Etsy Shop: DearGolden — THEOLOGY of STYLE

We all have that one vintage store we pine after but can't shop at as much as we'd like. Meaning, it's expensive. But I think that's a good thing.

During the past couple years of shopping almost exclusively vintage, I've discovered that vintage shop owners are one of the only people in the clothing industry that know the true worth of an item. In our fast fashion drugged world, we've become so accustomed to items marked at insanely cheap prices that the idea of spending over $50 is almost insulting. "$100 for a dress? The audacity!" I used to exclaim. But as I've learned more about the construction, history, and quality of vintage garments, I've come to understand their true worth. That's what makes the vintage shop, Dear Golden so special.

Owner, Lauren Naimola, has set the standard in the vintage community. With 65k Instagram followers and over seven thousand five star reviews on her shop, Lauren might just be the queen of vintage at the moment. With a distinct curating style, she chooses items from the 1920s-1980s based on how unique and rare they are. With a brick and mortar store in Michigan (field trip, anyone?) and an online Etsy shop, Lauren's selections have a theme. Full of pastel colors, sweet florals, luxe textures, and floaty fabrics, her Etsy feed is dreamlike to say the least. With items ranging from $20-$900, each piece has been painstakingly picked to represent the Dear Golden aesthetic. The more expensive items are certainly out of the price range of the average shopper (like me), but they're honestly not for the average shopper. And that's okay! Sometimes we think every item we see should suit us and our budget, but these vintage items are pieces of history that should be cherished almost like a collectable. Call me vintage crazed, but some items are simply more special than others. Dear Golden is the place to find those special, one-of-a-kind items.