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At age 23, Jessie Gonzalez is doing exactly what she's always wanted to do: running her own vintage boutique. 'I have been collecting my whole life,” says the owner of newly opened Little Luna Vintage. 'When my friends went to the mall, I begged my mom to take me to estate sales and thrift stores.”
Gonzalez, who grew up in Knoxville and learned how to crochet from her mother at age five, got her professional start in New York working for Sonny Lam, the creative director of shoes and accessories for fashion label Derek Lam. 'I learned a lot, but mostly about how to run a business,” she says. It was Lam who helped her realize her talent for rehabilitating vintage clothing and hunting for unique finds. 'He said, ‘Don't overlook stuff. Those are the pieces that people want but don't know how to fix,'” she says.
'And he was right. I had the sewing skills to fix even the most damaged pieces and make them look new again.”
After moving back to Lenoir City a few years ago, Gonzalez had the opportunity to rent a space adjacent to and owned by The Hermitage Hotel. She immediately jumped on it. 'I knew I wanted to be downtown,” she says. 'There are thrift shops and antiques but no one focusing on vintage clothing. I wanted to be the first.” Little Luna Vintage opened last fall and offers clothing as well as accessories. The women's collection includes items like Oscar de la Renta silk scarves, Edwardian lace gowns, and handmade lingerie from a Chicago-based company called Dottie's Delights; for men, there are leather military jackets, Christian Dior wool peacoats, and silk ties.
While she gets most of her pieces by scavenging trade shows and markets in New York, Gonzalez says the real finds are all about the hunt and the story. 'The places I find the best pieces are yard sales, dusty junk stores, and thrift shops,” she says. 'If there is an ad in the paper, it means the likelihood is greater that you will buy straight from the original owner.” She recalls a gentleman she bought military jackets from: 'After thoroughly questioning why he would want to get rid of them, he simply shrugged, ‘War's over, honey.' So I just gave him more money instead.”
Gonzalez says she draws inspiration from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s and proudly reveals a section of dresses for rent. 'I rent because I want more than one person to wear them,” she says. Not including the original owners, of course.
217B 6th Ave. N., 615-678-5695; littlelunavintage.com