Vintage VERA Admidst the Summer Thrift Doldrums

[SeSo_Says_So]

Well, kids, it's no secret that thrifting can be very slow in the intense heat and humidity of a Florida summer.  I've scaled back my thrifting to a few very local stores maybe once or twice a week (at most...some weeks I don't go at all.)  But I know a lot of the folk at these places, and it's always fun to chit-chat with the locals and see what folk are thrifting.

Today was no exception, except there was an exception:

1.  I made a small donation at one local thrift, and a volunteer there purchased one of my items immediately---she LOVED it, and that made me happy to know it was going to a good home.

2.  My only purchase there was a 1961 (stated) "tourguide" of Paris, published by Editions Sun, Paris, France. It has over 75 b&w photos of Paris in the 60s, with that great "Breathless" vibe (for all you cinema verite lovers)  and/or "Charade" vibe (for all you Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn lovers); it just makes me want to pack up my knapsack, grab my beret and guitar and board a tramp steamer to French Algeria. I'd say, just re-reading this last paragraph, that I've certainly gotten my .27 worth out of this purchase in imagination alone.

3. In the last thrift I visited, it was a true made-in-China extravaganza, and the stuff was really, really overpriced. But I did SCORE: Eight VERA napkins (complete with ladybug logo) for $2. This from a store which apparently prides itself on knowing the vintage/collectibles market (one small vintage planter was marked "Vintage/$10". Can you imagine?) And they have a Pyrex Early American double-side cassarole for $8 that's been there for weeks, but it's PYREX, if you know what I mean.

Whoever put those VERA napkins out folded the logo to the inside and bundled all 8 of them with tape. I had to dig for them, but it was worth it. It does pay to look at everything

[Scott]

I'd certainly say so, SeSo! Congrats!

Two weeks ago, Kate and I were in Eastern WA for a wedding and stopped into a thrift and came out with a set of four Vera napkins. I was excited about that, but EIGHT! Wow!

[nancydr2]

Yes, the summer doldrums....  Not only is it hard to leave the comfort of air-conditioner to go out shopping, but no one in Arizona is cleaning out their closets in this heat.  The stores seem very picked over and bare.  

Congrats on the Vera napkins.  I haven't found any Vera stuff forever.  It seems like I used to be able to pick up some napkins almost every time I went out.  It's funny how things go in phases like that.  

Enjoy your Paris fantasy.  Having lived there many years ago, I often indulge in my own Paris fantasies.  In my version Paris has that Amelie vibe.

[DianneK]

Oui,Oui  Se So!!I for one love the ever so daaaling Audrey Hepburn.
You always find some very cool stuff.I actually have pictured you in a GW store digging from top to bottom in the bins with the sales    people getting a good chuckle.
Au Revoir mon cherie!!!
Dianne

[oceangurl]

Seso, cool find on the Vera napkins, I have a few of her cloth placemats, love Vera ! And yes they do have pretty orange (your color, tee-hee!) and a yummy olive green in them, they are cool with pictures of oil and vinegar cruets and various herbs.  She's one of the many names I look for especially in kitchen items or should I say tableware ! I also have about 6 vintage tablecloths from the 50's with various fruits etc, real loud (like me, lol!) and distinctive pretty colorful colors! Sounds like you had a good time and I know what you mean about this crummy Florida heat and humity but today I detected a bit of "coolness" in the air, could our fall possibly be coming soon? Hope so, Iam so tired of this heat....Ciao!

[SeSo_Says_So]

Hey Scott, welcome back to the board! So happy to see you here again and thanks for the kind comments.

Everybody who hasn't done so already should take a peek at Scott's fabulous site of great MCM design, it's the LAST WORD on all things MCM

Nancydr, Amelie is a fabulous Paris vision. I could get used to that in a heartbeat. I envy your living aboard experience (which also must mean that you speak French!)

Dianne, I have been known to dig, but if Spacecadet is with me, I let him dig for me, LOL! This is Florida, after all, and I am scared to death of having a pony-sized spider or other insect jumping out at me or taking a hunk out of my flesh. They do grow 'em big down here 

Oceangurl, your Vera collection sounds huge and fabulous! Have you checked out Scott's site with his pics? I do envy your Orange Vera finds, lol.  The napkins I found yesterday are a navyblue background with a splashy flower print. But hey! there's eight of them! Your herby ones sound right up my alley! And yes, Spacecadet and I did notice a miniscule lifting of the layers of heat/humidity yesterday. We were up in Gainesville earlier and it was cooler up there; we could actually drive with the windows down for a bit.     

[DianneK]

Se So...gee whiz.You have mentally scarred me for life just thinking about what may lie within....
I have this phobia...arachnophobia....ok enough said.
I dig as far as i can...then if i don't find something to catch my eye..i am done.
Dianne

[nancydr2]

Oui, je parle francais.  Or, I should say, I DID speak French.  I feel like I've forgotten 90% of it.  If I went back for a month, I'm sure I'd get it all back. 

The movie Amelie is definitely how I remember Paris, though it's not at all the way Paris actually is.  My mind's Paintshop program has spruced up the image a bit!  Another great Paris movie:  Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn.  I love that one!  Greatest wedding dress ever, in my opinion.

[mccoysnina]

Must be a Vera time of year.
Two weeks ago I found a Vera scarf or small table cloth for $1.50 (half off $3.)  It is unlike anything I have ever seen from Vera.
It is black with five large ducks on it.  Usually all I have seen of hrs is flowers and butterflies.  This is very stark and graphic.  I didn't even realize it was a Vera til I got home and saw the siggy. Still smells of someone's perfume.
Jeannie

[Pedeka]

I LOVE me some Vera! I inherited a large part of what I have when my aunt moved into a nursing home, so I am lucky in that way. But a few years ago I got an adorable tablecloth (white with yellow daisies) at a Big Lots store for $1.It was still new in the bag. I am still a bit flummoxed about what it was doing there. It must have sat on a store room somewhere for a very very long time.  My favorite pieces are in a large blue and green floral pattern. I have a large (dining table size) round tablecloth with white deedly ball fringe and a matching set of bed sheets. It's always a good day when I dig up a set of Vera tea towels at the thrift! Those big bright graphics are great to perk up a bad mood. Congratulations on your finds!

[SeSo_Says_So]

I LOVE me some Vera! I inherited a large part of what I have when my aunt moved into a nursing home, so I am lucky in that way. But a few years ago I got an adorable tablecloth (white with yellow daisies) at a Big Lots store for $1.It was still new in the bag. I am still a bit flummoxed about what it was doing there. It must have sat on a store room somewhere for a very very long time.  My favorite pieces are in a large blue and green floral pattern. I have a large (dining table size) round tablecloth with white deedly ball fringe and a matching set of bed sheets. It's always a good day when I dig up a set of Vera tea towels at the thrift! Those big bright graphics are great to perk up a bad mood. Congratulations on your finds!

I love that word--flummoxed. It's so--so--so--wait! I know! It's soooooo Flummoxy in a flummoxing kinda way

But seriously, did you ever do research on that packaged VERA tablecloth as to age and name of design? Girl, the thrift gods smiled on you that day to be sure.

I was talking with my mom about my VERA passion and I realized that VERA's work (to me, anyway) is very hopeful, passionate, life-sustaining, positive, forward-looking--well, you get the idea. Like what you state here, Pedeka. I don't know if it's because I was **alive** (young and the world was new) at the time of her design popularity and the(social/artistic) culture was very different then, or if it's just my perception of it at the time.

I do know that I can look at her stuff and feel alive, and then I can go into a real store and feel my senses shut down like a flower under nuclear attack when confronted with the mediocrity that passes for style nowadays. But then, as I said, it could just be me  

[nancydr2]

In addition to what SeSo & Pedeka say about the how the bright graphics of Vera's work can lift your mood, I love how positively bold her work was.  I doubt she would have had the success she enjoyed if her career hadn't coincided with "woman's lib" movement.  It's amazing that a single napkin can make such a huge statement.  Using her linens was a lot like saying, "I'm here!  Notice me!" 

[SeSo_Says_So]

In addition to what SeSo & Pedeka say about the how the bright graphics of Vera's work can lift your mood, I love how positively bold her work was.  I doubt she would have had the success she enjoyed if her career hadn't coincided with "woman's lib" movement.  It's amazing that a single napkin can make such a huge statement.  Using her linens was a lot like saying, "I'm here!  Notice me!" 

YES!!! It was a different culture/world then, wasn't it?

Her works throb with lifeforce...     

[oceangurl]

Yes I do agree with everyone about Vera! Love her boldness, especially the colors and the choices of things, like flowers, herbs anything to make you smile and feel alive. She just did alot of "cheerful" things, you felt good eating off her table linens or wiping your mouth with her fabric napkins, almost like a Lady of leisure or a Lady lunching with a society group...lol...anyhow do love her she was inspiring...

[Pedeka]

Having things designed by Vera Neuman always make me feel wonderfully sophisticated. Like I said earlier, I got quite a few things from my aunt. She had Vera all over her home. My Aunt was a very "Auntie Mame" type person,  she was a "career girl" that never married and had a family, just had scandalous romances, she had over the top dinner parties, smoked with a cigarette holder, went on vacations by herself, took great joy in tossing around her Neiman Marcus charge account and drove a pink convertable cadillac. That's Vera in my mind. Vera would serve mimosas for brunch.

Sorry I just had to qualify WHAT KIND OF HAPPY I associate with Vera. I have always coveted the Paris street scene kitchen towels. I will find them someday.