difficult.


I must give my wholehearted thank you to the lovely and talented folk at Two Thousand for featuring us. I have little doubt the majority of people found us through them. If you live in Sydney and are not a regular reader, get to it and subscribe because reading their newsletter is one of the online highlights of my week. It was an ironically lovely coincidence that the one week I failed to read it, a very kindly customer should inform me that our little pop-up store was featured. Awesome.

Also keep an eye out at XSSAT for photos of Bobby, Elle and I on our roof. I was photographed by two Sydney Street Style blogs during the weekend, it's just unfortunate that I only have a card from one, and my memory isn't all that good in my old age. Yes, I'm only twenty but I wear grandma boots and often find gigs too loud. What do you expect? You can see more photos of us and our store over here. Do join our lovely little group while you're at it, and we'll let you know when we have our next event.

The ice on my finger bun roll was receiving an email from Suzanne of Weardrobe asking if I would feature on their front page (I realise that they have a number of girls featured on there each week, but it's still nice to feel loved - in a strictly business kind of way). I'll post the feature in full when it's published but in the meantime keep an eye out for me on their site.

While we're on the subject of the snazzy and sweet site, I did these photos for one of their weekly contests a little over a week ago. Due to this jumbled brain of mine however, I failed to realise until much later that the competition called for Sequin and Sheer, not Lace and Sheer as I had thought. Not one to let something go to waste though, I thought I'd post the photos up here. Behold, Sequin and Sheer lost in translation (lost meaning jumbled and translation meaning my silly little head).

Dress (worn back to front): A beautiful lace dress from Bobby that I received for Christmas.
Sheer cream top (worn underneath): Another Christmas present from Bobby.
Beret: Darn, I'm all Christmassed out. Indeed, this one was another lovely Christmas present from my Mother
Vest: From a Charity Store in Rozelle, Sydney some time in 2007.
Belt: Anglicare
Bag: $3 also at Anglicare

Update: The charming and kind Xiaohan Shen of XSSAT has posted the photos I mentioned she took of the three of us on our roof. Check them out over here.