S10 Ep23 VALENTINE VINTAGE: Bella Long, vintage dealer turned fashion archivist - on how to work in a fashion archive, and documenting a workwear collection for the Smithsonian.

Today we're chatting with Bella Long, the vintage seller behind Valentine Vintage, who is also a fashion historian and archivist in the making, finishing her final year of grad school at NYU, where she's earning master's degrees in costume studies and library and information science.

Bella grew up in Southern California, where she fell in love with old movies and the glamorous costumes in them. She started working at her local buy-sell-trade store when she was just 17, and started selling vintage in college, after learning the ropes interning for Sarah at Cameo Appearance Vintage. After college, Bella went full time with Valentine right as the vintage market really started to boom in Chicago.

Along the way, she took a job in Columbia College Chicago's fashion study collection, which introduced her to the world of historical dress and archives, and that's what led her to go back to school to turn her love of fashion research into a career. She's now interning in museum and library collections, including an oral history project on postal workers' uniforms with the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum.

We get into it all on today's episode: what a day in an archive actually looks like, and what makes a piece belong in a museum collection versus a vintage rack. Plus, what skills transfer from selling vintage to archival work, and what you have to unlearn (resisting the desire to try things on!). And of course, we hear about the vintage pieces she'll never part with, and all the best holy grail finds she's ever had as a seller and collector. Let's dive right in!

DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE:

[03:34] Bella grew up drawing clothes and falling in love with old movie costumes [07:58] She got her first job at the buy-sell-trade shop at 17, and learned how trends drive buying [14:34] Starting to sell vintage in 2018 and interning with Sarah of Cameo Appearance Vintage [17:37] The Chicago vintage boom, and going full time with Valentine [21:09] How Valentine evolved, and how fashion history knowledge changed what she buys [28:26] Burning out after 34 markets in one year, and the decision to go to grad school [31:39] What a day in an archive actually looks like [38:59] What skills transfer from selling vintage to archives [42:38] What makes a piece belong in a collection vs. on a vintage rack [54:31] How museums acquire pieces, and why donations matter [56:49] The pieces she'll never part with and holy grail finds EPISODE MENTIONS:

Valentine Vintage Cameo Appearance