Leibe Marlene's Rhiannon Leifheit on Retail and RuPaul

By Felicity Loughrey
June 24, 2011

Leibe Marlene

Rhiannon Leifheit of Leibe Marlene and Silent Sundays

As a teenager Rhiannon Leifheit was obsessed with Marlene Dietrich. Her AOL handle was leibemarlene and in 2000, she spent her tax return on an autographed Marlene Dietrich photograph on eBay. When she started her blog four years ago to support her vintage clothing store, also on eBay, she called her online journal Leibe Marlene.

eBay was a natural starting place for the launch of her e-store because, she says, “I could customize the listings and make my store into exactly what I wanted... I'm also a fan of the community on eBay, in particular the vintage selling [message] boards.” But last summer, Leifheit, 30, felt her business was big enough for a standalone site, so she wound up her eBay store and recently launched Silent Sundays. There, she sells a mix of vintage and contemporary pieces with a sweet, modern-prairie aesthetic.

Leibe Marlene

Vintage and new styles currently available on Silent Sundays: 1990s floral Angela skirt ($40); Blue Denim Flora Smock Dress ($50); White Iris Midi Skirt ($48)

Leibe Marlene

TBA Isabel Dress ($216); TBA Sinitta Dress ($245); TBA Viv Dress ($190)

Turns out Leifheit is a big fan of antipodean fashion. “I first fell in love with the label Lover and tried to hunt down as many brands from Australia as I could. Then I found TwentySevenNames and got hooked on New Zealand [labels]. A lot of southern hemisphere clothes just make more sense to me.” Perhaps it’s the climate? (Leifheit lives in Atlanta, Georgia.) “Yeah, I’m not sure,” she says.

“I’ve read criticism of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, and how a lot of the clothes are too everyday and wearable to be on runways, but that’s what I like about them," she continues. "I don’t think they’re pretentious or so high fashion that I can’t relate.” Sydney-based label Secret Squirrel advertises on the Leibe Marlene blog and is also sold on Silent Sundays.

Leifheit’s blog continues to support her retail business, but it's taken on a life—and a fan base—all its own. In addition to fashion editorials and promotions for her store, she offers plenty of personal style photos, pictures of Southern excursions and inspiration posts on movies and designers. She describes her personal style as: “Simple, romantic, old-fashioned. I don’t wear a ton of vintage at the moment, but I always want my outfits to be somewhat evocative of the past.”

Leibe Marlene

Getting out of the house: Leifheit, who recently broke her elbow, blogs a photo of herself at the Kudzu Antiques Market in Atlanta in a thrift store blouse and skirt and Swedish Hasbeens.

Leibe Marlene

Holden Beach: Leifhelt at the beach wearing a Ragged Ranges dress, Karen Walker sunglasses and shoes from Modcloth.

Leibe Marlene

So far this week . . . : Leifhelt in a Many Belles Down dress, Madewell shoes, a thrift store bag and Karen Walker sunglasses.

For Leifheit, the best thing to come from her blog is meeting others. She has 130,000 readers a month. “I never had friends who were into fashion and old movies before. Also some designers have sent me dresses and I can’t lie and say that’s not a perk.”

But back to eBay... Leifheit has been buying on the onlne marketplace for more than a decade. “I signed up because a friend told me I could get old movie photos from auctions for a steal. I could be on the lookout for the most obscure thing and never find it in brick and mortar stores, but one search on eBay and it was likely to pop up. I didn’t buy any vintage clothing until 2004.Over the years I’ve bought a bunch of dresses for next to nothing.”

Her advice: “Do a lot of digging around for deals and secret shops that aren’t high on people’s radar. If you’re looking for something specific, do a search on every related word you can think of—you can find items cheapest when the seller doesn’t know what they have. In the past I’d follow fashion runway shows religiously and then go to eBay to find vintage counterparts of what I knew would be a fashion trend and in high demand a few months on.”

Rhiannon Leifheit puts her eBay scouting skills to the test.

Roll over items for details

Set of Two Vintage Straw Market Bags

(buy it now price, $85)

1920s Art Deco Scrapbook

'70s White Cotton Dress

Workin' It!, by RuPaul

The Civil War: A Narrative

(buy it now price, $60.55)

Morrocan Oil

Illesteva Frieda Sunglasses

Silk Maxi Dress

(buy it now price, $113.49)

Swedish Hasbeens

(buy it now price, $167.99)

Chanel Nail Polish in Mimosa

(buy it now price, $30.95)

Leibe Marlene's Rhiannon Leifheit on Retail and RuPaul

1. Set of Two Vintage Straw Market Bags: “I'm in love with straw bags for spring, and the colors on these ones are so good.”

2. 1920s Art Deco Scrapbook: “I found a similar silent film scrapbook at an antique sale years ago, but wouldn't mind another. The photos in this one look so interesting, and I always love to see what people back in the day found scrapbook-worthy.”

3. '70s White Cotton Dress: “A pretty perfect little white '70s mini dress. I love how it looks like a Mexican wedding dress with the eyelet and lace. It's romantic and the perfect length for summer.”

4. Workin' It!, by RuPaul: “I'm going through a big RuPaul phase; the third season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" just ended, but at least I can still run to his albums, and next I want to read his book. RuPaul's so inspirational.”

5. The Civil War: A Narrative: “It's the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, and I'd like to get lost in all three volumes of this series. Also Shelby Foote's beautiful writing is a big plus.”

6. Morrocan Oil: “My hairstylist got me hooked on this stuff. IT works like magic on dry hair, and the smell couldn't be better.”

7. Swedish Hasbeens: “I have two pairs of Swedish Hasbeens and wear them so much that it wouldn't hurt to get another pair to liven things up. I like the ankle strap on these.”

8. Illesteva Frieda Sunglasses: “I don't know how these would look on me, but the '40s style and oversized shape is worth trying out.”

9. Chanel Nail Polish in Mimosa: “A friend sent me some Chanel nail polish for spring and now I'm looking at all the colors they have... This one might be my favorite just because it's so cheerful.”

10. Silk Maxi Dress: “Another wedding-y dress... I want to wear this silk summery dress on vacation on some faraway beach.”

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