vAUx vInTAGE BY JoSIAh hESSE There is really no better word to lovingly describe Aly Barohn and her Vaux Vintage pop-up shop than precious. Not unlike a mobile food truck or Dickensian tinker, Barohn travels around to art-shows and markets selling racks of clothing that she has carefully hand-selected. After abandoning a successful costume design career in the NYC film industry, Barohn retreated to an Arkansas cabin in 2009. There she built an online clothing company that materialized into a roving retailer once her period of isolation was over and she relocated to Denver. Speaking within the living room of her characteristically Victorian studio-apartment in Cheeseman Park, we drink tea under the watchful eyes of two inquisitive cats. Barohn chats with us on comfort over aesthetic, nineties sweatshops, and whether fashion should be considered art. i think often when people hear “vintage clothing store,” they think sixties or seventies. Does that feel limiting to you? The definition of vintage is technically anything that’s twenty years old, or older; so at this point 1994 is vintage. Which is crazy to think about. It shocks people, especially older people, because twenty years does not seem that long ago. I buy what I like—so long as it’s over twenty years old. No matter what era it’s from, it has to have a certain aesthetic that’s part of my brand. and how would you describe that aesthetic? A word that I use a lot when I describe my shop is “wearable.” Because sometimes vintage can be very retro, very kitsch, and that’s not really the route that I want to go. With menswear, I definitely gear towards the very worn-in cotton that’s so soft, it’s the best. I try not to buy any synthetics or polyester, things that don’t feel good against your skin. isn’t that what the seventies were known for? Polyester leisure suits and starched mary tyler moore dresses? They were known for that, but not exclusively. I don’t sell any of that stuff and I have loads of stuff from the seventies. It’s a comfort thing. I would never wear that stuff; in the summer it makes you sweaty. Ugh. No one likes it...I mean, some people do. i imagine part of the appeal of vintage clothing is that it’s built to last in a way that contemporary clothing is not. Oh yeah, and you can tell when you get into the eighties and nineties when garments were starting to be mass produced overseas. I really detest fast fashion, the products that are made super quickly at a low cost with horrible fabric and not much thought put into the design, the fit, the quality control. What I want to come back is the time when people had like ten things in their closet and they really cherished those things and they spent a lot of money on them and the clothes hold up. People will often balk at the idea of fashion being considered an art form, is that a frustration for you? Not necessarily. I understand it. I myself even deal with that issue. When I was a costume designer, that was a creative field. But what I’m doing now, I don’t know if I would consider it an art. It’s a business. That doesn’t take away from my love for fashion. I think fashion is art; but me choosing what to sell is not art. I went to school for fashion design, so I know what it takes to create garments. Doing what I do takes an eye, it takes style, but having style doesn’t make you an artist, in my opinion. Check out aly baron’s online store at vauxvintage.com or etsy.com/shop/vauxvintage ISSUe 6 15
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