Monday's RARE vintage Photo of the Week #2: The Duchess of Devonshire and Her Chickens

My absolute favorite photos of Debo, the Duchess of Devonshire, who created a farm on a country pile, and counted her chickens...

My Heroine:  The Duchess of Devonshire and her Ladies...  

You're from the 70s But I'm a 90s Bitch: Icona Pop

My favorite new song: I Love It by Icona Pop.  I love it!

What Would Daisy Wear?

I am really looking forward to The Great Gatsby, although I am still not convinced that Carey Mulligan was the right casting for the dazzling Daisy created by F Scott Fitzgerald but the trailer looks thrilling so I am excited to see the film.   

I was fortunate to recently hear the costume designer for the film, Catherine Martin, speak about researching and creating the costumes and it was fascinating how much thought was put into the costumes - particularly the men's costumes.  (And keep an eye out for the monogrammed buttons on the servants uniforms in the houses of Gatsby (JG) and the Buchanans (TB) - Martin said no one would notice but she wanted that level of detail.  My kind of woman!)  Martin also said she wanted everything to feel crisp, fresh and new - not vintage-y.  Exactly right don't you think?  

So what will Daisy wear?  Prada in the party scene and Catherine Martin designed costumes for the rest of the film.

Daisy will wear pearls like Marion Davies (and a special thank you to our dear RARE vintage blog reader who sent me this wonderful photo!)

Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan photographed for Vogue

And what would Daisy wear from RARE vintage?  I think she might choose this white jersey dress draped with pearls from Holly's Harp...

Holly's Harp white jersey and pearl dress.  Only available at RARE vintage.  

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

"In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." 
F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Icon: A Fine and Extraordinary Spring Summer 1967 Valentino Haute Couture Dress

Jacqueline Kennedy loved the Valentino 1967 haute couture collection so much, she ordered twelve dresses.  Lucky woman!  And I considered myself very lucky when this extraordinary and rare from the Valentino Spring Summer 1967 collection dress came to RARE vintage.

It is edged with a gold metal thread and embroidered with coral stones and has jeweled buttons adorning the front.

"Gloria Guiness, the most elegant woman in the world, remarks about Valentino: You see I don't just wear his clothes: I love them." Epoca 1967

'As Jacqueline Kennedy was packing to leave for Rome on Saturday...  WWD peeked into her luggage and learned that she has not switched from her favorite designer.  Valentino of course is shrouding her fashion choices in secrecy but  WWD learned that some of the Valentinos Jackie recently bought she now plans to wear on her trip at private dinner parties.'  

WWD October 3, 1967

Drawing inscribed "Possible design especially for J.K.O. Spring-Summer 1967"

Now, I am OBSESSED with finding this Valentino bag below - so if anyone out there has one they would like to part with, please email info@rarevintage.com or phone 212.581.7273  Grazie!!

"Jacqueline Kennedy has ordered seven bags.  The big favorite is the alligator soft box.  It's the thin gold bracelet handle that makes it especially new looking.  The former first lady also ordered it in fabric.  This bag is also on order for Lady Astor, Mrs. Samuel Reed, one of the du Ponts, Countess Volpe, Marella Agnelli and Duchess de Rochambeau." WWL 1967

Monday's RARE Vintage Photo of the Week #1: Monica Vitti

I thought it would be fun to look forward to the start of a new week with a look back at vintage photos on the RARE vintage blog.

Monday's RARE Vintage Photo of the Week: The beautiful Monica Vitti in a Paco Rabanne metal dress.  Love her tousled hair, the face bare except for eyeliner and I even love the cigarette.  Looks to me like she spent the night at her lover's apartment and she has put on her dress from the night before and she is thinking about the man...

Boho Beauties: YSL rive gauche and Ungaro for Coachella and Beyond

So while this is the final weekend of the Coachella festival in the Palm Springs desert, your wardrobe can continue to rock 70s boho style with these classic bags from Yves Saint Laurent and Emanuel Ungaro.

The staple of the boho girl: a 1970s Emanuel Ungaro Parallele fringed and studded bag:

A patchwork 1970s Emanuel Ungaro bag with fringe and a touch of glamour in gold:

A violet colored 1970s Yves Saint Laurent rive gauche bag with violet cording and faux fur trim:

Sweet and bohemian: little 1970s Emanuel Ungaro canvas bags with rainbowed hued trim:

"I Love a Dying Frenzy" Yves Saint Laurent

"Like F. Scott Fitzgerald, I love a dying frenzy. " 

"Decadence attracts me.  I've seen the afterglow of sumptuous Paris before the war.  The balls of the fifties - Arturo Lopez, Charles de Bestegui.  The youthfulness of the sixties, Talitha and Paul Getty lying on a starlit terrce in Marrakesh, beautiful and the damned, and a whole generation assembled as if for eternity where the curtain of the past seemed to lift before an extraordinary future."   

Yves Saint Laurent

Decadence.  There has always been a feeling of decadence to Saint Laurent: his life, his world, his work.

His clothes have layers of meaning - they are not simply sexy or masculine - and it is not that they are complex but that they capture moments in time, in travel, in memories and in daydreams of the future.  They are timeless and eternal: yesterday, today, tomorrow.

This red lace bustier dress, lined in a nude silk, with the body outlined in navy grosgrain ribbon from Spring Summer 1992 could have been worn by Zelda Fitzgerald to a dance on the Gold Coast of Long Island.  She would have danced and drank to dawn and probably fought with F Scott Fitzgerald the entire time.  But the next morning, she would have studied ballet while Fitzgerald wrote.  This is the woman YSL designed for: complex, interesting, beautiful, decadent, smart and a little world weary.

and from the original runway show:

What to Wear with your World's End Vivienne Westwood: Phillip Treacy

Wondering what to wear with your World's End Vivienne Westwood top?  Phillip Treacy has just the thing!  A little pile of Andy Warhol Brillo pad boxes dancing delightfully on top of your head.

Now why didn't I think of that?!  Isn't that a fantastic image and I really love them together.

Here is a very similar top to the one featured in the photo above and available now at RARE vintage.  FYI, we do not have the hat : ( but we do have the shirt!  We can't do everything - though I would LOVE to have the hat - for me!

Vivienne Westwood World's End Top.  Size 4.  

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

Margaret Thatcher Dies at 87

Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady, died today in England.  You might wonder why I am writing about Prime Minister Thatcher on my vintage fashion blog - but even though I may not have agreed with her politics, you have to admire Britain's first female Prime Minister - and longest serving at that.

She was also a fashion icon - of sorts... 

Margaret Thatcher with Zandra Rhodes

She favored suits with soft silk blouses, pussy cat bows and pearls.  But as much as a uniform, I think it was also her armor.

and then, of course, there was the hand bag...

"Why don't we start? The handbag is here." Nicolas Ridley during a meeting with Margaret Thatcher when she had briefly left the room.

The hand bag as weapon is a classic: you know, some old lady beating a purse snatcher with her hand bag.  

And the handbag as a symbol of power is particularly British: The Queen is rarely without a handbag.  Margaret Thatcher even had a political term coined "handbagging" regarding her often brusque style - and her hand bag.

Someone said Mrs Thatcher's bag was a "portable filing cabinet" (I don't know about your bag but mine is a portable - and very messy - desk).

In 2000 a black Salvatore Ferragamo bag that belonged to Margaret Thatcher sold to a Scottish businessman.  It was a gift for his wife who remarked, "It's a lovely bag - the sort you can take anywhere.  But I don't think I will take it shopping."

It was bought for 82,110 Pounds!

In 2011 a black Asprey bag that had belonged to Mrs Thatcher sold for 25,000 Pounds.

Margaret Thatcher and The Bag:

And have you seen the movie The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher??  Her performance is uncanny - I actually did not totally love the movie but Meryl, Bless her acting soul, does Mrs Thatcher proud.

Lilly Pulitzer, Dies at 81

When life gives you oranges what do you do?  You open a stand selling orange juice.  When juice stains your clothes what do you do?  You design brightly colored frocks so that the juice stains don't show.  When you went to school with the First Lady of the United States and she wears one of your dresses on the cover of Life Magazine what do you do?  You start selling dresses like crazy!  

Lilly Pulitzer you will not be forgotten, your colorful and happy dresses will be sought after in vintage stores and thrift shops by new generations of young girls who will delight in 60s Palm Beach chic!

Lilly Pulitzer

I Want Candy: Prada Candy

Have you seen the super adorable film for the Prada fragrance Candy L'Eau starring Lea Seydoux?  It is directed by the duo Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola in the style of 1950s and 1960s la Nouvelle Vague films.

Lea Seydoux wears Prada Spring 2013 - a collection which I absolutely LOVE - and is torn between two cute French boys.  She stuffs her face with popcorn and cake while the boys fight over her.  See for yourself...

That Was Then, This is Now: Moschino Upside Down #7

That was then in 1988 the Spring ad campaign:

And this is now at RARE vintage.  Moschino upside down jacket to be worn with the sleeves tied as a bustle.  

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