My RI Life: Meet The PVD Woman Behind This Popular Vintage Vendor
Kim Hobby of Archetype Vintage
About Me
- I live in a 60's ranch house in Providence with my husband Andrew and our Akita dog.
- Went to Emerson in Boston for film, but have always loved fashion history and costuming.
- I have a thing for vintage kimonos, caftans, leopard print anything, and snake jewelry. (I have a 30's snake coil bracelet that I wear every single day.)
- I'm a horror and sci-fi film fanatic.
- Love 50's and 60's interior decor and collect crazy vintage chalkware lamps and kitschy pin up art.
I've been buying vintage everything (hats, dresses, jewelry, bags, you name it) since I was twelve years old and wore my first 50's prom dress to a school dance. Fast forward to 2011 when my collection was bursting at the seams (Wink, wink.) and I decided to open Archetype Vintage as a way to share my love of timeless and quality made clothing.
Each item in the shop is hand picked with an eye for historical relevance and modern wearability. I love 30's velvet dresses, 40's and 50's novelty prints (That's a print that features a definable object or theme, like cats, world travel or spiderwebs.) and unusual knitwear. I travel far and wide to get the good stuff and make sure that everything in the shop is clean and ready to wear. My job is 50% finding pieces, 25% cleaning, and 25% everything else like photographing, customer service, and shipping. I try to make sure that the shop always has a wide variety of items covering all eras, sizes, and price points. I sell to films and TV shows and to people all over the globe and my best customers outside of the US are in Australia. I even sell to brides and stock vintage wedding dresses in my online store.
I list new things daily in my Etsy shop and you can find me locally at The Vault Collective (235 Westminster Street). It's such a thrill to give a new life to a piece and find it a loving home.
Local Favorites
- My favorite places to shop for vintage locally are Carmen and Ginger, Rocket to Mars and POP.
- Mochas and chai teas keep me going and my favorite place to stop almost every day is White Electric. (The sandwiches and salads are great too.)
- Having a short, blonde pixie haircut means regular upkeep, so I switch between Flipp Salon and Suite Tart for cuts and coloring.
- I've been vegetarian for almost 30 years and my favorite year round treat is Like No Udder vegan ice cream. Their hard coffee ice cream is divine.
- Two of my favorite places to eat are Sun and Moon in East Providence for delicious Korean food and Masala on Mineral Spring Ave for Indian (Dinner for two with dessert for under $30!).
Social
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/archetypevintage
Instagram: @archetypevintage
Facebook: Archetype Vintage
*This post originally appeared on the blog in November of 2016.
**Top 2 photos courtesy of Kim Hobby. White Electric photo by Ashley Farney. Additional ones courtesy of PattyJ.com