Today we’d like to introduce you to Jade Frank.
Hi Jade, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m a vintage curator and budding writer. My interests really came forth from necessity and accessibility. I started selling vintage out of necessity. All I could afford growing up was thrifted clothing when the new school year came. After years of scouring dusty racks, I’ve learned how to quickly find the quality in the midst of fast fashion. I started writing as a Tumblr teen because I could not afford a number of arts and crafts supplies to feed my creative spirit, but I could afford a pen and composition notebook. I started releasing personal essays on my Substack Jezebel Dreams in 2023 as a passion project in between shifts at Goodwill (worst job I ever had). I needed to express myself after feeling so shut down. A year later, I have brought on board just shy of 100 subscribers, and I feel myself making my teenage self proud.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not. Two significant roadblocks I hit were a 9-month abusive relationship and graduating from college in the middle of lockdown in 2021. That relationship changed my life and left me with PTSD and completing a huge milestone (as the first in my immediate family to graduate from university) in the midst of so much confusion, strife, and a terrible job market more than drained me, but my creative endeavors have kept me grounded, and quite frankly alive through the worst times. After the abusive relationship during my first year of college and the PTSD symptoms following that experience made it incredibly difficult for me to keep a traditional job while also balancing school. Reselling thrifted clothing was my lifeline in between odd jobs and gigs I could pick up.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I curate vintage clothing under the brand Lavender Haze, and you can shop my pieces at the coolest vintage shop in Silverlake called Ratstar. It’s right next door to Sqirl. Ratstar is made up of a group of five sellers, and stocking my pieces has been a highlight of my week. Every Saturday I’m there. Currently I’ve been sourcing a bunch of 70s vintage and collegiate pieces (letterman jackets, cheer skirts) for Spring! I also take on personal styling clients at a variety of budgets to help them make their dream wardrobe a reality with only secondhand and vintage pieces. Styling folks is such a fun job for me because I can explore and put together looks that I could never work on me for others to stunt in! I also release writing about biweekly for my Substack titled Jezebel Dreams. There you will find essays and social commentary on whatever I’m watching, experiencing, reading, etc, roundups of things I find on the internet, thrifting tips, and whatever else I want to write and release.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I liked a lot of the same things I do now, clothing, YouTube, music, and San-X characters. I was also painfully shy and quiet; I’ve worked a lot on that in recent years because I realized just how many opportunities I missed by not speaking up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jezebeldreams.substack.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ardent.angel
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ardent.angel
