Cortni

I started a vintage clothing business over 17 years ago in the basement of my families house in Southern California by peddling vintage goods to high end dealers and selling at the local flea markets. My close friend growing up was a designer in Los Angeles. She encouraged me to schelp out to California from Colorado one season with my collection of vintage clothing. We grew up together and I then followed her out to Camden in London right high school, where I was greatly influenced by the cultural scene there. It was a pinnacle time in music history. My friend continued on to study at Central St. Martins in London and I was able to visit frequently; continuing to inspire my love for fashion and vintage.

I went on to study Cultural Anthropology and traveled a fair amount through-out my studies. I attempted to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa from the United States and had my visa for Ethiopia. I went to boarding school in Europe and traveled to Eastern Europe; which was first introduction into world markets. Those experiences influenced my love of culture, fabric and design.

The small collection of vintage clothing I took with me to California grew a bit larger rather quickly due to stylists and designers requesting specific items and some would work and some would not. I would take what the dealers were not interested in and started a booth at both the Fairfax and Santa Monica Flea Markets.

I moved back to Colorado with more inventory than I came out with after one season in Los Angeles and eventually opened a number of Pop Ups store in my home town of rural colorado and did the local farmers market in the summers.

My home is a tipi, at 11,000 ft and it has been a fun juggle with having a vintage collection and living so high up in the woods. Living that high up I feel I have had to be creative with work since so much of my life revolved around the seasons and weather.

Both of my parents are artists and believe they raised me to push the creative envelope and fueled my passion for art and design. I remember my mom painting a huge mural of the Lorax in my baby room from the Dr. Seuss book and our weekends consisted of visits to the museums in Washington D.C. I was really fortunate to be surrounded by art and creativity in my childhood.