Astoria Higgins

I have a friend, V, who lives down the street from me. We became friends because of our connection to Etsy. I have had a vintage shop there for a few years and she was interested in starting a shop to sell her handsome creations. So we connected and now share information and gossip, which is so fun!

The name of her shop is a.a.higgins and it is where she sells vintage and embellished jackets, accessories, and artwork.

V. scours thrift shops, antique stores, and outdoor antique markets to find jackets from the 1940's-60's. They are luxuriously made from rich fabrics like cashmere, Irish tweed, and brocade. Then she deconstructs them slightly and adds more treasures that she has found along the way--buttons and brooches and occasionally collars.

(One of my favorites!)

She is quite meticulous with her work, taking great care with the sewing and stitching, as well as making sure the accessories coordinate with the coats. They are all one-of-a-kind and because of this, each individual jacket is only available in that size. 

Asymmetrical jacket

The styles are unique also; some are fitted and others are looser. Some end at the waist and others fall below the waist. The colors range from mustard to rose, camel hair to purple and more.

Brocade cocktail jacket

She even uses a few military style jackets, including some for men. No pins on these, but she does add arm patches and different buttons.

  Patriotic Feminine Military

The buttons used are antiques, of course , as are the stunning brooches.

There is no room here to show off all of these beautiful creations. I'll leave that to her shop!
She also sells silverware magnets and diary doors. Don't know what those are? Well, then you'll have stop by and see them!

Sparkle Plenty

Earrings!!           

More variety than you can even imagine and so difficult to effectively photograph, especially when there have only been three days of sunshine here during the entire month of April. But I digress...

My dear friend, Kate, has consigned me to sell many wonderful things gleaned from a family-owned antique store that closed many years ago. Among the many treasures are a large group of retro earrings.
Both clip on and screwback, some signed and others not, some are in lovely condition and others not so much, but as a group, they are fascinating, at least to me. There is such a variety of colors, shapes, sizes, and styles.

In this era of pierced ears there do not seem to be a lot of women wearing these types of earrings.  In any case, if there are, they have not found my stash. But I felt that these lovely ornamental accessories deserved to be shown off.

So I picked out my favorites, spruced them up to be their glittery best, and present them to you now.

 

I love these silver ones, because they are so very dramatic.

The pearly ones catch the light so well. The top pair, however, are actually a mix of pearls, most likely imitation, and plastic.

Does everyone love seeing royal blue as much as I?

The middle and bottom pair are stamped "Japan" on the back.

 

Moss green in the middle and creamy plastic "seeds" on the bottom.

 I do not profess to be an expert on jewelry, but I know what I like and this pair are my very favorite.