OUR STORY
Meet Oakley
Oakley Boycott
is not a pseudonym. She is a multi-hyphenate human and lover of Golden Retrievers. She balances living the time of her life between New York City, Los Angeles and her hometown of Lander, Wyoming.
Pronouns: she/her, they/them
Meet us
Two Friends — Shared Passion
for bringing joy and healing, since they were little girls, through music, the arts, performance and clothes, vintage, that is. Their happy place, when not on stage or creating new projects, is sifting through boxes and trunks in thrift shops, antique stores and attics, when invited, for beautiful, classic pieces. These are the fans that fuel their fires.
Meet Leslie
Leslie Drollinger Stratmoen
is a singer, performer, costume designer, writer, photographer, columnist, broadcaster, talk show host and artist who threw caution to the wind from her home in Wyoming to begin living life on “The Fringe.”
MY STORY
We never know the part we’ll play in another person’s life, nor how our course might be altered because of a life-changing event. In this chapter of my story, the person I’m talking about is my collaborator Oakley Boycott and the event is the pandemic of 2020.
We met nearly 20 years ago when I first moved to Wyoming from Iowa and took a side gig to my reporting job of being costumer for the local community college. I had no idea the young teenager I’d hired as my assistant was in any need of a rescue as she describes in her story, as follows. I just knew we had a lot of fun “playing” in my costume shop.
A couple years later, I was working for her, technically, creating costumes for her Dulcinea in the college’s “Man of La Mancha.” From there, we kept in touch through the years as she set out for New York to become an actress and model. We supported each other in new endeavors, leaned on each other in times of need and ran off to thrift stores whenever we had the chance.
So, it really comes as no surprise that she would be the one to rescue me from a depression brought on by the sudden death of my son. He died unexpectedly in April of 2020, of natural causes at the age of 40. I kept telling myself I’d survive, but had trouble getting off my couch. That’s when Oakley swooped in, yes, she swoops, and convinced me I could finish my historical clothing exhibit and launch my online store because she’d be here to help. COVID had the actress/model hunkered down in her childhood home nearby instead of basing out of New York.
Coming together at this time to complete this project truly does fulfill a need, a passion and a dream; a dream of owning my own store, a passion for preserving history and the need for a rescue from the depths of despair. Now, here we are, once again, “playing” in my costume shop, creating colorful characters, shooting beautiful photos, filming fun videos and running off to thrift stores whenever we can. What’s different now, though, is that we’re set on a mission of turning my static exhibit into a virtual tour and showing our followers how to create their own unique style out of classic, vintage clothing.
Like I said in the beginning of my story, we just never know what parts we’re meant to play in the story of our lives or who might pass through to help us along the way. In this chapter, it’s Oakley, and for that I am forever grateful.
Leslie Drollinger Stratmoen
Owner of “Flappers to Fringe Vintage”
SOCIAL MEDIA
MY STORY
“I don’t think we realize how people help us to save our own lives until we are forced to reckon with how alive we feel when they share with us their own passions and zest for the complexities of being alive.
When I was 14 years old, Leslie saved my life. In the costume shop of our local community college theatre, she hired me to assist her as she designed costumes for the current production of “Meet Me in St. Louis”.
Not knowing at the time, the impact that she would have in giving a 14-year old theatre kid with a lost soul the opportunity to work in a theatre, Leslie is one of the many reasons that I believe that when you lean into, share and express your passions and what you love from the depths (and sometimes the darkness) of your being, it helps to heal the world around you.
I have never wanted to be anything else. I’ve never wanted to do anything else. I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else. I have only ever dreamed of living in New York City, in the middle of everything and to be an actress. For the last 13 years that is exactly what I’ve done: creating visions and versions of how I see myself and how I wish to be seen, expressed through theatre, film, fashion, music, performance art or anything else that assists in the expressed light my inner workings.
The freedom of limitless possibilities in shape shifting within my day job, bleeds into my addiction to thrifting. Expressing the mercurial versions of my Self within the creation of new personas through thrifted, vintage and vintage-inspired styles has been an integral part life throughout my Wyoming upbringing and life beyond.
Oh baby, maneuvering the realities of this wild, wild, world and being a part of this new collaboration with Leslie on “Flappers to Fringe Vintage”with continued personal healing and growth through shared passion of vintage fashion, the unearthing of second-hand treasures, and friendship is something I do not take for granted.”
-Oakley Boycott
“Flappers to Fringe” collaborator
Our story
OUR STORY
We Thrifted Before It was Cool
By Owner/Curator Leslie Drollinger Stratmoen …
Our story really is one of healing through friendship. We are two friends who share a passion for
bringing joy and ultimate healing through music, the arts, performance and clothes, vintage, that is. Our happy place, when not on stage or creating a new project, truly is sifting through boxes and trunks in thrift stores, antique shops and attics, when invited, to find beautiful, classic pieces.
We’ve been doing this for years, whenever we get together. So when it came time for me to let go of the pieces I would not need for my final clothing exhibit and Oakley was available to help because of the pandemic lock down, we came up with a plan — creating an online exhibit and shop.
The exhibit will feature fashions from the 1920s-70. So everything else has to go. The collection is extensive, gathered over several decades for my own personal collection, exhibits, performances and productions. And, there’s more, of course, because we’re still thrifting, whenever we get the chance.
Amazingly enough, we’re having a grand time, in this topsy-turvy COVID world, whether we’re working on the exhibit or in the shop. It’s just so much fun and joyful creating the looks of the past, then giving them new life by styling the old with the new. We really do hope this joy somehow passes on to you through the clothes and inspires you to get creative, try new combinations and just have fun with fashion. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
So enjoy, and thank you for dropping by.