A few Thoughts and new Vintage Fashions

 





Sometimes in the Vintage Fashion business, we can get too caught up in designer pieces and their labels. There are those who feel important designers of the 20th Century are the only thing worth buying. Now if you are buying investment grade only, then a case for that approach could be made. But of the vintage fashions I have personally acquired over the years, it wasn't the designer

The First of The Collection comes to Past Perfect

 
We have recently been so pleased to be asked to handle a partial de-accession of a private collection. Like many long time collectors, our client is weeding through and focusing in on certain areas.After all, many of us start out acquiring randomly, pretty much anything that is pretty or for those vintage collectors who wear their pieces - anything that fits! I've done it myself, and not that

Civil War Red, White and Blue

Take my word for it the stripes in this blue woven silk are red and white. There's also a touch of green, but still - how often do you see a red, white and blue late 1850s silk dress from Tennessee?This lovely gown came out of a Tennessee estate auction we hit this past fall. The dress has the fringed peplum, horizontal stripes, dropped shoulders, sleeve wings and balloon sleeves one would

A First Lady a Day: 1861, 1865

This may be the most difficult installment of this series. Mary Todd Lincoln. Talk about a Complex Personality. On the plus side: Bright, well educated, polished, supportive of her husband’s career, believed in Lincoln when few others did. Deeply loved her husband and children. On the minus: high strung and high maintenance, jealous, given to occasional inappropriate outbursts. A compulsive

Decade du Jour: The 1860s

The 1860s remain enormously popular with collectors and enthusiaists. It's partly the re-enacting thing and the crinoline thing. And partly the 'romance' of the American Civil War. Trust me , there was nothing, and I mean Nothing, romantic about it. Visit the national cemetaries sometime. But this blog isn't devoted to military history, it's about Clothing! Fashion! Shoes!Now that I have that out