Yesterday, Pj and I went on an epic vintage adventure. It was the most exciting, crazy, awesome shopping trip that I've ever had. Kay from Reverie Revel came with us to the Donnaland warehouse!
Donna has been in the vintage business since 1982, when she founded Hulabaloo Vintage. She opened Donnaland 6 years ago and has been traveling the world selling her amazing finds at vintage events. She's rarely in St Louis, but when she is, she's hard at work at her warehouse or cruising around Missouri, purchasing directly from collectors and estates. A few weeks ago, she opened her warehouse to wholesale customers, by appointment.
The warehouse was incredible. It's set in a historic building right next to the Mississippi. From the windows, you can see the great river, the St Louis arch and many beautiful old buildings. The place is packed with these enormous cardboard boxes, called gaylords, which are almost as tall as I am. There are separate sections for dresses, shirts, skirts, ties, coats, kids clothes, uniforms, jeans, etc. The dress section alone must have had well over 20 gaylords, all crammed full with vintage dresses. In this scenario, the best thing to do is to dive in and start digging. There's a lot of dust in warehouses like this so a dust mark and safety glasses keeps a digger safe and comfortable.
Donna has a separate room with accessories, lingerie, shoes, clothes and some home decor items. I found 4 beautiful girdles and 2 deadstock bullet bras in that room. Here I am in a box of vintage nightgowns and slips!
We spent over 6 hours at Donnaland and didn't even see a fraction of everything she had! By the end of the day, my brain was totally fried and we were exhausted but it was a blast! Donna is just the nicest, funniest person you'd ever want to meet. If she's ever in your hometown for an event, I hope you get the chance to chat and shop with her too!
You can see Donna and her most amazing vintage treasures on facebook, ebay and you can see her upcoming schedule on her website. She's headed to California this month and Viva Las Vegas in April.
Some of my Finds
 | |||||
 |
28 Pretty Pin-up Girls Said:
Sounds like quite a shopping adventure! Can't wait to see all of your finds in their full glory.
Woooow, you're so lucky to have these things, so unique!
that warehouse is like my dream, lucky you! x
She was the only one at Viva with reasonable prices on everything! Jealous you got to dig through this...that is a dream! :)
I am so jealous. I think I would sleep there if I had that opportunity. I just adore Donnaland. I always find some wonderful things at her booth during Viva. I agree with Rueby that Donnaland was one of the only booths at viva with reasonable vintage prices.
You lived one of my, and my loves, dreams!
Wow what a great opportunity! It's like dying and going to heaven :o)
What a great vintage adventure!!!!!!! So jealous....
I will see her in Vegas as I reserved my place ticket from France last month...
that sounds like heaven!!! I would love to go there once...but I´m in Germany.
Oh that looks like so much fun!! In the next to last picture, I don't even know what the items are, but I love the brown striped bow and the fabric with the swirls just above it on the left ~ lovely!!
I'm a little green with envy! I could get lost in a place like that, and not even notice the world around me passing by. Lucky you!
so jealous! she was in chicago a few months ago and sold me 5 pretty dresses at a great price, and was super nice too!! looks like you found some awesome stuff
Heavenly...pure heaven! LOVE the pics!!! So happy you had a blast!! Muah!
Oh my goodness!! She needs to bring more of that stuff when she comes over here for the expos!!
Soooo COOL! I would've been in heaven. Looks like you found some amazing pieces.
Wow, how lucky are you?! I wish we had something like that in Australia. I will have to check out her booth at Viva!
x Molly
Thanks, everyone. It was awesome! I wish you all could have been there with me! I'm so glad to hear that some of you have had a chance to meet Donna and shop her booth. She's totally awesome, isn't she? She has new stuff coming in all the time so I'm sure that you'll all find beautiful things at the Donnaland set-up at Viva! :)
Soooo jealous! There is nothing like that in Australia, we all scramble for bits and oieces on ebay!
What a fantastic shopping trip..know you had lots of fun.Cant wait for future post of all the goodies you got.. ENJOY!!!
My word, that looks like a day in vintage clothing heaven to me! What an amazing, enjoyable experience - thank you very much for taking us along for the ride and sharing some of your treasured finds.
Oodles of hugs & joyful wishes for the coming week,
Jessica
It looks like you've got at complete new wardrobe! :)
Woww, so jealous - what an amazing opportunity!
xx Charlotte
Tuppence Ha'penny
Would love to dive into something like that :-)
What a great opportunity!!
I love vintage!!!
pure amazingness!
I would LOVE to go to a place like this! I always liked going through ranks of clothing at the thrift store in search of something vintage. I love the thrill of the hunt. You found some awesome stuff.
Oh my! I need to go to this place. It looks like a very fun time indeed.
!!! Fun! :)
It's like vintage heaven!! You're soo lucky!
Post a Comment