Shopping
Bike Chic | Jet Dispo
Posted on 5/07/13 by Nathan Simpson » No Comments
DPJ’s Bike Chic series by Nathan Simpson. You may see him around town scouting locals who not only ride their bikes but look dapper doing it.
Name: Jet Dispo
Occupation: Server at Federal Pizza
His neighborhood: Coronado
Favorite thing about Downtown Phoenix: You don’t have the hustle and bustle of a big city or the weird, closed in vibe of a small town. It’s the best of both worlds.
Favorite places to hang out in Downtown: Windsor, Lost Leaf and Lux.
Favorite places to shop Downtown: Retro Ranch and Grow Op.
How do you get involved? I volunteer with Devour.
What’s your typical biking ensemble: I’m typically wearing my work clothes or what I’m going out in for the night. If I am going for a ride to ride then I’ll just wear shorts and a t-shirt.
Where do you get your style inspiration? I piece outfits together from things I find and get ideas from what I see people wearing.
Biking Essentials:
- Tora Randonneurs tires
- Brooks Saddle
- A good lock
What he’s wearing:
- Shirt – Coto
- Hat – Brookstone
- Levi Khakis
- Shoes – Sperry high top siders
Wire | CO-OPhx Hosts Spring Clothing Swap
Posted on 4/19/13 by DPJ Staff » No Comments
DPJ’s Wire series delivers news and information straight from the source without translation.
CO-OPhx Hosts Spring Clothing Swap to Renew Wardrobes and Spirit in Phoenix Community
Five Swaps, 500 Swappers and 2000 pounds of donated items
Spring is the perfect time for renewal and CO-OPhx is hosting their fifth clothing swap and clothing drive to renew guests’ wardrobes and spirit in the community.
For over a year now, Kelsey Wong and Karla Rasmusson, co-founders of CO-OPhx, one of the largest networking organizations in the Valley, have been spreading the love for secondhand style and giving back to their community by hosting clothing swap and clothing drive events in Phoenix. The events that benefit local charities like Big Brothers Big Sisters, Fresh Start Women’s Foundation, Sojourner Center and Clothing Cycle.
With four swaps under their belt, 500 swappers and over 2000 lbs of items donated, Wong and Rasmusson have planned one of the largest “Spring Swaps”. On Sunday, April 21, from 11am to 4 p.m., the front yards of GROWOp, Annie Boomer Vintage and Cellar Door Vintage will be filled with the once-loved clothes of participants for others to swap and take home. Not only will gently used clothes be swapped, but also heartwarming stories of the clothes’ journeys between the attendees.
“It’s really rewarding to see Phoenix coming together. Locals are really craving new ways to connect and be a part of something. Our events are different than your typical guest and entertainer, they are interactive. Every attendee gets to engage,” stated Kelsey Wong, Executive Director, CO-OPhx.
This time around it’s not just the clothing exchange swappers are excited about. “We’ve learned a lot from our past events, we’ve streamlined and cut out the excess. The swap itself is the main event, but now there are separate men and women’s swaps. At past swaps, the women outweighed the men. We’re trying to balance the scales, plus it’s not really fair to the guys,” said Karla Rasmusson, Co-founder, CO-OPhx.
CO-OPhx isn’t stopping at the swap, there are four style tutorials from local boutique owners including Amir from Amir La Voute, Ashley Eaton from Merry May Shoppe, Joshua Hahn from GROWop and Adrian Leisong of Superstition Vintage. Swappers will learn a little bit of everything from how to tie a bowtie to how to shop vintage. If that wasn’t enough, swappers will also get to test out their craftiness with do-it-yourself upcycling booths and of course vintage shopping at the three host stores.
“We love what the clothing swap team is doing to bring fresh faces to the area and show locals that not only is downtown Phoenix community a cool place to be, but that there is a budding vintage district and treasures to be found,” states Joshua Hahn, Owner, GROWop boutique.
After the day of community and fashion, whatever items are not swapped will be donated to ClothingCycle, a non-profit that recycles or reuses 100 percent of items regardless of condition.
“Clothing Cycle is excited to participate in the Spring Clothing Swap because all items donated will be reused or recycled. Every organization we partner with gets paid for every pound collected and 100% of the items will be kept out of landfills,” says Laurie Quartermain, Operations Director, Clothing Cycle.
“Phoenix is all about rebirth and revitalization. We are doing that for clothes and for people’s spirits. That feeling of renewed confidence is priceless,” stated Wong.
Tickets are $10 online, $15 at the door. To register for tickets, swappers can visit swapphx.splashthat.com.
About CO-OPhx:
Founded by Kelsey Wong and Karla Rasmusson in February 2012, CO-OPhx is an organization of inspired individuals with a mission is to foster meaningful connections and build community in Phoenix through fashion, art and food events.
Bike Chic | Megan Salisbury
Posted on 3/19/13 by Nathan Simpson » No Comments
Name: Megan Salisbury
Occupation: Student at ASU Downtown, Intern at Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness, Volunteer
Her Neighborhood: Medlock Place
What you love about downtown? The diversity of the community. The fact I don’t have to drive to get my everyday needs met, and it seems like most everyone I interact with is committed to buying local, and finding creative solutions to the changing society (such as with Valley of the Sunflowers). I like the urban component, the murals, the coffee shops, and the fact I can walk to great dining, an improv theatre, and my mechanic without trouble.
Favorite Places Downtown: Hula’s, Tammie Coe, Postino, Twirl.
How you are involved in the community? I do a lot of work with the homeless. I am passionate about ending homelessness and aspire to live in a community where we can all have our basic needs met.
General biking ensemble: I tend to travel light because I’m clumsy. I definitely don’t wear flip flops while biking. I’ve learned my lesson with that.
Biking essentials:
- Vintage Schwinn Breeze – scored at a yard sale
- Helmet – Nutcase bought on clearance from REI
- Hello Kitty Bell – gift and tribute to a friend who passed away last year
- Light- headlamp fastened to the basket
What she’s wearing:
- Shirt and pants from Goodwill
- Shoes – simple flats from REI
- Earrings from Frances
Fashion Appreciation
Posted on 3/08/13 by DPJ Staff » No Comments
Do Phoenix art lovers have limits? The visual arts certainly garner our attention, and the culinary arts might be the most widely popular, but the subset of those who approach their dinner as an art form is still relatively small.
Fashion is often overlooked here, but for some it is the most stimulating art form. Designers – artists – create the most otherworldly items at times, and for that we give thanks and prepare to shop.
DPJ readers know Downtown’s Vintage By Misty is a must for any art lover/buyer. This shop on Central Ave. is filled with the out-of-the-ordinary, and, really, who needs another ordinary? From there it’s just a hop/skip/jump to this weekend’s main event at Union Biltmore. (Do we dare venture out of downtown?? When properly motivated, yes.)
David Sheflin and Misty Guerriero. Photo courtesy of Misty Guerriero.
Union’s For The People is debuting a Christian Lacroix runway fashion and haute couture jewelry trunk show curated by David Sheflin with Phoenix-based Vintage Fashion Inc.
The launch event is today, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Weekend shoppers can stop in and browse Saturday or Sunday from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Take a peek at a few choice pieces below or contact For The People for more information at 602-954-4009.
Or just stop by Vintage By Misty and check out their fantastic inventory.
Either way, we dub this Friday “Fashion Appreciation Day.”
If you go
Where: Vintage By Misty
Address: 818 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004*
Weekend Hours: Today 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Contact: 602-707-6235 or Facebook
*Handy parking directions from Vintage By Misty’s Facebook page:
We know parking in downtown can be confusing but don’t let that stop you from getting your vintage on at Vintage By Misty and Amir’s La Voûte!
1. Head south (on Central which turns into 1st Avenue)
2. Continue onto S 1st Ave 0.2 mi
3. Turn left onto E McKinley St 390 ft
4. Make your 1st left into our back alley off McKinley (you will see Athenian Express signs…Follow)
Destination will be on the Right Side (east side) we have a huge parking lot that you can park in behind the shop. Look for Vintage by Misty Signs and Back Door 818 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004.
Tie One On
Posted on 3/07/13 by Kim Larkin » No Comments
One of Dapper+Dash’s many styles
Here at DPJ, we like to say, “A man can never own too many bow ties.” Okay, so maybe that doesn’t really get thrown around at the office, but it doesn’t mean it’s not true.
If the special man in your life doesn’t have enough (or any) handcrafted bow ties in his closet, there’s no need to fret. Dapper+Dash, a downtown Phoenix company founded by Aaron Kimberlin, is celebrating its one year anniversary by rolling out even more bow tie styles, a new feature product, Dapper+Dash Neckties, and more.
Dapper+Dash celebrates this vintage men’s accessory by adaptively reusing vintage clothing and other vintage materials to create a product as unique as the man who will wear it. They begin with the essentials. Only the best vintage ties and materials are considered. Once they pass the test, these materials, often found buried in closets and long forgotten, find new life. The materials are cleaned, re-purposed, cut by hand and stitched into one of three patterns to create dapper bow ties for a dashing man. Each tie comes with a convenient instruction card as well as the original fabric label as a reminder of the “old-world textile experience.”
The 1 Year Anniversary of Dapper+Dash brings together formal wear, food and community to celebrate one of this growing online haberdashery. The event will feature new products by Dapper+Dash on the site of Phoenix’s original menswear store, now restaurant, Hanny’s.
It also serves as the launch to a Kickstarter campaign created in partnership with local graphic designer, filmmaker and 2013 TED Fellow, Safwat Saleem, to raise funds for a new subscription service.
According to Kimberlin, “We are developing a monthly subscription service providing bow ties and neck ties sent right to you door. Dapper+Dash subscribers pick out their ties on the company’s website and place them on a list. They are delivered with an enclosed, prepaid envelope for return. Subscribers can keep the ties they pick for the month, or return them to get new ones delivered.”
The community is encouraged to come out and celebrate this haberdashery in style over food, drinks and music. To further engage Dapper+Dash fans, customers are invited to bring one necktie in exchange for $10.00 off a Dapper+Dash handcrafted bow tie or handcrafted necktie.
If you go
Event: 1 Year Anniversary
When: Friday, March 22, 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Where: Hanny’s, 40 N. First Street
Admission: Free
