After “liking” over twenty of her Instagram posts in a total of thirty seconds, I headed straight for RockAndRollVintage’s Etsy shop. Her fabulous vintage finds span the decades and dreams of my fellow vintage addicts (that’s you!). I had to know more, so RockAndRollVintage is week’s featured shop. Read on!
Q: Tell our lovely readers a bit about yourself. Is buying and selling vintage your full-time gig or a hobby? How and when did you get started in this business?
A: Hey there! Pleased to meet everyone. I’m Veronica. I’m 27. I have a special love for vintage, and this has run through my blood & veins since I was born. I have always been attracted to things that were special, different, or one of a kind, which has always had me vleaning toward vintage & antiques. For most of my life, Vintage was JUST that. Obscure. Rare. It still is, but the internet provides us with all sorts of easier ways to find, buy, and sell it.
Before I started doing this full time, I took care of boys/musicians on tour, allowing me access to thrift stores & goodies all over the world. I collected, collected, collected. I moved to Baltimore, Maryland from San Francisco, California. I began working at an auction house here, which is basically equivalent to an alcoholic working at a bar, or better yet- a brewery! My mind was blown by the access, and I began collecting everything that was awesome, that was somehow perceived as trash to other bidders, interested in WWII or other historical finds. Well, turns out one man’s trash truly is thousands of other people’s treasure. I began collecting things I couldn’t leave behind but really had no use for.
I started selling my treasures on Etsy & in the retail portion of the auction house. My boss turned out to be a total scumbag, so finally, I was free to work for myself. Thus began birth of Rock and Roll Vintage! I’ve been doing this nonstop for almost 4 years now. I also have a 300 square foot retail space with a friend here in Baltimore. For me, it’s about connecting someone with something they really want, need, or love. It makes me feel good.
Q: Do you have any favorite, never-let-you-down, treasure hunting spots? Would you like to share, or are they top-secret?
A: Lots of my friends live by the “sacred secret thrift code”, but I don’t mind sharing. While I thrift all the time, only about 50% of my shop comes from thrift stores. I find things at the various Value Villages here in Baltimore, but like always, no matter where I am geographically, the Goodwill, Salvation Army, & church thrift stores are my favorites, as far as thrifting goes. Lots of our thrift stores here have pretty inflated prices for genuine “thrift stores”. It’s funny, because it’s always on the things you’d never want, too- some horrible (not even great horrible) prom dress, or suit jabber. But, the Goodwill & Salvation Army always stay true, and I KNOW my money is definitely going toward a charity.
My true secret is always estates. There is nothing like the look of something when it comes out of a closet that has been preserved since 1973. I have actually had a dozen closets that had literally not been touched since the late 60s to mid 70s. That is rare. It is very hard to come across an estate that was so sentimental, that parts of homes have literally not been touched or rearranged since a parent had passed 35 years ago. It’s definitely kind of weird, disturbing, sweet, and therefore, right up my alley! My favorite part of my job is when I spend time with ladies who tell me their stories in exchange for the clothing. I hear the greatest memories of the 30s – 60s.
Also, even though we have the reality television to remind us, I still feel auctions are an undervalued & forgotten market. In turn, to the owner’s of said auctions, vintage clothing is not by any means where the money is to them, so if it’s there, lots of them won’t even mention it. You’ve got to dig for the places to dig.. It’s like thrifting to the extreme!
Q: Is there a certain aesthetic you look for when you’re thrifting? How do you decide what to pick up, or just pass on? Do you wait for an item to speak to you?
A: Since I began really doing this for a living through auctions and estates, my shift back into thrifting to sell and not just buy for myself was, well.. difficult. I could pick through the estates, and what I would leave behind, was often what I found myself purchasing from thrift stores. It was hard for me to not buy EVERYTHING that was old. Even things people, myself included, would never, ever want. Now, in order to decide what to take or leave, I evaluate whether or not it’s truly special. There is a lot of vintage that can be found in any thrift store, everyday. I am happy to have finally learned what exactly those items are, and how to know when one of those items is slightly better than the average one.
I try to pick things that no one would leave behind, even when they see it in my shop. Since I get to pick things of all sizes, I have a leg up on the girls that shop for themselves. I can grab treasures they couldn’t, because it didn’t fit them. I thrift like a robot. I can fill my cart with missed treasures by thumbing for fabrics & patterns/prints. I am usually always attracted to what’s old. Sometimes, it really amazes me. It’s cool. I look for 1950s – 1970s always, and then anything I think is cute and TRUE vintage. I hate it when people think the Marc Jacobs coat they wore last winter is vintage. It’s not. True vintage is 20+ years old or older. My heart belongs to true vintage. It always speaks to me.
Q: Be honest, do you keep many of your finds, or is it strictly business? And do you have any personal collections that you have built over time through thrifting?
A: I keep a lot of stuff I find and I collect a ton of things. I keep lots of wearable items. I love the 1960s & 1970s stuff that has the quality and character of vintage, but traits of today as well. I am ecstatic when things I like don’t fit me! In my closet alone I possess over 250 dresses, alone. Once an item goes in there, it rarely comes out. It’s my “vault”. It’s not even necessarily comprised of the vintage world’s most valuable things, but I can assure you they are pretty amazing.
My favorite dress being one I purchased off of etsy, that is 1970s red chiffon with a whole southwestern landscape & roaming deer. My shoe collection is pretty insane, lots of vintage boots, but mostly newer trendy or designer pairs. Aside from clothing, I collect everything vintage, but to name a few: 1800s & early 1900s mechanical birdcages, victorian celluloid, early bakelite & plastic jewelry, vintage girl scout memorabilia, medical & dental oddities, miniatures, furniture, & art. I collect lots of jewelry, although I hardly wear it.
Q: Are there any items you’ve regretted selling and wish you would have kept for yourself?
A: Sometimes I wish somehow I could keep everything for myself, haha. But that’s just unrealistic. Most of the things I regret selling stems from the fact that I regret having to sell them in the first place. I’ve never ever sold anything I wanted to keep because I needed the money, but because they wouldn’t ever fit me, or because there is no surgery to make my feet size 6. There are lots of dresses I wish could’ve placed in my current lineup of “dresses to wear to galas”, but I still have about 20 dresses that may never be appropriate for where I go. It’s also a far better feeling relinquishing that dress to the person who will make it the favorite dress they’ve ever had.
Q: Pick one and tell us about it: Weirdest, most valuable, or most satisfying find?
A: I always ignore the rules, so I’ll briefly answer all three.
Most valuable: 1800s Antique Lace Wedding Dress $7,643 (on bay) paid $10 at a flea market.
Most satisfying: recently, Vintage 1970s Authentic Gucci Oxblood Heeled Riding Boots with inner handwritten markings – valued $199+ paid $3. Had to dig through a trough of decaying shoes, and they don’t have any flashy outer markings. I had been having a rough day, and it cheered me up.
Weirdest: Got an estate in from a recently deceased man. He had some very nice antique dressers I was interested in, and when I opened up the top drawers of every one of his dressers there were hundreds of fingernail clippings in each one. Obviously, I did not buy any of them.
For more RockAndRollVintage, follow her via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram (via rockandrollvintage), Tumblr + be sure to visit her shop! Have a favorite vintage shop you would love to share with our readers? Send us a note to finds@myvintageaddiction.com or post a comment on Facebook.
