Visions of...

I go to bed tonight with visions of Yves Saint Laurent couture, Chanel couture, Christian Lacroix, Stephen Sprouse and Patrick Kelly jewelry in my head.  I said I was going to bed, I said nothing about being able to sleep!  Dreaming while wide awake about all those unbelievable pieces...

Believe.

Give and Receive

I think anyone would jump at the chance to help the enormous need in Haiti.  Vogue has printed seven rarely seen images from Cecil Beaton, who was on assignment for Vogue in Haiti in 1935 and fifty percent of the $149 purchase price goes to the Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund. Looking at the photos it seems that Cecil Beaton was captured by the magnificent and grand beauty of Haiti itself.  I like to see them as an opportunity to contribute something towards the rebuilding of a country tattered by a disaster and as a optimistic look that amid the ruins, there is still the incredible beauty of the country and its people.  Click here  for more information.

Dream a Little Dream: The Great American Couturier: Galanos

It's that time of year again when the feathers fly, the lace ruffles and the chiffon flutters.  It is that time of year where everyone runs around like crazy trying to get yards and yards of duchesse satin twisted into  a Charles James-esque ball gown.  It is that time of year when you hear the Seconde d'Atelier tell the petites mains, "you're all old ladies, and you still don't know how to handle yourselves."  That is a great line from the great documentary, Valentino: the Last Emperor! But then somehow, it all comes together:

Hellooo beautiful!

Where had you gone, Josephus Thimister?

Joltin' Josephus Thimister returned with a very beautiful collection, especially the men's pieces.  The show was moody, moving and dreamy.  My favorite look was the one above where it looks like you are wearing your boyfriends great coat with big cuffs, paired with a ball gown skirt.  I love that you can wear the great coat with a pair of jeans and a tank top as well as with a shimmering pleated evening skirt.  Well, why not?

Down Mexico way, that's where I fell in love...

This photo from Style.Com says it all.  Very Gaultier.  Very Millicent Rogers in New Mexico.  I am feeling a sudden urge to break out my old Stephen Dweck turquoise jewelry  and have a margarita. Just setting the mood!

The Snow Queen

I know that this was the Spring 2010 haute couture show but in frosty and frothy shades of silver, mauve and ice it could be what a Snow Queen would wear for a cold vodka in an Ice Hotel.  Love the hair!  Ahh but Lara Stone looks beautiful!  Some of the girls somehow seem a little too thin to carry the weight or the lightness of couture but Lara looks amazing.

 Homegrown Couture


I am very happy to be able to offer this extraordinary cocktail dress from the Master of American couture, James Galanos.

It is sophisticated and sexy. Chic and a little naughty.  Oh, Mr Galanos you've been a very naughty boy!

I am sure everyone knows that Galanos used the very best fabrics from France and Italy.

There are three wonderful textures at play in this dress:  the softly gathered silk on the bottom of the dress , black lace and panels of a deep bluish black slightly puckered, slightly futuristic fabric sewn into the lace on the front.

Timeless by Galanos.

Black silk and lace cocktail dress by Galanos.  Size 6. $2200.

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Leiber in Love

Sometimes I think that I could be perfectly happy with just one bag - NOT!  I change my bag all of the time.  It is impossible to have one bag that goes with everything and a little accessory can make a big impact.

Here are three evening bags from Judith Leiber.  You could definitely wear any of them for a black tie event or to add a little glamour to your jeans for going out to dinner.

Our first is a sandstone colored python bag with a Bulgari-esque silver and gold link detail closure.  Comes with its Judith Leiber mirror, comb and a coin purse.  There is a thin strap tucked into the purse.  Please note there is a some very slight discoloration to the bag.

Sandstone colored Python Judith Leiber bag.  $750.

Our second is a black silk bag with metallic gold thread embroidered thread.  The hard handle is inset with bone.  This bag also comes with its compact and a black silk coin purse.

Black silk embroidered Judith Leiber bag.  $1250.

Our third is a jeweled silver leather sided clutch with an incredible jeweled swan on the side that also functions as the clasp.  This is the piece that you will want to use again and again because it is brilliantly simple, glossy and glamorous with just the right amount of whimsy added by the swan. Comes with a tiny silver leather coin purse.

Clear crystal and silver leather Judith Leiber.  $ 1350.

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Houston, We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to Tuli Molina the winner of the 1980s Oscar de la Renta dress!!  Enjoy!

Next month's Enter to Win... well, we will give you a hint - just three little letteres: YSL... Stay tuned!

Hello! I Must be Going

Whoa!  That was fast!  We just put out a quilted lizard Chanel bag from the 1980s in crisp white and in pristine condition when it was scooped up before it even had its chance for a debut on the RARE blog or a chance to settle into its new surroundings.  So, hello and good bye!

The Road to Recovery: Part One: Bird in Hand

Condition is always a consideration when buying vintage.  Sometimes pieces come to us absolutely pristine like our Marc Bohan for Christian Dior.  Othertimes, they require a little tender loving care.  It may be a rip in a seam - a rip in the fabric itself means RIP (rest in peace).  It may need a good cleaning.  Or it may mean restoration.  When the Donald Brooks came to me in delicate condition I knew I was buying a project, but definitely one I wanted to pursue.

It was photographed for a great Harper's Bazaar shoot with Sarah Jessica Parker styled as Diana Vreeland.   We ran around gathering the feathers as they flew.

Now it is time for it to be packed and shipped with its little care package of guinea hen feathers to The French Hand Laundry in Pasadena California.  The French Hand Laundry is RARE vintage's neighborhood dry cleaner.  It is just around the corner 3,000 miles away. 

That is how hard it is to find a good dry cleaners.  I was introduced to them by a client and when I was in LA for the Golden Globes last January, I went to pick up some pieces, drop off more, they gave me a tour of the laundry.  It was fascinating and as obsessed as I am by vintage, they are as obsessed with the cleaning process.  And I learn from them.  They are as knowledgeable as any museum textile conservationist so I send my pieces there without staying awake at night from nightmares of what the dry cleaner might be doing to my vintage.

Anouk Aimee in the Donald Brooks from Vincent Boucher's blog, Couturealist.

I thought that RARE vintage blog readers would enjoy seeing the Donald Brook's dress road to recovery.  Pam and Susan at the French Hand Laundry have kindly agreed to share the restoration process.  So we will periodically check in by photo to see the dress returned to its original state.  Stay tuned!

The Supers!

The Three Supers: Christy Turlington, Thierry Mugler and Patricia von Musulin.

Before I get down to our super,  Patricia von Musulin's complete paurure, let's for just a moment pause on Christy Turlington wearing a Thierry Mugler swimsuit and Patricia von Musulin jewelry in the January 2000 issue of W magazine.

Those arms!  Those thighs!  Those lips!  No need to photoshop a thigh here.  No need to tinker with perfection.

Perfection is also this complete paurure from Patricia von Musulin in Lucite and sterling silver.

It is very tribal meets futurism meets warrior meets Goddess.  Now how many pieces of jewelry can you say that about?!

1999 Patricia von Musulin clear lucite necklace, earrings and ring.  Sold as a set. $1100.

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Enter to Win... a vintage... Oscar de la Renta dress ending soon!

Just a reminder that our January Enter to win... a vintage... Oscar de le Renta dress ends on Monday at noon!!  The winner will be announced on our blog as well as on our Facebook page.  I wish everyone could win but then again if everyone had one it wouldn't be unique.  Good luck!

More Breaking Fashion News!

Johnny Depp. Captain Jack Sparrow.  Raoul Drake in Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  The Libertine.  The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  John Dillinger.  Roux the Gypsy from Chocolat.

He OWNS his own island in the Caribbean.  He bought his girlfriend a vineyard  in France for her birthday.  He wears what he wants, knows how to enjoy life and makes other men look over coifed and so uninteresting has just been named GQ's most stylish man of the year.  Dar!

I Like 'Em Big! I Like 'Em Chunky!

Chunky!
I like 'em big, I like 'em chunky
I like 'em big, I like 'em plumpy
I like 'em round with somethin' something.

Now are we talkin' Hippos from Madagascar or Valentino earrings form the 1980s?  You tell me - I like 'em both.  Chunky, chunky.  Plumpy, plumpy...

1980s Valentino earrings.  Signed.  $725.

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Kyra Sedgwick in Chanel haute couture!

Kyra Sedgwick looking glamorous and elegant poured into a cocktail length Chanel haute couture dress from RARE vintage at the Critics Choice Awards!

The Many Moods of Yves Saint Laurent

Feeling blue?

Feeling rosy? 

Two YSL silk blouses from the late 1970s to take you from blue to rosy.  The high ruffled collar on both blouses can be closed or left open.  The blue blouse has silk ribbons.

Blue silk late 1970s YSL blouse.  Size 6. $425

Rosy silk late 1970s YSL blouse. Size 6. $395

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RARE vintage in Good Company

I love finding archival images of pieces that I have bought for RARE - especially when they look super cool, elegant or beautiful. 

I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs this morning (more on favorite blogs coming soon!) when I suddenly saw an image of Anouk Aimee.  Can I just say that again?  Anouk Aimee. Anouk.  I have two fish without names maybe I should call one Anouk?  Maybe I should call the other Cheri after Cheri from the Michelle Pfeiffer movie?  My!  How one's mind does wander!

How beautiful does Anouk Aimee look at the 1967 Golden Globes?!  Love the hair.  It is like refined bed head.  (My daughter who is seven and just cut her long locks - she donated her hair - has the most amazing bed head every morning.   She loves fashion and is going to be doing her own blog.  If I ever have a technical question, I ask the seven year old!)  And what would the so called fashion critics say today about the extravagant  bit at the shoulder of Anouk Aimee's dress?  Would and should Anouk have cared?  I don't think so.  It is impossible to please everyone and it is most important to please yourself.  Being safe can also be BORing!

Anyhoo, looking at stylist Vincent Boucher's blog, Couturealist, this morning lo and behold I saw the Donald Brooks feathered gown that I bought for RARE on Anouk Aimee.  She looks so beautiful and it is a perfect fit.   An incredible dress on an amazing actress!  Let's hope we see something as amazing on tonight's Golden Globes.    

1967 Donald Brooks guinea hen and ostrich feathered gown.  

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Soft and Floaty: Part Two

Another great soft and floaty dress.  This time it is 1970s Adele Simpson in brown with flecks of metallic gold.  I personally love a longer dress - it is a great length for boots so you can wear it now or in Spring with flat sandals. 

We added our own gilt belt but you could choose a wide leather Alaia or a chain link belt.

I also think - which I normally would almost never recommend - that this dress could have a pair of scissors taken to it and cut short or even super short. 

Mon Dieu!  I can't believe I said that because we NEVER touch pieces at RARE vintage but while we do like our haute couture, we are not haughty at RARE.  Sometimes a vintage piece that we love best is the one without a label or by some forgotten designer.  Sometimes it is the fabric and the little details like the micro gathered neckline on this dress that makes us fall in love.  It is good to mix things up.  Don't worry, be happy and have fun with your vintage!

1970s Adele Simpson Boho Dress.   Size 6.  $495

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Gone Baby Gone: Jane Iredale "ChocohoLICKS"

Because a girl can not live by vintage alone, I thought that it might be fun to share what to wear, what to use and whatever else I can think of that might be of interest to RARE vintage blog readers.

My name is Juliana and I am a chocoholick.  This is how it happened:

I have this little problem.  I really can't live without it.  I horde it.  I hide it.  I keep it tucked away in drawers, hidden in old bags, I take it out when no one is looking.  I swear that I will cut back.  But I just can't stop.  I need it.  Alright!  I have an addiction to lip balm.  There!  I've said it now excuse me while I go apply some more lip balm...

My favorite is Dr Hauschka's Lip Care Stick.  They claim that it is non habit forming but I know that they know, once you try it, you just won't be able to stop yourself from wanting it and using it all of the time!

Have you heard of enablers?  Well, a certain "enabler", who shall remain anonymous - not:  my mother!  Slipped me a little limited edition Jane Iredale ChocohoLICKS during Christmas.  It came packaged like a truffle from La Maison du Chocolat in a package of four: Truffle, Caramel, Chocolate Orange, and Strawberry Cream.  My mother said it is all natural, free of Parabens, not tested on animals, safe for sensitive skin.  They give a stain of color, a bit of moisturizing gloss and are magically delicious on the lips.   Enablers!  Always giving you what you want!  Now, I am completely addicted to the Caramel.  Is there a Caramelholicks Anonymous?

Jane Iredale Chocoholics

(definitely habit forming!)

Soft and Floaty

Prints are finally a return trend for Spring 2010.  I think that everyone was gently testing the water with brightly colored, whimsically put together necklaces against a solid shirt or dress and now is ready to embrace a little or a lot of print back into their lives.

I love a print that is sheer, light and floaty like this flowy boho dress from Pauline Trigere. Miss Trigere must have been spending a lot of time in her garden at her house La Tortue when she designed this because boho is not one of the first words that comes to mind when thinking about her designs.  I suspect a secret, soft, flirty side under her apparently tough exterior.

The print is a beautiful subtle paisley.

The sleeves are embellished with a scattering of diamanté.  Brilliant!  So if you have a secret, or not so secret, soft, flirty side this is the perfect choice for spring!  Hmmm... just one more peek at Jesus Luz...

Late 1970s Boho Pauline Trigere Dress with original scarf.  
Dress is lined with a nude slip. 
Size 6. $1100.

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We Interrupt Our Scheduled Vintage Programming...

To bring you the hot Brazilian boyfriend!  Well, the photos have been on all of the fashion sites! And we are a fashion site and did feel it is our obligation to share with you any breaking fashion news.  More vintage as soon as we can pull ourselves away from staring at the photos below... any minute now...

Jesus Luz in Interview magazine.

For more information about Jesus  Luz please contact Madonna.

The Actress

Fade In:

Girl standing in neon colored Deborah Marquit bra and panties staring at at a frothy chiffon gown hanging on her bedroom door. 

Scene One:  Act one:

On a cold midwinter evening in Manhattan, she looked at her long gown in the frothiest light chiffon and shivered.  Baby, it is cold outside!  What to wear?  A Moncler poufy down? No. A cozy tweed coat?  No.  This was her night and New York was her town...

Scene One: Act Two:

A blustery Monday morning, rushing to the nearest Starbucks - okay, not Starbucks, really don't care for those enormous coffees full of milk in bizarre flavors.  Scratch that.

Scene One.  Act Two:

Our heroine (well, it is my script after all!)  rushing out for an early morning read through of the latest Woody Allen film (yeah?  So??!!)  heads to the best coffee bar in Manhattan, Zibetto on Sixth Avenue and 57th Street for a Capuccino and a brioche.  (So, she will diet later!)  She wears one of her two favorite vintage furs from Bergdorf Goodman.

And... the paparazzi cameras snap away as she leaves the coffee bar.

She's an actress.. and a Fashion Icon...

Vintage white mink from Bergdorf Goodman.  Size 4/6.

Vintage blonde mink from Bergdorf Goodman.  Size 4/6.

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

OMG it's OMO!

The OMO (on my own) Norma Kamali store opened at 6 West 56th Street in 1978. RARE vintage overlooks 56th Street and while we cannot quite see 6 West 56 Street where the store was, we do have a view on our own little bit of Paris, the 1902 Seligman Mansion which is now the headquarters of Aeffe.

Madonna. Have you seen the great ads for Dolce and Gabbana?

She looks amazing. I feel that these ads are a better fit for Madonna then the bunny eared look of the Louis Vuitton ad campaign. Although I did love the saturated Man Ray inspired photographs.

Madonna still inspires us. She still looks amazing. Her hot Brazilian boyfriend is 22! This early OMO Norma Kamali lace cat suit is very Madonna. You may not want to wear this as the original owner did: just out and about with nary a thing underneath it or over it. But it would be a perfect piece to layer over. An oversize jacket, a slouchy big t shirt, discover your own inner Madonna!

Early OMO Norma Kamali lace cat suit. Size 2/4.

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