POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_HOOTI COUTURE

Alison Houtte, owner of Houtie Couture, the vintage clothing store on Flatbush avenue near Seventh Avenue, has written a book (with her sister, journalist Melissa Houtte) called  Alligators, Old Mink and New Money.

What fun. She's one of my favorite Park Slope people that I don't really know. Everyone knows Alison, don't they: that impossibly tall, glamorous woman (5'11' plus 2-inch heels) with a great sense of humor and a beautiful southern accent whose always in the store. And she's the person who "found" our old diesel Mercedes when it was moved from one parking space to another by a movie production company. We couldn't find it for two months. It was parked in front of her store when it was on Berkeley Place east of Seventh Avenue. She saw the tickets piling up on the windshield but figured it wasn't an abandoned car because it had a car seat in it. She called the police and they tracked us down. I went to parking court and the judge believed my story: didn't need to pay a thing. I gave Alison the most beautiful flowers I could find at Zuzu's Petals and wrote her a thank you note.

The subject of both the store and the book can be reduced to one word: VINTAGE. Or, if you want more words, think clothes and jewelry and purses and the adventures that come with buying and wearing old stuff. The subtitle of the book is "One woman's adventures in vintage clothing," and it's the story of Alison Houtte, who has been wearing old clothes for most of her 45 years, when she wasn't wearing new for her job as a professional model in Paris and Manhattan.

To help tell her story, Alison, the youngest of six children, teamed up with her oldest sister, Melissa Houtte, who has spent her career in journalism. Together, they have opened the door on Hooti Couture, offering a peak at the vintage scene, through both the clothes and the people who buy them. Brooklyn-based illustrator Mary Coleman did the cover as well as thirty illustrations that capture the charm of all things vintage, from a leopard coat to a '30s evening gown.

Alligators, Old Mink & New Money is published by William Morrow and it's now available in bookstores. If you don't see it, please ask for it! For more informtion about Alison and her sister go to their blog, hooticouture.com