Anessa Woods in Brooklyn December 2011.
The first time I met Anessa Woods, was in 1999 at Larry’s Bar, a smoke filled watering hole on University campus that attracted hipsters, linguistics professors and dirty old men. Rumored to have been a gay bar within OSU’s Greek systems, Larry’s was routinely skipped by braternity pub crawlers, allowing non student campus residents to debate art, philosphy, music and more. But take away the designer denim, tweed jackets, and ironic tees and we were all the same drunk. Except for Anessa.
Anessa was a passionate photography student who loved fashion, post-modern art, and the Detroit music scene. She was wild with a 70′s je’ ne se qua and for not being a full on punk, she had an attitude that screamed “fuck it”. At rock shows, I’d often admire her thick blonde mane, backlit by stage lights, as it wafted to the beat of the drum.
Fast forward 13 years, take a left at NY, walk across the bridge over some arguments over guys, then take a right to Columbus, Ohio and Anessa is not only a dear friend, but owner of Bustown Modern, a digital vintage clothing boutique she started with her husband, Paul Fogt in 2006. She is also the only one of my friends to which I can say things like “That scarf is so Michael Kors for Celine Spring ’03″ to which she would reply “yes so 70′s Julie Christie en route to Morocco.” She’s full of fun facts like how Elsa Schiaparelli’s first distributed design was a tromp l’oeil sweater in 1928.
Bustown Modern boasts Cristobal Balenciaga finds, Peaches Geldof as a customer and a carefully curated assortment pulled from closets all over the midwest. Her job is literally to know everything about fashion and design history in order to price items for vintage followers. There is such a unique feeling about buying vintage, it’s a passport to the fashion past, and Anessa is working on writing the tour guide with her finds.
She is so passionate about her work, seeing her comb through the many racks in her studio showing me new arrivals of 45 year old silks and velvet, she seems back lit by the stage of her own life now. It’s such a pleasure knowing someone who loves what they do. Here she is describing what she does in her own words…
-
- 1970′s Christian Dior
-
- 1970′s Oscar De La Renta
-
- Anessa and Paul
-
- Bustown Modern’s digital store front.
-
- Bumble the dog!
-
- Seriously Sequined Smock
-
- Quirky Couture
-
- 80′s Vintage Valentino
-
- Chanel
Q+A
NeverIsSacred: What is Bustown Modern?
Anessa Woods: Bustown Modern is (currently) a weekly listing of 20th century vintage + designer, clothing + accessories on eBay. Each week my husband and I challenge ourselves to outdo the previous week’s listings with more rare + more unique items. We spend hundreds of hours combing through every means you can think of to find rare, high-end + crazy vintage pieces that are on point with today’s runway trends (hence the word”Modern” in our name).
NIS: If Bustown Modern was a person what zodiac sign would it be?
AW: Libra-Scorpio cusp. Definitely.
NIS: How did you get started collecting vintage?
AW: I started thrifting when I was in 6th or 7th grade. I loved vintage and hated all the mall stuff the otherkids at my school were wearing. Everyone looked exactly the same to me. There have always been so many aspects of modern fashion that I love but I also love knowing that my piece has a history, that it had a life before me and will (hopefully) have a life after belonging to me. I just recently did the math and figured out that I’ve been collecting vintage for exactly 20 years. It makes me feel old but also incredibly happy.
NIS: You shoot all your own items and provide original content, what’s that process like?
AW: It is laborious and can be monotonous + repetitive at times. I shoot 2-3, 6 or 8 hour sessions per week + Paul spends hours editing photos and doing design/web work. On top of that, I write all the copy, he does the shipping and we both do all of the buying together. It keeps our plates full, to say the least.
NIS: Do you keep up with current trends and seasonal shows?
