Posts Tagged ‘vintage dress’
Saturday, February 21st, 2009
While I’ve been trying to get this Typepad to Wordpress blog migration done, I’ve also been working on adding some fabulous new vintage clothing to the site.
So feast your eyes on some of our latest vintage offerings.
60's Estevez shapely black silk pencil dress with cutout neckline
White shirtwaist dress with crochet lace inserts
50's garden floral print halter style swing dress
Girly girl 50s pink floral full skirt dress with ruffled lace shelf bust
See our What’s New page for more recent additions of authentic vintage dresses. We’ve also added some gorgeous vintage inspired gowns and prom dresses.
Tags: 50's, 60's, vintage, vintage clothing, vintage dress, vintage fashion, vintage inspired
Posted in Fashion | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
That’s right, vintage stylistas. Today is my birthday and I did a little googling and found out Donna Reed, the queen of mid-century marital domestication, and I were born on the same day. Perhaps that explains my obsession with those 50s and 60s shirtwaist dresses with the full skirts. Not so crazy about the stepford wife lifestyle, but dressing like one is another story!
Here is a photo of Donna Reed in all her 50’s housewifely glory.
Checking her son’s temperature wearing one of her little shirtwaisters with an adorable apron.
Of course, her look on the Donna Reed Show is the one most people remember. But I’ve found a bunch of great pictures on FanPix.Net that show off her glamorous side.
She also starred in many films before her television career, including It’s a Wonderful Life with James Stewart, The Benny Goodman Story, Last Time I Saw Paris and even won an Oscar for supporting actress in From Here to Eternity with Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra.
And here are a couple fabulous Donna Reed worthy dresses I found at Vintage Viruosa, just in case anyone wants to buy me a birthday present!
60’s green chiffon shirtwaister
Pretty pink floral shirwaist dress
Tags: 50's, 50's dress, 50s clothing, 60's, 60's dress, 60s clothing, donna reed, donna reed show, shirtwaist dress, vintage dress, vintage dresses
Posted in Celebrities | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
Alfred Shaheen, a pioneer of the Hawaiian garment industry, passed away recently at age 86, from complications of diabetes.
Known as "the master printer", he is renowned for his beautiful hand
prints, with inspiration taken from the various ethnic cultures of the
Pacific. Using only the highest quality cotton, rayon and silk for his
designs, his shirts, bathing suits, sundresses and evening wear from the 50's and 60's are highly coveted by collectors of vintage fashion and Hawaiiana.
Even Elvis wore a Shaheen shirt for the 1961 album cover of "Blue Hawaii"
After World War II"Aloha Wear" became popular souvenirs for the soldiers returning home. The demand for the bright tropical print clothing increased in the 1950's, as more vacationers made Hawaii a favorite travel destination.
So Mr. Shaheen decided to start a company that offered finer quality garments, bringing the popular tourist trade fashion to a whole new level. He revolutionized the Hawaiian apparel industry by creating the largest screenprinting, manufacturing and retail business the island had ever seen. To read more about his life and amazing designs, click here.
Below are photos of the only vintage Shaheen dresses I own. Sure wish I had more! The first is a gorgeous aqua cotton sateen sarong dress with an Asian inspired paisley border print and the second is a shirtwaist dress in a very cool batik like sea life print.
Tags: alfred shaheen, Hawaiian dresses, hawaiiana, vintage clothing, vintage dress
Posted in Memorable people | No Comments »
Monday, December 22nd, 2008
Since flower pins and hair clips provide a nice finishing touch to a vintage outfit, I thought I’d whip myself up something festive to go with the red 50’s dress I plan on wearing for Christmas. Of course, I was having so much fun that I got carried away and ended up making bazillions of holiday corsages and hair ornaments. That means all the guests coming over for dinner will be forced to wear one, and that includes the guys too. If you ask me, it’s a small price to pay for getting to eat the special gourmet feast I have planned for them!
They’re really quite easy to make with your handy dandy glue gun. You can get poinsettias, faux pine branches and sparkly doodads in the silk flower sections of most craft stores. I got mine at Michaels. Crafts stores also carry pin backs and hair clips and you can also visit a beauty supply store, like Sally’s, for hair clips if your local craft store doesn’t have them.
Here is a picture of my holiday accessory arsenal.
First thing I did was remove all the poinsettias and leaves off their branches, cut up the pine branches and took apart the sprigs of sparkly doodads. I glued a leaf onto the top of the clip or pin back and for the pin backs I glued a tiny leaf over the other side to hide the metal. Not necessary, I just think it looks neater. Using the leaf as a base, I started glueing on various pieces, topping with a poinsettia or two or three.
Here are some of the finished products. Once you get going, they go pretty quickly.
Tags: crafts, diy, flower clip, flower hair clip, flower pin, silk flower pin, silk flowers, vintage dress, vintage style
Posted in Crafts/DIY | 2 Comments »
Monday, December 15th, 2008
If you haven't found your perfect holiday party dress yet, then check out this stunner from Damn Good Vintage.
There's still plenty of time to snag yourself this fabulous red lace and satin vintage cocktail dress. Love the satin drape that is anchored by the very cool deco style rhinestone pin.
The measurements are 36/28, it's in flawless condition and priced very reasonably at $150.00.
Tags: 50's, 60's, cocktail dress, holiday dress, party dress, red dress, vintage dress, wiggle dress
Posted in Fashion | 1 Comment »
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
Plaid is a hot fashion trend for fall/winter 08/09. Time and time again it shows up on the runways because, as vintage fashionistas have always known, its a classic look that really never goes out of style!
Below are some of my top picks if you want to rock this look in authentic period style.
From Kitty Girl Vintage, a very smart early 60's gray and green fitted sheath dress, a la Peggy Olsen from Mad Men.
Super chic 70's Aquascutum belted suit from Couture Allure
And if you're not ready to take the complete plunge into plaid, you can always accent with accessories like this cute vintage tartan and leather purse offered at Rice & Beans Vintage
Tags: fall/winter fashion, fashion trends, plaid, vintage clothing, vintage dress, vintage purse, vintage style
Posted in Fashion | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
Any one who reads this blog knows how obsessed I am about the Mad Men television series. So this past Sunday, I'm watching episode 7, "the Golden Violin", and there's a scene in the apartment of Salvatore ( married, but in the closet) and his cute Italian wife, Kitty, (who still hasn't figured out she's married to a gay guy). Anyway, they're having one of the guys from the office over for dinner and I'm sitting there admiring the cute vintage dress Kitty is wearing for her little dinner party. When all of a sudden I realize it looks very familiar. So during commercial break I run into my storage room and, lo and behold, I discover I have the same dress! I'm talking the exact carbon copy of it. Picked it up on my buying trip this summer.
Now I've read they use authentic vintage clothing in the show. So I'm assuming this isn't a reproduction. This is pretty incredible when you consider how rare it is even to find two identical vintage dresses, never mind that one of them ended up on an actress in your favorite television show. I'm not so sure I can part with it now, but white really doesn't look good on me. So on the website it may be going as soon as I get it cleaned and steamed.
Have a look.
Here's Salvatore, Kitty and Ken having cocktails.
Here's my dress.
What I tell ya? Looks like their wardrobe designer, Janie Bryant, and I have similar taste! Here's her repsonse to the question, from a New York Times interview, on what she thinks about Mad Men's influence on current fashion.
"It seems to be seeping everywhere, doesn’t it? I’m so happy about people being so excited and so inspired. “Mad Men”
really is such a period of elegance. And also, it’s a time when people
dressed up and went to work. You wore your gloves. There were all those
customs that existed then. We don’t have that anymore. If it inspires
people to dress up more, I think that’s fantastic."
I couldn't agree more!
For the full interview click here.
Tags: costume design, golden violin, mad men, vintage, vintage clothing, vintage dress, vintage fashion
Posted in Fashion | 12 Comments »
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
It's almost the 4th of July and with all the invitations to barbeques, pool parties and fireworks displays, it's always fun for the vintage loving fashionista to be dressed in patriotic style for these festivities . So if you haven't found the perfect outfit yet, there's still time to snap up one of the cute red, white and blue outfits listed below.
Adorable 60's minidress from Mags Rags
Margaret Smith 60's mushroom dress offered by Posh Girl Vintage
70's palazzo jumpsuit offered at Ages A GoGo
50's style red polka dot sundress with contrasting blue belt and bow, for sale at Blue Velvet Vintage
Betty Page "Skipper" dress offered at Blue Velvet Vintage
Tags: independence day, July 4th, vintage dress, vintage fashion, vintage style
Posted in Fashion | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
Back in September 2007 Kate Moss wore a vintage silk gown to the Golden Age of Couture exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. According to several articles it is supposedly a Christian Dior design that cost $8000.00. Not sure on the reliability of that figure, though, plus the style looks too early to be a Dior. Nevertheless, silk clothing that is over 60 years old can be quite fragile. But Kate thought it was a great idea to wear the delicate dress to a function where Courtney Love promptly stepped on the train, creating a large tear. Things apparently went down hill from there, as you can see from the photos below, causing Kate to hike up the dress and wear it as a mini for the rest of the evening.
She decided to donate it to a charity auction for cancer research run by her friend James Brown and you can bid on it this week on Ebay. It is being described as a dress that was "customized" by Kate, creating a media frenzy, which apparently makes it very collectible. It does not state that the gown is a Dior. The condition is stated as "used". Though "Used and abused" would be more appropriate!
Here’s the dress "pre-customized." You can see she’s holding up the train in her right hand. Something she obviously neglected to do when hanging out with Ms. Love.
Kate post-customization.
It’s a sure bet if it was one of us common folk who wrecked this dress, it would be worthless right now. Last time I checked the bid was up to almost $1000.00 usd. Even though a lovely piece of fashion history has been ruined, I’m happy to know at least the money is going to a good cause. Auction ends March 2.
Tags: cancer research, charity auction, dior, ebay auction, kate moss, vintage, vintage dress, vintage gown
Posted in Celebrities | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Cotton print sundresses from the 40s and 50s are my favorite outfits to wear. I guess living in Florida has something to do with my attraction to these dresses, since I get to wear them almost year round!
And not too many people designed sundresses better than Tina Leser. She was the pioneer of playclothes, being one of the first to design ready to wear sportswear and resortwear for the casual American lifestyle. Her innovative designs were heavily influenced by her global travels, since she travelled extensively through Europe, Africa and Asia.
She moved to Honoulu in 1935 with her husband, where she opened a boutique to sell her own designs. In the 1940’s she visited New York, bringing with her a playsuit she had designed from Phillipino cotton fabric. Saks Fifth Avenue ordered 500 after they saw it. She won a Neiman Marcus and Coty Fashion Award in 1945 and continued designing until 1982. You can read more about her in this great article written by Vintage Fashion Guild member, Lizzie Bramlett. Another good source of information on Ms. Leser and other talented mid-twentieth century designers is "New York Fashion, The Evolution of American Style" by Caroline Rennolds Milbank.
I’m fortunate to have two of her amazing sundresses, as it it pretty rare these days to find any of her clothing from the 40’s and 50’s. The first is done in a gorgeous bright tomato red batik print. I love the one shoulder style on the bodice and how she joined the two sections of fabric together with the tasselled tie. She very often liked making her skirts look sarong like. On this dress yards of fabric were gathered at the left side of the waist, the folds creating an interesting focal point.
This lovely dress is definitely influenced by her trip to India, with its exotic print, metallic trim and sari like draping.
Both for sale right now at Blue Velvet Vintage .
Tags: 40's, 50's, designer, milbank, resortwear, sportswear, sundress, the evolution of american style, Tina Leser, vintage, vintage dress, vintage sundress
Posted in Fashion | 4 Comments »
