Seven-year-old vintage soul displays her wares in Toronto
With a little help from her folks, Hamilton Grade 2 student launches her own online store
LOLA BULAJIC was nowhere near born yet when New Kids on the Block ruled the airwaves. But an innate shoppers’ instinct made her pluck an NKOTB Tshirt out of a rubbish pile. She somehow knew the ’90s heartthrobs could be spun into gold again.
This Hamilton Grade 2 student was born into a vintage dynasty. At the tender age of seven, she has launched her own curated kids’ store, @LolasVintageKids.
Lola’s parents are Nik and Connie Bulajic, who the rest of the year can be found at Vintage Soul Geek, on King Street East in downtown Hamilton, which they opened in 2015.
The expansive but chock-ablock space in an 1860s building is what Nik calls “a mom-and-
pop shop, no employees, long hours.”
Dolled up in full-on throwback finery from her own line for our photo shoot, she appears just slightly out of time and place. “I usually only wear all vintage for photo day,” Lola says.
Another anachronism in our informal age, Lola has her business protocol down pat. Looking me square in the eye, firm of handshake, she inquires politely, “Am I the youngest person you’ve ever interviewed?”
Next weekend, Sept. 29 and 30, Lola will have her own kiosk at Toronto Vintage Clothing Show tucked inside her parents’ stall. This makes her the youngest seller at the biannual event, which has been running since 2013. The 120 vendors this season make it the biggest vintage gathering in town. It is wildly anticipated by aficionados, who line up and storm the doors at the opening bell. The family trio is always on the hunt for fresh stock, but they have an unusually large storehouse of multi-era goods already squirrelled away, the result of generations of vintage hounds. Connie’s mother, Penny Colwell, is the vintage jewellery guru; she does the accessories merchandising at the shop. Nik estimates “maybe five per cent” of her vast treasure trove is currently on display, ranging from Victorian cameos to Deco through modern collector’s items. But what Nik calls jokingly “a generational sickness” started with Connie’s grandmother, who kept her own ’50s wardrobe and items passed down to her. That makes Lola a fourth-generation vintage princess. It is also the ’50s that most rocks Connie’s bobby socks, but you can find goodies from the late 1800s through the 1990s. Note that this last era is superhot with kids on the vintage scene these days, a dot that Lola herself connected with NKOTB (netting the junior tycoon a cool $22!).
“Yes,” says Nik, that means “80 years of collecting stored in the basement of our shop, backroom; three bedrooms in our house; the basement of our house; and Connie’s childhood room in Brantford.”
The idea to start Lola’s Vintage came this past summer vacation, a way to teach the youngster about money, and make hanging out at the shop a learning experience. Her area is located in a corner of her parents’ shop.
Right now, a nifty pair of ’90s Versace pants fit for a logo-conscious teen hang on Lola’s racks, alongside a neon green character sweater from the ’80s, and a ’60s blue velvet A-line style infant’s frock finished with lace sleeves. A Little House on the Prairie style minifloral dress is waiting for a fashionforward pre-teen to pick up on the rejuvenated Laura Ingalls look.
But then some special pieces went up on the web, and Lola suddenly had a more international following. Her first Instagram sale, a vintage leather jacket, went to a diminutive influencer in Southern California. Then there was a ’70s boys’ suit destined for a wedding.
And don’t worry about Lola freewheeling alone on the web: “My Mom works with me picking the items and taking pictures to post,” says Lola. Sales are filtered through her folks as well. For the vintage show, in her area look for a wide variety of sizing and a focus on ’50s wear, jackets and capes. And loads of vintage jeans, including one very special pair embroidered with ET on the back.
As to Lola’s story, just And what is she going to do with all the dough rolling in? “Education fund,” say her parents in unison.