Fresh vintage for a fresh new season! Check out all the new goodies from our trade members HERE in our Forums. Samples from participating members can be viewed below and you can click on each image for details.
Is it time to shift gears for fall? Find out what our seller-members have in store HERE in our forums. A sample from each member who participated this week is posted below. You can click on any of these images for all the details.
No, it’s not the Grateful Dead in concert, the depths of a bear market, or a no-longer-with-us cow—at least not in this context.
If you shop for vintage fashion online, you will have run across the word deadstock, and maybe wondered about its meaning.
According to Collins English Dictionary, deadstock is “the merchandise or commodities of a shop, etc., that is unsold and generating no income.” Some dictionaries separate the word (dead stock), others do not include the term at all. It is, apparently, a business term that has crept into the general lexicon.
If it sounds pejorative, it’s because that’s its history: Items that couldn’t be or weren’t sold were “dead” to the seller, needing to be stored and of relatively little value. These items would sell for a song if at all.
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This week we have a rich assortment of Fresh Vintage HERE in our forums. A sample from each member who participated this week is posted below. You can click on any of these images for all the details.
Silk filaments have a gummy outer layer called sericin. If the sericin is left on, the filament is called raw silk. The filament also is said to be “in the gum” or unprocessed. The sericin is removed either at the yarn- or fabric-making stage.
It is a misnomer to call a finished fabric raw silk—the term seems to be mistakenly applied most often to wild silk fabric, noil fabric and other textured silk textiles.
The silkworm (Bombyx mori) produces its cocoon of silk fiber which is made up of two proteins: fibroin, which is the core of the fiber, and sericin, which is the gum that coats the fiber. The gum is the glue that holds the fibers together to form a cocoon.
For the production of fabric, the sericin-coated fiber is called raw silk. The sericin is removed either at the yarn- or the fabric-making stage.
Pappagallo was a women’s boutique in Beverly Hills, California founded by designer and businessman Donald Pliner in 1967, when he was just 23 years old. Catering to a trendy clientele, it generated $1 million in sales during its first year of operation. Pliner went on to have enormous success with his stores The Right Bank Clothing Company and later, the Right Bank Shoe Store, prior to launching his own popular namesake shoe brand.
Written by Ranch Queen Vintage
see Right Bank Clothing Company
The Right Bank Clothing Company was a trendy boutique in Beverly Hills, California, founded in 1975 by Donald Pliner. Born in Chicago in 1943, Donald and his brother Elliott got their start as apprentices to their father Leo in the family-owned Pliner’s Florsheim Family Shoe Stores. In 1967, at age 23, Donald opened his first retail store, Pappagallo, in Beverly Hills, making $1 million in sales the first year of operation.
The Right Bank Clothing Company opened its doors in 1971, also in Beverly Hills, and soon became known for its fashion-forward styles and as a showcase for new European designers. A second boutique was soon opened in New York city. In 1984, the store changed its focus, becoming The Right Bank Shoe Company.
Donald Pliner went on to create an eponymous shoe company, which he and his wife Lisa designed for until 2015, when they left to create a new brand. Reviving the name The Right Bank Shoe Company, they emerged with a line featuring men’s and women’s shoes hand-crafted by Spanish and Italian shoemakers.
Written by Ranch Queen Vintage
see Pappagallo
Here is what’s fresh in our members’ shops this week. From Victorian mourning jewelry to an Edwardian walking suit to 1930s and 1950s patterns and all the way up to an autumn suede coat and deep purple leather bag from the 1980s. The VFG members do not disappoint this week (do they ever?).
Just click on any of these items to go to that item for sale, and see all the vintage items new in our members’ shops HERE.
I am a fabric junkie. I love the look, feel, and textures of fabrics of all kinds. In fact, I think that part of the reason I collect, wear, and sell vintage clothing is for love of fabric. The right fabric makes a good design better, and can turn a mediocre design into a masterpiece.
We “vinties” love our silks and rayons, don’t we? But today I’m going to talk about polyester. Yup, that omni-present synthetic “stuff” that appeared en masse in the mid 60s and seemed to be all anyone made clothes out of for about the next decade.
Alas, polyester has a bad rep—in some cases. In others, its reputation as an evil fabric is deserved. Many buyers, sellers, and collectors of vintage apparel shudder at the thought of polyester. I assume they associate all polyesters with the cheap double-knit polys we saw in the “mature-women” pantsuits and outlet-store clothing of that era. Often it was spongy and “saggy,” and when you bent your knee, it didn’t bend back with you. So you walked around all day with knee molds in your slacks!
However, polyester was/is a very well-rounded fiber that lends itself to a variety of fabric types: single-knit jerseys, better-quality double knits (such as today’s ponte knits), wovens, and pile fabrics. It also blends well with cottons, linens, and rayons—its better characteristics offset the less-desirable ones of those fabrics. For example, a cotton/poly blend won’t wrinkle or shrink like 100 percent cotton will. Linen will drape better and wrinkle less, and rayon is more readily washed and stronger in a blend with poly.
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Catch up on the latest news in Vintage Fashion. Fresh Vintage coming to you from the fine members of the Vintage Fashion Guild. You can click on any of these items to get more information, and be sure to see all the fresh finds HERE.
Looking for fresh vintage finds? You have come to the right place! Each week, members of the Vintage Fashion Guild share their latest listings in our forums. This week, as in all weeks, the vintage clothing and accessories are from all decades of the 20th century. You can click on any of these items to see for more information, and be sure to see all the latest vintage HERE.
Take aim at the wonderful vintage items new in VFG members shops! You can click on any of these items to get more information, and be sure to stop by the forums for all the fresh finds—> HERE.
The Fresh Vintage this week includes silk and silver, along with a punk rock t-shirt from 1977. You can’t say that VFG members’ offerings lack variety! Click on any of these images to see the item for sale, and to see all that’s fresh this week, click HERE.
The great aviator Amelia Earhart (b. 1897, disappeared in 1937 and declared dead in 1939) is certainly known by all, but not often for her fashion line.
Considered one of the best-dressed women in America, she and her husband George Putnam set up a small atelier in their hotel suite, where Amelia patterned and sewed fashions. These included touches that related to her aviation fame. She told reporters “For trimming, I nearly always use something characteristic of aviation—a parachute cord for tie or belt, a ball-bearing belt buckle, wing bolts and nuts for buttons”. She made parachute silk hats, and jackets with propeller-shaped buttons. The styles were sporty and affordable, available at Amelia Earhart shops within Macy’s and Marshall Field’s.
Unfortunately, the label did not take flight—no doubt starting it during the Great Depression didn’t help. Now her clothing is extremely hard to find, having been produced during only one year, 1934.
Written by denisebrain
This article was written a few years ago for a museum studies graduate school class. The wonderful thing about vintage fashion is that so much stays absolutely relevant—including longing to dress like a star.
The article refers to:
Emery, Joy. (2001). “Dress Like a Star: Hollywood and the Pattern Industry”. Dress, 28:1, 92-99, DOI: 10.1179/036121101805297761
Author Emery’s article notes that the movie industry flourished during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, when many industries were unable to survive the crippling economic downturn. That success is usually attributed to the escape (from the effects of the grim economy) that movies offered the moviegoer. The fantasies of lavish movie lifestyles buoyed the moviegoer who was sinking under the struggles during the Great Depression. Those fantasies could spillover into reality in the guise of ready-to-wear and, homemade replications of the extravagant fashions worn by the movie stars. In that way, the success of the movie industry was able to bolster both the moviegoer and related industries, such as that of the ready-to-wear and pattern industries.
Ready-to-wear manufacturers and the movie industry collaborated to promote clothing lines based upon fashions worn by the movie stars. Some of the manufacturers of ready-to-wear fashions opened stores specifically dedicated to Hollywood fashions. In advance of a movie’s release, they were frequently given a preview of the wardrobe, in order that they be prepared with similar garments when the movie opened.
As Emery noted: “Homemade garments capturing the élan presented in films offered the opportunity to dress like a star, in spite of hard times.” The effects of the Depression were felt by the pattern manufacturers, too. Established companies such as Butterick and Vogue were struggling. McCall’s “dropped their licenses with Paris couturiers to cut their costs.” Simplicity appeared in 1928 and offered dress patterns at half or even less than half the price of the other pattern manufacturers, thus applying even more economic pressure to the struggling companies.
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Here is what’s fresh in our members’ shops this week. From 1930s era through recent vintage, VFG members do not disappoint this week (do they ever?).
Just click on any of these items to go to that item for sale, and see all the vintage items new in our members’ shops HERE.
I have to say right from the start that if you like any vintage slip very much then you should go right ahead and buy it, irrespective of the advice given out by people like me. However, below you will find seven useful things to look out for when you are buying a vintage slip that will hopefully give you the buyer’s advantage. Even if you don’t find a slip that has all seven of these purchasing tips, just a few will put you ahead of the game and have you buying like a pro. If you are planning to purchase a vintage slip for your favourite 1940s fashion dress then following these simple and effective tips will really pay dividends and you’ll know that your slip is not only truly authentic vintage but of the highest quality too.
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Head’s up, because Fresh Vintage is here! This week we have sandals fit for a goddess, the greatest pocket ever, and much more!
Just click on any of these items to go to that item for sale, and see all the vintage items new in our members’ shops HERE.
