Cute as a (Vintage) Button!

We are so very happy to introduce you to our newest ChiChi addition of talented local artisans!

We've spoken often of how Vintage is Earth friendly. By reusing, repurposing and Up-cycling we all play a little part in offering mother Earth some relief from decades of heavy disposable consumerism. Sisters Cindy & Carey do more than play their part. Not only do they have a love of Vintage but they have a unique talent for upcycling Vintage buttons into phenomenal jewelry. They are sweet and genuine girls and their keen sense of style shows in the playful and gorgeous pieces they create using really great Vintage buttons, crystals and other findings. We adore all of their pieces and I find their earrings especially darling because of the thoughtful design. Ever find yourself off to the loo to powder your nose and notice one of your earrings has twisted around so the ugly side is showing? That can never be so with a posh pair of Cindy & Carey earrings as they are just as pretty on the 'wrong' side!

Here is just a sampling of Cindy & Carey pieces we currently have in store for you...

Long, assymetrical necklace featuring gorgeous golds/browns/oranges...



~~~~~~~~~Pretty in Pink and Pearl bracelet~~~~~~~~~



Polka dots with Panache!

















Our sincere apologies to the girls for not getting this up sooner - I had mislaid my data card for my camera and was unable to get photos to accompany our happy addition to the ChiChi House until today. Not that the jewelry has gone unnoticed - a lovely woman with a skippy new spring jacket wore a fab pin out of the store just the other day and a delightful lady with exquisite taste took home my favourite bracelet!

Keep an eye open for the upcoming issue of Winnipeg Women where Cindy & Carey will be featured! Welcome to ChiChi Cindy & Carey! We are proud to have your designs in our House.

Where, oh Where Have the ChiChi Chicks Been?

I'd like to start by apologizing for our conspicuous silence this last week plus. After that whirlwind round of super-blogging it seems my muse became un-amused and refused to come out to play for awhile.

Actually, we've been a little on the busy side. Sorting through stock and deciding which pieces of furniture were deserving of a cottage chic treatment, what colors to use and combine, picking through the small things and finding delightful summery items to put out, sourcing new home decor items and local artisans, placing orders, dealing with order mix-ups and other nightmares, painting, sanding, crackling.... are you tired yet?

We aren't! Combine all that with combing the City for treasures so we remain well stocked, taking our respective Chicklets to and from school and extra-cirricular activities, cleaning our House and our homes, making time for our men, doing laundry and all the other mundane stuff that every day life brings.

Okay, *now* we're tired! But that isn't anything a hot cuppa java from our delightful magic elixer machine won't fix - by the by, coffee fixes are always gratis for our customers in the ChiChi House! Cappuccino, espresso and lattes, oh my!


We've also been out and about on mini vacations with our families.

Miss P was MIA for a week as she jetted off to Vancouver with her hubby and Chicklet. Considering how lush and green and warm it was compared to what we've been dealing with, we are mighty lucky she even returned! While there she visited a number of Vintage shops (its not that we're paranoid about competition that we check out other stores - we do these things just for the love of it!). You'll likely see a blog from her in the next few days about her fun and findings.

I am off to the Mecca of Mid-Century Modernism tomorrow - Palm Springs, California! I will be browsing the superabundance of swanky shops in downtown Palm Springs proper. Golf, schmolf. Give me a shop chock-a-block full of vintage and retro to spend the day in! I'll be sure to update from there and promise I will make little or no reference to the beautiful weather. Oops, sorry, I went and did it already!

In the meanwhile - we promise we will update the blog multiple times weekly - even if just to point you to a website we think is too cool to miss. For those who have conveyed to us that they read the blog daily with their morning cuppa, we really are sorry. We've posted some good ones in the past but we certainly didn't intend for you to have to settle for reruns.



Cheers!

Kat

Ode to Slush

Ah. It's that time of the year again. Warming up and melty. Grotesquely dirty vehicles careening down the streets, the driver trying to see through the filthy built-up sludge on the windshield. Traffic gnarled and backed up while someone grabs a mittful of snow to rub on her windshield, underestimating how long the traffic light will remain red. Good luck finding windshield washer fluid if you haven't stocked up! Grubby boots. Smears on your coat you won't notice until someone points them out to you because there is no way to squeeze out of that parking spot without rubbing up against something no matter how careful you are. Carefully considering if the value of something you've dropped is great enough to bother digging through the slush to retrieve.

In other words - It is officially spring!

And spring reminds me of the summer about to come. And summer reminds me of lazy days at the lake. And lazy days at the lake remind me of the impeding boredom that can set in unless you have satellite. And impeding boredom reminds me of... Crafting!

Miss P and I were both born crafty. We each have this innate desire to *create*. That we are both very good at entirely different things is one of the great things about our partnership in ChiChi - and above that our friendship. I love to craft the kinds of crafts I love to craft. I'm not as enthusiastic about all crafts great and small as some people are. I have a few preferences; making cute ugly critters out of felt, finding unique (some would say odd) things to do with things that don't seem to be otherwise useful - see the terrarium in the Cowboy post - and embroidery.

When I was a teen I loved embroidery. I embellished my jeans and jean jackets with the typical 70's motifs - peace signs and doves and rainbows (oh, my!). I had one pair of jeans with every square inch covered in embroidery. My mother got me started. Not that she embroidered. See, as I spent about fully half of my teenage years grounded to my bedroom (except for school and meals and chores (oh, boy!) my mom felt sorry for me and one day brought me up a bundle of floss, a hoop and some needles. After being assured I wasn't going to braid an escape ladder she left me there with the goodies and a new hobby was born. I had the time, after all.

It was decades later, just last fall in fact, before I picked up the tools of the trade and began rediscovering embroidery. I thought I had sworn off of it for life but one night, unable to sleep, I watched an HGTV craft program and discovered Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching. Her retro inspired patterns blew me away. Miss P and I checked out Sublime's delicious goodies together and she was just as excited as I. But, no retailers in Manitoba were carrying the line - where was a crafty local girl to get them? So - when we knew we were going to open ChiChi - we made absolutely certain we had a good line of Sublime Stitching products and patterns in the store before we unlocked the doors (making us the first retailer in Manitoba to carry their line).


Now, when you come in to browse for soon to be available Cottage Chic furnishings and decor, you can pick yourself up a fun and funky pattern or two from our terrific selection, some tear away T-Shirt Stabilizer and know, should a rainy day or boredom hit while you're at the cottage, you'll have something crafty to do.



The patterns we've shown here today are iron-on transfers which wash away. The transfers can be used up to seven or eight times. Both Miss P and I have never done much by way of embroidering on T-shirts because we have never liked the rigidness which remains on the underside of the garment - or the itchiness it causes. Sublime Stitching's T-Shirt Stabilizer is absolutely amazing - simply tear it away when you are done! No rigidity. No itchiness. No kidding!

And the Cottage Chic furnishings? We are beavering away prepping them as you read this. Look for a great selection of wicker and other cottage furnishings and decor items in store as of March 29th!

Vintage as the Ultimate Green

As landfills grow, and available land to fill shrinks, eco-conscious individuals are looking to Vintage as one of many ways to get 'green'. "Green" is more than just a buzzword or a passing trend. It is a deliberate lifestyle focused on reducing our impact on mother-earth. We recycle. We reuse what we can. We choose refrigerator dishes instead of plastic wrap (insert nudge toward our Guess Who's Gone All Retro on Us? post here!). We change our bulbs to the energy efficient type even though the light isn't as bright. We turn down the heat, turn off the lights and turn up our consciousness. We Up-Cycle vintage furnishings to beautify them to fit into our modern lives. Wait a minute... *We* do that!

Pick up virtually any home design magazine and you'll find articles featuring designers incorporating Vintage furnishings and decor items into ultra modern homes, features about designers 'repurposing' vintage furniture to complement a modern lifestyle and the omnipresent reference to one mid-century design classic or another. It is a trend which is becoming a lifestyle. It is a lifestyle reflecting green choices in living. And it works. Beautifully.

Those who have been in the ChiChi House of late have heard tell of our excitement as we are about to experiment with Up-cycling vintage furnishings with bursts of colour. There is a dining room suite we have in storage with chairs which are absolutely begging to be a glossy red or reddish orange. We are playing with gun-metal silver trying to get the colour just right. We have an antique rocking chair in a lovely black finish which is merely awaiting a choice of fabric to dress it. That covering is going to be a faux patent leather! Cottage chic is still in vogue and we are presently working on a number of wonderful pieces to introduce for the spring/cottage season.

The Vintage trend is spreading its wings under the label of 'Green' and it extends beyond furnishings and home decor. Vintage clothing is also making big blips on the radar. Today, for your reading pleasure, a number of links to more Vintage in the News...

Featured in Imperial Valley News is an article touching on incorporating Vintage furnishings as a 'Green' solution to home decorating...



Take me there!

From Dwell Magazine's Dwell Blog I chose two of the many articles which touch on Vintage. The first, posted in January of this year and entitled "Repurposed and Reasonable", covers a Dutch design duo's collection of Up-Cycled chairs. There are so many fabulously Up-Cycled chairs in their collection which are inspiring. This is definitely something we will be experimenting with in the weeks to come.



Two of the many chairs made modern.
Take me there!

The second article is even older, dating back to November of last year, but timely nonetheless. "Furniture With a Past" showcases some examples of ultra modern paint treatments for older, Vintage pieces. My only bug-a-boo with the article? Author Michael Cannell seems to think that mid-century modern furniture is reaching its shelf life. I beg to differ.


Take me there!

For you Vintage loving fashionistas, a taste of the many morsels celebrating Vintage clothes...


OC star Rachel Bilson has been enlisted by DKNY to design a clothing line which will no doubt be Vintage inspired as Rachel, a fashion icon in her own right, loves Vintage clothing...
Take me there!

Speaking of DKNY, I hate to mention it but... this past Friday and Saturday we missed a monumental sales event. Donna Karan cleaned out her closets and held a sale of her Vintage clothing, jewelry and furniture (with prices ranging from $20 to $2,000). Unfortunately the sale was shop in person only. In New York. *sigh* Proceeds are to benefit her Urban Zen Initiative which promotes the merging of Eastern and Western medicinal practices.

Vintage is also, yet again, being promoted to young ladies seeking a one-of-a-kind prom dress. What girl wouldn't feel like a glamorous starlet in something like this?



Take me there!

And finally, from our House to their House....

A super-fine Vintage clothing boutique set in a house with theme inspired rooms. Tres tres Chic! Not only does House of Vintage sell fab Vintage clothing, they do glamour photography. The cupcake photo shoots aren't the only other sweet thing in the house, the kitsch-en is an entity all to itself. Known as the House of Sweets, you can actually pick up a few sweetly decorated cupcakes and cookies to take home with you.



Take me there!

When Everybody Wore a Hat

The illustration above is the cover of a children's book which my moppet and I have enjoyed reading many a time. The author regales us with a nostalgic trip in this memoir about his childhood. William Steig was 96 when this book was published. He passed away about six months after publication. Though he published many books in his lifetime he may be best known as the author of Shrek! Yes, *that* Shrek, which came as a total surprise to me when I discovered this not ten minutes ago. But I digress... The first time I read "When Everybody Wore a Hat" I found myself grinning the entire way through. I have read and reread it countless times now, and I still find myself smiling from cover to cover. If you haven't read it, even if your kids are all grow'd up and have kids of their own now, I'd recommend picking up a copy the next time you're passing through a book store. It begins; "This is the story of when I was a boy, almost 100 years ago, when fire engines were pulled by horses, boys did not play with girls, kids went to libraries ..." And, of course, everybody wore a hat.


Whatever happened to hats? Why doesn't anybody wear them these days?

I love vintage hats. Hats with feathers. Hats with veils. Bonnet hats. Halo hats. Pillbox, cloche, wide brimmed, banded and bedecked with flowers. I must have inherited my admiration for hats from my Baba, a very ChiChi woman with closets full of hats and shoes with matching handbags and drawers full of gloves (I won't even mention the rhinestone baubles). I've just never been able to wear them. They look stupid on me. Or I look stupid on them. Whichever it is, I've always thought of myself as not being a 'hat girl'.


Earlier this month I read an article in the Los Angeles Times lamenting that the hat hasn't made a sensational comeback since Jackie O banished hers to the back of the closet (check out the link below!). Heads haven't made much of an ado by way of a fashion statement since then. The author of the article, Patt Morrison, makes mention of the hat department at Nordstrom and I couldn't help but wonder, if no one, except Miss P and Patt in the hat, is wearing them, then why would a huge department store chain like Nordstrom have an actual hat department?

On a recent trip to Pheonix I vowed to keep my eyes open for hats and found I didn't need to be particularly observant - I couldn't walk into a department store or a boutique without practically tripping over hats. Pretty hats. Funky hats. Vintage inspired hats. I tried a few on. I purchased none. I vowed to try to find that article again - only this time I was going to actually watch the accompanying video in which the author demonstrates the do's and do not's of hat wearing. The sagest piece of advice she had? You wear the hat. Never, ever, let the hat wear you. Easy enough for her to say. She has a hat head. Miss P has a hat head. I simply do not. Then again, after some reflection, maybe I have been relinquishing too much control to the hat. I'd better go watch that video again. We have some pretty delicious hats coming out of the closet for spring.

Take me there!

Cowboy Daze

What's retro without cowboys? Nuthin'

Think about it... The Lone Ranger. Roy Rogers. Gene Autry. Paladin. All of the Cartwrights. Johnny Ringo. Maverick. Hopalong Cassidy. And that names just a few.

The 50's: Explosive changes and advancements in industry, technology, music and design best define the era. Television quickly became the dominant mass media as the technology became available and affordable enough for families to bring into their homes. It wasn't long before children were spending more hours in front of the televsion than they did in school (some things never change!). Serials, sitcoms and films became an entertainment staple in most homes. Many of those programs were set in the wild, wild west with cowboys, and the odd cowgirl, later dominating the dreams and play of little boys (and the odd girl).

Toys for boys were primarily focused on the cowboy theme. Wild west plastic toy characters complete with covered wagons, horses and other livestock were a staple in every boy's toy chest. As were cowboy cap guns and rifles, sherrif's badges, bandanas and cowboy hats. They sported pinbacks of their favorite lawmen. They couldn't bear the thought of missing an episode of the Lone Ranger or Rin Tin Tin. They carried their sandwiches in lunch boxes embellished with their favorite character.



Vintage Cowboy toys are considered collectible and vary greatly in value depending on the type of toy and condition. Mint condition cap guns, especially when named after a TV character, are most sought after and typically fetch the dearest dollar. Old tin mechanical toys are also worth a pretty penny if they are in good working condition. Cowboy dolls - Ha! Call them action figures all you like he-men, they really are just dolls for boys - created in the likeness of popular television lawmen and heroes sell for up to a couple of hundred dollars in mint condition.

Whatever their monetary value may be is somewhat less charming than their sentimental value. Ask your man or your father what his favorite cowboy shows were and watch his eyes light up as he recalls. Then take him to the website linked below and trip down memory lane with him. And then, if he's up for it, bring him on down to the ChiChi House to have a boo at our tribute to cowboys in the mAntique room.

Take me there!

Curiosity

Who is this little Merman? What is he smiling about? Is it the little fish featured on the Donna Guiboche Designs necklace? Does he know something that we don't? A recent tryst with another Merperson? Or is he enjoying a private chuckle at the painstaking, yet fruitless, efforts we have expended in trying to identify him?

We know: He is made of bisque. He is German made. He is embossed with the number "4277". Germany was the first of European nations to discover the Chinese process of creating hand pasted porcelain, roughly in the early 17th Century (though some believe it to be earlier - not that we think he is even *nearly* that old). The details are really amazing. He's adorable.

We believe: He might be hand pasted bisque.

We want to get to know him better, but our searches have yielded nothing to help us. We can find Mermaids galore; in paintings, in porcelain, in metals. Mermen, on the other hand, seem to be sorely under represented. We've scoured the web. Rifled through books. Yet, still, he remains a mystery.

He has been an on and off obsession. We give up. So we're asking for your help in identifying him, but we want to make it fun and worth your while (we can't expect you to pore over web pages until your eyes bleed for nothing!). So...

The first person to correctly identify our smug little Merman will receive a $25.00 ChiChi store credit (and our respect and admiration and gratitude).

Here are the rules:

There must be positive identification by way of either; an image which is deemed by Miss P and I to closely enough match our little guy, with supporting details about him OR by identification of the number mark with supporting details OR both.

Post your findings by clicking the 'comments' link. Comments are date and time stamped so there will be no question as to who is the first to identify him. No need to email us, we receive notice each time a comment is left.

We'll leave this open until the 15th of April or until he is identified - whichever comes first.

Have fun and good luck!

Feelin' Some Love Today

Hooray! A comment! A comment! Didja see it? We got a comment! We *love* comments. See, we know you're out there. We know you're checking in with us. Or checking up on us. We know there are quite a few of you out there. That or the counter is broken and one person has an obsession with us. But you are all so quiet. Go ahead... press that little comment link. Leave us a message. Just say 'hi' if you don't have much else to say. Ramble on at length if you like. Tell us about your day if you're having a bad one - or a spectacularly good one! We're here. And we LOVE comments!


We are also in love with:

ANOTHER MAN

MM. We'll spare him the embarassment of publishing his name. Not all men want to be loved by us. We don't love him the same way we love the men we live with (Um, that would be one man each. In separate, unique homes.). We love him like a little kid loves Santa. Because he is like Santa. He brings us some of the most yummy treasures. He is vintage Santa. And he is welcome for coffee every day. Even if he didn't bring his goody sack.


SPARKLY THINGS

Miss P likens herself to a fish, swimming directly to that sparkly bit glinting in the water. I totally get that.



MARCIA, MARCIA

Oh where to begin about Marcia. Her sardonic wit. Her sincerity and honesty. Her keen eye for the good stuff. Her candid (and truly appreciated) advice. Her basement. She is a deep well of knowledge about all things collectible and has presented us, sometimes with a well received smack upside the head, with some really great ideas to help us build the ChiChi House. Her coffee is pretty good too.

TURQUOISE

At the risk of being redundant, did we mention we love turquoise?



WONDER WOMAN

She can do anything (wow, I just mentally tripped away in a ShowTune moment). She should wear a cape but those kind of capes are so yesterday. Terry must have been a boy scout in a former life. She embodies all those things which scouts strive to be to earn their merit badges. Honest. Sincere. Reliable. Talented. Kind. I could go on. And on. Terry is a renaissance woman. As comfortable with mitering a corner as she is creating a delicate and beautiful handmade card. She should be declared a national treasure.

COMING HOME TO WORK

Honestly, we positively love coming to work. We want to live there. The space is decorated with such great colors. The little yellow fridge makes me grin every time I open it and see the pink insides. Things we adore everywhere. Warm. Inviting. And it's cleaner than our homes. Who has time to clean at home?

CARRIE

Our newest love. Quiet on the outside. A veritable funhouse on the inside (she may be asking herself how I could suppose this - I read your blogs girl, all the way through. If I've supposed wrong, feel free to b*slap me and I'll edit accordingly). Cool. Funny. Insightful. Super talented with a wicked eye for detail. As good with words as she is with a camera. A night owl - like me. A rapier wit - like Miss P. She's the lovely lady who so kindly created our blog banner and the sumptuous photos you see on the Flickr link.



Ahhhhh. That felt good.

Retro Meets Modern

As some of you may already be aware, we have been scouring the web for suppliers of unique home decor items and giftware which will complement our vintage goods. Since we first opened our doors we have envisioned ChiChi evolving into a Modern Vintage shop. What the heck is Modern Vintage? It's ChiChi, baby!

In some circles "Modern Vintage" is defined solely as Mid-Century furnishings and design. Others will immediately identify with a stunning Italian shoe line (Oh, yes, I *will* put up a link but not until the end of this post as I don't want you getting all distracted with the shoes and forgetting about me here). We, at the ChiChi house, have a different interpretation as to what Modern Vintage is...

To us, Modern Vintage is a malleable style which incorporates both modern and vintage design. You might be a modern minimalist with the sleekest lined furnishings who makes a room pop with a few well chosen vintage items. Perhaps you have a more traditional view of interior decorating with classic vintage furnishings yet jazz up your space with ultra modern lighting and art. We view Modern Vintage as a combination of the best of both worlds. It is eras colliding. It is an Up-cycled vintage dining room suite with strong lines and gorgeous modern upholstery. It is a modern, Italian designed coffee table with a large, cobalt blue vintage glass vase set upon it. It is a tired 40's table lamp revamped with color and adorned with an incredible new shade.

I'm sure I could expand on that and ramble on for far too long but I'll save you from all that, and get to the point, so you can get on over to see the juicy shoes.

We've been a bit busier than usual lately. Busy scouting and picking out ChiChi things and fun things and downright amazing things. Many things not readily available in Winnipeg. Many things we think *should* be made available in Winnipeg. We've been busy seeking out and courting incredibly talented artisans whose work we want to offer to our customers in the store. We've been busy on the phone and with email placing orders. Today, the first of the orders arrived! It felt like my birthday as I opened the boxes and made space in the parlor of the ChiChi House and I had a blast doing it as it was an order of kitschy fun stuff!

Today, we are happy to announce that we now have a terrific line of Vintage inspired giftware at price points you will be pleased with. LyonCo's Vintage themed products range from glassware to refrigerator magnets, wall clocks to make-up bags, coffee mugs to note pads and stationary sets. There is a large selection to choose from in store and more coming soon! Here is just a little taste...





Bet you thought I forgot about the shoes! Moi? Forget about shoes? Silly rabbits. A quick word before you go though - keep watching us here as we'll be introducing (just as soon as they arrive) a couple of new lines of spectacular new home decor items!
Take me there!

Look Who's Gone All Retro on Us!

It's *her*. You know who. That woman we hate to love. Fastidious. Organized. Creative to the nth degree. Fabulous cook. Amazing gardener.

Personally, I hate to love her because she's so darn creative and I'm, well... not so much.

Yes. It's Martha.

She's introduced a gorgeous Delphite blue line of kitsch-en items.

The kitschy little recipe box screams retro. Love it, but we love the original vintage ones better! Why? For a number of reasons - for the history, for the sheer beauty of the design, for the quality which has contributed to their longevity and for the variety of colors. Oft times we'll find a vintage recipe box chucky jam packed with time tested recipes, many of which might appear to be handed down over generations; "Nana's fried chicken", "Betty-Anne's amazing shortbread" and the like.

Delphite kitsch-enware, manufactured during the depression era by makers such as Jeanette, Fire King and Pyrex, have a beauty all their own which simply cannot be replicated. Sure, Martha's blue bowls in ceramic are pretty. But they are not the real deal. Let's have a looky-loo!



The modern ceramic blue bowls appear chunky and heavy and have definitive country style. The glass Fire King Delphite blue set (in the ChiChi House at the time of posting) seems to have more of a modern edge and flair. The color appears to be deeper... richer... There is simply something about the lines and color which tug at us. Our Fire King Delphite set is in near pristine condition, showing very little wear. Delphite is harder to find than many other Depression era glassware items and it is not often one will find pieces in such great condition. The former owner must have loved these bowls dearly and took great care with them. We believe their future new home will be a safe and loving place as well.

Also in the store, at time of posting... I feel an urge to digress here... I say 'at time of posting' as I'd hate for someone to pop into the store, ready to adopt something we've featured here, and feel tremendous disappointment if they find it gone. That, however, is the nature of the vintage and collectible world. Here today may be gone tomorrow. If there's something specific we have featured on the blog, and you believe you simply *must* have it, please give us a ring. If you can make it in lickety split - well, at least on the same day that you've called, we can reserve it for you. We cannot, however, place items on indefinite hold. It just wouldn't be fair to everyone else.

Now, where was I? Right about... here...



Nestled on the Kitsch-en countertop, in the ChiChi House, you can find (at time of posting!) a set of three lidded Pyrex Delphite refrigerator dishes. Pretty, pretty and again, pretty! The bodies of these dishes are a gorgeous Delphite blue and the lids are clear. They aren't without some blemishes but that doesn't mean they weren't loved. It simply means they saw more service. The clear glass lids were somewhat less durable than the bodies and were often the first parts to chip or break. Being more durable, you may find lidless bodies of refrigerator dishes mislabeled as 'loaf pans'. These pieces came to us as a set but are priced individually as they vary in condition, one of the smaller dishes is a little rough, but still serviceable. The largest piece is in the best condition. I often refer to blemishes as 'beauty marks' or 'patina'. You simply cannot collect vintage and expect perfection. If you look at them carefully bruises will tell a story of eras gone by. Of a simpler time. Of family gatherings over dinner. Of mother-daughter bonding while mixing up a batch of cookies.

There are simply so many things we take for granted in this modern world. Every day things we use with nary a thought beyond what we use them for. Back in 'the days' there was no such thing as cling or press and seal wrap. Leftovers and other refrigerated items required a different method of storage. In their time refrigerator dishes were a modern convenience. In this time perhaps we could all do well to embrace a vintage lifestyle. Using refrigerator dishes instead of the throw away plastics of today is one way to get 'green' and reduce our individual and/or family carbon footprint. It's the ChiChi thing to do.

That's Entertainment!

Seems like this winter will never end! With the recent snowfall and cold temperatures, if you’re anything like me, you’ve resorted to staying inside and seeking out the right kind of entertainment to distract you and pass the time til The Great Melt of Aught Eight. So I started looking at movies to watch, TV shows to catch up on, and searching out music videos on YouTube and the like. Here’s just a short list of what I’ve found and each selection was chosen for its ChiChi elements.

MUST SEE MOVIE – “Fido”
Okay, sure, it’s a zombie movie, not for the faint of heart but definitely for the funny of bone! But it’s a Canadian-made zombie movie with heart and great vintage décor & fashions! It’s as though the producers (including my personal friend Mary Anne Waterhouse) & her Sig-Ot writer/director Andrew Currie traveled back in time to shoot this movie. Did I mention the fashions and home décor? When you watch this movie, take note of the ChiChi chachkas on display, the lamps, the furniture, really – everything the set decorators managed to find! Then watch for those items because sooner or later you’ll see them when you come to the store. Of course we don’t have a line on domesticated zombies yet…
Take me there!

MUST SEE TV – “Gilligan’s Island”
Although the island was named for Gilligan, the supposed star, we all know the show was about Ginger & Mary Anne (as an aside, 20 years ago Kathy could’ve passed for Ginger and I for Mary Anne, but that was then – and don’t bother with the parallel to Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble). Pretty sure you can find this on retro TV but Seasons 1-3 DVDs are available almost anywhere. All I can say is, whatever suitcase brand Ginger used to store her tres chichi clothing and jewelry I’d like to know what it is cuz it’s apparently bottomless and entirely waterproof! Here’s just one link to get you started down memory lane:
Take me there!

MUST SEE MUSIC VIDS – Robbie Williams, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, etc.
My mini ChiChi Chicklet was watching Nemo for the hundredth time (to the power of 10) in her bid to alleviate her cabin fever, and I was reminded of how great a singer Robbie Williams really is, bad boy persona aside. So we started to look around on YouTube and found some pretty great videos from days of yore. If you search “Beyond the Sea” you’ll find both the original by Bobby Darin, and the modern take on it by Robbie Williams. Look up “Somethin’ Stupid” and you’ll find both the 1967 original sung by the odd pairing of Frank & Nancy Sinatra, and the decidedly racy remake by Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman. You can also find all of the 50’s greats in all their glory, it really is worth the effort.
Miss P
Take me there!

New to the Store...

Contemporary jewelry with a vintage feel.

We met with the delightful Donna of Donna Guiboche Designs this Saturday past. She brought samples of her amazing jewelry for us to view and we simply had to have her pieces in the store *now*.

Donna handcrafts each amazing adornment using semi-precious stones, Swarovski crystals and either copper or sterling silver wire. The integrity of each piece is so important to her that she refuses to use manufactured wires in her earrings. Her artistic brilliance shines in the unique composition of her designs, each piece being a one-of-a-kind piece of wearable art.

Today we are proud to introduce you to our latest addition to the ChiChi House....








Coming soon from Donna Guiboche Designs...

Custom designed, for the ChiChi House, one-of-a-kind pieces created using authentic vintage beads sourced and supplied by us.

When Donna left the store on Saturday she did not leave with an empty case even though we took most of what she brought us to see. She left us laden with vintage necklaces, bracelets and clip-on earrings comprised of crystal and glass and lampwork beads. We selected the very best of the best of our vintage baubles for Donna to Up-cycle into modern pieces. We are positively smitten with her work and cannot wait to see what she creates for us!