Gee wiz, is it that time of the year again? Where did the year go? I still haven't gotten to do any of the things I "resolved" to do in the year 2008-- Oh well, whoop dee doooooooooooo!
Have fun, stay safe, and enjoy yourself tonight! Happy New Year everyone!
Announcing our first ever Steal of a Deal January Sale!
Each day during the month of January, I'll be taking 50% off the price of one item on my website. I'll announce the item every morning here on my blog at about 9AM Eastern. The 50% markdown will be effective from 9AM - 8PM Eastern time, and there will be a new item announced every day until February 1.
This will be a first come-first served sale, and at 8PM Eastern each day, if the item hasn't sold, it will return to full price.
Will the items shown here go on sale? Maybe.....
I went to one of my local thrift haunts last week a couple of days before Christmas. The store was really quiet, and I found quite a few goodies, among them one of my favorite finds ever.
The piece is called "La Sainte Famille", and from my research, it appears it was originally done as a lithograph in 1970. I just love it!
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Here is a little dresser that I pulled off of a curbside pile of trash. It is an old-old dresser fully made out of oak. It is only 26 inches high, and is basically the same height as the twin bed it sits next to. There was one handle missing, so I replaced all of them.... and added a couple of coats of white paint. (love that shabby chic look) The top of the dresser has burn marks where someone had placed cigarettes around the edge-- bunch of uncouth sorts who owned it previously I imagine~
Vogue Magazine, July 1962 featured an article about "The Beautiful People", which discussed what the rich and titled were doing for the summer. These gals were the Princess Diana's and Paris Hilton's of their time. The three Frenchwomen were considered fashion individualists, yet they all owned the same dress from Hubert de Givenchy's Spring/Summer 1962 collection. The short dinner dress was made of silk crepe, and the wide bateaux neckline dropped to a V in the back. The soft gathers at the waist were a hallmark at the time.
Mme. Françoise de Langlade was the editor of French Vogue. She owned the Givenchy dress in turquoise. Langlade had worked for designer Elsa Schiaparelli and at Harper's Bazaar before joining Vogue. In 1967, she was married for the third time to Oscar de la Renta.
Countess Roland de Solages, the former Eliane David-Weill, was a member of the family that owned the Lazard Frères banking empire. She also owned the Givenchy dress in turquoise.
The evening gown I showed you yesterday was designed at the Jean Dessès atelier in Paris in 1954, but was never actually made by Dessès.
2008--- where did the year go? Doesn't it seem like the older you get and the slower you move--- the faster time goes!
The Madame Impériale evening gown sketched at Jean Dessès by Valentino Garavani in 1954. More on this gown tomorrow.
1938 - An evening cape by Elsa Schiaparelli. The Greek God Apollo rides in his chariot pulled by 5 horses in a magnificent celestial design. The embroidery was worked by the House of Lesage in gold sequins, beads, and thread on black velvet. Click on the image to see the details.
Merry Christmas, dear readers. May the joy of the season be with you today.
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Here is my grandson being very leary of this fat ol' guy who is holding him..... he choose not to cry seeing how his reward was a candy cane lol.
In late 1992, I was lucky enough to see the massive retropective exhibit of Gianni Versace's work at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Titled Gianni Versace: Signatures the exhibit lives on in my memory as one of the best I've ever seen.
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A crocheted daisy loom blanket~ a banner with her name on it "Isla" ~ and a captured cupid so she will always be lucky in love~.jpg)
And.....here is my newest baby girl!.....jpg)
A steal at 2 bucks!
Loretta Young wears an embroidered velvet coat trimmed in fur over a giant hoop skirt for the film Suez in 1938.
The weather outside is frightful. We've had 10" of snow since Friday with more expected today and then a nice ice storm to top it all off. And the damper to the fireplace broke on Friday night, so I can't even make a cozy fire. Drat.
Couturier Jacques Heim shown in his workroom draping an evening gown on a model. Draping is a technique used by some designers to create a garment directly on the body. Here, Heim drapes the fabric directly from the bolt onto the model's body and secures it with pins. The workroom will then mark the fabric and make a pattern directly from it.
December 1966 - "Say it with gold gifts from Cartier." From the top:
Gloves will add a touch of seductiveness, a hint of mystery, and a sense of individuality to any outfit. Fast becoming a popular fashion trend, great gloves are now easier to find, too.
These blue and black leather gloves are on sale at Banana Republic for $79.99
Pearls. Their lustre, their subtle glow, their
October 1963 - A necklace of freshwater baroque pearls in nearly matched sizes from F.J. Cooper Jewelers. Because these are natural pearls, this necklace was one-of-a-kind. The cost? A mere $13,000 ($91,600 today).
November 1959- On the other end of the spectrum, "pretend pearls" by costume jewelry maker Richelieu, made of glass or plastic beads coated with pearlized paint and available in many colors. The multi-strand necklace $10 ($75 today), the rope necklace $7.50 ($55.50 today), the earrings $3 ($22 today).
March 1963 - Marvella simulated double strand cocktail length necklace. Marvella's simulated pearls were high quality and were produced in several subtle hues so you could choose the one that best suited your skin tone. Not to mention the fact that he'll nuzzle you're neck when you're wearing them! $17.50 in 1963 ($122 today)
March 1963 - An artistic styling of cultured pearls surround a David Webb gold and diamond bracelet. 24 six-strand necklaces of perfectly matched 4mm cultured pearls were twisted around each other to make the "frame" for the bracelet.
Chanel No. 5 was launched in 1921 and remains one of the best-selling perfumes today. The bottle has changed many times over the years. Here's one still sealed in the original box that sold on EBay for $115.00. Learn more about Chanel No. 5 in this recent blog post by GlamourSplash.
Guerlain's Shalimar was launched in 1925. Recently, a sealed bottle of vintage Shalimar in the original box sold on EBay for $151.50.
Jean Patou's Joy was launched in 1931. It is always advertised as "the costliest perfume in the world". Recently two unopened boxes of Joy from the 1950's sold on EBay for $267.00.
Christian Dior launched Miss Dior in 1947 with several other light scents to follow. This ad, from 1966, shows a different bottle design than the original. Highly sought after, an early sealed bottle of Miss Dior with the original box sold for $710.00 on EBay.
My signature perfume? KL by Karl Lagerfeld. I started wearing this scent about 20 years ago, and never tire of its spicy scent of bergamot, ylang-ylang, and amber. Lagerfeld stopped selling this perfume in the US in the 90's, and before internet shopping, I had to have friends bring it back to me from Europe or the Carribean.
