I grew up with a trunk at the foot of my bed and shared my closet space with long-dead grand aunts. I'd love to try on the velvet hats, or carefully unwrap, admire, and carefully rewrap the embroideries. Not to mention the quilt blocks, by the hundreds, that if not already sewn into one of the quilts under which we all slept, were stowed in the attic in still another trunk.
Alas, all lost in the fire. Here's a woman in Texas who is lucky enough to still have her heirloom fashions, and it has inspired her to push even farther into the love of vintage fashion! See if you are taken in to the article with the first few paragraphs, as I was: JEFFERSON - Little girls have always liked to play dress up in the old prom dresses they find in their mother’s clothing trunk or in bridesmaid’s dresses stored in an attic. Marcia Thomas was fortunate to grow up in the historic city of Jefferson, where attics hold many such clothing treasures. Her family, having arrived in Jefferson in the 1830s, was among the town’s early settlers. Her grandmother, Marie Vesta Brown, had many trunks filled with beautiful clothes made of exquisite fabrics and delicate laces and hats with veils and feathers. “I liked to play in my grandmother’s attic and dress up in all the clothes that were stored there,” she said. “These were the dresses that belonged to the mothers and grandmothers, to all the women who went before me.” Ms. Thomas never outgrew the need to surround herself with beautiful and unusual fashions. She insists that her creative energies come naturally because she was born into a family of productive people and grew up among interesting and loving relatives. Read more: http://www.tylerpaper.com/TP-My+Generation/229102/east-texas-woman-collects-vintage-fashion Enjoy!
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Ever since we started collecting buttons in the 1980's or so, we've been told "I've never seen so many buttons!" by customers who walk into the shop. The one thing we do not have is buttons from the big country that starts with C. Nope, we've been loyal to our European, US, and Japanese suppliers. We've got abalone buttons from the US and Mexico. Some of the first laser carved buttons from Italy. Wood buttons from Italy and Portugal. Swarovski crystal buttons. Austrian, German, and Czech glass buttons. Metal blazer buttons from England, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. Mother of pearl buttons from Japan. Vintage buttons from some of our friendly suppliers of the past. High fashion buttons from the same houses that supply top couturiers of France and Italy. Today, I found some quotes about buttons that are amusing, and I thought I'd share this one: ![]() ...But, I think he must have been thinking about telephone buttons, don't you? Telephones had dials--push button phones were still a novelty! Back in 1964, when I was in first grade, a dear friend of mind (whom I didn't yet know) was dining with the Beatles at the Embassy of Britain, in honor of their first US visit. She later told me about it and commented they were nice boys, and how tiny they were. I guess we Americans are still huge, and getting huger. Who I did know was my first grade teacher, Glynda Shows, who had allowed her son, Owen, to watch the "Ed Sullivan Show" and reported at school the next day what an awful racket it had been. Mrs. Shows and I are still in touch. I'll have to ask her if she likes them any better now.
It's fun to look back on the year in fashion, and Style.com gives us an idea about what inspired designers. Movies, of course, are always a great inspiration, with Woman in Gold at the top of the list for 2015.
Helen Mirrin stars in this history-saturated story. She plays a relatable character--a California dress shop owner who has a family story that reaches back to pre-WW2 Vienna. At some point she becomes determined to reclaim the loot that was stolen from her family home by the Nazis. The story centers on the famous Klimt painting known by the same name, (also my favorite work of art), but more properly called Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, on permanent display at the Neue Galerie in New York. Are you inspired by works of art? Films? Tell us please! Image from Wikipedia. |
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