These days, there’s nothing more new than the old. Vintage design fulfills the ever-expanding, trendy urge to make a bold and unique personal style statement. Collecting a few refurbished jewelry pieces and some recycled designer dresses is the perfect way to create a customized wardrobe on a budget.
And now the chance to cash in on this trend is coming to Durham.
This Saturday, the Rock & Shop Vintage Market will take place in the Cotton Room at Golden Belt. The afternoon-long event features vintage vendors and designers exhibiting and selling their wares to Durham residents.
Local designers Michelle Smith and Regan Wood organized the market, collecting a curated selection of eco-friendly recycled furniture and fashions from a range of regional vendors. Smith and Wood run an online shop called indieNC that offers similar vintage products.
“The Rock & Shop Market is indieNC come to life,” Smith said. “The impetus for the event was a silent auction I organized for WXDU featuring live music from the Rosebuds. That was so successful—I really wanted to create another similar local event—and that’s how Rock & Shop was born.”
One of the vendors coming for Saturday’s event is Kiona van Rhee-Wilson, creator of Lucky Accessories. The brand employs several different design methods to create a diverse collection of accessories. Rhee-Wilson’s use of non-traditional materials makes her jewelry unique, embodying the essence of refurbished vintage.
“I use vintage wallpaper to make necklaces, rings, pendants,” she said. “I also have a line called Made of Money that uses old coins from all around the world.”
Although Rhee-Wilson has sold her products at the Rock & Shop Market in Raleigh before, she said she is excited for the new spin the Vintage Market in Durham offers designers.
“The Rock & Shop Vintage Market places more emphasis on the refurbished factor of the products,” she said. “It’s all about that vintage component.”
Smith mentioned that the designers were selected in part because of their ability to take old materials and create something modern and stylish. The Rock & Shop Vintage Market exemplifies the range of creative possibility available from utilizing a variety of recycled and discarded elements.
In addition to the vendor displays, the afternoon will include a live fashion show and performances from two local bands: Lonnie Walker and Mount Weather. The fashion show features eight North Carolinian designers, including Brightleaf Square’s Dolly’s Vintage and the eco-conscious, ornate jewelry of Good Girls Studio, Inc.
Katie Seiz co-styled the fashion show and is also one of Dolly’s two in-house designers. Her line, Vintage Garden, is a collection of earrings and other accessories fashioned from found vintage fabrics and other recycled materials.
“Dolly’s sells a variety of quirky, fun vintage items. Not only clothes and accessories, but gifts and other objects as well,” Seiz said.
Dolly’s will be presenting five looks in Saturday’s show.
Continuing the theme of independent and local creativity, Lonnie Walker and Mount Weather are both up-and-coming area rock bands. Lonnie Walker began in 2005 as a one-man act and has since grown in both membership and musical maturity. Now a quintet and signed to Raleigh’s Terpsikhore Records, Lonnie Walker has cultivated an original mix of Americana influences with dance rock rhythms.
Mount Weather is another five-piece band based out of Chapel Hill. Their sound is a melodic and airy pop-rock that resonates low-key indie playfulness. Mount Weather will open the line-up at 1:30 p.m., with the fashion show wedged between the two bands’ acts.
The Rock & Shop Vintage Market is a veritable celebration of re-used and refurbished design, complete with beer, a DJ and live performances. More than that, however, the emphasis the event places on sustainability and local business provides yet another example of Durham’s efforts to foster an independent, hip and urban community.
The Rock & Shop Market is Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. at the Golden Belt arts complex’s Cotton Room on the third floor of Building 2. Admission is $3. For more information, click here.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.