The Maine Music Hoodie is now available to purchase at Elykssor! The hoodie features the signatures of some of our favorite Maine musicians: Spose, Will Mallett and Dave Gutter. There’s only 50 available, so you better hurry!

Some people are born with style. Mandy Wheeler just happens to be one of them. Mandy, owner of Grandma June, was passed down a sense of style from her shop’s namesake, her beloved Grandmother. “My Mom always tells this story of my Grandmother picking her up from school. She’d be the Mom that would walk down the hallways and kids would stick their heads out of classrooms and wonder who she was,” says Mandy.

Though Mandy occasionally sells an item or two from her Grandma’s collection, most of her items are culled from estate sells, auctions or personal viewings. “I started this shop because I wanted to sell beautiful clothes. I never put anything in the shop that I wouldn’t personally wear,” she says. “I want people to see my style distinctly.”

Mandy runs her shop out of her South Portland apartment. Her bedroom walls are covered in beautiful vintage hats. A screen pulls down from her ceiling for impromptu fashion shoots for her site. And if you walk through the swinging door to her walk-in closet, you’ll see a carefully selected collection of dresses, shoes, purses and coats. It’s a vintage lovers dream.

Every piece of clothing in Grandma June has a story. One of her most prized posessions is a wedding gown from 1954 that comes with it’s original head piece, gloves and a garter with a penny the bride wore on her wedding day still in it.

Her other major inspiration - music - is evident by a giant photo collage created by her Father that hangs in her stairwell. If Mandy looks familiar, you might have seen her rocking out in Honey Clouds or Foam Castles. And you can bet she looks good on stage.

What do you get one you take one part oceanic rock musician and bag-jewelry-maker extraordinaire and pair it with a female hip-hop artist? Ponomo Style…naturally. We were graciously welcomed into Hannah Tarkinson’s studio last week where we discussed ebay, World War II bracelets and the Maine rap scene. 

Hannah Tarkinson made her first bag nine years ago when she couldn’t afford the quality she’d see in high-fashion lines. “That was it really. I made one and they started to sell,” she says. Her leather bags are made from salvaged hides that she hand tools, dyes and sews to make custom bags - no bag is exactly like another. Unlike lots of designers, Hannah didn’t seek out the craft, it found her. “I never thought I’d end up being good at this, let alone be doing it full-time,” says the lead singer for Portland based band Isobell. (That’s right. She’s a lead singer in a band, owns her own company and she’s a Mom. She is seriously my “I-can-do-everything-and-still-look-put-together-and-be-witty hero”) 

As demand for her bags and jewelry grew, Hannah started to think about taking on a business partner. She finally found a good match in Sonya Tomlinson a.k.a Sontiago. “I wasn’t good at PR so one way I tried to get exposure with my jewelry was by giving it to musicians to wear. That’s how I met Sonya,” explains Hannah. “There is no better match for me. She is the most genuine person to be in this business with.” 

Sonya shares that same affection for her partner. “You can give someone all the parts we work with, but they won’t construct anything like what Hannah will come up with,” she says. Hannah doesn’t seek out trends or create what she knows will sell. Instead, she’ll read a fashion magazine to look at what not to make.  

The beauty of Ponomo (po’ no’ mo’ - poor no more - in case you were wondering) comes largely from the discarded pieces that get a new life - from bullet shells to leather scraps to zippers, all repurposed and reconstructed materials.  ”I’ll actually hold a piece and have an emotional attachment to it,” says Hannah as she shows us bracelets that soldiers would send their sweethearts during World War II. 

And if the duo isn’t busy enough, they also run Frock N’ Roll - a charity event that raises money for The Portland Music Foundation. 

You can buy their pieces at Bliss, Jill McGowan’s pop-up shop in Freeport and at Flock in Boston. Or shoot the ladies an email if you have an old bauble that needs some freshening up. (And if anyone out there wants to buy me a Christmas present, one of the cut steel and suede bracelets will suit me just fine. Thanks.)