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Vintage LA cover; Jennifer Brandt Taylor and Bob Mackie via La Vie en Rose
LA vintage fiends will be very excited about the release of Jennifer Brandt Taylor's tome Vintage LA, which is already avail online and hits stores this week. In fact, the Valley-bred author will be at Fred Segal on Melrose this Saturday, June 28, from 3pm-6pm, signing books; per the invite: "Dress in your glitziest vintage and you could win a signed book and more fab prizes!"
La Vie en Rose's Rose Apodaca has an extensive post about the book and its author, which outlines Taylor's impressive trajectory from a " Xeroxed fanzine called Pesky Meddling Girls" she started in junior high, which ended up in the hands of Anna Sui, and her time as a columnist for ELLEgirl to her first book at 19, Life is a Movie Starring You. Per Apodaca's Q&A with Taylor, the writer's main obstacle with this book was divulging her vintage spots around the city:
"I had all these hidden places in the Valley, where I grew up. Places I didn’t want anyone to know about in case they were ruined because of the book. But I also knew if I was going to put my heart into this project, and allow the store proprietors who’ve been so generous to me over the years benefit from it, I needed to spill. Not a lot of people know about Junk for Joy in Burbank or Playclothes in Studio City—because they’re in the Valley."
Thank you, JBT for sharing. Also, on the horizon for Taylor—a signature jewelry line, a custom letterpress biz Thunderwing Press, and Vintage NY.
· Taylor Made: Don’t Go Vintage Without It! [La Vie en Rose]