The classic 40s suit, wide shoulders, nipped waist, pencil skirt, cool details...perfect together with some chunky accessories, tights & booties or separately layered into a myriad of ensembles!
Early 40s wool set in hunter green plaid, body conscious vest and skirt fantastic worn together over a short puff sleeve blouse, under a belted sweater or worn separately worked into scads of outfits! Imagine the vest belted over a skinny turtle neck with wide leg denim!
For a classic evening look, a sequined bodice crepe full length gown is red carpet perfect....
And for at home entertaining or an elegant evening out, leopard velvet meets amber silk chiffon!....
~Ang
And here is an image from the 2009 Meisel shoot (hat available on the website!)...
Something a little more unusual for a vintage Vogue is an outdoor shoot, like this one from the early 40s...
And the 2009 spin on fresh faced, outdoorsey types, both hats from my site, hat on left still available...
Another great shot, which happens to show a model holding a 1941 Vogue I have here at the house, aquired from Jean's estate!
For more vintage Vogue eye candy, be sure to peruse the MY VINTAGE VOGUE WEBSITE!
~Ang
A Hulitar is not an easy thing to come by, but amazingly there are a couple on etsy right now! This sweet little cocktail dress is from MOCK TURTLE VINTAGE...
Hulitar grew up in Greece and was inspired by the dance costumes worn by his neighbor who would holiday there, Isadora Duncan. His asymetrical bodices, draping and flowing textiles are often a testimony to that influence. This gown has the same angled bodice top as the gown I had, toga inspired gather at side, on etsy now from seller EAST COAST VINTAGE CHIC
Don't miss the other Hulitar gown from the same seller. Heady stuff for etsy!
~Ang
These 2 hats are both from the website, though the one on the right already sold but the large brimmed black one is top of the page on the 1st hats page at the site. Clothing by Michael Kors & Louis Vuitton....
On model Karen Elson, dress by Calvin Klein, coque feather hat available on the website....
We recenetly worked a 40s look with a modern angle on model Emily Svec here at the shop....
Hat tip to Vogue for using real vintage with a vintage themed shoot and a thank you for the opportunity!
~Ang
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
Hello Lambie-
Well I am glad the C Club fellows did not find out what a "terrible" couple you are and also find out about your "terrible" past. Now that you are both undiscovered I hope you will get real enjoyment out there at all times and too you can now get your NERVES settled again. "Fellow Members" I salute you. Poor little dear you have so many nerve racking troubles that DON'T exist, its funny how real troubles don't bother you. Anyhow the best peach in the orchard and the world- so there. Lots of Love & Kisses to my Fellow Members-Always Love- Ornery Dad"
There are so many things in the letters from 1936 I would like to share, by way of newspaper clippings sent to Jean about topics ranging from world events to fashion, to her mothers own take on these very things.....the delightful & endearing things her father writes to her & more. I need to be at home to access a camera & my picture files to do that, but here at work I am done with the '36 letters and at least wanted to keep up to date here!
Seems at some point previous to the correspondence I have, Jean was in an accident that affected her spine to the point she was in bed often with pain so bad it made her nauseous. Her father did quite a bit of research into what could be done for her, from how much it would cost to be examined in Rochesterat Mayo Clinic ($60 to $150), to what she would need to do when they interviewed her & Bob about their finances to determine what they would charge, or, as he put it "to see how many clothes pins you have in your basket & what kind of vacuum cleaner you use". !!.
In October of 1936 she went to Mayo and had surgery. She left a couple weeks later & spend the next 2 1/2 months in a rehab center with her mother there all along. The letters she wrote to Bob are the first I have read with HER voice, and they reveal a scared & vulnerable 30 year old woman trying to recover from a serious surgery and struggling to make her husband happy from afar & please her mother who was intent on mothering her as long as she could. Bob was left at home alone to get a Christmas tree, do the Christmas cards & shopping & find a nursemaid to help with her care so she could come home.
She did get home in January, and I will be back to share more about the '36 letters with some visuals & quotes! Ang
In the late 1800s, the architecture of the shoulder in women's apparel reached massive proportions, achieved by using voluminous fabric with tucks and pleats for support....heavier fabrics often had sculpting pads at the seam. The Victorian leg-o-mutton sleeve is a prime example.
Over the next 30 years, shoulders were left natural, often given attention by being revealed with open designs but not exaggerated as before. By the 30s women's apparel had become long, lean and feminine with more attention to sleeves, the back and neckline than to shoulders. But by the late 30s the shoulder started to assert itself again with demure ruffled caps, slight angles and dainty puffed sleeves.
Maybe its coincidence, but at this point as women's fashion was starting to embrace the masculine and empower them a little with a broad shouldered look, globally we were seeing the threat of WWII building. By the time women in America saw their husbands off to war and stepped up to the workplace en masse, the shoulder had reached unusually large proportions. Women dominated the workplace as well as the silver screen and wore the shoulders to prove it.
After WWII Christian Dior reigned in those shoulders and with the lifting of restrictions on fabric, put the emphasis back on the female form in a more traditional sense, exaggerating the bust and hips with nipped waists and massive full skirts. The look became the silhouette of the 50s to mid 60s, when another fashion revolution mimicking the 20s removed the restrictions of the wasp-waist and gave women the freedom to dress without a girdle. By the end of the 70s, the 30s influence became strong again...long, lean & feminine. In the 70s too, women were steadily gaining in the workplace and achieving things unseen before, finding their place in the white collar world long dominated by men. Coincidentally or not, the fashion world once again began to empower women by giving them the big broad shoulders the men they were competing with came by naturally.
I'm sure in retrospect there will be a reason (other than the predictable cyclical nature of fashion itself) that the large or sculpted shoulder is making a comeback at this time in history. Wars, a new president, the recession....certainly no lack of reasons for women to feel like they need a little help shouldering the woes of the world. Regardless, they're back. Whether you're ready to go large or not, the attention for a while is going to be on the shoulders!
~Ang
"Reading letters today (finally!). Its fascinating to think people once took all that time to write about things as mundane as what they ate for every meal of the day....and I mean EVERY piece! Details about hygiene, laundry, weather, what they are wearing. I suppose in our time we fire off an email now & then to close friends & family with these kinds of tedium....but the effort to WRITE it all down & take it to the post office! And Jean's parents write her nearly daily. Given the phone was still newer & expensive for long distance, I guess it makes sense, and they were indeed a close family. Its nice, really. Quaint even.
But Jean's Dad is the one who really spices up the letters! Either he adds a bit at the top or back, or writes his own short one separately.....some quotes...
"My Dear Babe....
Well, poured your Ma into a seat on the Challenger at 3:50 and started her for Lake Mich.
"Heard Roosevelt today, he's a nut"
Hello Kiddos, So busy this PM I forgot to get the Duchess until I was about 30 min late....
I think I find it refreshing how frank he is, how comfortable talking to his daughter....and how at ease he seems writing to her. Now, Mother, on the other hand.....writes as comfortably as a couple old gals at the bridge table! Happy to dish....and in an instance like this, her love for Jean is evident, even in a moment of cattiness.
"Well, I'd say that Virg. is dumb or jealous & Dorothy T also. She (Virg.) was afraid to ask you to her tea on your Wedding Anniv. or near it for fear someone would ask you what you got or were doing that day and it be so far ahead of her- and she couldn't stand it- too jealous. I'd see her in _____ before I'd ask her to my house until they do something for you & Bob."
Yikes! Someone slighted our dear Jean. Despite my not reading many things Jean HERSELF has written, I have definitely sensed a touch of insecurity in her......her anxiety over trying to please her Mother yet be a wife & adult where she & Bob are concerned during her surgery & recovery......many mentions in letters from both parents of her worries, other events she has hostessed in her home that were snubbed by "friends". I have yet to learn where her insecurity comes from.....though all it would take in the 30s would be a lack of children to feel "different". Funny, her Mother rarely speaks of other couple's children, and it appears as though her brother & his wife never had any, either.
They all seemed well off enough, so I can't imagine it was money that made her feel inferior to these other couples. I guess I can only hope to learn through future letters.....to what end, I can't say.....but I am curious. She dressed well, went to college, was in a sorority, married well.....didn't seem to want for much. Entertained often.....curious. It makes me sad for her....often I wish there would have been a way to have known her before she passed away, though I'd never had gotten access to this with her alive. Strange to "miss" someone you never knew.....a person who I am getting to know as a young girl that it would never have been POSSIBLE for me to know. While its fascinating, its almost always tinged with a little sadness.
Eventually I will figure out what the lesson is here. I'll be sure to share that.....! Ang "
The highlight is definitely this sweet little floral print 2 piece set from the 30s, in crepe silk with cherry cluster on shoulder. Picture of Jean wearing it follows, and will come with the dress!
(again, all pieces sold in 2006, just recapping the pretty!)
~Ang
"I do intend to share some of the more fashion-related snippets from letters with you all, as this whole things IS clothing related. But in reading these letters, I am gaining such a sense of who Jean's FAMILY was.......what family meant to them......I can't help but be moved by that , and in some ways that is becoming more compelling to me than the wardrobe!
That happens to be the exact place I'm at in re-publishing these older Jean themed blogs from 2006, and a poignant one at that to be reminded today of the love between a father and daughter...as today is my Dad's birthday, the 2nd one without him here to tease about getting old, drink a beer with, laugh and complain about life with. I wanted to blog more in depth about this this morning but couldn't bring myself to do it. Its interesting that this entry from 3 years ago would be the one to speak, in a way, for me and Dad today.
Happy Birthday, Dad. Miss you.
~Ang
Surrealist lobster hat, 100% upcylced vintage pieces...inspired by Elsa Schiaparelli & Salvador Dali.
And a reworked vintage fox stole complete with head and legs becomes a Victorian inspired fur topper, perfect for dramatic fall & winter wear!
~Ang
Jean Thayer Boone was born December 10, 1906. As not many pictures were done of infants at the time, I have no pictures of her until an adolescent....she was raised in Cedar Rapids Iowa, and had a younger brother named Fred. Her father's name was Thomas, I have yet to discover her mother's name. Her father worked in sales, for coal companies....eventually running his own, but much later, into the late 30s or early 40s. The letters I have do not start until 1929, so all I have for an early background on Jean is dates, and these few pictures. 
