LODEKKA DOUBLE DECKER DRESS BUS - What a funny & cool Vintage Bus!

Photos by www.leelacyd.com

Lodekka Double Decker Dress Bus is a Vintage Store created into an old 1965-bus.

Erin Sutherland is the inventor of this actual - old - Bus.

"As you can imagine, the bus is a conversation piece. This gives me the opportunity to chat with just about everyone who walks in the door. I've equated Lodekka to the kitchen where everyone congregates at a party. 

Lodekka opened in October of 2010.

The bus is a 1965 Bristol Lodekka. “Lodekka” is a made-up word to indicate that the bus is low to the ground and has a “low deck.” I chose the name to pay homage to the bus and its British roots. The bus is also named Guinevere, but her nickname is Ginny.

The bus was built in Bristol, England in 1965 and the bodywork (or coachwork) was built in Lowestoft on the east coast. The bus provided public transportation to the citizens of Liverpool from 1965 to 1982. 

The bus can run, but currently doesn't. All of its parts are in working order.

I don’t drive the bus around. The bus stays parked on the corner of N. Williams and N. Failing all the time. I like staying in one spot so people always know where to find me!

I am a chronic thrift, estate sale and flea market shopper. I take day trips to small towns around Oregon and Washington (and beyond!) in search of independently owned thrift stores that haven’t been picked over. I love the challenge of finding needles in haystacks: the tougher the challenge, the better. I get great pleasure from helping a little lost dress find its soul mate, and seeing the smile on the customer's face when they realize that the dress was made for them.

I carry dresses, jackets, shorts, skirts, shoes and accessories for women, shirts, shoes and furnishings for men, a few kids clothing items and lots of knick-knacks and ephemera.

So far the place is bustling! Some folks pull their car over when they see the bus (usually as a result of prompting from the kids in the backseat), some are waiting to get in to Portland's restaurant of the year, Tasty N Sons, and others are just walking by and want to see what this crazy monstrosity is all about. 

One thing is for sure: the bus is a kid magnet. I learned very quickly that I needed to have stickers at the ready for these young customers."

FRANCES HAD 3 SISTERS_ Be your own Fashion Icon!

Seattle, Washington, in the Northwest corner of the United States. Notoriously rainy, Seattle is a haven for artists and book lovers, who like nothing more than to huddle under sweaters and create something, or wile away the hours in a cozy chair with a really good book.

Lisa Hopp Jaffe lives here. She is the designer & producer of Frances had 3 sisters, a jewelry collection inspired by the infamous Peal Girls - my grandmother Frances and her glamorous sisters - Selma, Betty and Molly. 

They were young during the 1920's and 30's and lived incredibly glamorous lives full of love and loss, gorgeous clothes and wild parties. 

Every creations is inspired by one of these fascinating women and lovingly handcrafted, using reclaimed vintage items and semi precious, glass, or vintage beads.

As she is also a writer and lover of literature, she includes a short vignette, a fictionalized account of a moment in one of her ancestor's lives, like this: 

"The gray cat purred contentedly in her lap as Selma struck a dramatic pose and sat for the painter. Harris had ordered a portrait to hang over their fireplace. Selma thought it  a tacky gesture, but she did so love to be looked at"

That's the vignette for a bracelet titled, Selma Wore Cashmere Like a Leopard Wore Spots. 

She is also inspired by all things ladylike vintage - lace and velvet ribbons, 18th century portraits of gorgeous women in gorgeous gowns- the 1920's, and beauty for the sake of beauty.

«Whatever you think is beautiful, is beautiful. Don't apologize for what you like or try to fit into some trend that you don't feel comfortable with. Be your own fashion icon». 

Fashion is Being comfortable enough with yourself to wear what you love. Confidence, history, beauty.

She loves vintage. Vintage. Vintage. Vintage. 

Her first pieces was made with costume jewelry that her grandmother had once worn. 

Some vintage piece speaks to her.

Because she is a self-taught designer, she doesn't really know how she "supposed" to do it.

She's not afraid to keep trying new things until I create a piece I like. 

If she likes it, it's good enough. She tries not to second guess herself and wonder if someone else will like it. 

«I've been accused of being esoteric. I take it as a compliment».

_What is creativity inside you?

«My day job is as an art teacher for Kindergarten through 8th graders. They always ask me, how do I do good art? Is this good enough? What should I do next? 

My answer is always a quote that I'm ashamed not to know the originator of - 

"There is no must in art, because art is free". 

If you stop trying to figure out what something is supposed to be, creativity is given permission to happen»