More is More is More
“Reindeer herders, citrus season, taco shop patrons, otters, beekeepers.”
Strike up a conversation with your favorite vintage seller at your local flea market. Ask what inspires them, and they might conjure up all the beautiful things you somehow forgot existed. Jess van den Bosch, founder of Mind Garden Vintage, keeps her heart wide open, maintaining a keen sensitivity to her environment. She curates her inner world like she does her closet, accumulating a little bit of everything along the way.
Running straight through her list of influences, though, is a continuous thread, shimmering like the blue horizon line: “The sound of the ocean, the smell of the ocean, the color of the ocean, the feeling of the ocean.” Like the moon pulls the tides, Jess was drawn to the sea.
In the manner of a seasoned secondhand shopper, Jess took to Craigslist for house-hunting. That’s how she ended up living in a restored barn in Encinitas, a quaint beach town on the San Diego coast. Her home is any vintage lover’s fantasy, with details reminiscent of an age before the proliferation of identical gray-laminate-floored condos. The interior is entirely wood-paneled and warm, fitted with an exposed brick fireplace and vintage stove. Jess’s bedroom, formerly a horse stall, is complete with a Dutch window that offers a glimpse of her racks upon racks of vintage treasures.
Every turn of the season, Jess rolls those racks into her living room or backyard — weather permitting — and opens her home to her community for an intimate gathering. Old friends mingle with new faces. A carefully compiled soundtrack creates ambiance. Drinks are poured; vintage clothes are pored over. Guests are encouraged to name their own prices for any items they want to purchase. “I really just want my pieces to find a great home,” says Jess. “Clothes are silly, but they do have an undeniable way of bringing people together.”
When it comes to defining her personal style, Jess describes a fusion of opposing forces: masculine and feminine, casual and formal. She’ll slip on a pair of kitten heels with her track pants, or complete a designer skirt suit set with a baseball cap. In her mind garden, the fashion faux pas is a myth. Contrary to traditional metrics, Jess measures the success of an outfit in direct proportion to the amount of patterns and textures she can combine. More is more, which is why it makes total sense when she pairs a paisley-printed dress with zebra-striped clogs.
Even Jess’s most unexpected choices seem inevitable, however eccentric they may be. Fashion, of course, is just as much about the wearer as the clothes themselves. She embodies her looks with the sort of ease that can’t be bought off the rack — it emanates from deep within, from an intimate kinship that she’s established with herself. Jess has taken the time to cultivate her personal taste. She knows what she likes and has developed her brand around that knowledge. Each piece that she sells is carefully curated, selected only if she would actually wear it herself.
While Jess is willing to risk it all in the name of fashion, comfort is never negotiable. Jess describes shopping as an instinctual process — she allows herself to gravitate toward the materials and textures she finds most intriguing. Her purchases often hinge on the physical sensation of the garment against her skin: “the way a piece feels on my body can really do it for me,” she proclaims.
It’s no surprise, then, that the most cherished pieces in her wardrobe are sweaters. She gushes over one in particular — a chunky handknit pullover, striped across the chest and arms — that formerly belonged to her boyfriend, Devyn. “I’m just dating him for his sweater collection,” she teases. “He’s Canadian, so he comes with some good ones.”
Last year, the couple collaborated on a line of resin-stained jeans. Their process is one of layering histories, the first of which is pulled from the thrift store where Jess sources vintage denim. Each pair of jeans has a former life narrated by the way in which experiences have worn into their fabric. Every rip, snag, fade, and stain tells a story. Devyn collages these together, creating hand-sewn patchworks of mismatched denim and memories. He then wears them as work pants while glassing surfboards, staining the fabric with constellations of resin splatters. The finished garments have the inimitable quality of an Abstract Expressionist painting.
What really ties together a look, though, are the accessories, and Jess’s favorites are scattered around her bedroom: a trucker hat emblazoned with the name of every local’s favorite dive bar, Cap’n Keno’s; a pair of lavender Chinese mesh slippers; a beaded coin purse shaped like a strawberry; black plastic sunglasses purchased from the gas station. I learn that there’s some sort of significance behind everything Jess owns, whether it’s a sentimental story or funny anecdote. Each piece is an extension of herself, reflective of her experiences, charged with meaning.
This commitment to authenticity is the beating heart of Mind Garden Vintage. Every project is deeply personal. Jess is currently prepping for her upcoming drop of Abalone Amulets, the multiwear fashion accessories made using seashells she found during a trip to Jalama. Her collection is dwindling, and the next limited release of Amulets will be her last – at least for the time being. She could buy abalone shells in bulk from eBay, but where’s the fun in that? For someone who so clearly delights in each and every stage of the creative process, it just wouldn’t be the same. Jess’s enthusiasm is infectious as she shows me tightly-panned videos of a long drill bit carving holes into the shells. Together, we’re hypnotized by the spiraling metal spike turning the hard calcium to iridescent dust.
Each shell becomes rife with potential as soon as Jess threads it through a strand of black leather cord. She wears it on her chest as a necklace and tightens it against her throat as a choker. She loops it around her waist, twists it into her hair, ties it to the strap of a handbag. She wears it as an anklet, lacing the leather up the length of her leg. The styling possibilities, Jess demonstrates, are truly endless.
When it comes to selecting the finishing touches, Jess claims an Irish Wolfhound (or any other equally mesmerizing dog breed) can complete any outfit. Without a Wolfhound of her own, though, she’s adopted the Birkin basket as her signature accessory. She chanced upon the bag in a thrift store, and considers it to be one of her luckiest finds to date. According to her point of view, the basket discovered her — not the other way around. Like all the best things in life, she muses, it found its way right to her.
Originally published March 4, 2024
Photography by Guzel Khos
