oscar grace.

its hardly news that the oscars take place this weekend, and it is to be expected that at least a few major starlets walking the red carpet will be sporting designer vintage pieces. i'm still waiting for my shot at dressing a starlet, but for now i'll have to be content watching and hoping the mere mention of "vintage" by the media will send people hunting online! or to my shop.

in 1955, however, it was not at all expected that an actress would wear vintage (imagine! liz taylor in a flapper dress? audrey hepburn in a worth gown? wouldn't happen). that said,

grace kelly's dress worn while accepting her award in '55 was actually a year old, designed by edith head and worn to the 1954 premier of the film she won the award for, "the country girl".

there's something charming about her wearing the dress twice in a day and age where gowns are often not even purchased by actresses for the event, but are loaned out by designers as advertising. in a throw away society the importance of buying and wearing vintage takes on a whole new meaning!

~Ang

its a nice day for......a jawa wedding.

i got a new-slash-vintage dress yesterday, new to me, old to reality. a 60's dress with a label i was unfamiliar with til today, Gustave Tassell. for the record, as a vintage seller in the middle of the bland midwest, its not always my mad buying skills that get me a designer piece like this....its connections and the random chance that a dress with this kind of pedigree will be hanging in the closet of a middle class woman who had not a speck of other designer garmentry in her home. and yes, i know garmentry is not a word. but look at this fantastic dress!

as it turns out, our friend Gustave was a major player in the design world of late 50s to 70s, studying under the likes of Hattie Carnegie, Mme. Fath and in the case of the dress shown, having his own couture house here in America designing for such fashionistas of the day as Jackie Kennedy and Grace Kelly. In 1972, he took over the house of Norman Norell after his death. so gustave was no slouch where it comes to fashion design!

googling discovered this slide show on Flickr, your favorite martian, who apparently spent some time at the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Perelman Building, where there was a show featuring Gustave Tassell along with James Galanos and Ralph Rucci. i am smitten in the oddest way by this wedding dress by Tassell, which yes, is where the jawa wedding reference comes in....

and completely unrelated to the 60s chic, this over the top fantastic and unaccredited 40's two-tone dress and hat in the same slide show makes me weak in the knees....

hooded wedding dresses and knotted two-tone stem-topped hats....only in vintage fashion!

~Ang