GROOVY VINTAGE HAT & SHADES

During my treasure hunting last week I found this fabulous vintage velvet hat:

and after doing some research, found out it was created by a woman from Maine, who in the 1940s began creating whimsical & fun beach bags and totes for friends.

She came to be one of the largest handbag retailers in New England
and is known in the designer purse world as
"The Kate Spade of Her Day".

Wow.

What a compliment!

Her name is

"Margaret Smith"

and the label you see above is one of the more coveted labels for vintage collectors and it's on my sweet, little vintage hat!

I loved this story, because there are so many of you who work so hard at designing, creating, sewing & fabricating such amazing treasures, and this is a real~life story of a woman who made it with her passion, her talent and her hard work.  What an inspiration!

I spent almost two hours researching this label (another reason I am very slow about getting new items listed.  Am thinking I should switch to a profession in vintage clothing/label research?) and sadly learned that the company closed just last year.  It seemed to be another case of the old fashioned, small town merchant company swallowed up by pathetic consumerism of imported crappola from a giant discount chain store or two. . .

Another sad ending to an authentic Made In The USA label dating back to before World War II.

Onto something French to cheer me up:

 This fab pair of vintage Givenchy glasses just listed  in "The Shoe".

I love how they looked on my mannequin with the hat, don't you?  I wore them around for awhile before I realized they were prescription lenses. . .hey, it was after a few glasses of wine so who knew? 

Nothing like some fabulous french designer vintage to cheer one up, don't you agree?

I have been very busy with my Etsy shoppe trying to get some little doo~dads listed, so I apologize for the lack of posts and will try to get around to say hello soon.

Have a wonderful week!