A Little Bit of Everything: Saint Paloma Vintage owner Brittany Phillips
Photography by Betsy Dutcher Photography
If you asked Brittany Phillips what she did for a living, “photographer” used to be the answer — but now she has amassed a creative portfolio that has stretched beyond just one category. Phillips is the face behind Saint Paloma Vintage, co-creator of the OK Vintage Market, photographer, stylist and overall creative powerhouse.
While she has long had a natural eye for photography, the shift in focusing on building her small business and working with other brands has pushed her to learn new techniques and enhance her visual storytelling to fill in the gaps she hadn’t yet explored in her work.
“My photography career has started to pivot in the last year, but I want to have an established portfolio so I can pitch to more brands,” she says. “I feel like my taste and creative vision are moving me in this direction. I want to continue to strengthen that muscle.”
One of her first and favorite brand shoots was with a swimsuit brand based out of California. “I reached out to a designer on Instagram asking about doing a shoot while I was in California, and they said yes. I produced the entire photoshoot myself.”
When the day of the shoot came, she had many obstacles working against her — including the designer getting stuck in California traffic and having to navigate the backdrop of a crowded beach on the 4th of July weekend. She was still somehow able to shoot all five of the client’s looks in only 30 minutes.
The designer was impressed that given the circumstances, Phillips not only powered through, but took killer photos in the process. Phillips realized her strength was her ability to keep cool under pressure, and that by living in Oklahoma with limited options, you learn how to make things work.
Originally from Modesto, California, Phillips moved to Eufaula in eastern Oklahoma when she was 20 years old after her grandparents — her primary caregivers in childhood — moved back to their hometown. The shift from the Central Valley of California to a small town in Oklahoma was not an easy transition.
However, her grandmother was an avid thrifter and loved to find a good bargain, and Phillips grew up going shopping with her grandma and aunts, and loved to observe how they dressed.
Her first introduction to true vintage fashion came from a group of friends during her teenage years in California: “I remember being 17 and I met this group of cool people who would have these really incredible house parties. One of my friends would always wear these amazing vintage leather jackets that she would paint or upcycle. I had never seen anything like it.”
Phillips was always into photography, and would carry a camera with her everywhere, but it wasn’t until her move to Eufaula that she began shooting senior photos, family portraits and couples, as one often gets their start. “It was a very confusing part in my life,” she remembers. “I knew I wanted to do something with photography, and I knew this was a way for me to be a photographer. At that time, fashion photography wasn’t even on my mind.”
Eventually, the growing influence of websites like Tumblr and Lookbook.com made Phillips start asking questions like, “Who is contributing to Vogue magazine?”...“Who is shooting these photos?”
Eventually she moved to Tulsa for a few years, and finally settled in Oklahoma City to follow more of her friends who were living there. “This group of friends reminded me of the friends I had back in California. People who wanted to be models or DJs or photographers. I used to find a lot of inspiration from people outside of Oklahoma, but now I find myself being inspired by the people here. It’s really comforting seeing people working and succeeding doing similar things … I’ve met the most supportive, amazing people I’ve had in my entire life in Oklahoma.”
Between the inspiration from her grandmother and her friends back home, her love of vintage clothing and accessories began to grow, and took shape in 2019 as she started her own online store, Saint Paloma Vintage.
Specializing in “American Heritage,” workwear, natural fiber textiles, some ’90s designer pieces and, of course, her striking collection of hand-picked sterling silver jewelry, she’s attracted a following from across the U.S.
“One of the biggest things I love about sourcing directly from the original owner is learning the story behind each piece,” she says. “The articles of clothing are little pieces of history and I think it is crazy that some of the pieces have existed longer than my parents or grandparents. It is a true test of time.”
Her background in photography allows the imagery and styling of Saint Paloma to stand out among most vintage sellers. “One of my bigger focuses is that the pieces are shown how they look on a body and [you can] see it styled in a current way — to find how can you take a piece from the 1930s and style it in a way that a girl would wear today.”
In mid-August 2021, Phillips finally made the leap: She quit her corporate job and became a full-time business owner and photographer. One month after this milestone, her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and passed away three weeks later.
“In August, I dropped my first collection on Saint Paloma and it sold out within five minutes. Then I went from this total high to a complete depression. It was bittersweet, but I didn’t stop working. Getting to come into the ‘Paloma Room’ and do photoshoots and find cool clothes helped me through the grieving process. It gave me a distraction on the days I needed it,” she says.
“During that time, I found some of my favorite pieces and was creating content like a mad woman. I don’t think I would have come out of that season as smoothly if I was still trying to work my corporate job.”
Phillips is also the co-creator of the OK Vintage Market in Oklahoma City, alongside Stephanie Espolt from Patted (@pattedshop). Several years ago, Phillips hosted a small vintage pop-up in the courtyard of her house with 3-4 other women who were also independent sellers. They began talking about the goals of their respective businesses, and saw the need to grow the vintage community in Oklahoma.
She explains, “There were a few markets around the Oklahoma/Texas area, and other cities have this massive community of tight-knit vintage sellers doing all these things together. When I first started, there weren’t that many independent sellers here, and it is really hard to get started without a following.”
Less than a year later, the OK Vintage Market was born.
While running Saint Paloma, keeping up with the monthly vintage market and pursuing freelance photography, Phillips has also leaned more into commercial styling in recent years, booking seven shoots in 2023. “I take on commercial styling as it comes, but I’d love to be able to start doing more creative styling,” she says.
“There was a time that I felt like I need to constantly put out content to stay relevant, and now I feel like I’m on the right path when I’m doing it for myself and finding joy in the process.” •
Stay up to date by following @saintpalomavintage on Instagram or at shopsaintpalomavintage.com, and be sure to check out Phillips’ curated shop in person at the next monthly market @okvintagemarket.