RARE vintage Word of the Day: Petersham

Go to Bergdorf Goodman, look at dresses priced from $3,000 to $12,000 and try and find a single petersham.  

And what exactly is a petersham you may ask and why would you want to look for one.  Fit my darlings.  Those little details that cost couture clients thousands of dollars.  But once you have had that, you can't go back.  For example, have you ever worn a lovely light summer frock in silk on a beautiful day when a wonderful breeze comes up and whoosh! there goes over your dress up and over your undies (which hopefully you are wearing!)?  Well, couture clients never show their undies my darlings!  Except to their fitter that is.  And they do not, not show their undies because of modesty, it is because their hems are weighted. Natch!

So back to our word of the day.  Petersham.  It is that little interior belt which is found in many of our dresses at RARE vintage.  It is usually a grosgrain ribbon with a little hook and what is does is to secure the dress to your waist for an incredible fit.

Our petersham dress of the day is a 1960s Gigliola Curiel.  It is a black chiffon cocktail dress and not only does it have a petersham but it also has built in boning and it is incredible!  No one could do cocktail dresses like the Italians in the 1960s.  

The dress is in chiffon with ribbon detailing and a pleated skirt.  It just needs a Christian Louboutin Lucifer Spike Bow 120mm or the 45mm (still sexy!) Pump and you are Sixties Italian Siren!

Look at that fit!  And the pleated skirt:

1960s Gigliola Curiel Chiffon Cocktail Dress.  Size 4.

PURCHASE

INQUIRY

A Glamourous Black and White Curiel Couture Gown

Short dresses are the trend for evening dressing we keep being told. And on the right body they do look fresh, sexy and young but not everyone can wear super short, not everyone should wear super short and not all events can a short dress be worn to. There are evenings where you want to look elegant and need the beauty and glamour of a ground-sweeping dress. 

We love a great black and white dress because they look so glamorous and have a very clean modern feeling. This 1980s Curiel couture gown is very flattering around the face and the bust too we might add! There is an allusion of transparent black lace over the bust which plunges deeply in the back which is really over a thin layer of nude chiffon.  It is also a slightly larger size - though larger being a 6 (for a bosomy 6)/8 - sorry, this is vintage and finding these "larger" sizes is not as easy as we would like.

1980s Curiel Couture white crepe gown with a fine black lace.  Size 6/8.

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

Lace in the Garden of the Good and the Naughty

There is a scene in Boccacio 70 directed by the great Fellini, Visconti and Vittorio De Sica - if you have not seen De Sica as an actor in It Started in Naples, it is a must to rent on Netflix. He is brilliantly funny - where Sofia Loren who is working at an amusement stand, takes off her simple dress much to the delight of the men in the amusement park. Sophia Loren just looked incredible whether she was out of a dress, in Dior or even in a house dress. 

When we think of Italian fashion, pre Miuccia Prada intellectual ready-to-wear, it is femininity and sex that comes to mind. Whether it is the merry widows of Dolce e Gabbana so brilliantly done in the late 1980s and early 1990s or the curvaceous satin clad beauties of the Sorelle Fontana, Italian women enjoy looking good and dressing for men.

This 1980s Curiel couture dress is for a modern day Goddess Flora with its embellished vine winding its way up the body of the dress. It is also fine example of Italian dressmaking in the best materials. It is also very appealing and there is nothing wrong with that as any woman with a little bit of Sophia Loren in them knows!

1980s Curiel Couture fine lace and silk embroidered and sequined ' creeping vine' gown.  Size 4/6.

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

Summer of Love

In an earlier post we showed a 1960s emerald silk velvet dress with beading by Gigliola Curiel that is the epitome of cocktail glamor dressing by an Italian designer. Curiel is an haute couture family business that was started by Gigliola and continues by her daughter Raffaella and her grand daughter Gigliola.

Here is a 1980s Raffaella Curiel strapless dress with a fitted gathered bodice and skirt that has the easiness of a sarong but at the same time is sophisticated enough for a grand evening out. And we are totally in love with the luxurious hippie vibe in the richly colored fabric.
Size 4.

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

Love Italian Style

Really, who would not want to feel like an Italian movie actress from the sixties? Think of Claudia Cardinale as Princess Dala in The Pink Panther (an amazing wardrobe by Yves Saint Laurent!) or Sophia Loren in anything: even in a house dress she is just all sex and beauty.

Here is a beautifully done early 1960s narrow cocktail dress from Gigliola Curiel. The color is a deep emerald. The top is chiffon with bead embroidery done as tiny tassles so that there is a nice jiggle when you walk. The bottom is silk velvet. This dress would look gorgeous with the new Manolo Blahniks in magenta leather.
Size 4

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