Only Three More Days!

Only three days ‘till our Grand Opening! Presently popping the prices of items on our brand spanking new price tags in preparation. Cheapest item of clothing? Thus far, a blouse for a tiny $2. Start getting excited, folks.

Just Four Days To Go

The man and I have been hard at work this past week setting up our new space for its Grand Opening that takes place in just four days. Finally however, the drill can be put away, returned to its rightful owner and *hopefully* never have to see my ugly mug grimacing at it ever again. The fittings and picture frames are up and the rails installed - all that’s left now is the fun stuff (hanging, pricing, prancing and playing dress ups).

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.

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.

Jump In The Pool

Vintage swimwear has plaguing my brain like Taylor Momsen does the tweeny bopper blogs. Maybe it's the cold weather or maybe it's Tumblr and it's penchant for half naked ladies but damn I can't get enough of this (primarily '30s and '40s) swimwear porn. Only less John Holmes kinda porn and more food porn kinda porn. Only less food and more chicks in swimwear. Not that I'm a cannibal. Cottage cheese is nice love, but not on your thighs. If you're still reading this nonsense instead of being lost in the photos below, you're either insane or... well, insane.

Diana Lewis

Mamie Van Doren

Julie Newmar

Carole Lombard

Photo's all via Tumblr. Original posts can be found here: Cali Vintage, Cali Vintage, Retrogasm, Fuck Yeah, 1930s!, Retrogasm, Cali Vintage, Nick Drake and Retrogasm.

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.

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

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.

Vintage & Retro Sale at Hibernian House, No. 8

If you're not a Sydney-sider, you're probably better off skipping this post - I wouldn't want to be responsible for any largely expensive long-haul flights purchased in answer to the call of temptation. However, if you do reside in this lovely Australian city, you should be excited to hear this little piece of wonderful news (which I did mention briefly all the way back in November, but I figure it's about time for a reminder): Next weekend the bell will ring for us to open shop again. We'll be here selling our goods (and boy, are they good) on Saturday and Sunday, the 12th and 13th of December. Drop by for a new wardrobe, a browse, or just to hang out and say hi. It'll take an iron will not to spend a cent though, as there'll be mountains of insanely cool hand picked vintage and retro clothes and, here's the clincher, almost everything is a tenner or less either side of the $20 mark. If I didn't know better, I'd say that we *invented* the word bargain. Of course, you must realise what this means; it means that you will no longer have an excuse to lie around in your underwear (as in the above portrait). Not only will you be too proud of your new threads to ever spend another moment trapped indoors again, but when you have a beautiful retro dress for every day of the week, who needs underwear?

On the weekend, we’ll be offering up refreshments, sick tunes, a comfy couch, shoes (including a large selection of ladies size 9 to 10, so if you're sick of all those pretty vintage shoes being too small, you might just find the answer here), super stylish accessories, some bric-a-brac (including books and CDs) and rails of amazing clothes from loads of cool cats including Katrina Noorbergen (lead singer of local band Cassette Kids - check out their new clip, Lying Around, directed by renowned fashion photographer Pierre Toussan below), stylist Grace Atkinson (NO magazine), Marissa Ziesing (fashion label FTW), Brooke T (Re:new Vintage) and 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), Dave Abram (Jingle Jangle) and Dominique Legrand (Awesometown).

Whilst the Christian Dior blazer has long gone (for $50, mind you), we still have those Karen Walker shorts and some amazing vintage floral dresses just begging for a new home. Last week we picked up THE most fantastic tutu ever, a bunch more animal T-shirts, a few nautical pieces and thirty new kilos of hand picked brilliance. Apart from the regulars (for the most part listed above), our big guest seller for the weekend is Re:new Vintage, a local bunch whose stock I'm drooling over. Get here early before I buy out their stall. With all my non-existant money. Yeah, that's not going to happen, is it? Still a good idea to get here early though. There's a high likelihood that there will be other droolers, with existant money.

If all that isn’t enough to have you lining up at 9am, I should also mention that we've been featured all over the joint. Not least of all in Elle Korea, Side Street Sydney, This Way In, FBi Radio and Two Thousand.

Lastly, we'll be selling a super small selection of clothes downstairs on Level One of Hibernian House at Doldrums (previously Yvonne Ruve), in a collaboration with FTW and some of Sydney's finest lo-fi punk rock bands (including Kirin J. Callinan), this Saturday from 1pm till 5pm. If you're in the area, pop along and say a mighty hello.

Looking forward to seeing you at our Vintage & Retro sale next weekend. Check out the facebook event for directions and further details, invite your friends, bring your housemates and grab a MASSIVE FRICKIN' BARGAIN!

SATURDAY 12th DECEMBER: 9am - 6pm
SUNDAY 13th DECEMBER: 10am - 4pm

Image courtesy of the wonderfully talented Annette Pehrsson.

SPAM

I received an email yesterday from a girl called Cynthia who exclaimed that my fashion articles for 2threads touch her in her spirit. Creepy? Yes. Am I making this up? No. In all honesty, it was, in all probability (ok, definitely), spam and I'm pretty sure she's actually a robot but I still took some joy in the wording of her (its?) email. She ended with this quote: "Remeber the distance or colour does not matter but love and concern matters alot in life." Which I'm pretty sure means that she's calling me a racist for thinking her a spammer. Which I'm totally not... I'm just a... robotist?

Last week in owllywood*:

I reviewed the film An Education, a surprisingly brilliant movie about a 16 year old schoolgirl's relationship with a playboy twice her age. Trust me, it's much better than the average coming-of-age/love story/shit that's come out this year.This is also my first and very possibly last ever film review.

Because I love you (and because I'm kind of awful at keeping secrets), here's my guide to shopping for vintage dresses on eBay - including my top ten most affordable eBay stores.

If you haven’t noticed the cool kids wearing them on the streets recently, you've surely been living in a barn (geddit? Like Lagerfeld!) Whether you juxtapose them with frilly dresses or do it Madonna style, adorn your hands with fingerless leather gloves this Spring.

*I totally stole this from my friend Olly, who, I only noticed last night, has a photograph of the Hollywood sign on his door. Only, rather than Hollywood, it reads 'ollywood'. Amazing. It's unfortunate it doesn't work as well with 'owl'.

I Can See Clearly Now

The sun is OUT again! Well, yes, there is the whole gail force winds thing but unless you're on a ferry/anywhere unsheltered, who the fuck cares? It's blue outside!

In other news, I had my hair cut and dyed on Tuesday. This is far more thrilling news than it might seem. Actually, no, it's not really.


Our Vintage & Retro Sale is THIS WEEKEND! I know I haven't been able to shut up about it but I'm even more excited than usual. Maybe I'm just in an excitable mood this week. Or maybe it's because our stock this month is unbelievably good. Like, mind blowingly good. Sydneysiders, you simply must come along. If you're lucky, and flatter my website/writing/incredible good looks enough, I might even give you a bloggy discount. AND, we'll be open an hour longer either end on Saturday and an hour earlier on Sunday morning so you'll have even more time than usual to check out our racks (not in a dirty kind of way). Here are some more photos of me wearing some of said unbelievably good stock. I'll also be selling some super cool cassette tape necklaces like the one in the below photos for a miniscule four dollars. Click for more detail.

The glasses are a present from my lovely housemate Dom, the awesome red jacket and top are both from Anglicare (pay-by-the-kilo op shop), leggings from god knows where, the cassette necklace I made myself, the watch from Paddys market (actually my birthday present from Bobby) and the shoes you should all know by now. Man, I need some new boots.

Vintage & Retro Sale at Hibernian House, No. 6

Greetings Sydney-siders!
We wouldn’t be entirely surprised had you thought that, after you guys bought us out CLEAN at last month’s sale, we’d never be back. You’d be wrong however, as we saved some Grade A European stock out the back for another time (read: THIS time), and we’ve been oh-so-busy dashing around town collecting new (old) retro goodies to fill our rails. We've picked up a remarkable amount of goodies, including a pair of beautiful Karen Walker denim shorts, loads of shudderingly cool t-shirts for the boys, leather skirts and shorts, a Diesel check shirt, teddy bear, floral and embroided vests, some number of amazing cropped, midriff-bearing pieces and, of course, florals and great prints in every cut.

We’ll also have refreshments, The Kinks (on the speakers), a comfy couch, shoes, super stylish accessories, bric-a-brac, books and MOUNTAINS OF HAND PICKED VINTAGE & RETRO CLOTHES from loads of cool cats including Marissa Ziesing (of fashion label FTW), Bobby Townsend (of Drum Media), Dominique Legrand, Katrina Noorbergen (of Cassette Kids), stylist Grace Atkinson (from NO magazine), David Abram (of Jingle Jangle) and Emma Daniels (of OwlandtheGrapes.com). It certainly won't just be for the ladies either. We've got three man-oh-man sellers with loads of mantastic pieces. And if it all gets a bit hot and sweaty we'll even crack out the fan for you. Alternatively, grab one of our sweet little one-piece swimsuits.

Almost EVERYTHING in store is around the $20 mark. And when I say almost, I ain't exaggerating. However, do remember that we only be accept cold, hard CASH (we like to do things the old fashioned way). If you do come unprepared however, there’s an ATM just down the street.


Also, now that we’re back from the EU we can finally make this sale a regular by-the-calendar event. So, from here on in, every second weekend of the month, rain, dust storm, apocalypse or shine, you’ll find us up at 601 selling our wares. We’ll also be open longer hours for all you kids who want to sunbathe your little white arse blistering red at the beach. We’ll be open an hour extra either end of the day on Saturday and an hour earlier on Sunday.

We're close to Crown St, Oxford St and pretty much everywhere. You'll be hard pressed to find parking, but be an environmentally friendly one and walk or hop on the public transport to Central Station from which we are less than a minute's walk. Find us on Level 6 of Hibernian House, Surry Hills. Zip up in the lift to level 5 and follow the signs.

If that isn’t enough to have you lining up at 9am, I should also mention that we've been featured all over the joint. Not least of all in a recent issue of Elle Korea and in online publication Two Thousand (who made us out to be much cooler than we actually are. Hah! JUST KIDDING. We really are that cool.)

RSVP on the facebook (if only to show off your unbelievable coolness), invite your friends, bring your housemates and grab a MASSIVE BARGAIN!

SATURDAY 10th OCTOBER: 9am - 6pm
SUNDAY 11th OCTOBER: 10am - 4pm

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.