Astral Boutique's blog

We Heart Our Customers- Lindsey!

Some of you will remember the Lindsey from the interview I did with her a few months back! I had to share with you this fabulous picture which she took of herself in her newest Astral Boutique acquisition, the Granny Takes A Trip dress. It's like this piece was made just for her, isn't it? I can't imagine anyone else wearing it so perfectly. The photo props are gorgeous, too... watch out world, Lindsey is going to go places, I can feel it. 


Lindsey has her own Etsy vintage store, Lindsey Vintage, and her good taste and eye for detail are apparent in every beautiful piece! 
Thanks to Lindsey for sending me this picture-- and if any of you out there have pics of yourself in your Astral Boutique duds that you would like to share, send them along!  

Vintage Vinyl: Marianne Faithfull, Come My Way

In 1965, Marianne Faithfull released two albums: a self-titled, mainstream "pop" album, and this record, "Come My Way" which focused on traditional folk songs. 

It took a while for this record to grow on me-- perhaps because it launches into an experimental and somewhat disconcerting reading of "Jaberwoc" (from Through The Looking-Glass) on only the second track! Soon enough, her public would tar and feather her for being a "bad girl", but in 1965, Marianne still had to prove to the world that there was a whole different side to the "pretty, harmless little blond girl singing lilting pop songs" that was her official image in the U.K. 

Though she has penned a few famous songs (1969's "Sister Morphine" is included on the 2006 vinyl reissue of this album) Marianne's greatest strength is in her interpretation of other's work. 
It was far more common in the 1960s for an artist to win over new listeners by covering and improving upon popular or traditional material-- a marketing ploy used very little these days, probably because of rising cost of licensing other people's music. When men of this era cover traditional ballads, they often sound plodding and wooden to my modern ears, but Marianne... well, she was a bit of the drama queen, and she understood that there was someone's true story behind these songs, and she was intent on Taking You There.
 

 Her version of "House of the Rising Sun" gives me chills-- and honestly, when has that song last really moved you? "Portland Town" is the old story of the wasted life of a mother and wife who has raised her children only to send them to war; "Spanish Is A Loving Tongue" a bittersweet remembrance of a forbidden love; "Black Girl" a haunting drama of mistrust, violence, and poverty in the Deep South that would thrill any modern goth to the core; "Down in the Salley Garden" a heartbreaking warning from an old poet not to take true love for granted. 
My favorite of all is the ballad "Four Strong Winds". It doesn't have the vocal acrobatics of some of the other songs on the album, so you could miss it the first few times through, but once you tune into to the words-- matched with the perfectly bittersweet delivery-- you will probably join me in turning on the waterworks. 
It is sung from the perspective of a man who has loved a woman during the easy days of summer, and is now moving on to find work with the harvest. His casual "our good times are all gone, and I must be moving on... I'll look for you if you're ever back this way" plays against the aching "I wish you'd change your mind, if I asked you one more time... but we've been through this a hundred times or more". Later in the song he is strangely ambivalent: if he sends her the fare and she joins him, what will she do in the middle of winter anyway, he argues? Each lover seems to be waiting for the other one to prove their love first before making a move, and in the process, their love is being carelessly thrown to the winds of fate. We've probably all been there at some point in our lives. Stupid humans.... sigh.
 

In 1966, the year after this album was made, Marianne would begin her much-publicized affair with Mick Jagger. Imagine trying to outdress Mick in this era when he was the king of the male Peacocks! She seems almost a little lost beside him and his "optical illusion plaid" suit.


This same year, she was splashed across the headlines in a famous drug raid in Keith Richard's house, where she was found wearing nothing but a fur rug. Though no one these days would bat an eye at such an incident, to be found "partying with the boys" when you were not just a woman but the mother of a toddler was the kiss of death for Marianne's career. 

Marianne was homeless, drug-addicted, and sick off and on for decades in the 1970s and 1980s, and her voice was all but destroyed in the process. She is one of our great Survivor stories, however, rising from obscurity to resurrect her career in the late 1980s. Today she is a respected and revered actress and performer, and has collaborated with everyone from PJ Harvey to Jarvis Cocker. I can't say I know much about this modern Marianne, as my relationship with her was forged in the vintage vinyl bins, but it is cool that even young women know her name these days.

You can find loads of Marianne Faithfull in the used bins at any good record store (remember always to shop local or shop small, and avoid Amazon whenever possible!). I recommend all of her 1960s work, but obviously "Come My Way" is a personal favorite. I hope you love her as much as I do!

Mighty Madrone

This 1970s cotton caftan was a dream to photograph- such an incredible pattern, and such great lines. I love the bell sleeves most of all! When the camera really loves a piece like this, I get inspired to take a few pictures that are outside of the realm of regular "Etsy photos" (where the aim is simply to show off the clothing clearly, from all angles). 

It was easy to imagine this caftan worn by some Celtic Priestess, and I felt drawn towards one of my favorite trees, the Madrone, to make a special image: 

Here is the berry of the Madrone, the very last one on the tree, which I am pretending to pick (actually I left it for the birds-- they need it more than I do).

This is a Pacific Madrone, beloved by the wildlife whom it shelters and feeds (some trees in the foothills are as big as four story buildings!) and used by Natives for a strengthening and healing tea. Modern herbalists use the leaves much like its relative Manzanita, for treating urinary tract infections, and in post-partum sitz baths.

 She is appealing to the artist's eye, with her red bark like peels like a beautifully distressed barn door to reveal a silky smooth surface underneath:

 

I have always felt a special affinity with this lovely tree, and she is one of the beings of the Sierra Foothills that makes me childishly happy every time I see her, like a dear old friend. Celtic Tree Lore mentions Madrone's symbolism as a "Mother Tree, protector", and in fact this grove of young Madrone trees is the favorite place for me and the cats to hang out on the hillside behind our house. I recently learned that Madrone's relatives in Ireland (where she is called the "Strawberry Tree", and is indigenous) grow most profusely in my mother's homeland of County Kerry! So perhaps there is a genetic connection...? 

I happened to come across a store on Etsy, Gilded Quill, that makes magic wands, and they carry a Madrone wand! Hello Harry Potter.

The "Mists of Avalon" caftan, by the way, is for sale in my Etsy store! Happy magic-making!

Misty Mountain Apple Hop

I am not one to get out of bed a single minute before I have to, so it was somewhat of a miracle that I was up this morning before 8am. Maybe it was because it had just stopped raining after a steady downpour all night long? Whatever the reason, when I descended the steep Dutch staircase from our sleeping loft, to the wall-of-windows living area, the most amazing scene met my eyes: ethereal grey mist was rising from every conceivable nook of our little holler, making it look almost like someone had turned on a fog machine! My first impulse was the correct one for a fashion photographer: "I have to take pictures!" By the time I dressed and painted a little eyeliner on, some of the mist had melted away, but I still found a pocket of it in the apple orchard by the pond. I chose for my outfit this beautiful robin's egg blue capelet (which will be for sale in the shop this evening, by the way). It just seemed like the right thing to emerge from the Mists of Avalon! I wish it could have all lasted longer, but after about a half hour my hands were freezing and covered in dew, and my boots were caked in sticky mud. I did find some amazing apples, though, still hanging on into mid-November, and still crisp and delicious... survivors. 

 

 

 

Welcome to Astral Boutique!

Hello to friends and readers old and new, and welcome to the new blog home of Astral Boutique! Come visit my new Etsy store to see all the beautiful new things that I have found for you... and meanwhile, let's be blog friends, please?

Now I think that, for a first post, an explanation of "how I got the name" would be apt. 

"Astral Boutique" started as a character in my own mind, a stage name that I adopted for myself when I first started playing live music in earnest a few years ago. That was before I even had my own band, when I used to first accompany Chris in his group The Dazzling Strangers. He is "Christopher Stranger", and I couldn't very well be just "Sasha Soukup", could I? Since the genre of his work is often classified as "Space Rock", the "Astral" came naturally (I love all star names- Stella, Astrid, Aster, etc.), and since I have always liked to glam it up onstage (and in life), "Boutique" was a perfect last name. 

I adore that "boutique" is thoroughly, wonderfully French, and yet it's a word which has been completely absorbed by the American language-- so everyone actually knows how to pronounce it! And I love how "boutique" evokes a different image for everyone... the consistent theme being that a Boutique is always a carefully curated, intimate, classy place. 

This was all ages before I ever dreamed of opening a clothing store online, and to tell you the truth, I hadn't even thought of my stage name lately (maybe because I have been gadding about as Sasha Shamrock quite a bit more these days). Chris was the one who had the revelation for the new store (after we discarded such gems as "Fabric Forest", and "Bohemian Basement") (the latter of which Chris was actually disappointed that we didn't use)-- and it just made sense right away. Not only was the name totally ME, but it was a pun on the very idea of running a clothing store in this virtual ether of the online world!

Even better, the name implies the era which I specialize in-- that special time in the late 60s and early 70-- when fashion and thought was, well, a little trippy. Last but not least, "Astral Boutique" sounds a lot like the name of Van Morrison's amazing classic album, Astral Weeks, which is a reference I am more than happy to make!

Welcome to my new world. Sit down, relax, tell me a few secrets. We'll get you fitted out in the dress of your wildest dreams, ready for the next adventure. 

xoxo

Sasha