Vintage Memories in the Making
In Honor of Mother's Day
Every day I get the unique and rare opportunity to delve
into some amazing vintage clothing that has been hanging in the closet or
wrapped up in a chest of drawers of my client’s mothers, grandmothers, or even
great-grandmothers. The items I evaluate have often been untouched, unseen, and
surely unworn for many years. I felt it
so fitting for the month where we all honor our mother’s to share a couple stories
with my readers from two items I recently had the opportunity to deal with. First
a blue dress and secondly an antique muff.
The aqua blue dress pictured here was obtained from the
mother’s estate by the daughter-in-law who had no use for it. This dress has
three special things going for it to help it move successfully in the vintage
marketplace. First, the maker. The “Sylvia Ann” label originated from a high
end fashion designer out of California. It is considered a vintage collector’s
label as many purveyors scout for it to add to their shops. Secondly - the fabric.
In the case of this dress, it was made from raw or shantung silk. During the
1960s, silk was always imported from the orient and not mass produced as is the
case in most silk textiles today. You could tell just from touching it that the
fabric is exceptional. Third – the style. This shift style dress with removable
jacket was made famous by none other than the most prominent First Lady, Mrs.
Jackie Kennedy. This dress mirrors the dresses she wore while in the White
House and will always be a timeless style. The note attached to the dress reads,
“Worn for 25th wedding anniversary on January 1, 1967”. As a seller,
this helps me date the dress, put a story behind it, and price it a bit higher
because stories sell.
The muff came to me from the great-granddaughter
of its original owner. It had been handed down from her grandmother to her
mother and finally to her. She found no real use for it as women no longer wear
muffs and as she was purging some of her own items she relented to look into
selling it. Because this was considered more of an heirloom than anything else,
it was always properly cared for. This arrived to me with the note attached
that reads: “1930s - Made from a fox caught by Graham Higley made into this
muff for Marella, his wife.” This tells a story - a love story even. Not only
did this muff’s condition and age demand a high dollar, but the fact that a man
named Graham loved his wife Marella so much he had this fashioned for her just
increased its value.
A wonderful way to honor the women you love in your life may
be to grab a special dress from their closet and make a note of the origin of
it. This could carry on for generations to come. From this Vintage Stylist,
here’s wishing all of you a very Happy Mother’s Day!
*this was originally printed in the Good News Paper May 2015*
No comments:
Post a Comment