This is the first in our series "What's in a Label" and we start with Leslie James hats.The Begining of My Hat ObsessionThe first hat I purchased was at an antique store in my hometown of Wichita, Kansas. I was in middle school and the hat was a faux leopard number, probably from the 1940s, with th...
The Art of Vintage Sheet Music
Madge is a fan of found art and loves to repurpose the unexpected to hang on walls. She’d much rather frame a magazine than purchase an expensive painting. As an occasional feature she will be posting some money saving trick for decorating your home.
Tod...
Originally published April 19, 2016The news that the Bonne Bell Company is shutting down, gave Madge pause to remember her (not) miss-spent youth. If it wasn’t for Bonne Bell, Madge might not have survived puberty. As the go-to skincare and cosmetic line for young girls in the 1970s, the company wil...
International Women's Day
In honor of International Women's Day I take a moment to remember my grandmother Madge Beals Meredith. Naming my online shop #MadgesHatboxVintage, was loving nod to her years as a #milliner. Then a chance remark by my aunt sent me on a yearlong journey in sea...
Throughout the centuries earring design concentrated on fashion, not comfort. From the primitive stick-through-the-ear beginnings to those pinching screw-backs of the 20th century, women were at the mercy of the painful earring clip. In the 1940s, one woman, Judith McCann, set out to cha...
This is an update to a post originally published November 13, 2014
Iris Apfel, My Icon of Style
"I never had a fondness for gems or the extravagance
of Harry Winston or Van Cleef & Arpels.
I’ve always liked the more flamboyant, imaginative things.
I lusted after costume jewelry.
My hus...