Met Gala Flashback 1979

A Met Gala flashback from 1980 via Town and Country magazine...

"One glance at the committee names on the invitation to The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 'Fashions of the Hapsburg Era' opening in last December made it clear that one would not be hobnobbing with little match girls or the ladies who fix the flowers.  The committee chaired by Mrs. William F. Buckley Jr., was a constellation of the brightest stars in New York's social firmament and included Mrs. Winston Guest, Nancy, Lady Keith, Mrs. Aristotle Onassis, Mrs. Giovanni Agnelli, Mrs. Walter Annenberg, Miss Doris Duke, Mrs. Charles Englehard, Princess Lee Radziwill...  These well heeled heavenly bodies, glittering like Fourth of July sparkers in their haute couture gowns, radiate magnetic currents and powerful g forces.

Mary Sykes Cahan, the Metropolitan Mueum's senior public affairs associate in charge of the dinner that accompanies the exhibition which benefits the Costume Institute.  This dinner has long been a fundraiser for the CI, but became bigger in the 1970s with the appointment of Diana Vreeland as special consultant.  

Mrs Cahan said, 'Everything, from the invitation down to the placment of the last fork, goes through us.  No tapers, only unscented, votive candles are used.  Wax blows.  People deserve a suberb evening when hundresd of dollars have been spent.'

There's a waitng list for the six hndred invitations to the $300-per-person dinner.  Fifteen hundred tickets, priced at $75 for the post-dinner drinking, dancing viewing of the exhibit and the ultimate in people watching is the hottest ticket in town."

Town and Country, September 1980

Photos by Ron Galella from the Costume Institute Met Gala opening for Fashions of the Hapsburg Era, 1979

love, kisses and Party of the Year memories, Juliana

Lady Gaga In RARE vintage!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from me and RARE vintage to all of our clients, RARE vintage blog readers and Lady Gaga's little artpop monsters!  

I have a full day planned of revisiting my old Martha Stewart issues, with evidence of Thanksgiving pasts on their pages, and look forward to a delicious dinner by candlelight with a beautiful turkey (yes, Martha's recipe does indeed make for a delicious turkey with a beautiful deep amber color) and family and friends, a few dogs and our new bunny. 

I am also looking forward to turning on the television tonight at 9:30PM to watch Lady Gaga and The Muppets' Holiday Spectacular  and seeing Lady Gaga wearing RARE vintage!  Again!!  If you read our blog, you will remember Lady Gaga in her 2011 Thanksgiving special wearing Givenchy and Valentino haute couture form RARE vintage and if you don't read the blog faithfully, you can see photos from that special here.

Doesn't she look beautiful?  And Kermit makes a handsome accessory to our vintage Franka, Baroness Stael von Holstein, dress don't you think?!  This dress actually belonged to the beautiful Ava Gardner!  I can't wait to tonight's special and of course, Lady Gaga wearing RARE vintage!

And speaking of Lady Gaga wearing RARE vintage, she has been wearing quite a bit of RARE vintage this past week...

On the Ellen Degeneres show, Lady Gaga wore a hot pink Halston chiffon dress from RARE vintage:

and in Tokyo, Lady Gaga wore a 1970's Norma Kamali military style ensemble with suspenders from RARE vintage:

I owe a special thanks to Gaga Fashionland because I have been so busy writing essays and doing applications for my twins, who are applying to middle school, to really even be aware of what is going on in my own RARE vintage Fashionland.  So a huge thank you to Gaga Fashionland, Lady Gaga and the uber talented stylist Brandon Maxwell!  I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and I hope you do too!

Naomi Sims and the Ivory Bangles by Elsa Peretti

Before there was Naomi Campbell, there was Naomi Sims.  She was the first black model to be featured on a cover of a mainstream magazine and her career helped pave the way for models like Pat Cleveland and Alva Chinn.

"Naomi was the first," said Halston.  "She was the great ambassador for black people.  She broke down all the social barriers."

Look how striking and beautiful she is in this photo (if you can imagine, she was turned down by many modeling agencies originally for being too dark skinned):

What I also love in this photo are her Elsa Peretti ivory flat ivory bangles.  So I was thrilled to recently acquire for RARE vintage a similar flat ivory bangle.  This wafer thin bangle can also be worn as a pendant.

c1970 Elsa Peretti Ivory Bangle available at RARE vintage.  

Here is another fab photo of Naomi Sims wearing the bangles:

A Story of Loss and Longing: The Halston Caftan

This is a story of loss and longing.  Get the tissue box ready...

Yesterday a very beautiful bride to be came into RARE vintage looking for a wedding dress and asked if we had anything hippie chic.  I got as far as, "well, we have..." when the telephone rang.  

"I have three Zandra Rhodes caftans and I am nearby your store." said the caller.

"Come over as fast as you can!" I said.

Our client was trying on a flowing lime colored Yves Saint Laurent rive gauche caftan gown when the Zandra Rhodes pieces came in.  And as we all oooed and awed over the pieces, one in particular caught our bride to be eyes and was whisked off the hanger and slipped on and then we all ooed and awed much more and much louder.  Well, it turned out not to be Zandra Rhodes but a 1970s silk hand tie-dyed Halston caftan in the most amazing shades of moss green and pale champagne.  And off it has gone to a wedding in Positano.

I never had a chance to photograph it or have a lingering look which I really like to have before a piece goes off to its new home.  Or consider, do I even want to sell this??  Which is usually question number one at RARE vintage.  Anyone fancy a cry with me?!

The saddest sight in the world... a RARE vintage hanger without a Halston tie-dye caftan...

That Was Then, This Is Now #2

That was then: Ali MacGraw in Halston

Photo from Little Augury

This is now: Halston at RARE vintage

For more information or to purchase please phone 212.581.7273 or email info@rarevintage.com

Glamorous Halston: The Evening Collection. Part One. 1970s. A Single Owner Collection

Well, I have posted some really great pieces of Halston for day: a hooded cashmere sweater and skirt - so perfect for a chilly day like today in New York! An electric blue jersey dress that could take you from the office to cocktails, an ultrasuede coat with a silk bias cut ensemble underneath - so chic and minimalist and a few of Elsa Peretti's for Halston perennially cool belts and now finally, I am ready for a little Glamour!

It's time to party like its 1977 and your best friends are Bianca, Mick, Marissa, Andy, Liz and Liza.  

Let's get this party started!  

Let's start with Liza in black sequins and matte jersey.  How gorgeous is her outfit?!

Liza's sequin jacket looks a lot like this simple tank dress with its matching cardigan that we have.

Shiny black sequins are sewn onto silk chiffon.  So fabulous, you can wear it with the tank dress or like La Liza, wear the sequin jacket with matte jersey.  I am thinking a black jumpsuit would be amazing!

So it is about 15 degrees here in sunny New York and if you have an event tonight (the temperature is suppose to be 11 degrees!) and want to look glamorous and be nice and toasty then I would suggest wearing this beautiful yellow cashmere long gown and cardigan like Pat Cleveland back in the day.  It's a sweater and it's slinky...  

 The reason why Halston's cashmeres are so sexy is because they are cut close to the body.

We also have, one of my favorites, this super beautiful silk charmeuse wrap dress with an angled hem.

One of the most iconic and glamourous of Halston's looks for evening is the plunging halter neck gown.

We have a coral matte jersey plunging halter neck gown which you can wear with its matching jersey cardigan - or without.  Halston loved a very matching look and probably would have shown this gown with a coral strappy sandal.

 More to come... to be continued...

Shop our 1970s Halston collection here.

Halston and Ultrasuede: An American Love Story. Part Four. 1970s. A Single Owner Collection.

Americans have always been known as a pioneering, self sufficient, practical sort of people.  And Roy Halston Frowick born in the American midwest pioneered a new type of wardrobe for the Amercian woman.  One of simplicity and luxuriousness, of practicality and of glamour.  

Halston first became intrigued by the fabric ultrasuede when he saw the Japanese designer Issey Miyake wearing a jacket he had made of it.

"I flipped" Halston told the New York Times in 1973.  "The material was so soft, so luxurious yet so utilitarian."

I had a little debate with myself about including some ultrasuede pieces in this collection because it has long fallen out of favor but for one thing, it is impossible to have a really great collection of Halston without the ultrasuede.   His name is synonymous with the fabric.  It was practically a uniform for so many women in the 1970s.  It was soft, light, machine washable and came in a wide range of colors: turquoise, violet, coral, fawn, deep navy...  

"I remember being in Greece and putting one of the little ultrasuede dresses over my bathing suit and then after a swim going for lunch with it wet.  It dried beautifully and was ready for travel the next day." recalled Jennifer Jones Simon.

Doesn't that sound so chic and glamorous?!  

So when I started revisiting these ultrasuede pieces, I started seeing something else: they look really modern, really fresh right now in this period of increasing minimalism.   How amazing is this photograph of Marisa Berenson in a Halston ultrasuede jacket, an Elsa Peretti belt and the white pants?!    I would love to put the entire outfit on today.

This is one of my favorites:

Don't you think it would look amazing with a pair of suede Dries van Noten boots with a python heel? Or in early spring with a Celine sandal?

We also photographed it looking very Halston:

Worn with one of Halston's delicious cashmere sweaters tied over the shoulders and an ultrasuede hat.

Halston's ultrasuede hat made its debut on the model Karen Bjornson on the cover of Newsweek in 1972.

I was so excited when I was shown the hat in pristine condition!

This is another great and iconic Halston look:

and we recreated this photo with a deep navy ultrasuede shirtdress, a red leather Elsa Peretti belt and tossed a red cashmere sweater over the shoulders:

To see more or to shop our 1970s Halston collection, click here.

Pure Form: Elsa Peretti for Halston. Part Three. 1970s. A Single Owner Collection.

"I think what Halston and Elsa Peretti did was heat up their minimalism with hedonism and sensuality." Harold Koda Curator Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

A scorpion, a bean, an open heart, a rattlesnake, a Mexican horse bit, a tear drop.  

A romantic, rollicking, tempestuous friendship with Halston and when the friendship ended,  Elsa Peretti threw a sable coat Halston had given her dramatically into the fire.

Elegant, rebellious.  

"I remember seeing The Treasures of Tutankhamun at the Metrolopitan Muesum of Art in the late 1970s and I thought of Elsa.  It was visually very different but emotionally the same - very personal, kind of like forever." Hiro

This is part three in a five part series on an exceptional sale of  1970s Halston that we are having on 1st dibs.  The Elsa Peretti for Halston collection.

1977 Elsa Peretti for Halston anchor belt

1974 Elsa Peretti for Halston belt

Elsa Peretti for Halston sterling silver belt.

Elsa Peretti for Halston Bone Cuff

Elsa Peretti for Halston Bottle Pendant

1977 Elsa Peretti for Halston rope belt

All items are available to purchase on our 1st Dibs storefront by clicking here.

The Halston Uniform for Day. Part Two. 1970s. A Single Owner Collection.

Kate Moss, Carine Roitfeld, Lee Radziwell, Carolyn Besette Kennedy, the Duchess of Windsor all have or had a uniform.  Not a drab Mao-ist style uniform but a uniform in the sense that these super stylish women each knows what works for them,  they know who they are and they know exactly what to buy.  They get it right almost every time.  

I tend to be a little too all over the place.  Sometimes when I am shopping, I get confused, and think, oh this looked really great on so and so and bring it home and realize that it doesn't work for me.  So one of my New Year's resolutions is to be more true to moi and work on my uniform.

Women who wore Halston back in the day, always speak about a Halston uniform.  Halston's fashion designs did not wildly swing from season to season.  He worked on an idea.  One of ease, comfort, quality, simplicity, sexiness and glamour.  And there, voliá! you have the Halston uniform.  

In 1971, when Grace Mirabella was named editor of American Vogue after the fashion fantasy fueled years of Diana Vreeland, chose an all Halston wardrobe for her first trip to Paris to see the haute couture.  "If I wanted to be more dressed, I'd wear gold and charmeuse.  If I wanted to be less dressed, it would be matte jersey.  If I wanted bare, I would take off the jacket and the top would be bare down the back.  And if I wanted ornamentation, Halston would provide a perfect little drop of some accessory designed by Elsa Peretti."

This is part two in a five part series on an exceptional sale of  1970s Halston that we are having on 1st dibs.  So cue the Sister Sledge and get ready for your Halston moment.  

Halston electric blue jersey dress

1977 Halston dot print silk bias cut dress with kimono sleeves and self belt.

Halston bias cut print silk ensemble with self belt.

Halston black linen wrap dress.

Halston cashmere hooded sweater and skirt.

 All items are available to purchase on our 1st Dibs storefront by clicking here.