All images via Astral Boutique I suspect it will come as no surprise to anyone who has been a reader here for long, or to those who have flipped through a page or two of my archives – that I am madly, wildly in love with vintage clothing and fashion. Even less of a surprise, I think, is that one of my favourite sellers of vintage clothing is Sasha over at Astral Boutique! From trippy floral mini-dresses to satisfy one’s inner-flower-child, to magical fairytale tea party frocks, to delightfully ruffled prairie dresses for a Holly Hobby farm princess -Sasha has got something especially wonderful to make anyone’s crazy-lovely vintage dreams come true. (The Holly Hobby dream was mine, by the way.) In addition to running her Etsy shop full time, she and her amazing band just put out their first CD, “One way Ticket to the Zone” (which is a lot of fun, and a total earworm – I have had “Tomb of the Zombie Queen” running through my head for days now!) She has graciously agreed to answer some of my burning questions about who she is and what she does, AND in addition to that we are randomly choosing 2 winners to receive a copy of “One way Ticket to the Zone”! Be sure to leave a comment after reading to be eligible for the giveaway. The drawing will be one week from today, so please be certain you provide some way for us to contact you as well! …and away we go! Mlle Ghoul: You recently quit your day job to in pursuit, I assume, of the things you love to do! First off – Congratulations! What does a typical day look like for you, now that you are free of the wretched 9-5 grind? Sasha : Yeah, I had been working as a receptionist/office manager in natural health (first for an acupuncturist, and then for Naturopathic Doctors) for almost five years, and I felt like I had squeezed every little bit of self-education out of my job. The main benefit of working a front desk position was that I became very comfortable dealing with all kinds of people, face to face, which totally knocked all of my inherent social awkwardness out of me. But by the end I was like the world’s worst employee, never happy to be at work- I was dying to do something challenging and creative. I had tried to start businesses before but I had never been able to “figure it out”, mostly because I was too young and too introverted, so it was a dream a long time in the making. Now it’s been 3 months now of working for myself and I am starting to find my groove. I spent nearly the entire first month celebrating my freedom- a cause which many were happy to toast with me, I will note, especially as it was the Merry Month of May!- and then realized that if I didn’t work, I wasn’t going to pay the bills! Ha! Many of my days begin with a Mission— replete with a pre-packed lunch on ice, CDs for my trip, etc., as I am a total girl scout planner at heart. Hunting the wild vintage beast is a serious endeavor, requiring looking under every rock and stone, and up to 10 stores in one day. I try to do it all on one shot. I also do a lot of field trips to do my photo shoots, which happen either in the early morning or late afternoon- you can’t beat that lovely, slanting light. If I am at home, I usually blink the sleep out of my eyes when my hunny starts up his car for work, write down my dreams (which can take a long time!), and then get up, cuddle the cats if they are around, and put on some music. I like to go through my vinyl collection and see what fits my mood for the day, and then dance like a maniac around the house until I am starving for breakfast. After that, I get down to work, measuring and uploading new items to my shop, and packing and shipping orders. I usually listen to radio on the internet all day long- in fact my week’s schedule is starting to revolve around my favorite shows. WFMU out of New Jersey and KALX out of Berkeley are my main go-to stations. I try to fit most of my work into four days, Monday through Thursday, so I can have some time alone on Friday to do music and art. When I worked at the office, I literally spent every night and weekend working on my Etsy store to get it up and running, so my life feels easy now by comparison! I actually get to hang with my husband, have weekends free, and play way more music. I am in three bands all of a sudden, since I went full-time on Etsy. I’d call that a move in the right direction! Your taste in vintage items is exquisite and you have such an eye for beautiful things. Please describe your aesthetic for us! I always think of it as “trippy gypsy / psychedelic sylph” but I’d love to hear how you would describe your current style in your own words. How has it evolved? Okay, I am just not going to do better than “psychedelic sylph”…no way! But I like to think of my style as an act of constantly creating my personal fairy tale…. which changes, of course, as the stories vary in any good thick collection of fairy tales. Some days I feel like it is 1967 and I have a ticket to Atlantis stashed in my back pocket, endless Indian cotton tapestries and sandalwood; sometimes I feel like gasoline mixed with vanilla and roses, the wild-eyed gypsy punk who is putting pedal to the metal, turning up the Hungarian violins, and never coming home again; and some days I feel like Marie Antoinette through an 80s time warp that had a layover in Japan. It depends on the moon, my hormones, and the season… and what I find at the thrift store. Have you always had an affinity toward vintage/thrifted items? What are some of your favourite, most loved finds from over the years? I didn’t realize I was getting into vintage, especially 60s vintage, when I played dress-up with my mom’s old clothes- but something became imprinted, obviously. My mom has great taste, and when she was single in the late 60s, living in San Francisco, she got some fabulous stuff. She wasn’t a flower child by any means, but that psychedelic mindset was seeping into the upscale boutiques around that time. I have this wool “hoodie” of hers from the 60s that has a houndstooth pattern in acid green and purple. That will never be made again on planet earth! I started buying my own vintage in high school. I got very into my outfits and makeup around the same time I started dating— imagine that! I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is a mecca for vintage, and back then it was cheap. I went to tons of live music shows, and of course I liked to have a new (vintage) dress for each one. I methodically ruined each and every one of these lovelies, much to my mother’s horror, but what could you do? I was a teenager, I was a goth, I was in mosh pits, I was spilling candle wax and pilfered wine all over myself. My favorite dress of all time, which was a rose lace 50s frock bought in England, died in a fevered writhing mass of bodies at a My Bloody Valentine show in 1992. It was a good death. My other favorite, which I met my husband in, was a pale green gossamer 1920s full length gown, and that one just literally disintegrated. And the red velvet 60s mini with the giant bell sleeves? God, my mother probably hid that away when I wasn’t looking. That one was a man magnet. How did you get started selling your vintage items on Etsy? How have you found the whole experience to be? The community? What are some of your recommended shops? I got my start as one half of a rockin’ two-woman shop called Violet Folklore, which is still serving up the rad boho threads for you on Etsy. Me and my partner, Amber, eventually started our own stores. I can honestly say that Etsy completely fulfills its promise to be a community-oriented, fully supportive, kind and gentle marketplace. I have connected with so many amazing people on Etsy! And my customers are golden, just golden. I thank the gods/goddesses every day that Etsy was invented. Seriously. My favorite shops- ooo! http://www.etsy.com/shop/flaminghagfolkwear http://www.etsy.com/shop/moonshinejunkyard http://www.etsy.com/shop/moonchildvintage http://www.etsy.com/shop/GATHERJEWELRY http://www.etsy.com/shop/dandeliondaydreamer http://www.etsy.com/shop/AidaCoronado http://www.etsy.com/shop/iheartnorwegianwood http://www.etsy.com/shop/blueberryshoes http://www.etsy.com/shop/spirocreations Okay…. I could really go on forever here. I haven’t even gotten into fine art! The locations you choose for your shop item photo shoots are always so incredibly lovely (in addition to the items themselves, of course!). Sort of a hazy summer late afternoon 70’s Polaroid feel to it (I am reminded of the visuals/cinematography in the films Let’s Scare Jessica to Death and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, actually) I get the impression that your chosen settings are places quite local to you…almost in your back yard, even. Can you tell me a bit about the area in which you live, and how it inspires you? The flora, the fauna, the people, the culture, etc. Thank you so much! I feel so flattered. It’s true, I actually use my own backyard for a lot of my pictures! Or I go down the road to other beautiful locations in the area. I live in the Sierra Foothills, between Grass Valley and Nevada City. This is a really special place- there are only like 20,000 people living here, but there is a disproportionate number of nutters and artsy weridos- which I like. We have the most number of bookstores per capita in all of the Western states! We get four true seasons, since we are at about 2,000 feet in elevation, and we are surrounded by giant oaks, madrones, cedars, and manzanitas. The most amazing part of this place, however, is the Yuba River. It is magic. Maybe it’s all the quartz crystals in the rocks that it runs over- or maybe it is the good vibes the hippies and back-to-the-landers have been giving it for the past forty years. Oh, I shouldn’t forget the fauna— the hippies aren’t the only fauna!— in my five years of living here, I have seen bears, foxes, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, deer, every kind of bird, and one very sexy bobcat. I know your band Sasha and the Shamrocks just put out their first cd “One Way Ticket to the Zone”. This must be so exciting for you guys! The CD cover art is charming - you designed it yourself, right? Your myspace page describes your music as “Spook-a-billy” which is a description I really just love! Can you tell us a little about your sound? The songs? Who would you consider to be your musical influences/inspirations? Again, thank you so much! I am so glad you like it. It was quite an endeavor to put a CD out. Everyone makes it look so easy, you know? But it costs a lot and its a huge amount of focus and energy to actually manifest it. Yes, I did the collage on the cover— I go through phases of doing lots of collage, and it is one of my favorite art forms. When I try to describe my music to people who exist in the more mainstream culture, I find it is safe to call ourselves “garage rock”. If I really don’t want them coming to my show, I call it “punk”- ha! Obviously it’s not punk, but it’s often loud. Personally I think we are a mix of 80s goth (aka The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees) with a raw edge a la Patti Smith, and forays into pop with “tribal” drums in the vein of Bow Wow Wow… with some silly thrown in there, Beat Happening style. Then there is the rockabilly side. And the French pop with the Jacques Brel monologue. Oh, and our reggae song. I am making it sound like a total mess, but I think somehow it all goes together. My “extreme vocal delivery” unites all of the elements! You are a multi-talented, multi-tasking lady! You recently put together a one-day Music festival , “BunnyHenge”. What was that all about? Will you be doing it again next year? (edit: you can read more about this event over at Violet Folklore !)Oh my God, twenty bands in our backyard- um, no, someone else needs to host that next year! Ha ha! It was a crazy thing to organize. But every few year I seem to do one of these events (I put on a Nevada County Ladyfest with one other woman two year ago!). We had so many incredible acts performing…. I am grateful to all of them! From the Moore Brothers to Chelsea Wolfe to Ariella Daly to Citay, and, well, 16 more from Sacramento, San Francisco, and right here in Nevada County. Where I get these ideas, no one knows. Speaking of multi-talented, tell us about some of your other pursuits/crafty endeavors. For example, I believe I remember reading that you are a bit of an herbalist? Why yes, I AM an herbalist! I got sick of sitting in the classroom learning “theory this” and “critical analysis that”, so after I got my BA (in cinema) I ran off to join the gypsies. Well, to learn about earth medicine and earth magic. I studied for many years with some of the best teachers in Northern California- Kami McBride, Terri Jensen and Karen Aguilar, Candace Cantin, Kathi Keville, and Sarah Holmes and Karyn Sanders at the Blue Otter School of Herbal Medicine where I did a four-month intensive learning Native American Herbalism. I use herbs in my every day life, though mostly I just love communing with plant spirits in the wild— the other reason I like to do outdoor photo shoots! I go to the Women’s Herbal Symposium every year in Laytonville, which is my Church of sorts. If you came to my house I would definitely give you a cup of mugwort tea! What is next for you? Any upcoming projects that you can tell us about? What are your predictions for the future? Oh my God, I don’t know! I feel like I am in a Happy Place right now and I just want to maintain that if at all possible. I do have musical aspirations, which involve getting out of town to make new friends up and down the West Coast. I just want to keep writing new songs and deepening my relationships with my friends… learning more about myself and the world and the universe. There is so much to learn and to do every day, I just want to make the most of my time here on earth. I want to leave something artistic behind for future generations… I always thought I would be a writer, but right now it seems to be songwriting that communicates the best. I wonder what the future holds! Let’s gaze into the crystal ball…….. Thank you Sasha, for answering all of my questions!You absolutely must check out Sasha’s shop over at Etsy, and also be sure to peek in on her blog and say hello! Whether enchanting dresses or gorgeous scenery or incredible music recommendations - there is always something going on!Remember, you have til a week from today for the giveaway!  Please leave a comment in the “reply” field to be entered into the drawing; as an alternative for people without a tumblr account, you may leave a comment with your name and contact info here.

All images via Astral Boutique

I suspect it will come as no surprise to anyone who has been a reader here for long, or to those who have flipped through a page or two of my archives – that I am madly, wildly in love with vintage clothing and fashion. Even less of a surprise, I think, is that one of my favourite sellers of vintage clothing is Sasha over at Astral Boutique!

From trippy floral mini-dresses to satisfy one’s inner-flower-child, to magical fairytale tea party frocks, to delightfully ruffled prairie dresses for a Holly Hobby farm princess -Sasha has got something especially wonderful to make anyone’s crazy-lovely vintage dreams come true.
(The Holly Hobby dream was mine, by the way.)

In addition to running her Etsy shop full time, she and her amazing band just put out their first CD, “One way Ticket to the Zone” (which is a lot of fun, and a total earworm – I have had “Tomb of the Zombie Queen” running through my head for days now!) She has graciously agreed to answer some of my burning questions about who she is and what she does, AND in addition to that we are randomly choosing 2 winners to receive a copy of “One way Ticket to the Zone”!
Be sure to leave a comment after reading to be eligible for the giveaway. The drawing will be one week from today, so please be certain you provide some way for us to contact you as well!




…and away we go!

Mlle Ghoul: You recently quit your day job to in pursuit, I assume, of the things you love to do! First off – Congratulations! What does a typical day look like for you, now that you are free of the wretched 9-5 grind?

Sasha : Yeah, I had been working as a receptionist/office manager in natural health (first for an acupuncturist, and then for Naturopathic Doctors) for almost five years, and I felt like I had squeezed every little bit of self-education out of my job. The main benefit of working a front desk position was that I became very comfortable dealing with all kinds of people, face to face, which totally knocked all of my inherent social awkwardness out of me. But by the end I was like the world’s worst employee, never happy to be at work- I was dying to do something challenging and creative. I had tried to start businesses before but I had never been able to “figure it out”, mostly because I was too young and too introverted, so it was a dream a long time in the making. Now it’s been 3 months now of working for myself and I am starting to find my groove. I spent nearly the entire first month celebrating my freedom- a cause which many were happy to toast with me, I will note, especially as it was the Merry Month of May!- and then realized that if I didn’t work, I wasn’t going to pay the bills! Ha!

Many of my days begin with a Mission— replete with a pre-packed lunch on ice, CDs for my trip, etc., as I am a total girl scout planner at heart. Hunting the wild vintage beast is a serious endeavor, requiring looking under every rock and stone, and up to 10 stores in one day. I try to do it all on one shot. I also do a lot of field trips to do my photo shoots, which happen either in the early morning or late afternoon- you can’t beat that lovely, slanting light.

If I am at home, I usually blink the sleep out of my eyes when my hunny starts up his car for work, write down my dreams (which can take a long time!), and then get up, cuddle the cats if they are around, and put on some music. I like to go through my vinyl collection and see what fits my mood for the day, and then dance like a maniac around the house until I am starving for breakfast. After that, I get down to work, measuring and uploading new items to my shop, and packing and shipping orders.

I usually listen to radio on the internet all day long- in fact my week’s schedule is starting to revolve around my favorite shows. WFMU out of New Jersey and KALX out of Berkeley are my main go-to stations. I try to fit most of my work into four days, Monday through Thursday, so I can have some time alone on Friday to do music and art. When I worked at the office, I literally spent every night and weekend working on my Etsy store to get it up and running, so my life feels easy now by comparison! I actually get to hang with my husband, have weekends free, and play way more music. I am in three bands all of a sudden, since I went full-time on Etsy. I’d call that a move in the right direction!




Your taste in vintage items is exquisite and you have such an eye for beautiful things. Please describe your aesthetic for us! I always think of it as “trippy gypsy / psychedelic sylph” but I’d love to hear how you would describe your current style in your own words. How has it evolved?

Okay, I am just not going to do better than “psychedelic sylph”…no way! But I like to think of my style as an act of constantly creating my personal fairy tale…. which changes, of course, as the stories vary in any good thick collection of fairy tales. Some days I feel like it is 1967 and I have a ticket to Atlantis stashed in my back pocket, endless Indian cotton tapestries and sandalwood; sometimes I feel like gasoline mixed with vanilla and roses, the wild-eyed gypsy punk who is putting pedal to the metal, turning up the Hungarian violins, and never coming home again; and some days I feel like Marie Antoinette through an 80s time warp that had a layover in Japan. It depends on the moon, my hormones, and the season… and what I find at the thrift store.

Have you always had an affinity toward vintage/thrifted items? What are some of your favourite, most loved finds from over the years?

I didn’t realize I was getting into vintage, especially 60s vintage, when I played dress-up with my mom’s old clothes- but something became imprinted, obviously. My mom has great taste, and when she was single in the late 60s, living in San Francisco, she got some fabulous stuff. She wasn’t a flower child by any means, but that psychedelic mindset was seeping into the upscale boutiques around that time. I have this wool “hoodie” of hers from the 60s that has a houndstooth pattern in acid green and purple. That will never be made again on planet earth!

I started buying my own vintage in high school. I got very into my outfits and makeup around the same time I started dating— imagine that! I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is a mecca for vintage, and back then it was cheap. I went to tons of live music shows, and of course I liked to have a new (vintage) dress for each one. I methodically ruined each and every one of these lovelies, much to my mother’s horror, but what could you do? I was a teenager, I was a goth, I was in mosh pits, I was spilling candle wax and pilfered wine all over myself. My favorite dress of all time, which was a rose lace 50s frock bought in England, died in a fevered writhing mass of bodies at a My Bloody Valentine show in 1992. It was a good death. My other favorite, which I met my husband in, was a pale green gossamer 1920s full length gown, and that one just literally disintegrated. And the red velvet 60s mini with the giant bell sleeves? God, my mother probably hid that away when I wasn’t looking. That one was a man magnet.




How did you get started selling your vintage items on Etsy? How have you found the whole experience to be? The community? What are some of your recommended shops?

I got my start as one half of a rockin’ two-woman shop called Violet Folklore, which is still serving up the rad boho threads for you on Etsy. Me and my partner, Amber, eventually started our own stores. I can honestly say that Etsy completely fulfills its promise to be a community-oriented, fully supportive, kind and gentle marketplace. I have connected with so many amazing people on Etsy! And my customers are golden, just golden. I thank the gods/goddesses every day that Etsy was invented. Seriously.

My favorite shops- ooo!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/flaminghagfolkwear
http://www.etsy.com/shop/moonshinejunkyard
http://www.etsy.com/shop/moonchildvintage
http://www.etsy.com/shop/GATHERJEWELRY
http://www.etsy.com/shop/dandeliondaydreamer
http://www.etsy.com/shop/AidaCoronado
http://www.etsy.com/shop/iheartnorwegianwood
http://www.etsy.com/shop/blueberryshoes
http://www.etsy.com/shop/spirocreations

Okay…. I could really go on forever here. I haven’t even gotten into fine art!

The locations you choose for your shop item photo shoots are always so incredibly lovely (in addition to the items themselves, of course!). Sort of a hazy summer late afternoon 70’s Polaroid feel to it (I am reminded of the visuals/cinematography in the films Let’s Scare Jessica to Death and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, actually) I get the impression that your chosen settings are places quite local to you…almost in your back yard, even. Can you tell me a bit about the area in which you live, and how it inspires you? The flora, the fauna, the people, the culture, etc.

Thank you so much! I feel so flattered. It’s true, I actually use my own backyard for a lot of my pictures! Or I go down the road to other beautiful locations in the area.

I live in the Sierra Foothills, between Grass Valley and Nevada City. This is a really special place- there are only like 20,000 people living here, but there is a disproportionate number of nutters and artsy weridos- which I like. We have the most number of bookstores per capita in all of the Western states! We get four true seasons, since we are at about 2,000 feet in elevation, and we are surrounded by giant oaks, madrones, cedars, and manzanitas. The most amazing part of this place, however, is the Yuba River. It is magic. Maybe it’s all the quartz crystals in the rocks that it runs over- or maybe it is the good vibes the hippies and back-to-the-landers have been giving it for the past forty years.

Oh, I shouldn’t forget the fauna— the hippies aren’t the only fauna!— in my five years of living here, I have seen bears, foxes, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, deer, every kind of bird, and one very sexy bobcat.

I know your band Sasha and the Shamrocks just put out their first cd “One Way Ticket to the Zone”. This must be so exciting for you guys! The CD cover art is charming - you designed it yourself, right? Your myspace page describes your music as “Spook-a-billy” which is a description I really just love! Can you tell us a little about your sound? The songs? Who would you consider to be your musical influences/inspirations?

Again, thank you so much! I am so glad you like it. It was quite an endeavor to put a CD out. Everyone makes it look so easy, you know? But it costs a lot and its a huge amount of focus and energy to actually manifest it.

Yes, I did the collage on the cover— I go through phases of doing lots of collage, and it is one of my favorite art forms.

When I try to describe my music to people who exist in the more mainstream culture, I find it is safe to call ourselves “garage rock”. If I really don’t want them coming to my show, I call it “punk”- ha! Obviously it’s not punk, but it’s often loud. Personally I think we are a mix of 80s goth (aka The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees) with a raw edge a la Patti Smith, and forays into pop with “tribal” drums in the vein of Bow Wow Wow… with some silly thrown in there, Beat Happening style. Then there is the rockabilly side. And the French pop with the Jacques Brel monologue. Oh, and our reggae song. I am making it sound like a total mess, but I think somehow it all goes together. My “extreme vocal delivery” unites all of the elements!


You are a multi-talented, multi-tasking lady! You recently put together a one-day Music festival , “BunnyHenge”. What was that all about? Will you be doing it again next year?
(edit: you can read more about this event over at Violet Folklore !)

Oh my God, twenty bands in our backyard- um, no, someone else needs to host that next year! Ha ha! It was a crazy thing to organize. But every few year I seem to do one of these events (I put on a Nevada County Ladyfest with one other woman two year ago!). We had so many incredible acts performing…. I am grateful to all of them! From the Moore Brothers to Chelsea Wolfe to Ariella Daly to Citay, and, well, 16 more from Sacramento, San Francisco, and right here in Nevada County.

Where I get these ideas, no one knows.


Speaking of multi-talented, tell us about some of your other pursuits/crafty endeavors. For example, I believe I remember reading that you are a bit of an herbalist?

Why yes, I AM an herbalist! I got sick of sitting in the classroom learning “theory this” and “critical analysis that”, so after I got my BA (in cinema) I ran off to join the gypsies. Well, to learn about earth medicine and earth magic. I studied for many years with some of the best teachers in Northern California- Kami McBride, Terri Jensen and Karen Aguilar, Candace Cantin, Kathi Keville, and Sarah Holmes and Karyn Sanders at the Blue Otter School of Herbal Medicine where I did a four-month intensive learning Native American Herbalism. I use herbs in my every day life, though mostly I just love communing with plant spirits in the wild— the other reason I like to do outdoor photo shoots! I go to the Women’s Herbal Symposium every year in Laytonville, which is my Church of sorts. If you came to my house I would definitely give you a cup of mugwort tea!

What is next for you? Any upcoming projects that you can tell us about? What are your predictions for the future?

Oh my God, I don’t know! I feel like I am in a Happy Place right now and I just want to maintain that if at all possible. I do have musical aspirations, which involve getting out of town to make new friends up and down the West Coast. I just want to keep writing new songs and deepening my relationships with my friends… learning more about myself and the world and the universe. There is so much to learn and to do every day, I just want to make the most of my time here on earth. I want to leave something artistic behind for future generations… I always thought I would be a writer, but right now it seems to be songwriting that communicates the best. I wonder what the future holds! Let’s gaze into the crystal ball……..



Thank you Sasha, for answering all of my questions!

You absolutely must check out Sasha’s shop over at Etsy, and also be sure to peek in on her blog and say hello! Whether enchanting dresses or gorgeous scenery or incredible music recommendations - there is always something going on!

Remember, you have til a week from today for the giveaway!  Please leave a comment in the “reply” field to be entered into the drawing; as an alternative for people without a tumblr account, you may leave a comment with your name and contact info here.

Tags: astral boutique music herbalism sasha soukoup interview giveaway 6 notes | | Aug 9, 2010
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