A Thierry Mugler Dress

This dress is very elegant a la Mugler. It is a dress for a work cocktail party when you want to get noticed. When you want to attract attention but not the wrong kind of attention. It is good girl/bad girl which is always an element to Mugler dresses. It is Real Housewives but in a really good way.

It is in a pale oyster color with a very flattering cut-out detail (another favorite design element of Thierry Mugler) with a hammered matte gilt jewel piece anchoring the dress together.

1990s Thierry Mugler pale oyster colored dress. Size 4/6.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

A Perfect Balenciaga Dress

We mentioned yesterday that we were taking a last look at the final sale at Bergdorf Goodman (still a few good things to be found) and also looking at the pre fall collections. We do like to wear a mix of vintage and new. The new Margiela slightly oversize fur bolero will look great with a vintage Ossie Clark day dress... hmmm....

We also like pieces that can transition from the season to season. And sometimes, when you buy something, it can be absolute torture to have to wait a month or so for that first cool day to happily slip on a piece from your new wardrobe! That is why we love something that you can start to wear now and then come Fall add tights and a cardigan.

We also love Balenciaga. Cristobal Balenciaga. His work has inspired countless designers: Hubert de Givenchy, André Courreges, Nicolas Ghesquiere and many more. We also love in particular the rigorously designed pieces. That is one of the reasons we were very excited to have recently acquired this beautiful brown 1960s Balenciaga dress with a hint of heather faintly woven into the light nubby fabric. It is simple and pure. It is classic and timeless and beautiful. It is a great transitional piece - you won't have to wait to wear it! It is the perfect dress for a meeting, a dinner, a cocktail party. It is also a true investment piece for the vintage collector.

1960s Balenciaga brown dress. Size 8.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

Deja-vu all over again!

We had earlier written about our uber chic and effortless Billy Jack for Her dress being such a great inspirational piece and during a little early morning shopping at Bergdorf Goodman, we saw this Fendi gown which looked so familiar.  Now, Fendi was not inspired by our dress but we just liked to see how au courant our vintage pieces are and at a much gentler price.

Personal Best

The photos of this 1990s Herve Leger dress say it all. It is drop dead sexy and requires a drop dead sexy body. Sorry! Many Herve Leger dresses mold you into a perfect shape but this one demands perfection. But we love our Leger whether they are demanding or forgiving just as long as they show you at your best.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

The Who?

Sometimes a great dress is by Who? In this case the dress is actually by Billy Jack for Her. Not quite as elegant as a French name and even slightly menacing sounding. Like Billy Jack rode a motorcycle and carried a switchblade that he used to sharpen his designing pencil. But the fact is that we love this dress. We can see this as an inspirational piece - just imagine John Galliano for Christian Dior: he would puff up the volume in the skirt, have the embroidery done in France, and the color would probably be an intense pink.  

This is cool girl vintage at its best.  And it does not wrinkle!

1970s Billy Jack for Her Black Dress with Sequin Detail. Size 4.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

The Queen of the Nile

Sometimes we ask ourselves, do we really need another evening gown? And when we saw this 1970s Mary McFadden, the answer was, Hell yes! What a silly question!

There are many unexpected surprises in this gown: the beautiful morii pleats, the simply cut front in a rich shade of cerulean blue and the incredible back which is deeply cut with a single richly jeweled strap. It will look beautiful with a sun kissed glow or with the palest skin.

And if you have ever had a Cleopatra fantasy, a la Cinécitta 1960s epic, Elizabeth Taylor kohl rimmed eyes, then this is definitely the gown that you have been looking for!

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

Chanel No.5

Big, bold and beautiful is what Karl Lagerfeld did for Chanel in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He took iconic elements from the House of Chanel and exaggerated them or used them in unexpected ways. These great gilt No. 5 earrings are irreverent and whimsical. Just what your tank top and boy jeans need and want this summer.

1980s gilt No. 5 Chanel earrings.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

Chocolate Love in Herve Leger

The early 1990s were defined by women like Elle Macpherson ‘The Body’, Stephanie Seymour and Cindy Crawford. They were Glamazons. Not little wisps who look like they might be swept away in a strong breeze. And what did these glamazons wear? They wore dresses by Azzedine Alaia, Thierry Mugler and Gianni Versace that celebrated a woman’s body. They also wore Herve Leger. His beautifully tailored bandage dresses may have appeared to be all about sex but they were really about cutting, craft and material. They held, pushed and defined the body, making it better, making it sexier. They also made women feel good. In Herve Leger you did not hide, you went boldly into the night. Leger left his label in 1999 and although the line continues in a similar design sensibility, there is little comparison with the fabric and fit of a true Herve Leger designed dress.

This early 1990s chocolate brown Herve Leger is a couture bandage dress. Each strip is hand sewn. You will be the sexiest girl in the room and if you do not believe us, just zip yourself in and watch the reaction when you walk into a party!

Early 1990s Herve Leger couture chocolate brown bandage dress. Size 4.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

Sheer Brilliance

It can be very easy to be spoiled by beautifully crafted clothing. Once you see and touch and wear a dress that has been created by a talented designer with skilled dressmakers in his studio, it is not so easy to go back to poorly made, extremely expensive ready to wear. This is one of the reasons that we love vintage and that the price is almost always better for a vintage couture piece then for the ready to wear in stores right now.

What we love about Halston is the feeling of calmness to his clothing. The clothes are simple and beautiful. Pieces were made from the very best fabrics. This sheer bias cut flowing coat is a signature look for Halston. Over day wear and evening wear he liked to add a soft cardigan, a beaded jacket, a chiffon “coat”. We would wear this over the simplest column dress or Olivier Theyskens’ Nina Ricci beaded catsuit or Stella McCartneys lace jumpsuit would be perfect too. Or our 1970’s lace catsuit from Norma Kamali. Or over nothing at all, but that is a different story...

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

Gold in Jean Patou

For anyone who loves fashion, it is impossible not to get excited about the couture shows where magic and artistry mingle with desire. It is the desire to see clothes so stunningly designed and crafted that it sets our hearts aflutter and affects what we will see in the ready to wear collections and then filters down through mass market stores.

RARE vintage is happy to share with all of our blog readers a bit of gorgeousness from the Paris couture: a Jean Patou ball gown from the early 1960s.

Once in awhile you see a dress so beautiful that in a moment you know you have to have it. You are not even sure where you are going to wear it, but wear it you will. Have it, you must.

This chiffon strapless confection by Jean Patou in the most romantic shade of pale gold is just such a dress. It beckons your inner girl, your inner princess, your yearning to be ensconced in layers of organza and chiffon that will float about you. The beautifully beaded and sequined strapless top sparkles and makes it a little bit more bohemian. It also is sold with its original silk organza oversize wrap.
You may just want to wear it for a tv dinner at home you will be so excited!

Early 1960s silk organza and gold beaded Jean Patou ball gown. Sold with its original oversize silk organza wrap. Size 4/6.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

One-shoulder Louis Feraud Gown

This is one of our favorite new dresses from an unexpected designer: Louis Feraud. We tend to think of not so exciting power suits if we think of Louis Feraud at all but then we saw this amazing dress and had an AHHHHHHH!! moment. It is one shoulder, it is cream with flecks of gold, it has the most beautiful and unusual applied flowers, it is Goddess, it is divine. And on top of ALL that, it is unique which is what we always look for at RARE vintage: avoiding the Who wore it better moment.

1980s Louis Feraud one-shoulder cream and gold gown.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273