When I was a kid, I was obsessed with ordering catalogs and travel guides. I received tons of mail! Stacks of magazines sat beside my bed and each night when I was supposed to read my Bible, I read Laura Ashley and American Girl catalogs instead! Ha! On a sidenote, I think I am pretty much this same person now! But, that's why I love it when Martha B. brings out her stash of vintage catalogs and scans them into her blog. This vintage Laura Ashley catalog cover just melts my heart. It's pretty and it brings back happy memories.
Photo via Nibs.
Chelsea, we are more alike than you’ll ever know!
But really…my catalog obsessions were j. crew, l.l. bean, american girl, and delias. I would cut out things I liked and make collages, add up all my wish lists and gaze at them for hours!
It was a sickness, really. But hey-a lot like blogging, right? Have a good weekend, my dear.
OMG i looooved american girl. and my bible. we should be best friends. 😉
ha! so cute. i loved american girl. and i used to dress up in my cousins’ hand-me-down laura ashley dresses because i thought they looked old-fashioned!
I am definitely still that girl, as well. I will look at my J Crew catalogs 100 times before I get tired of them! This image is gorgeous…
i think i might be partial to anything vintage, but especially vintage catalogs… thanks for sharing!
chelsea:
i think this catalog is in a box under my son’s bed! i saved a bunch of laura ashley catalogs + i’m now tempted to get out the box and fall into the rabbit hole that will ensue.
Oh my gosh, I was obsessed with catalogs! American Girl, some dollhouse store, delias, even my dad’s camping catalog! And I loved the Sunday paper with all the ads.
Shopaholoic in training I guess! Now that I’m moving, I even made sure to change my address with the dozens of catalogs (PB, RH, CB2, West Elm, JCrew….) I get each month. Boyfriend’s gonna love it.
Ditto on that one! I have had an obsession with catalogs since I was very young. I had the habit of keeping years worth in my bedroom and I would pull them out months or years later and look at them as if I had never laid eyes on it before. I still have to have a pen in hand when I look at magazines or catalogs!
Yes, Laura Ashley! And do you remember Tweeds? My mom and I loved that catalog. My favorite thing was to draw a hot bath, put up my (then) waist-length hair and pour over catalogs or Victoria Magazine. Those were the days!
Oh Pfeenie! Yes I loved Tweeds too! And, Victoria was actually more like my bible. Oh I loved it. All the old copies are back at my mom’s house and I periodically go through them when I visit!
Thanks for commenting.. I am glad I wasn’t the only kid with the catalog addiction. )
my wedding dress was from laura ashley and i would study those catalogs and books like crazy. i still have a few. i miss the company the way it used to be. i’m going to visit her blog. enjoy your weekend!
I saved every single copy of my American Girl catalogs and read each one cover to cover. They were seriously my obsession and I was so disappointed when I grew up and discovered they had changed some of the historical collections!! I have a better system now though – read my Bible first and then indulge in magazines when I have time. 🙂
I hear you Katherine! I was so obsessed with the clothes they had for girls.. so cute!! I wish I would have saved them too! Unfortunately, I am still no good at reading any sort of scripture or bible:)!!
I make my mom save catalogue for me so that when I go home I can review all the one’s I’ve missed. I am particularly fond of J.Crew and Crewcuts (who isn’t?!). I have so many memories of Laura Ashley! Shame it isn’t the same anymore (I thought it was gone but saw a shop in Cambridge 2 years ago).
i subscribed to every art school mailing list i could get on! i still have boxes of pictures i cut out!
Great photo! I too was a catalog fanatic when I was a kid. I’d get soooo excited when the new JcPenney catalog came out! It was a sickness, really. 🙂
sweet post 🙂 i wish hats would come back into fashion! so stylish.
oh my gosh. this is hilarious. i thought i was the only one who literally WORE OUT my american girl catalog and victoria magazine.
also, we lived three hours away from any sort of shopping, so my mom had a box of (usually current) catalogs under the stairs and called it the mini-mall, which i now have to chuckle over.
Oh I loved Tweeds too! And I have a ton of old old Victoria magazines and J. Crew catalogs I look through once a year. I guess I’m not weird after all, haha.
I save ALL of my old mags and most treasured catalogs. It’s the one area in which I’m a pack rat. I can recall many a hours drooling over Laura Ashley catalogs.
P.S. I think it’s in the genes…my 8 y.o. is currently hooked on American Girl catalogs-can’t get enough of them.
I actually still have the Laura Ashley scarf featured in this photo! How wonderful to be reminded of those days.
Do you have the Laura Ashley catalogue from the Fall of 1998? If not, do you know how I could track it down? Thanks
tomiokakeating@yahoo.com
I dont. Try Ebay maybe!
Good luck!