Rainy Days and Wednesdays

It was a rainy Wednesday here yesterday. Grey, humid and rainy.Couldn’t weed the flower beds.Couldn’t plant garden seeds.Couldn’t take a walk.So I chose to do a Vulcan mind meld with my alternate identity of Victorian Laundress and tackled washing and ironing this 1902 Wedding Dress. The washing wasn’t too bad. I hand washed it in a screen and laid it flat to dry. And being lace and batiste, it

Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes!

I sure do. Need new shoes that is. Because this blog started out as an Ode to my Favorite Shoes and when I got these three pair out and not one pair is newer than , oh, 1987. I gotta get with the 21st Century here. Favorite Pair of Vintage Shoes, Division I: Early 1930s Salvatore Ferragamos. Wonderful two tone leather with gold piping. Also winner of The Best Pair of Shoes from an Indiana Farm

A Long Day on the Vintage Highway

I am tired. Really tired. Just in from a long day on the Old Vintage Highway. And it was 95 degrees everywhere we got out of the car. KY and IN in the summer. Woof. But it was a good day roaming town to town. 6 dresses, a hat and a pair of 1960s Go-Go boots. Plus a basket of fresh peaches, a jar of locally produced honey and gas at under $4 a gallon. The disappointment of the day? The wine silk

Decade du Jour: The 1910s

It’s time for a Decade du Jour again. Let’s do the 1910s this time. An appealing decade, this one with loads of Edwardian detail and fine construction fabrics, but so much lighter and easier to wear than many of the previous fashions. Very fluid, very graceful, but with some odd asymmetric lines that keep it all a bit off balance. And then of course, the Great War comes and life and fashion have

Madame Irene

Irene Lentz Gibbons, better know simply as Irene, was a wonderful American designer. And as one of the few costume designers to really make a name for herself in fashion, she has a special place in my heart. I wrote a piece about her for the Vintage Fashion Guild several years ago - you check it out here at http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/.Irene is rightly known for her tailoring, her use of

Norell on 5th of July

Yesterday was the 4th of July. Firework show set to music, 25 cent ice cream and a big town get together here. Yet the most charming thing about the day was that people spontaneously stopped all around the town to watch the fireworks in parking lots, closed business driveways and highway shoulders.So today, who came to mind, but that most American of designers, Norman Norell. It’s not just that

The Appeal of Tailoring

After continuing introspection, I find one of the appealing things about tailored menswear is the numerous statements than can be made within the limited confines of acceptable men’s styles. Yes, yes, all suits have collars, lapels, and pockets. Trousers are pretty basic. And yet the range of effect and statement possible within the standard lines is amazing. From choice of fabric and fiber -