Tales From A Vintage Wardrobe

Victoria's Secret No. 10 Margaret Street, London W1

(Victoria Magazine - February 1990)

After a look at The Trad's post from M Magazine-1985,  I was motivated to dig out some of my beloved old Victoria magazines for a look-through.  Sigh.  To quote Karen in Out of Africa:  "How good it all was..." 

In The Press: US Vogue

 

 

An article in April in the Nostalgia column of US Vogue prompted a letter from yours truly.  I had just discovered Charles James, thanks to that fabulous gray dress Angelina Jolie wore in "The Tourist" and was thrilled to see the article was about a woman who knew him well and her memories of their time together...you can read what I thought of it in the July issue of US Vogue, Talking Back, page 38. 

(You can read my letter in it's entirety here. )

 

 

 

 

Kimono Craze

I've had a bit of a "Kimono" thing going on lately.  It started when I found a great polished cotton cherry red one while out thrifting one day and decided it would be the perfect thing to wear when I am "beautifying"~~you know: masking, waxing, coloring, & painting myself in an effort to fend off the damages of time.  Considering it cost less than a Stella at my favorite watering hole, I can justify the chance of "ruining" it~~and it looks much more elegant than an oversized t~shirt & boxers.

 
 

A few weeks later, I scored this amazing vintage Haori and I was hooked.  You can, literally, wear it with just about anything from lingerie to jeans and it looks amazing.  I was in love.

 
When I saw this image from Dries Van Noten's Spring 2011 collection it caught my eye...not quite Haori or Kimono, but there was just something about it...

 

Then in March, I came across this little beauty: a vintage Pomare Hawaii Kimono style top with a keyhole neck & frog closure and just like the little piggy I carried it all the way home...because it reminded me of something I had seen but just could not seem to recall what or where...

 

Until I was flipping through my March issue of US Vogue and there it was:  an ad for the very same Dries Van Noten top!  

 
(photo source: Hollister Hovey)

To wrap it up, today I visited one of my favorite blogs of all time: Hollister Hovey.  And there she was, with her sister Porter, showing us exactly how to wear a Kimono perfectly. 

 

This one is for the shop and will have to feed your Kimono craze and not mine as we were not made for each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enchanting April

 

 

 

Now that's a hat!

And In This Corner...

Ok, I admit I feel a bit poorly about ranting on (and on, and on, and on....) about the whole eco-UNfriendly recycled vintage dress/gown controversy that I wrote about yesterday and a few weeks ago.  So you can imagine how thrilled I was to read about a much more "friendly" and well executed vintage gown makeover in the May issue of Vogue.

Elettra Wiedemann is one very fortunate (and beautiful) young lady.  Daughter of the stunning Isabella Rossellini and granddaughter of the iconic screen beauty Ingrid Bergman, she found herself the heir of a trunk full of Ms. Bergman's evening dresses that had somehow been long forgotten (a vintage treasure hunters dream find!)   She humbly admits: "My family is so amazing, but it's also so overwhelming and overpowering...I'd felt honored to be part of my family but also not sure what accomplishments were mine and what accomplishments belonged to someone else bigger than me."  She also makes this insightful comment:  "It's interesting how clothes can connect you to a sentimentality that can be very complicated sometimes."  (I nod my head in silent agreement as I contemplate the part of my grandmothers wardrobe I've inherited...)

Ms. Wiedemann, in honor of her grandmother, has chosen to wear one of her gowns to the Costume Institute Gala (aka The Met Ball ) on the 2nd of May.  The gown she chose was created for Ms. Bergman by the postwar Roman couturiere Fernanda Gattinoni, who also created the costumes for Ms. Bergman in the 1952 film Europa '51.  Designer Prabal Gurung was called upon as the "cosmetic surgeon" for the dress, as there were a few issues with fit & fabric.  Both heir & designer agreed that it was important to maintain the integrity of the dress and to pay homage to it's original owner, which, being her grandmother, would be of utmost importance to any grateful heir of such beautiful pieces of the past.

"It's still the same dress," says Wiedemann, "but it feels a little bit sexier, more contemporary, and younger."

"The beauty of this dress," Gurung adds, "is it's history."

I think we have a winner.

 

(All quotes from May 2011 US Vogue p. 172 & 174)

Magazines & A Waiting Room

You may recall that awhile back I was moaning about being a bit disappointed by Vogue and other fashion magazines and that I had let my subscriptions run out.  Then I saw this amazing photo shoot and offered a public apology to Vogue and once again, I found myself filling out subscription forms like a woman obsessed.

I couldn't have timed it better.  With a record breaking snow fall winter here in the North East, they proved a welcome distraction with a hot cup of tea or a glass of wine to help get through the long winter we endured.

Marie Claire arrived yesterday, so I grabbed it off the table on the way out the door for an appointment.  As my daughter and I sat in the waiting room, I flipped through it casually, pointing out eye catching ads and tearing open the "sniffer" for euphoria by Calvin Klein (which is quite lovely, in case your wondering).

Then I turned the page and found this:

(Photo credit: May 2011 issue Marie Claire p.74 & 76)

Livia Firth gets a great plug as "The Queen of Green" in "Feel-Good Fashion".  I make a sound that comes out as a sigh tinged with just a bit of disgust. (In case you missed my previous post @ not-so friendly fashion you can find it here.) A conversation ensues between my 9 year old daugther and I.

"What's the problem?"
"Oh, nothing....well, remember the lady at the Oscars who had her dress made by cutting up those 11 lovely 1930s gowns?"
"Oh, Colin Firth's wife?  Yeah, I remember."
"Yes, her name is Livia Firth.  Well, she gets a great plug in this article about how eco-friendly and conscious she is.  Except that I don't think what she did with those dresses was very friendly at all."
"Hey, did you ever hear back from the designer?  What did he say?"
"His name is Gary Harvey.  Yes, he said that  "Just because you don't believe it doesn't make it untrue."   That may be so, but I still don't believe it."
"Cool.  But what's the big deal about THIS article?"
"Well, it's just that, I guess, I mean -- oh, I don't know!  Listen to what she says: "The story of a piece of clothing or an accessory is as important as how it looks."  What about the story those 11 dresses told?  What about their history?  Doesn't that matter?  Or the story is only important if it's a new story made from old stuff?  That's practically fashion plagiarism."
(Our eyes meet, she knows what plagiarism is.  She tilts her head to the side, her eyes widen and she looks up with raised brows.)
"Mom, please!" 
"I know, I know.  I can't help it...."

The nurse appears and calls our name.

 

 

 

 

January 1917 ~ House & Garden Magazine

 
 
 

A Face We Never Tire Of

 

 

(Image courtesy of Vanity Fair)

 November 2010

In news~stands now. 

DEAR VOGUE (U.S. EDITION): I'M SORRY FOR WHAT I SAID...

 While I was complaining back in September about the lack of great fashion in American magazines,
Vogue was parading this amazing photo shoot.

How did I miss this?
How could someone not tell me?

More proof that no one reads this blog...

 

 

A DASH OF ART DECO ELEGANCE~~"EVANS" VINTAGE MINAUDIERE...

 
(Elle October 2009 US Edition)

While I couldn't/wouldn't quite call this an "elegant" photograph in it's original state
(or tasteful, even, in my opinion~~as you can see our Vintage Censorship police were on it!!),
I COULD say it about that fabulous little purse she's clutching in her right hand.  Look closer...

 

 

Please allow me to introduce you to "Le Minaudiere".
 (this one happens to be by Judith Leiber)

 

~~~Min·au·dière *~~
A small ornamental case for a woman's cosmetics, jewelry, or personal items that is often carried as a handbag.

The Parisian firm Van Cleef & Arpels is credited with the introduction of the minaudière ~~ a vanity case that would come to be synonymous with the Art Deco period.
First created in 1930, it featured a compartmentalized interior & served as a multi~functional handbag, vanity case & purse.  They were commonly outfitted with mirrors, lipstick holders, powder compacts, and a place for a key, coins, or even cigarettes. 

(*You can click here to learn how to pronounce it if, like me, you only dream that you can speak French!)

As the fashionable accessory took off and became the latest "MUST HAVE" for high society ladies, many other houses began offering their interpretation of "Le Minaudière".  One such company, the D. Evans Case Co. of Massachusetts, began producing compacts in the 1920s and soon after began offering their own version of the minaudière for fashionable ladies of the day.

This lovely Art Deco Era Evans case is a perfect example of a Vintage Minaudière and it has just been put out on the floor of The Red Velvet Shoe...

While MANY fashionistas will have the "JL" version of the minaudière (for a mere $2,795.00 !!!)  just because it was on the cover of a fashion magazine...

  Only ONE will walk away with The Red Velvet Shoe's version of "Le Vintage Minaudière" ...and will still have enough cash to go out on the town and show it off!!