Site Updates 2/27

New stuff added or about to be to DOROTHEA'S CLOSET VINTAGE!

DAILY UPDATES! Note that I've added a Twitter widget to the front page of the site that I will be updating daily as things are added throughout the week, so a quick check there will keep you in the know. Follow me on Twitter as dorotheascloset!

Still winter here so I've added a few coats worthy of wanting even late in the season! 60s wool boucle with scalloped mink cuffs & wedding ring collar....

70s chevron pieced mink trenchcoat with caped back...

A few pairs of shoes....

40s harlequin diamond design in snakeskin and white suede....

40s burgundy peep toes....

40s latticework vamp slingbacks.....

40s babydolls with peaked, winged vamp accents....

30s silver leather dance shoes....

30s gown of baby blue sheer organdy and black jersey rayon....

Merlot silk velvet 30s bias cut gown.....

50s skin tight wiggle dress, surprisingly by Jantzen!....

60s white silk wiggle dress with military inspired popover jacket.....

Metallic gold wool woven 60s dress.....

50s black textured rayon cocktail coat....

Brushstroke print 60s wiggle dress....

50s yellow cotton voile shirtwaist dress by L'Aiglon...

50s salmon pink sundress....

VERA veggie print 60s blouse....

VERA butterfly print 60s blouse.....

60s polka dot ruffled summer dress....

Breathtaking 50s wedding gown....strapless embroidered tulle gown with full length, Victorian inspired lace overjacket, so Grace Kelly!....

Lingerie! Shocking pink sheer chiffon & nylon 50s nightgown by Vanity Fair.....

60s nightgown in shades of coral done in an ombre effect, by Vanity Fair....

Pure French silk 30s bias cut nightgown....

20s silk bed jacket....

Lots of slips!....

Lots of summer dresses coming this week!

~Ang

2 Things

This is made of adorable. I maintain my child is cuter, though her obsession is currently the less-cute-than-kittens-but-still-super-cool-DINOSAURS, but this warrants showing anyone I can get to look at it...

Also, a 50s sundress from my WEBSITE is featured on a favorite blog of mine today, ZUBURBIA, as the Vintage Pick of the Day. Thanks Mary!

~Ang

Black History Month....Fashion and the Black Woman, Part II

I'm going to run out of February before I get to all the women I want to talk about here! No worries, I'll extend it into March if need be (and to that end, I really think limiting focus on American Africans in history to one month out of a year is a little foolish).

I recently read an article by a political pundit (when I locate it I will link, can't remember right now) lamenting that it has become almost impossible for women to reconcile their appreciation for Michelle Obama's fashionable side with their respect for her as a a professional (lawyer, and now First Lady). That to speak of her in regard to her clothing choices (or rather, that of her stylists) was somehow tantamount to announcing you are a vapid fashionista with no more capacity in your vacant noggin than for what the latest issue of Vogue says to wear this Spring. That as women, we cannot manage to embrace the idea of fashion as an extension of inner beauty without sacrificing the brain cells required for us to think about things as serious as politics, or world events, the environment or the economy.

Speaking as a woman who is business savvy, aware of world events beyond Fashion Week and also able to flip through an issue of Vogue and appreciate pretty dresses, that mentality makes me ill. You'd think we'd have come far enough over the last century to not only be accepted as equals in pay to our male counterparts (ha. ha.) but that we could also be allowed to show our feminine sides while showing our intellect. A pox upon those who don't think that possible, and a stiletto heel up one side of their heads (insert name of smart-people-book clutched tightly in other hand while doing said walloping).

I searched a bit and not shockingly was unable to find a lot written about the fashion sense of CORETTA SCOTT KING. Not surprising, as she didn't have a stylist and didn't spend many days doing photo shoots. But as the woman who was the feminine counterpart to one of the great leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr, many pictures were indeed taken of her and it goes without saying that she took care when going out to events to look her best. A beautiful woman within and out, Coretta spent much of her time while Reverend King was championing civil rights staying home with their 4 beautiful children. However, she did accompany him on many of his travels and spoke a bit herself. After his assassination she took a stronger leadership role in the movement, travelling the world and speaking on behalf of her slain husband about African American rights as well as the rights of other minorities. While much can be said about her influence on Black History, I will let these gorgeous pictures of her speak for themselves, revealing not only a strong, intelligent woman but one who had a very powerful sense of style, visible in moments of joy and tragedy.

There are no words for that last picture.

~Ang

The $1,000 Pink Bra

This is an interesting read. HERE. A rather sordid and depressing story about a man selling items purported to be previously owned by movie stars on eBay and really making some serious coin who is being accused of buying these items on the cheap from eBay sellers, then turning around and saying it was owned by a celebrity. A pink bra given as one example was purchased for $20 and re-sold as belonging to Jayne Mansfield to the tune of $1,000. Should be interesting to see how this plays out. If this guy is selling average vintage for a mark-up like that just by calling it a movie star's, I've been going about this the wrong way (I jest, I jest!). Anyway, its interesting.

~Ang

Black History Month....Fashion and the Black Woman.

With the election of our nation's first African American President, and with that the first black First Lady and family, I've decided to do a series during Black History Month about influential black women. It bears mentioning that I, growing up in the 70s and 80s as an upper middle class white girl and now woman, cannot and would never attempt to try to understand the position that these women found themselves in over the last century (and prior). I can't even claim to have ever been oppressed as a woman, as the fight for women's rights pre-dated my existence...I can vote, I am free to raise a child as a single woman without reproach, I can work, I can wear jeans and skip the restrictive underpinnings. I own my own business and I dare say that a man doing what I do would not necessarily make more than what I make simply because he is a man. I am damn lucky, and grateful to the women of all colour who came before me to fight those hard battles.

But as a Mom with a small child during this last election, and now during this month of Black History, it has been very much at the forefront of my attention to be mindful of the struggles of the African American. Kids say weird things, and are very curious....my daughter has had a myriad of questions in light of all the news-talk about the first "black" president (though she calls him brown, and she's right, but hence the quotes on black) and now the focus on Black History Month at school. Bless her, she has black/brown/yellow friends and literally does not get what the big deal is. Leaving me forced to explain some ugly truths to her about the history of our great country. Try it yourself sometime, and despite your utter lack of contribution to the ugliness, you too will find yourself embarassed and at a loss for words to try to explain what the white people did to African Americans back then (nevermind what they continue to do. If you don't believe me, check out THIS STORY about some racist arsehats objecting to having our commander-in-chief's picture being used at an Air Force Base commisary, and succeeding in getting it removed, with quotes like "He said they're not going to have no black man on the window where he shops,"). Thats the world I'm bringing up a child in, and it makes me sad.

So with that, I give you the woman credited with being the catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement in this country (and try explaining to a child why it took nearly 100 years after Abraham Lincoln's EMANCAPATION PROCLOMATION for there to even be a recognized movement for African Americans to even be recognized as equals. Good luck trying to make THAT make sense.).....ROSA PARKS.

Rosa was a seamstress, remarkably apt for the tone of my trying-to-stay-on-message-vintage-fashion-blog theme. She was born in 1913, and by 1955 at age 42 she became the poster child for the Civil Rights Movement simply by being tired, fed up and over it. She refused to give her seat to the white man (the younger, able bodied white man). And a fire-storm ensued. Quoting Rosa "Back then," Mrs. Parks recalled in an interview, "we didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember going to sleep as a girl hearing the Klan ride at night and hearing a lynching and being afraid the house would burn down." In the same interview, she cited her lifelong acquaintance with fear as the reason for her relative fearlessness in deciding to appeal her conviction during the bus boycott. "I didn't have any special fear," she said. "It was more of a relief to know that I wasn't alone."

Rosa with Martin Luther King, Jr, in a classic white silk dress and pearls....

Her mugshot, as chic as can be despite the weight of a nation....

Rosa being fingerprinted (in what I think looks very like a LILLI ANN 50s suit of ottman slubbed silk, very smart) ....

Watch for more posts on African-American woman in history and a bit about fashion over the next couple weeks!

~Ang

Here's Looking Like You, Irma

The photo shoot I did with EMILY SVEC and highlighted below was initially inspired by a post on a blog I read, HERE'S LOOKING LIKE YOU, KID. She had posted about SHIRLEY MACLAINE'S saucy french "working girl" looks in the film IRMA LA DOUCE (which I have yet to see, its on the list!) and I loved these images so much they inspired the look I started Emily off with during our photo shoot!

Shirley.....

Emily....

More shots on the website, click pics to see! Thanks Jaynie, Emily & Shirley!

~Ang

Vintage Lingerie Ad & Photo Shoot

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New House.

So, assuming everything is a go with whomever the final loan ends up going through (knock wood, etc), it looks like I'm a first time home buyer. I considered a condo (a really cool condo built in the late 50s, very Rat Pack swingin' cocktail parties-esque) but they didn't allow pets and I ended up deciding I would feel too disconnected from the earth up there on the 5th floor in a swanky glass box. Maybe in 20 years.

Its a buyer's market, they say, and so with what Dad left me of life insurance I decided to do what he'd been bugging me to do anyway....buy. A house, with a garage, a yard, a porch, a basement. The whole grown up deal. I looked around a few weeks, searching within the parameters of central Des Moines and older homes, looked at everything from ranch style homes done in the 50s to Tudor styles of the 20s to earlier bungalows. And in the end, despite my love for the mid-century modern, I ended up going with a bungalow that was built probably within minutes of the apartment building I've spent the last 4 years in. Maybe it felt like home for the wood and mouldings and solid construction (I was amazed at how those 50s ranch homes feel so flimsy!)....there really is a lot to be said about concrete, plaster and lathe, brick and hardwood construction.

The apartment I'm in now, which will be re-invented in a similar setting 5 blocks away next month....

Living room, Danish Modern-ish with fantastic curved sectional from the 50s/60s, estate sale find....

Bar (scored at an estate sale for $40)...

Record listening nook, which will likely move to the built-in side of the dining room or into the den....

Dining room, based around a late 60s modern white formica topped table and yellow bucket chairs on casters, whole set from Salvation Army for $65....

Weird with 1916 mouldings and wood floors, but it works here in the apartment so it will work in the house....I rather like the juxtaposition of eras.

So the house. Sits up away from the street so the view to the east (front) and south are over the houses and street to get lots of light and maintain privacy. I'm anxious to see what that vining plant on the arch is! If the loan comes through the NFC I'll have money available to re-paint in the Spring, which it needs. I'll likely stay in the green family. Maybe....

Interior of porch, which needs some screens and new front doors, but has several outlets and a swing so loads of potential for me, the kid and cats (and I'm thinking of doing a 40s tropical/Miami pre-WWII look in)....

Living room, which is swell the way it is for the current owner but will need painted (blue again?) and I'm going to have the traditional style fireplace mantle boxed in with something more Danish Modern in a teak or cherry, cleaner lines, less busy....

Front door with french doors off to side to den where my office will be....

Dining room with fantastic built in, the other wall has been painted in warm gold and persimmon with wide stripes over a burlap covering. Should be fun pulling that down to see what's behind it. Thinking to paint it in a warm terra cotta in an almost 70s palette to set off the fabric wall hanging and tie in the bright yellow of the dining set with all the warm wood tones. Light fixture HAS to go (I'll store it as it works w/ the architecture, its not old though), I'll be moving the table off center in the room so I'll get a modern hanging light and swag it over from the electrical source....

Kitchen, may leave green, depends on how my green formica topped/chrome trimmed small table and chairs from the 50s goes with it. Its the perfect size to go in front of the bay window....

Bathroom. Years ago when the fireplace was added, the original window was taken out and used here where they then vaulted the ceiling, opening up the room to lots of natural light and adding a spacious feeling. The tub is new with whirlpool jets (!), and I love the idea of not having to mess with a shower curtain and liner. I'll leave it this color for now, hassle to paint this high and its neutral enough....

Both bedrooms are huge for a bungalow, which is a plus. Both need painted and will be starting from scratch decorating both, though one will be a dinosaur theme and its not MY room! The back yard has a low deck, water feature in the gardens and a privacy fence all around.....

Anxious again to see what grows out there come spring! New garage is big enough for 2 cars and has a nice garden bench, storage, etc. Basement is unfinished, clean and dry, and comes with washer and dryer (no more treks through an ice alley to the laundry room to spend $2 a load!).

At that, I'm off to work on sorting and pitching crap around this place and pack up more stuff!

~Ang