It's On! The Past Perfect Vintage Christmas Sale

It's time to get caught up before Christmas catches me completely unprepared. First up, the Past Perfect Vintage Christmas Sale is underway! We have sale prices posted throughout the webstore,  up to 50% off. The sale runs through Dec. 28, so if you are one of the lucky ones who might get a little bit of green in your stocking, sale prices will still be available after Christmas. Just click

We Have Brought The Pretty

Our blog posts have thinned down due to an opera project (The Merry Widow for the KY Opera Association, opening Feb. 17!) and will therefore be sparse for just a while longer. But we just updated the Past Perfect Vintage website with some pretty, pretty things and we couldn't postpone showing off  The Pretty, aka the Eye Candy. 
We have a really nice group of Victorian and Edwardian pieces added

New Pretties in December? Oh yes.

 
In our largest monthly updates yet, we just added some 31 vintage and antique pieces at Past Perfect Vintage, covering a 140 year span. Not bad, I think. Today let's look at the Victorian and Edwardian pieces. We are showing an 1840s print cotton wrapper/house dress, an 1860s brown silk damask 2 piece dress, an 1870s to early 1880s natural silk 2 piece bustle dress with wonderful buttons and

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

New Fashions of 1870

I bring you only the latest in fashion. No? Well, be that as it may, I bring you the latest fashions from Godey's Lady's Book of 1870. I was just given these lovely plates this month by a cousin. I don't yet know what I will do with them after this post, perhaps they will go on a wall some day, perhaps not. Until then, they will live with my Civil War Sheet music in plastic sleeves next to the

Bustles in The Queen: 1875, part Deux

Two more 1875 bustle dresses from The Queen. I do think this period had the most graceful line of the bustle variations. Not as short waisted and puffy as the earliest 1870s version, which looks a little wedding cakesque, yet softer and less rigid than the 1880s version. And this has a more graceful profile line than the truly horizontal bustle of the later era, as well. That said,it is still an

Bustles in The Queen: 1875

We acquired 3 bound volumes of  The Queen, the Lady's Magazine, an English periodical, some time ago. I am just getting around to looking at these. They are huge. They are heavy. And they are full of news and stories, weddings, announcements, illustrations of peoples from around the world, everything. And lots of illustrations. More lace patterns, children's clothing, bonnets and hairstyles than

New. Lots of New coming

Oh, my we have been busy. First, that kitchen remodel is done! Then we had an early Christmas. Then we got some 20 items ready and up at www.pastperfectvintage.etsy.com, and they are up and going fast. Here's an eclectic sample, but go take look, then come back. 1970 Rodrigues Maxi Dress 1950s Paisley Blouse1970s Velvet Gaucho Set 1979s Print Blousec. 1904 Wedding Bodice Sash and shoes Gold

A Schizophrenic Vintage Life

When asked, what my favorite period of clothing is, I automatically freeze up. There was a time when I had a favorite, but that was long ago. I have given up such delusions of youth. I have developed an appreciation for fine construction and nice lines. I do have a soft spot for good fabric. After that, all bets are off. I have yet to come to love the 1980s, but I was an adult then and buying

Everyone Needs 1890s Glamour

I seem drawn to transitional styles. You can also call them cuspers. Those periods in between the big fashion movements, as one silhoette morphs into another. The late 40s into 50s, the 20s into 30s, the 1870s into 1880s. And then there's the 1880s bustle as it segues into the Gay 1890s leg o' mutton.For example, this dress and hat we have just added to our website. The fabrics are a rich

A First Lady a Day: Harriet Lane

The 2009 Inaugural Balls have started! So this installment will be brief. Harriet Lane was the 27 year old niece and ward of bachelor President James Buchanan. They had a rather good partnership, and she was highly thought of in the European capitials from his time there as an Ambassador. Harriet served as his offical hostess from 1857 - 1861. She was accomplished and polished beyond her years,

A First Lady a Day: Crete, 1881

Lucretia Rudolph Garfield definitely wins the Best Nickname of any American First Lady Award. Crete. I think that’s cool. A Very interesting woman. She was well educated, studying French, Greek and Latin languages and classical, British and French literature. She was an independent woman , a teacher and an intellectual. Crete was also a fine hostess, although not at all interested in publicity.

A First Lady a Day: Julia Dent Grant

from www.wikimedia.org: Library of Congress description: "Grant, Mrs. U.S. and son (Jesse) and daughter (Nellie) also her father Mr. Dent" photo by Mathew Brady or Levin Handy, ca 1865 - 1869.After Ida McKinley, we need a Happy story. Julia loved being First Lady. She loved the White House. But she was always adaptable. She traveled to army camps, she moved to Illinois, she switched from Army

A First Lady a Day: Ida McKinley, 1897 & 1901

This is a sad story. Poor Ida. She had a very difficult time of it. Her childhood and younger years were fine. But she lost both her children and her mother within in few years, and after that - she seems to have become very delicate both emotionally and physically. It is thought now that she had phlebitis and epilepsy. She certainly had seizures, some of them in public. She spent her days as a

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

A First Lady a Day: Caroline, or 1889

You are wondering - who’s Caroline? Carrie Harrison. Lovely woman, well dressed. Elegant, yet fun loving. I have seen some of her clothes at the President Benjamin Harrison Home in Indianapolis. Very, very nice. And the house is great too - right downtown, easy to get to. Go if you have a chance. They had a spiffy display on the third floor when we were there - Death in the White House. She was

Decade du Jour - 1890s

In my current workplace incarnation , I am designing opera costumes for a Gilbert and Sullivan production. As we have set in in the 1890s, and I have been living with the designs since Feb, and will be until the end of the summer, I am feeling rather submersed in leg o‘ mutton sleeves, melon puffs, and tulip and bell skirts. Note to self: see how many names for styles are food related ………..

A Bustle Fiesta, part deux

The fiesta continues. I had to save the 1880s bustles gown for a second post, because my mother told me too many sweet things would ruin my appetite. After the frothy wedding cakes of yesterday's post, I had to cleanse my palate with a day of non-vintage endeavours.Before I wander off to the mango and peach salsa, I leave you with a few quick pointers for telling 1870s and 1880 big bustles apart