Don’t we all long for the lifestyle that old wealth offers?
...I did, so I created a world filled with adventure and wealth, something from the glamorous times of the past, and tied it all together with merchandise! I gave “birth” to Astoria Higgins…. an East Coast button heiress who socializes, travels and occasionally moves “off the grid”. She might wear something off beat, “hang” with odd characters, and travel to little known parts of the world. She lives “oh so” fashionably, often raucously, always lavishly, sometimes responsibly and ultimately scandalously.
I chose jackets as my initial venture into Astoria’s world because they have a forgiving fit, and they are timeless. Marie Antoinette wore lovely velvet jackets with ruffles and frog closures, and “new women” of the 1800’s wore jackets while planting early seeds for women’s rights. And who can forget Jackie Kennedy’s fabulous boxy jackets and Madeleine Albright’s ever-present brooch on the lapel? How about Janis Joplin in her hippie jackets?
So, I spend my time happily “holed up” in my “busy room” surrounded by antique type drawers filled with vintage buttons and jewelry, "patina'd" hardware, racks of repurposed jackets and gently loved scarves and furs…..and a desire to introduce everyone to some fun and adventure……
But this is more than just a fashion line….it’s a world, an assemblage of blogs and merchandise, an immersion into another time. The blog follows Astoria and her husband, Archer, through speakeasys, safaris, nightclubs, wars, and great loves....and the stories of all the characters they met along the way live on through the names and stories of the coats!
Take an extraordinary trip down memory lane...to a time of nostalgic revelry, decadence, frivolity and fashion...you'll find them all in Astoria's "Journal Jackets"
