American Pickers’ Danielle Colby Cushman opening her own shop
It’s been a while since I’ve posted about the activities of Danielle Colby Cushman, the tattoolescent star of The History Channel’s popular reality series American Pickers. This multi-talented and driven Iowanian single mom usually provides all sorts of interesting story material – whether she’s starring in a Burlesque Troupe, getting yet another bada$$ tattoo, giving yet another bada$$ tattoo, promoting her father’s amazing photography, or spear-heading an effort to rescue alternative Americana music.
As it turns out, Danielle has been relatively quiet of late because she has been focusing her attention on opening her own shop! She first announced the news on Facebook (along with a link to a video for the song “Retablo” by Sean and Zander) back on September 13:
Painting the new shop today listening to this! Anyone out there know who these 2 amazing gents are??? You are looking at music legends.
ps. no, im not leaving antique archaeology or pickers…. I’m opening a shop right next door so I can do my thang at both 🙂
So what exactly is Danielle’s “thang?” Danielle answered that the following day:
ok, so the question is what is my new shop? Answer… Yes I will have my picks and finds in there but the focus is on my clothing line, Handmade couture clothing as well as some fun t shirts and collectibles. I will showcase my art as well. I hope it inspired others to go out and be creative!
The world is your oyster 😉
Didn’t know Danielle was a seamstress and fashion designer? That’s understandable given her expansive resume, but making clothes is perhaps the thing she enjoys the most. She was intrigued by textiles as a child and what began with garland crowns at 5 years old soon let to hacking up concert t-shirts as an angsty teen.
Then, at age 20, Danielle received a used sewing machine as a gift and she began teaching herself how to use it. Ten years later she opened up her own shop in a root cellar in LeClaire, Iowa called “4 Miles 2 Memphis.” Within two years she had sully committed herself to the shop and basically started her own one-woman sweatshop, working 10-12 hours a day churning out her fun, eclectic designs for bargain basement prices.
Here’s a sample of one of her dresses from Danielle’s website:
In addition to her fashion creations, Danielle is also a painter. Her work, like her fashion, is a mixture of old and new resulting in images with elements of Larry Rivers, Howard Finster, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Here’s a sample in which it appears Danielle has painted over a mirror:
If you can’t make it to Iowa to visit Danielle’s new shop in person, you can still browse through her goodies on her Etsy site!
Oh, and did I mention she makes t-shirts too? My favorite is this Frida Kahlo “Viva La Revolution” playing on the iconic Che Guevara “Viva La Revolucion” image:
I guess it’s a good thing I’m not near Iowa or else I might find myself hanging out all day at Danielle’s “Antique Archaeogle” (my name for her new shop) looking through awesome stuff, listening to awesome music, and hanging with this awesome lady! Seriously, who could resist this live model window display for a retro scooter?
Varrrrrroooooooooooooooooooom!!!
Not a Danielle or American Pickers convert yet? Then tune into The History Channel Mondays at 9/8c! Even if you’re somehow immune to Danielle’s real woman charms, you won’t be able to resist the sincere boyish passion of the Click and Clack of picking, Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz — or all of the wonderful people they meet and the wonderful junk they own!
All photos: Facebook / daniellecolbydesigns.com
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
