I HEART Lady Gaga's Engagement Ring

Lady Gaga's Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring from her handsome beau, Taylor Kinney, is unabashedly romantic and I kind of love it - and the unexpected interior of the hand surprise of the initials, T HEART (how do you do a 'heart' on Macbook Air keyboard??) S (S is for Lady Gaga's real name, Stefani.)  So romantic, it is really kind of cool!

Photo's from Lady Gaga's Instagram

xo, Juliana

Back to Work!

I have had an epic summer and fall.  My husband and I embarked upon a minor renovation of our Long Island house, that turned into a major renovation, RARE vintage has moved into a new, larger space in our building and we are choosing a new school for my twin children for next year.  It has been a challenging time, to say the least, but as I move through it - and see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, I am feeling very grateful.  Our house in Long Island seems to have heaved a huge sigh of relief, saying this is the house I always knew I could be!  Thank you!  

RARE vintage is still a work in progress, our fixtures have been delayed but are on their way and hello!  isn't it nice we outgrew our beautiful but smaller space?!  We are going on our seventh year of RARE vintage and I truly do believe that we are the only luxury vintage store in Manhattan. We have seen Kate Moss with John Galliano in the pages of December British Vogue wearing John Galliano from RARE vintage, Lady Gaga wore a dress that had belonged to Ava Gardner but found its way to RARE vintage and then found its way to Lady Gaga who wore it while singing a song with Kermit the frog on 'Lady Gaga and the Muppet's Holiday Spectacular' and in September the beautiful bride, Malgosia Bella, was married in an Azzedine Alaia dress from RARE vintage, that Mr. Alaia personally fitted for her.  Malgosia then wore a red Valentino haute couture dress for the party after the ceremony and a flowing lime  silk YSL caftan the day after all from RARE vintage.   So I can tell you fashion dreams really do come true.  

And probably what has been the hardest and has meant the most to me, has been the middle school application process for our children.  I admit to feeling completely overwhelmed, applying two children out at the same time, trying to find the next school where they will be happy and continue to thrive but now I have come to a place where I am feeling good and serene and even enjoying this next phase - it is just such a shock to hear schools speak about college.  My babies, are still just babies to me.  Even though my daughter is already starting to fit into some shoes we have at RARE vintage...

So sometimes I have wondered over these last few months, why can't I be more like the 'Enjoli eight hour perfume for the twenty four hour woman' ad I grew up with??  I kept feeling more like I needed Calgon to 'take me away'.  But here we are, and you know what, I am finding out that I can bring home the bacon and fry it up in the pan!  And a little Calgon moment doesn't hurt : ))

So here is to new beginnings - lots of exciting things are going to be happening at RARE vintage in 2014 and, now, it is time to get back to work! 

Remember these?!

and...

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!

Stephanie in Valentino Haute Couture

I am always so thrilled that the pieces I buy for RARE vintage go to the right person.  There is something that just clicks and we all know it immediately that the stars have aligned and a piece is a perfect fit for the client.   And I am really, seriously all about perfection - I don't want to see a client going out of RARE vintage looking anything less then amazing and beautiful ever.

And when a vintage piece, goes to its new home, it goes with its story.  Sometimes the story needs to be shrouded in mystery because the original owner wishes to remain anonymous - sometimes the story goes with the piece.  But its history continues to be built with each owner who thrills to the sight of it and the excitement of having it in her closet.

This is one such story...

A double faced daffodil yellow cashmere Valentino haute couture coat from the 1980s came to RARE vintage.  It  was then worn by Lady Gaga for her Thanksgiving Special.  And she even cooked a turkey in it!  

And then shortly afterwards, we received a ton of phone calls asking about the coat - but it had already found its new home with Stephanie.  

Stephanie wore it to the haute couture shows in Paris and made it her own by wearing a white fur hat and over the knee boots.  Stephanie and the Valentino coat had another moment in the pages of Vogue Japan.  Thank you Stephanie for looking so perfect in our Valentino haute couture coat!  

And FYI, Stephanie is not only stylish, sweet, funny and beautiful - very Alfred Hitchcock cool blonde - but she also has a website, The Collecte, which discovers and promotes new designers from fashion to home decor and you can visit it here. 

Who, What, Wear Wednesday!

Who, What, Wear Wednesday is here!  Stylish inspiration from stylish girls for our RARE vintage blog readers!

We have had so many wonderfully stylish women who shop at RARE vintage and in honor of celebrating our 5th year anniversary, I thought it would be fun to have a look back at what really stylish women have worn from RARE vintage.

Gaga.  Lady Gaga.  A dream of fantasy, music, culture and massive talent.  An Icon.  Lady Gaga in Norma Kamali.  Lady Gaga in Valentino Couture.  Lady Gaga in Givenchy Couture.  All from RARE vintage.  

A look back at Lady Gaga dressed by RARE vintage...

Lady Gaga in Givenchy Couture from RARE vintage with Tony Bennet:

Lady Gaga in Valentino Couture from RARE vintage cooking up a turkey:

Lady Gaga in Norma Kamali from RARE vintage accepting the Best Single, Best Album, Best Pop/Rock Artist and Best Selling Artist for the 2010 Music Awards:

Lady Gaga.  RARE vintage.  What inspires you?

RARE vintage Turns 5 Years Old!!

I can't believe that it has been five years since RARE vintage first opened its doors at 24 West 57th Street in the New York Gallery Building stocked with vintage pieces from Alaia, Balmain, Chanel, Dior,  Geoffrey Beene, Halston, Issey Miyake, Gres, Karl Lagerfeld (for Chloe and for Chanel),  Missoni and so on and so on  to Yves Saint Laurent and Zandra Rhodes!  Vintage from A to Z.

New York is a fashion capital and I wanted to open an extraordinary shop dedicated to the best in vintage fashion.  Haute Couture and ready to wear as well as the occasional anonymous fun vintage piece.

It is amazing to realize that my little store in just five years has been featured in Harper's Bazaar, Vogue.com, Elle, Avenue, WWD, the Wall Street Journal, In Style, People and many more publications.  It is also amazing to realize that we have dressed some of the most brilliant, talented and beautiful actresses and musicians: Angelina Jolie,  Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Anne Hathaway, Rachel Weisz, Lady Gaga... 

It has been a labor of love and I have loved almost every day of it.  I have found some incredible beauties for the store and I have met some really wonderful and amazing people.  Thank you everyone for five amazing years!  And counting...

New York Has Gone Gaga!

New York has gone gaga for Lady Gaga.  Barneys - okay, let me criticize and compliment here - I really dislike the recently remodeled main floor at Barneys.  It feels cold and anonymous and like you are shopping at an airport duty free.  I miss all of those beautiful antique display cases they had and while I agree a lot needed to change at Barneys I wish they had done a better job on the main floor.  But what I think they did an amazing job with was the collaboration with Lady Gaga for their holiday shop on the 5th floor of the mens store.  The web site is super fun with limited edition products (I bought one of the Gaga stiletto stockings and rock candy necklaces for my daughter) and even if you can not make it into Barneys to visit Gaga's wonderland you can still shop the collection.  25% of the proceeds from Gaga's Workshop go to her Born This Way Foundation.  So shop, be Gaga and do good!  

Lady Gaga's Thanksgiving Special proves what Elton John said about her last year's Rainforest Benefit: she can do it all: write, sing and play music.  She also produced and directed the Thanksgiving Special. She wore a 1980s Givenchy couture gown from RARE vintage with long gloves and made it her own by wearing it with a Gaga appropriate hat singing "This chick is a tramp".

In the special Lady Gaga wore Valentino Couture while making a turkey.   And did I mention the gorgeous Valentino couture coat was from RARE vintage?!

Photos courtesy of the site for all things Gaga and fashionable, Gaga Fashionland

Please note the Givenchy gown and the Valentino couture coat are no longer available.

And The Chick is a Tramp from the special.  Enjoy!

Happy Gaga Thanksgiving!!

Just the thing for post turkey - Lady Gaga's Thanksgiving Special on ABC and Lady Gaga singing the 'Lady is a tramp' with Tony Bennett in Givenchy couture from RARE vintage!!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Smokin'!

Lady Gaga.  Hussein Chalayan.  Love.  Fashion.  Art.

Lady Gaga arriving at the Grammy's:

Lady Gaga in a vintage Norma Kamali swimsuit she purchased at RARE vintage:

Gone Gaga!

I was very fortunate to see and dance to Lady Gaga performing at the Met gala earlier this month and then a week later saw her again at Trudie Styler's Rainforest Benefit.   Which by the way was an incredible concert at Carnegie Hall, with Sting of course, Elton John, Debbie Harry, Dame Shirley Bassey and Bruce Springsteen.  The entire night was amazing but I did especially love Elton John singing Madonna's song Like a Virgin with nearly naked boys leaping around him.  

Lady Gaga was introduced by Elton John and the crowd basically went crazy.  Elton John's introduction for her was wonderful.  He said that she is an incredible performer and can really do it all.  She can play the piano, she can sing, she can dance and she can write.  

Here is Lady Gaga at the World Music Awards wininng multiple times in a Norma Kamali studded swimsuit that she found at RARE vintage!