Three Already??

In doing some impromptu digging into the history of the website recently, it has come to my attention that the website turns three years old this month! With that I thought a little week-long retrospective was in order. I'll also have a pretty big celebration to coincide with it coming later this week, but for now I thought it would be grand to take a look at how far the site has come in just a short amount of time.

THE INTERNET ARCHIVE WAYBACK MACHINE is a fantastic little public access tool that lets you type in any url and review how it looked by month for as long as its been live. If I type in my main url, I can take a look (and share) how my page looked the day it went live on August 21, 2006. DAY ONE. Pretty rudimentary. The artwork was a sketch I'd found done by my grandmother, Dorothea, who appears in the photo booth pics making up the buttons down the left side. I was self taught and did all the work myself (still do). Its pretty amazing to look now at how much its evolved!

By October 6 you can see a few of my favorite pieces, now long gone...HERE. A great Claire McCardell recently worn by Tracey Ullman to host the CFDA Awards Show, and 2 really fantastic appliqued 50s sweaters by Helen Bond Carruthers now found in the Archives section of the site. Amazing to look at how the photographs have changed, from having the little faux corner tabs I had liked using on eBay to the bedsheet I used to use before I invested in photo paper!

You can view individual pages too. Lets start with the earliest, VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN. Clicking on AUGUST 19 2006 shows the very first day my very small (at the time) collection of antique apparel was. Four pieces, the headliner being that gorgeous black and blue embroidered and beaded sheer dress with bustle back. That dress remains on every page the WaybackMachine can archive, though it sold in June of 2008. By DECEMBER 2007 the collection had grown a bit to include an exquisite purple and gold Edwardian gown, some beaded bags and a fur trimmed cape. The site itself had evolved into a softer background of grey as I tried to simplify the appearance a bit.

So happy birthday to Dorothea's! I have to say, the gift of being able to track every detail of the site over the years and how its changed, what pieces have come and gone and how its grown is a pretty great present (but not as good as whats coming later this week!)

~Ang