12 hours in detroit

My friend Jess was in town yesterday for the Muse show, so we decided to spend the day vintage shopping and taking photos for the blog in Detroit.

We started the day at the famed abandoned Packard Plant building. Aside from in pictures, neither of us had ever been there before. We circled the building in my car first, looking for a place to shoot some photos.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little apprehensive when we stopped at an opening that looked straight into the centre 'courtyard' of the structure. Me in my heels, Jess with camera in hand, not really sure what or who we were going to encounter.  It was eerie to walk up and find a mound of shoes.  Men's and women's shoes, heels and boots. Almost as if they had been placed there for a photo shoot, as props, in the past.  There were literally hundreds of shoes, some still elasticized together in pairs.  In Steven Kutrz' recently published article on Detroit in ruins in the NY Times (here), Mark Binelli (Rolling Stone Magazine) said it best: He compared ruins like the Packard plant to cathedrals, writing that “they can feel beautiful and tragic at the same time.” My sentiments exactly.

Metallic top (vintage, Mama Loves You, Toronto, ON $26). Pants (Jacob). Leather jacket (Zara). Booties (Steve Madden). Clutch (H&M). Sunglasses (Ray-Ban).

Photos J Sands

Some of the days finds from Mother Fletchers and Lost and Found Vintage

Muse

Photos S Mingay