Chanel, Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele and RARE vintage

"For personal chic you need to mix your own shit in and make it happen." 

Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele

Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele probably first entered my radar in a 1997 issue of House and Garden (which I am still the proud owner of - oh, how I miss House and Garden under Dominique Browning!).  In her closet there were rows upon rows of Chanel multi colored ballerinas and piles upon piles of Chanel multi colored cashmere sweaters and I was completely gobsmacked by the extravagance and Chanel-ness of it all!

Carlyne does not do minimalist.  More is, simply, more.  Why have less, when you can have more?!  Haven't you heard?  Carlyne style is a salade!  It is a mix of something Chanel, a pair of jeans, something inexpensive, something expensive.  These days it might be a gold Rolex with a pair of Jermey Scott winged high top sneakers and a track suit ( I am really trying to convince my children that those high tops are awesome!)

"She sees fashion as a brilliant kaleidoscope.  Even in the days of minimalism (often boring and pretentious) , she stuck with her style and was influenced by nobody".

Karl Lagerfeld on Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele

Mid-nineties Chanel is so Karl but also so Carlyne... and I am so glad to have an amazing collection of mid-1990s Chanel just in at RARE vintage!

These photos are from a 2009 issue of French Vogue styled by CC de D but many of bits and pieces are vintage Chanel.  As you can see, it's a salade!

Working a Chanel cashmere sweater, iconic leather woven Chanel belt and the discreet charm of a charming little baby Chanel 2.55 bag on big sis Chanel 2.55.  

And Baby Chanel in the house of RARE vintage:

Bronze Baby Chanel 2.55 available for purchase at RARE vintage.  

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

Chanel ID bangle and belt in the house of RARE vintage (I LOVE this amazing belt!  So chic!  And so cool!):

                                               Available for purchase at RARE vintage.  

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

Available for purchase at RARE vintage.  

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

and in the House of RARE vintage, a black and white silk ribbon pin monogrammed with Chanel - perfect with a classic vintage Chanel tweed jacket, a tee... please note this is unused and in its original box.

Available for purchase at RARE vintage.  

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

Monday's RARE vintage Photo of the Week #3: Tina Chow

Is there any better way to start a stylish week off then with the super stylish Tina Chow?  As I am certain you know, we have had an unsurpassed collection of Tina Chow's jewelry at RARE vintage which has been an enormous privilege as well as an enormous source of excitement for me personally and, of course, also for our clients.

Tina Chow could wear a grey cashmere sweater and black Kenzo pants, brand spanking new haute couture from the newly appointed designer for Chanel Karl Lagerfeld in 1983, vintage haute couture from Balenciaga, Vionnet, Poiret and Fortuny with such ease and casual chic that her unerring sense of style has made her one of the best dressed women of all time.

But she was not just a woman of style - she was a woman of substance - which I really think most super stylish women are.  A true sense of style is found in women who love not just fashion but history and design.  

This is one of my favorite photos of Tina Chow.  She is wearing a Fortuny silk pleated gown with her own jewelry.  

Tina Chow in Fortuny and Tina Chow jewelry

It has been erroneously published that she was wearing lucite (!) jewelry with her Fortuny gown but she is in fact wearing her own amazing crystal quartz cuff and bracelet and one of her spectacular bamboo wrapped Kyoto bracelets.

Tina Chow's sense of style is unique to her and it continues to inspire us...  as Yves Saint Laurent said, "Fashion fades, style is eternal".  Tina Chow is eternal...

I am always looking for rare and pristine examples of Tina Chow's incredible jewelry.  Please feel free to contact me at info@rarevintage.com or phone 212.581.7273 if you have a piece or collection you would like to part with.

Vintage Trends: Big Bling is The Thing!

The Spring 2012 runways were covered in dangling chandeliers.  Mind you these are not the kind of chandeliers that hang from the ceiling but the ears.  Big shoulder dusting chandeliers.  And not only were ears accessorized with jumbo sized jewels but necks and wrists were also bejeweled with Flintstone sized rocks.

Claude Montana designed the haute couture for the house of Lanvin from 1990 to 1992.  The hat designer, Stephen Jones, said that the passion for Claude Montana and Thierry Mugler in those days was such a frenzy that crazed fashion people wielding knives would actually slash the tents to get in to see the shows.

Here at RARE vintage, although we are mad for fashion, we do not carry knives, clubs or any other assorted criminal paraphernalia.  It is an oasis of calm and vintage couture.  An oasis where that gorgeous bit of arm candy you see is not a mirage but a big, bold and delicate Claude Montana bracelet for the haute couture for Lanvin.  What I really love about this piece are the little flowers scatted amongst the rhinestones and that the bracelet is slightly deconstructed.  We like our lady like jewelry a little less precious, a little more precocious here at Rv.

Just in time for the holidays and only available at RARE vintage New York...

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Bling and Baubles at RARE vintage

Bring on the bling!  Just in time for the holiday party and gift season, we are stocked and ready to bejewel our clients!  Check our RARE vintage blog everyday for pieces from an extraordinary collection or better yet, come into see the collection at RARE vintage on 57th Street.  The early bird catches the best baubles!

Feeling very Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra?  I know.  Me too:)  And this is just the thing:

A very rare 1960s gold woven leather Bottega Veneta snake bracelet.  Beautifully detailed head and tail of the snake in sterling silver with a light golden finish.  Wear it at the wrist or wrapped higher up on the arm. So in other words, arm candy!

1960s Bottega Veneta Gold Leather Snake bracelet.  Only available at RARE vintage.

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The Mughal: Kenneth Jay Lane

Pauline de Rothschild dedicated her book, The Irrational Journey, to her friend Diana Vreeland.  The dedication said, "You held two keys, discipline and wisdom.  They gave you a vision.  Of the real, of the unreal, of the unreality waiting somewhere in the wings to be made real."

Vogue in the 1960s under Diana Vreeland was a place of dreams: real and imagined.  That is the fun of fashion; you can slip on a pale beige mink, wear beige knickers by Donald Brooks, brocaded sashes by Calderon and a Dynel hairpiece and suddenly you are on Diana Vreeland's high speed train from Kyoto to Tokyo looking like the beautiful Versuhka with a cup of green tea.

This early Kenneth Jay Lane Mughal style bracelet from the 1960s in an apricot enamel with green stones could have been sprung from the imagination of Diana Vreeland.  

Why don't you wear it with...

an apricot colored caftan from Oscar de la Renta from the 1990s (or something similar as this piece has already sold.)

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An Important Collection of Tina Chow: Saturn Rock Crystal Cuff

A dream of beauty and artistry continues...

Tina Chow's Saturn bracelet is a substantial piece cut from a single piece of rock crystal and wrapped in thin strips of bamboo.  

Everyone has been going crazy for the cuffs and for obvious reason.  They are extraordinary and iconic.  In so many photographs of Tina Chow, we see her wearing her Kyoto bracelet with either a wide crystal cuff or a piece similar to this Saturn bracelet.  

1988 David Seidner photo

Tomorrow comes perhaps my favorite piece.  Well, really I love them all...

Say it Loud! Say it Proud!

Givenchy!  We are use to seeing the great iconic Chanel bracelets and belts that either spell out CHANEL or simply state, CC,  but are not use to seeing the great name of Monsieur Hubert de Givenchy boldly branded on a piece of jewelry.   But here it is in all its big, gold, glamorous Givenchy-ness.  So say it loud and say it proud with a Givenchy logo bracelet.  Wait, can I say Givenchy one more time?!  Just click your heels together, say Givenchy three times and you will be in Paris (or just feel like you are)!

1980s Givenchy logo charm bracelet $495

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