Monday, December 31, 2007

Have A Glamorous New Year!

.........................One of the hightlights in the vintage fashion world this past year is actually quite relevant to New Year's Eve. On May 30th, the pink dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the classic film BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS was auctioned off by CHRISTIE'S to the tune of $192,000....nearly six times its given estimate.

Maybe Christie's was surprised, but fans of Hepburn and the film were certainly not! The pink dress was worn in one of the most moving scenes in the film, on New Year's Eve....whereupon Hepburn's character Holly Golightly discovers her brother has passed away via a telegram. The dress, worn with a pink silk satin jacket, pink rhinestone tiara and bejeweled walking stick, epitomizes Golightly's struggle to reconcile her past with the image she has created of herself amongst the high rollers and society types of NYC's party scene of the early 60's.

Want to look perfect in pink for your next cocktail soiree? Just add a tiara to this gorgeous Lilli Diamond 60's cocktail dress and bring out your own inner Holly Golightly! Sequins and silk in shocking pink, from

DOROTHEA'S CLOSET VINTAGE....

Happy New Year! ~Ang

PS....the perfect gift for the fan of Breakfast at Tiffanys? Get her this....a silverplated telephone dialer, naturally vintage as no one has need for them now (sadly)....she'll know what it means!

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Rockin' the Rockettes, Iowa Style

...................Saw the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectactular today, a fantastic Christmas gift from my Mom to my daughter and I. It was the last show of their run here in Des Moines, and while I've nothing to compare it against, I'm sure it was just as amazing as every show previous to this one! My daughter loved it, was in awe the whole 2 hours.....the show is a bigger than life, over the top, glitz glam and dancing extravaganza. And yes, I was in awe too. A little depressed at the lack of body fat on stage, but the way those girls (and the gents from the ensemble) work it, its no wonder they're so fit.

And the costumes!!!! From the opening number featuring the Rockettes as lithe and limber reindeer (in cocoa brown stretch velvet body suits topped off with light-up antlers), to the Little Shop of Horrors inspired poinsettia costumes......the toys in the workshop come-to-life scene boasting a line-up of Raggedy Ann dolls wearing babdoll dresses over ruffly, red crinolines perfect for the subtle version of the French Can-Can dance........to the shimmering snowflake costumes and of course, the sexy Santa suit fur trimmed ensembles.....the costumes were breathtaking.

As well they should be. According to Diane Jaust, Radio City's long-time historian, this season's costumes and staging were painstakingly created to be "a production meant to bridge the quaintly hokey past and the multimedia future" (NY Times). According to Jaust in THIS NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE, "I have been asking Radio City Music Hall for 10 years to get familiar with the material we used in the past and go into the future by new-and-improving it". She shared with this season's director, Linda Haberman, more than 5,000 boxes of photographs, production notes, program and newspaper clippings dating from its opening night in 1932. The concepts that set this show apart in the 30s and 40s were reintroduced in this season's production....bigger than life sets, dramatic special effects and glamorous costuming. This picture from the Rockettes first Christmas Spectacular in 1933 shows how the scale of the set lends a bigger than life feel to the "Coppe'lia" number....

The Rockettes have long been known to sport some of the flashiest, and of course leg revealing, costumes in the industry. In the 30s the dresses were short but the underpinnings more of a trunks length garment, showing leg but no further up than mid thigh. With the revolution of the bikini in the 60s the thighs got a lot more exposure and since then the costumes have become as daring as possible for a family attended event! Read more about the history of the Rockettes costumes HERE. As Vincente Minelli was involved in designing the costumes back in the 30s, its no wonder that some of the costumes reside along side some of Liza Minelli's costumes at Radio City....

And if you want to grab a piece of Rockettes costume history, check out this eBay auction ending in 3 days by COYOTE SURPLUS.....

A superb show worth seeing next year if you get the chance!! ~Ang

Friday, December 28, 2007

New Year's Chic....the MacLaine Look

..................Dressing for New Year's Eve is a very different event than dressing for previous holiday soirees. Christmas parties are often family oriented, subdued and elegant. Dressing for New Year's gives you the opportunity to add a little sass to your party wear! Cocktails or no, the cocktail dress is THE perfect look for New Year's Eve, and no one worked the cocktail dress better than SHIRLEY MACLAINE. No, not known as a classic beauty or a Marilyn-esque bombshell, Shirley had (has) a pretty face and a lithe body, able to just fill out those fitted silk & sequined knee length dresses that epitomize early 60's Rat Pack era glam.

Appropos, no less, as Shirley had a superb role in the film OCEANS 11 along side her pallys in the Rat Pack. The film is about a heist to take place in Vegas casinos on New Year's Eve, and MacLaine's flamboyant personality is perfect for showing off this turquoise sparkler and over the top fur wrap....

Something similar and in every way perfect for New Year's at Dorothea's Closet Vintage on eBay.....

You may not be hanging with the Rat Pack (and if you're sad about that, I'm with you!), but you can look as sassy and sexy as Miss MacLaine for New Year's in a vintage cocktail dress!

Bottoms up!~ Ang

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Rockette Chic
.............

Received a great Christmas gift this year...tickets to see the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular! Its the first time the Rockettes have ever been in Iowa, and I hear its a fantastic show.

Its long been a dream of mine to acquire the estate of a dancer, be it the clean cut Rockette type or burlesque. The sequins, fringe, ruffles and DETAILS! Nothing says holidays OR glamour like the combination of RED with fur, a combo less easy to find than one would think. I spotted this gorgeous coat on eBay, offered by MAMA STONE VINTAGE....

Click the picture to get to the listing. At DOROTHEA'S CLOSET VINTAGE you'll find a coat just as glamorous....a red poplin 70's trenchcoat trimmed in black fur. Click below to see the coats on the site!

Stay warm and be glamorous! ~Ang

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!

.................Hope your holidays are great, back to vintage wear tomorrow!

Find the perfect glamorous holiday dress for Christmas or New Year's Eve at Dorothea's Closet Vintage by clicking the picture below at Dorothea's Closet Vintage

.

~Ang

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Happy Vintage Holidays!

................Time to head out of town and take a break from being online and focus on family. I've been looking through a large stash of vintage greeting cards that came from an estate I aquired last year (Jean's estate, check my ARCHIVES PAGES on the website for some clothing pieces that belonged to her) and wanted to share a few!

Thats one angry looking reindeer!

Happy Holidays!~ Ang

Saturday, December 22, 2007

MARLENE DIETRICH, In The Round

..........I'm in love. Not exactly with MARLENE DIETRICH, though she was an amazing beauty and rumor has it she showed up once to FRANK SINATRA'S place whilst he was in the middle of a poker game and merely looked at him, he left the table to join her in the boudoir, and then she left. That's Rat Pack era hot. Digression....I haz it. Anyway......got my lamp today, and I am smitten. Behold.



Click to get to Paul's store on ETSY, and see his other creations! It heats up and SPINS! Marlene, in lingerie, spinning through glorious 20s & 30s designer paperdoll ensembles.

This lamp brings together the sentimental happiness of my childhood spent watching spinner Christmas tree ornaments on my Grandmother's Christmas tree, as seen here (and going for some big bucks on eBay, no less)...





and my love of glamorous chicks/vintage apparel.



Marlene! Paperdolls! Vintage dresses! The glamour of smoking! Heat-up spinner dealies! Atomic lighting! I'm spent from the gid. Check out Paul's other lighting creations and enjoy. And dig some Marlene while you're at it.





...~Ang

A FORTUNY WOMAN

............Another of the great designer pieces recently sold at KERRY TAYLOR AUCTIONS, this Delphos gown in sky blue was designed in 1907 by designer Mario Fortuny (read more about him in the designer and label resource at THE VINTAGE FASHION GUILD ).

Done in silk and finely pleated, these gowns simplified the classical look and revolutionized fashion in the early part of the century. Easy to wear, they came with different sleeve styles in a range of gorgeous hues.

At DOROTHEA'S CLOSET VINTAGE, get a similar look in an updated textile.....soft, draping jersey knit in deep persimmon with a wide obi-style sash, by designer DONALD BROOKS....


Be pleat-perfect in vintage!

Friday, December 21, 2007

IF THESE PANTS COULD TALK....

.............The very definition of "hot pants", and ankle length at that! The recent Kerry Taylor Auctions may have featured loads of over the top, high end and couture designer vintage clothing but one of the stars of the auction was an unlabeled pair of plain cream slubbed silk capri pants.

Why would a pair of non-descript 60s capris sell for nearly $8,000? One word. MARILYN.

Few women could define a pair of plain capri pants like Marilyn Monroe, who used her hourglass figure and sex appeal to maximum effect to create a look wholly her own. Platinum hair and a pink snug top (and of course, being Marilyn Monroe) were all it took to take a pair of plain pants from bland to bombshell.

In the vintage world, pants and skirt strangely get passed over in favor of the dress.....something I see daily in my shop and on the website. Separates are certainly easier to incorporate into a modern wardrobe, less hassle where fit is concerned and often easier to accessorize. At Dorothea's Closet Vintage on eBay you'll find this 60's glam lounging set....aqua blue matelasse capri pants with a loose, yet sexy tunic top. Made in Hawaii no less! Exotic and glamorous.

Vintage separates....why the snub? The above pants come as a set, no less, giving the wearer the option of wearing together or separately. Add a tight sweater and heels to the pants, a cami, a blouse and flats. The top (not shown) would look smashing with a pair of jeans. Don't pass up those pants, skirts and tops out there. Glamour doesn't have to be defined by a dress! ~Ang

Thursday, December 20, 2007

MOOD MUGLER

...................Its easy to dismiss the 80’s as an era of ridiculous neon colors, big hair and shoulder pads. But while the proportions of those shoulder pads grew, so did the design career of THIERRY MUGLER (info thanks to the Vintage Fashion Guild VFG)......creating pieces as over the top as any 80’s piece could be, requisite shoulder pads intact and in charge. The recent auctions by KERRY TAYLOR AUCTIONS, several of his pieces performed amazingly well, giving older vintage dresses and gowns a run for their money.

Mugler’s style was iconic 80’s. Sculptural, bold and dramatic....like this leather suit dress...

Another cutwork leather jacket....

And my own favorite, this 2 piece suit dress with Seuss inspired green silk and sequined detailing.....



At DOROTHEA'S CLOSET VINTAGE, I'm offering a piece that is genuine 40's doing 80's! Which is to say, a piece far ahead of its time and clearly the look that inspired the types of pieces above by Mugler and his ilk. A fantastical 40's dress with wide, dramatic lapel angled across bodice and layered with crepe rayon and faille, adding dimension without distracting.

Designers look to the past for inspiration.....and if you love vintage, its no surprise! ~Ang

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The KERRY TAYLOR AUCTIONS ended recently, and in the vintage clothing realm, the final prices were nothing short of amazing. Rare designer pieces like this 50's ball gown by Madame Gres fetched 5 digit figures....and just looking at it, its no wonder why. This gown is exquisite in every way.....the colors, the layering of textiles, the silhouette....and those breathtaking flowers.


If only I had the resources to buy that AND the event to wear it to! For me, its the flowers that make it......bold, sculptural and romantic. At DOROTHEA'S CLOSET VINTAGE, a gown without the pedigree but with a similar approach to adding some flower power to an already smashing piece, this 30's black taffeta boasts large, vividly colored velvet roses front and center.....


And a with bit lower price tag! Gowns=glamour....and there is no rival for a gorgeous vintage gown.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

SAVE A PRAYER
..............

Doesn't get much better than kicking off a blog with a Duran Duran reference (says she who was taunted with the name "Duran Durangie" in Junior High. Foolish girls thought they were insulting me! Me! I AM Duran Durangie!!!).

Super digression. In my back staircase, an enclosed fire escape as it were, (not within my apartment or I'd be on my laptop typing elsewhere) is a lost and trapped Tan Praying Mantis. Ava & I spotted it yesterday headed through to go do laundry. Its not uncommon for creatures to get into the stairways and apartments, this is a brick building built in 1917, so stuff gets in. Bats, spiders, moths, bees.....meeces. This is my first encounter with the Mantis.

So I'm nice, and while pretty terrified of bugs as big as my HAND, I figure I'll try to help it out. My daughter claims to want to be a bug expert when she grows up (she's 4), and will scoop up potato bugs (aka rolly pollies) and let them crawl all over her with no fear. Eeew. Mantis was on the window screen over the steps to the basement, so I get a long leaf and reach toward it, thinking it will behave like most bugs and climb right on.

No indeed. Swivels that pointy big eyed head around and looks at me like I was offering it a slice of arsenic-lace-sushi.

So, I back away. I'm fascinated with these bugs, they look so wise, so graceful! But I've read enough to know they can be aggressive when threatened (read HERE on Wikipedia for info that will make you cringe a little) and our sweet little Mantis out back is a good sized bug indeed. And on the wiki, check out the tan Mantis in defense mode. I may cry.

I left the back door to outside (not in!!!! NOT IN!!) open for it, headed back to check on him now. In honor, I give you a 1969 BLACK BELT MAGAZINE featuring the Praying Mantis....

Maybe I'll snap a pic of my guy out back, for now, here's one to creep you out for the day.....

Call me wacky, but I'm not sure how I feel about an insect with a 180 degree head turning radius capability. And those EYES.

Ang

Saturday, September 01, 2007

CULTURE SHOCK

..................In the car, Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon" is on the radio. The kid is digging it, bopping her wee head along, asking me why he's singing about a chameleon....explaining to ME what karma means (if a guy is a bad guy, a robbing bank guy, he goes to jail. karma.). Right right right, I say. I tell her the guy's name is Boy George, she says "like Curious George!". Again, sure. Boy George is a monkey.

In honor of his monkey-ness today, I bring you an iron on to create your very own Boy George tee shirt (one I had when I was about 14, right about the time I actually dressed as Boy George for Halloween....complete with braids attached to a bowler hat, a long white coat with gaint numbers painted on it and those slouchy 80s suede boots....and ALL that make up). Click to get to the listing on eBay.....and get some culture, kids.

Ang

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Oh, MaJIcKAl UniCOrN!

.......................Sunday I took my 4 year old daughter to the park. Its been freaky hot all summer so it was the first real "fall-like" day, windy, leafy, less humid and under 90 degrees. We had to take the following......A) sidewalk chalk B) trike C) bubbles. Much swinging was done, sliding, climbing, trike riding, and then it was time for the chalk.

Anyone with a 4 year old knows that the sidewalk chalk is less for THEM to draw with than for YOU to draw with, and to draw everything they demand. At least thats how it goes for us. And bless my girl (or, bless the toy manufacturers and marketing genuises for reviving the 80s schtick), she does love her some unicorns. As a typical 4 year old girl, she also has love for horses, ponies and the pegasus. But ask her what she wants a picture of, and its a unicorn.

So as this day was no different, I draw a unicorn. A big one, almost her size. Pretty dang good, at that. Small chidren gather 'round to see the majickal creature I am creating (said with much sarcasm). A sweet 8 year old boy says "Wow......are you an artist?".

"No", I say......"just a teenage girl in the 80's.".

In the 80s I lived for the unicorn, the horses and ponies....hearts, rainbows, bubble letters, the pegasus. No artist am I, but ask me to draw your name in exteme bubble letters with rainbows, hearts and stars shooting from it and you'll be mightily pleased with the results. The 80's, for me, were super girlie happy fun times. So when I see a sweater like this, from seller Exodontia, I sort of smile inside. I won't wear it (people who lived through the 80s the first time may not revisit the unicorn as apparel), but its adorable.....

We went back to the park last night, and my unicorn was still there. Still there! No smearing from little hands and feet......nay, there was respect for the unicorn. So I was forced to draw 3 baby unicorns and a giant Daddy Pegasus. Will they still be there today? Oh........I believe. I believe indeed.

Ang

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

SUFFERIN' SOUTACHE!

...........................Soutache, yes, not succotash (see the blog linked to below for a primer on each). In the vein of what I have written about on the eVintage blog today, I bring you a piece o' vintage sporting its very own soutache, from the eBay collection. The pictures are not good, strangely pixely (its a re-sizing issue I was working through with a new program and template, fixed now)....but the pants are sweet. Black/charcoaly grey wool with soutache trim down the side....rockabilly bad girl cigarette lean silhouette. Superb with heels and a tight sweater! Click to see, then click further down to get to the blog all about that fascinating detail seen ever so often in vintage, the soutache.

Now click to read my blog, and subscribe! Its harmless AND entertaining, as well as often educational! You know you wanna.

Thanks! Ang

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

PERFECTLY PLAID
.....................Today's eVintage VINTAGE OR BUST! topic was plaid, inspired by a spread I spotted in either Cosmo Girl or Seventeen magazine while hanging with my 15 year old niece over the weekend. It seems every Fall the fashion magazines trot out the plaids and tweeds as if we've never seen them before, as if criss crossed lines and weaves were invented yesterday. Every season its a different twist, and this season it seems taking plaid the punk way is the way to go. Its a refreshing change from the obviousness of preppy plaids and menswear inspired plaids. Click below to get to the eVintage blog to see what we found on eBay and how you can find patterns to make similar looks! As always, my requests to subscribe apply......

As for me, I do have some plaids to work on listing, but for now the closest thing I have to a punk edge plaid is truly more of a rockabilly plaid, a dinner jacket from the early 60s worthy of Jerry Lee himself.

And if you're digging that look, check these guys out (I used to have the CD but lost it, if you're buying one get 2 and hook me up, yes?)........the Big Six, available HERE on Amazon. See how plaid?

Enjoy! Ang

Friday, August 10, 2007

Southern Belle Chic
...................If you swing in to check out this blog now and then, I'm sure I disappoint. BUT. I am obligated (by choice, of course) to blog for eVintage Society twice a week on MySpace, which is about all the blogging I can handle! I've decided to feature an item a week HERE relating to that blog's theme, and link to the MySpace realm. Clever, no? And naturally I'll beg any one who stumbles upon my blog here to subscribe to my blog THERE (following so far?). Its good stuff, I swear.

So today, for this week's Southern Belle theme, I give you the Scarlett O'Hara hat. The 40's saw a big influence in fashion from the film Gone With the Wind, and hats were no exception. This one is available on my website, on the hats page (but of course)....

If your taste runs to the more glamorous, albeit unusual, check out the Garbo style sculpted 30's hats like this one.......

Now go check out the blog, and subscribe!! It doesn't hurt, you get a notice every Tuesday and Friday that we've posted a new one, and then you read and enjoy. Painless, really. Click below!

Monday, June 11, 2007

A NEW SPIN

.................No worries, still doing vintage here. The shop goes swimmingly, the website is growing and sales are steady (managed to achieve page one status on Google when searching just "vintage dress"....nice!). But with the shop comes a new angle.....the newer, trend-driven vintage. 70s & 80s, to be percise (not just any, of course....cool stuff). Makes you feel old when you wore it the first time around, but nothing is really EVER a new idea. The 80s stuff I was wearing back in highschool with the mammoth shoulder pads was an homage to Joan Crawford's Adrian masterpieces of the 40s.

And so. Say hello to Emily (see her fantabulous pics on her website, HERE

.

That dress is up for auction, and as eBay continually bites me in the arse when I DO list auctions, I fear it will disappoint me. I hope not. It was Emily's idea to pose under a skylight in the parking garage (oh, so seedy) with no flash.....the pictures turned out brilliantly. I would love to see this genre perform well, the clothes are great, she shows them perfectly, and its a wonderful break for me from the mannequin.

I'm still listing pre-60s, and just added a killer velvet & taffeta leopard print party dress from the 50s as well as an Alfred Shaheen halter Hawaiian 50s dress on the website! Adding a Suzy Perette tonight. Plenty more to come, and Emily and I do pictures every Thursday so look for listings on Thursday afternoons and Fridays!

Ang

Sunday, April 15, 2007

FASHION WEEK IOWA

................................Is over, and I'm so lame I didnt attend the post-show event tonight to get my drunk on with all the designers. It was odd, to me, to be one of only a couple "boutiques" amongst designers....I didnt design the vintage clothing I showed, just found it is all! But it was a great way to showcase some of my things, get my name out there as a store to the local fashionistas, etc etc. And fun, mostly. Here are some pics, big thanks to Iowa Nightlife and Juice magazine (Arturo is a God)! Ang

Friday, March 02, 2007

Narrow Feet?

..............If that statement is at all true for you, then I've got your designer shoes, of the vintage variety. Cool ones. Ferragamo, both Salvatore AND Rosina (who aside from making much cooler shoes than her brother, has a killer signature inside the shoe with a swanky high heel coming off the "R" on her first name. Love it.).......Gucci, Levine, Geller and more. How did I come into a plethora of designer footwear for the slender size shoe wearing gal? An estate, a wonderful estate.....that of a woman who spent many years in New York City and clearly MUCH of her time shopping. Not only did I acquire the shoes, but also smashing lingerie, coats, handbags, designer belts, scarves....just waiting still on the CLOTHES! When and if it happens it will be great stuff to be sure. The shoes range in size from 7 1/2 narrow for the sexy 50's stilettos like this zebra print ones by Delman, currently listed in my eBay store, click to own them!

To size 8 1/2 aa to AAAA, which will fit a 7 to 7 1/2 narrow better with them being vintage and all. A good stretch by a professional cobbler will make them a little more accomodating as well...I wear a 7 and can get into most of them, albeit snugly. Ferragamos (Rosina, that is), on the website along with the blue suede Guccis below (and some fantastic designer belts!)....

More...

More blue suede Guccis on eBay, as well as lots of MOD patents and more Ferragamos like these, click the picture to see the collection there!

Great eye candy, museum worthy shoes in some cases! Some never worn....the woman loved her shoes and loved to SHOP! My kind of gal! Ang

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