We hope some of our blog readers had a chance to see the great piece Friday on NBC that LX New York did on our Chanel apres Coco accessories to coincide with the release of the film, Coco Avant Chanel. Special thanks to Sara Gore for being such a great host and for looking so amazing in that Herve Leger gown!
You may have noticed that we are feeling very sparkly today. Maybe it is this perfect Fall day that is making us feel very shiny and happy! Here is the ideal party dress by Oleg Cassini. It is super sparkly, has lots of movement in the beaded fringe and dips seductively low in the back.
For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273
So, that is the exact way you wear these super bling pieces. Take our early 1990s Ungaro beaded leopard-print jacket and wear it with your tiniest skirt or dress. Wear it with your tightest skinniest jeans. Or wear it with your boyfriend jeans. Just do not wear it with big hair or matching make-up. Leave that to the ladies on the Dynasty reruns please.
Now to our jacket: it is an extravaganza but fits like a cardigan. It is really a work of art in the layout of the leopard print beading, the gold braid and its flecks of baby pink and baby blue sequins on the braid.
We are very excited to announce that we will begin carrying capsule collections of men's vintage designer clothing in October! The men's collection will be in our store on 57th Street and on a new separate blog: rarevintagemens.blogspot.com.
The sale of men's vintage officially launches October 5th at 11AM with a unique single owner collection of avant garde men's fashion from 1980 to 1985. The collection includes pieces from Gianni Versace, Giorgio Armani, Matsuda, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, Katherine Hamnett, Dolce e Gabbana and from Prada's first men's collection: a navy techno fabric suit.
The logo for the new blog is below:
For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273
Deciding what new pieces to add to your closet can be somewhat daunting at times. Is it a basic? Is it something timeless? Something fun? Something special? I am always searching for a bit of all of the above in each piece that I buy which is pretty tough criteria. But in the end, I feel like I am building a wardrobe and adding a quirky piece to something basic that I may have had for five or ten years (I tend to keep everything) makes it seem fresh and different. Or adding yet another basic white tank, Ann Demeulemeester makes the best, is a purchase that I make every season. Somehow, they look right under everything from a vintage YSL jacket to a great pair of high waisted glittery Chloe pants from the 1980s.
A great Halston is basic, timeless, fun and special. We love this new two piece black silk ensemble from the 1970s. It is cut on the bias so molds beautifully to the body. The sheer silk chiffon dress with long pointed sleeves worn over the slip dress is a little bit sexy, easy 70s glamour and also a little goth. All black at night looks beautiful: black silk dress, strappy black shoes and a black bag looks magical but we also think that this dress would look amazing with a great brightly colored shoe as well!
I have always, not so secretly, coveted a Kate Moss-esque iconic leopard coat. So, I was very excited when I found these two amazing faux leopard-print coats from the 1960s!
We recently discovered that the FF logo on Fendi bags, etc... stands for Fun Fur. Now, these are what we call Fun Fur! They are also what we call Perfect! We love almost anything leopard print and these are the most perfect leopard coats while not being actual leopard. So, wear with confidence, no one will throw paint on you, as it is PETA approved! They are also in remarkable condition which pretty much goes without saying at RARE vintage.
For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273
Not only do we make the Kool-Aid at RARE vintage, we drink it! We eat it, buy it, read it and wear it. One of my favorite things to do is to curl up in bed with a good book on vintage. Our favorite fashion books are not exclusively books on fashion as they are books on unique style which is really what it is all about. Here is RARE vintage's required reading list for the Fall:
Bettina Ballard: In My Fashion. I absolutely LOVE this book. Bettina Ballard's descriptions of going to Paris alone to work in the offices of French Vogue, having a little apartment on Faubourg St-Germain with faded flowered Chinese wallpaper and working with people like Bébé Bérard, the Duchesse d'Ayen, Michel de Brunoff is the absolute best description of fashionable Paris in the mid 1930s. Her intimate stories are woven around the most absolutely glamorous people: Coco Chanel, Balenciaga, Mona Williams, well, I feel like rereading it right now for probably the tenth time. And her nieces played "dress-up" in aunties old Balenciaga and Schiaparelli?????!!! Sigh. I wonder what happened to those dress up clothes?
Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico. This is such a lovely story about a charwoman in London who falls deeply in love with a Christian Dior gown. This book is really about the falling madly in love, will do anything to have it, can't stop thinking about it, side of fashion. It is about a dress so beautiful and Mrs. Harris who would do nothing but work and save, deny herself even a cup of tea (could we buy Dior couture if we stop going to Starbucks??), just so she can save enough to go to Paris and buy herself that Dior gown. She wanted it simply because it was so beautiful. Designers, are you listening??? (And Mr. Gallico, I know that you died in 1976, but did Mrs. Harris really have to have her dress ruined by the awful Miss Snite? I would have loved for her to have had it to keep and to look at in all its pristine beauty.)
Always in Vogue by Edna Woolman Chase. Edna Woolman Chase became the editor of Vogue in 1914 and worked there until 1952. It is not that she was so very glamorous but the story of the early days of Vogue when Condé Nast took over, are fascinating and fun. I love her descriptions of her house on the Gold Coast of Long Island as well.
Marlene Dietrich by Maria Riva. Maria Riva has an exceptional memory and does not seem to have a forgotten a single plume growing up not only, as Marlene's Diectrich's daughter (which does not seem to have been the easiest experience) but also watching and assisting her mother either get her costumes ready for films or her personal wardrobe. One of my favorite descriptions is when they are in the South of France at The Grand Hotel in St Jean Cap Ferrat and Marlene Dietrich is blond, tanned and dressed all in white silk satin with her glorious emerald bracelets (which Carolina Herrera now owns). There is no better description of the perfect summer outfit. There also great stories like Marlene Dietrich getting off a train and seeing the masses of people in the train station, tells her daughter that now she knows why they pay us so well. Ouch!
Happy Times by Lee Radziwell. Lee Radziwell chose to focus on the happy times for her wonderful book (and who can blame her?). It is not at all a conventional fashion book or autobiography but it is certainly an ultimate book on style. Lee Radziwell continues to look elegant and beautiful - just goes to show that fashion does not need to be forsaken just because one reaches a certain age.
Fierce and fabulous (okay, well, the words just go with the sweater!) 1980's Valentino leopard print sweater.
For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273
We love Karl Lagerfeld for his brilliant reworking of iconic design elements of Coco Chanel into something new and viable year after year and for having a sense of humor about it.
This sumptuous midnight blue velvet gown has a very grand feeling of the Madame X in the painting by Sargent but made lighter and more whimsical by the attached oversized pearl 'necklace'. A slit on the side is topped by a velvet bow.
For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273
Two New York Museum's have upcoming shows devoted to American fashion. In November the Fashion Institute of Technology will explore the craft of dressmaking by American fashion designers in American Beauty: Aesthetics and Innovation in Fashion (that title is a bit of a mouthful) and in May 2010, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art will have its Party of the Year celebrating American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity. A large part of this show will be from the Brooklyn Museum's costume and textile collection which was recently acquired by the Met. We are very excited to see this show! There are going to be some extremely beautiful pieces and it is going to be a larger show then usual which will hopefully satiate our avaricious obsession with vintage.
One of the icons of American Fashion is Halston. We have incredible gowns from Dior and Balmain at RARE vintage but it takes a village, a patient husband or a handy doorman to hook, button and zip us into those frothy creations. Halston instead offered luxe materials in the simplest designs. We are very pleased to offer a bias cut gold lamé wrap shirtstyle dress from 1975 by Halston. It is the essence of the chic 1970s and just looking at it on the hangar, the lights dim, the disco ball swirls and we are in a smoky Studio 54 with Bianca, Andy, Jackie and Grace...
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1975 bias-cut gold lurex lamé Halston wrap shirtstyle sress. Size 2/4.
For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273
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Our RARE vintage Chanel mega post has been all 1980s and early 1990s super glam but we would like to end on a rare 1970s navy and red jersey 2.55 bag with unusual wave stitched quilting. Please note that the bag itself is in excellent condition however, the chain strap is not woven with leather and there is some slight sign of wear to the red cording woven through the chain. It is very wearable but if you prefer a bag in perfect condition then this is not the bag for you.
