Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Martinez.
Fashion is the underlying theme for Houston Vintage, founded by vintage clothing enthusiast and stylist, Dawn Bell. Bell, a native of New Orleans, turned her love of vintage clothing into a career after a move to Houston in 2005.
“Houston Vintage was started out of my love of fashion and vintage fashion,” Bell explains. “I’ve always had a real passion for vintage. I’ve loved it since I was a kid, and I have been collecting since I was 14-years- old. Vintage fashion is timeless, any runway today, at any fashion week, can be replicated through vintage. This is how the idea for the first Houston Vintage came about. We had a modern fashion show with all vintage clothes. Why wear a runway copy when you can wear the original? Be an original and wear an original.”
After the first year, Diana Candida and Maria Martinez, then business partners of a vintage fashion boutique, approached Bell about expanding. Candida and Martinez had been looking for vintage venues to promote their business.
“It was Dawn’s first Houston Vintage fashion show that really gelled the idea for who we could do a festival with … and Dawn was super enthused when I proposed the idea as she’d been wanting to put on a festival, but needed a team to do it with,” Diana Candida said.
Martinez was just as enthusiastic, “I was so happy that someone was doing something like this, so creative, underground and outside the box, very different from the usual runway show,” Martinez said of the first Houston Vintage. “It was more of an homage to style, fabulous pieces and the overall feeling of vintage chic. That’s all it took for me… I was hooked! I think Houston Vintage has tethered the community together, once a year bringing this wild, unique, fun and amazingly styled group of people together.”
The Ms. Houston Vintage pageant is the highlight of Saturday’s activities. The event is open to the public, where ten contestants show off their best vintage assemblage before a celebrity panel of judges. Winners are celebrated year-round and present the next year’s winner with the sash and award.
“I always love the Day Market on Saturday,” founder Dawn Bell said of her favorite part of the event. “That’s where you can see the culmination of all our hard work, and really immerse yourself in vintage. We always invite other people in from the vintage community to collaborate, being able to work with other like-minded vintage lovers is a dream! And hopefully, the event inspires a love of vintage fashion in others, too!”
Event organizers, Dawn Bell, Diana Candida, Maria Martinez and Mitch Cohen, have assembled the best in vintage clothing, accessories, housewares and retro-inspired art from an extensive array of retailers including: Houston Vintage Radio Association, Galveston Arts, Vintage Galveston, Replay, My Flaming Heart, Vida Antigua, Anitantique, My Kitschy Closet, Blackbox Gallery and more. Previous sponsors include: 9 Banded Whiskey, Town in City Brewing Co., Topo Chico, STRUT, Magpies & Pecocks, Benefit Betties, My Flaming Heart, Khon’s and many more.
Friday evenings themed fashion show has been coordinated by Omar Lisandro and Dic Back Nextk Clark of the fashion group STRUT for the past two years and have they plan to continue doing so.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Houston Vintage Market and Festival – what should we know?
Houston Vintage is an organization that brings together vintage vendors and enthusiasts from Houston and the surrounding areas.
It’s an opportunity for all who love and live vintage to exchange ideas, find some amazing treasures, learn through demos and lectures (style, dance and culture), and celebrate all that is vintage throughout the eras.
-Voted as one of Houston’s best festivals in 2014.
-Engages in community outreach and charitable contributions.
-Houston Vintage is a proud “green” event (Onsite recycling, promoting re-use and re-purposing and environmentally conscious fashion choices.)
Contact Info:
- Website: HoustonVintage.com
- Email: HoustonVintageTX@gmail.com
- Instagram: houstonvintagemarket
- Facebook: houstonvintage
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
