Coming Soon: A Collection of Tina Chow

I can not think of a more perfect way to start the fall at RARE vintage then with a particularly special and beautiful collection of Tina Chow...

Coming soon!

A sneak peek:

love and kisses, Juliana

And all that Jazz: Yves Saint Laurent Jazz Earrings

One of the most iconic of Yves Saint Laurent's designs is the Mondrian jersey dress from 1965. Mondrian was introduced to jazz by African American soldiers after World War 1. 

"Jazz, above all, creates the bar's open rhythm. It annihilates... this frees rhythm from form... a haven is created for those who would be free of for." Piet Mondrian

I can imagine Saint Laurent, a designer but also a collector, in the 1960s, seeking just that haven, freedom and inspiration in the work of Mondrian but interpreted in his own métier.

A smoky nightclub, a rhythm, a mood, YSL... and all that jazz...

For more information or to purchase, please email info@rarevintage.com or phone 212.581.7272

Toujours l' Amour: YSL

I have only just begun posting a wonderful collection of Yves Saint Laurent jewelry from the 1980s and early 1990s.  If you missed the first pieces, you can see the sea anenome brooch here and the Lalanne inspired alligator cuff here.  

I adore these flirtatious earrings with black velvet bows and a faceted jet heart.  Love and the emblem of love, the heart, was an important paint of Saint Laurent's iconography.  And these would be so great for holiday parties!

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

Roi of Light: Chanel and Louis XIV Le Roi Soleil

Recently, in the renovation of the Ritz in Paris, a previously undiscovered Charles Le Brun painting was discovered hanging in plain sight in Coco Chanel's suite and was sold at Christies by the owner of the Ritz, Mohamed Al Fayed, to benefit the Dodi Al Fayed foundation.  Charles Le Brun was the masterful decorator of Versailles who brought the magnificent vision of Louis XIV to a mirrored, gilded, parqueted, dressed to impress reality.  Louis humbly chose the sun as his emblem and became known as Le Roi Soleil.  And his emblem appears throughout Versailles such as on this door knob...

In the mid 1980s Karl Lagerfeld began amassing a collection of 18th century furnishings to live la vie Louis XIV.  It is from this period in Lagerfeld's life when he was successor to Coco Chanel and buying armoires by Jean-Henri Reisner, one of the master furniture makers under Louis XIV, and lighting his dining room solely by candlelight, that he did these super fabulous Le Roi Soleil earrings.

I love that KL put the gilded Sun God on a large resin disk.  Magnifique don't you think?!  And truly, who has visited Versailles does not dream of living la vie Louis XIV??

Circa 1990 Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel Le Roi Soleil gilt and resin earrings.  Signed.

To purchase please email info@rarevintage or phone 212.581.7273

Very RARE vintage Christmas Gift Guide #1: She Sells Seashells by the Seashore

21 days and counting until Christmas.  No need to panic - yet.  RARE vintage has your vintage gifting wrapped and ready to go.  21 days.  21 wonderful gifts...

For the Chanel-aholic in your life - and that may even be you!  After all, it takes one, to know one ; )

Early 1990s Chanel seashell, pale green lucite fish with gilt CC eyes and pearls.  Too fabulous for words...

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

Biker Chic: 1990s Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel

One of my favorite new finds for RARE vintage: 1990s Chanel and lots of it!  (Scroll down to see what is now available at RARE vintage)

Karl Lagerfeld is the Couture Master of `the DJ Remix.  He references the iconography of the House of Chanel: the quilted bag, the gilt and leather chain strap, the CC logo but mixes it with a dash of hip hop,  a little punk, a bit of biker chic, the eighteenth century, the last days of the Raj and the French Riviera.  

In the early 1990s Lagerfeld mixed a heavy street look into Chanel's hallowed Maison de Couture.

and, of course, Peter Lindbergh's famous photo of the Chanel Supermodel Gang:

I am very excited about a group of early 1990s Chanel that has just arrived at RARE vintage.  I thought I would start with these gilt and leather chain earrings with a huge drop pearl in the center.

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Tina Chow in Her Wire Wrapped Earrings

It is incredible for me to look at this photograph of Tina Chow in her own jewelry and realize that I have had nearly every piece in the photograph available for sale at (and only at I might add) RARE vintage.  Well, truth be told, the temple ring has not been for sale at RV - it is comfortably ensconced in bubble wrap in its original parchment box with Tina's glossy inky black signature on the interior in my bedroom.  (How chic is that?!  The signature is not loudly branded on the outside but discreetly and beautifully placed on the interior.  I tried on a great pair of Gucci cruise pants this week but the label!  I felt like I had a billboard for Gucci on my ass and I am sorry but my behind is nobody's billboard.  Thank you very much.)

The earrings that Tina is wearing are very similar to the wrapped rock crystal pair that we just received at RARE vintage.  Beautiful and perfect no?

Santa Baby: RARE vintage's Christmas List

What Balls!

Big, beautiful, bouncing ball earrings from Yves Saint Laurent.  Gorgeous and slightly tribal in feeling.  How perfect (there is that word again!  Somehow it just goes, well, perfectly, with Yves Saint Laurent) would these look with something simple, black and glamorous.  They look like they might be heavy but they are actually quite light.  

1980s Yves Saint Laurent hammered metal earrings with filigree dropped ball in a floral motif.

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I Like 'Em Big! I Like 'Em Chunky!

Chunky!
I like 'em big, I like 'em chunky
I like 'em big, I like 'em plumpy
I like 'em round with somethin' something.

Now are we talkin' Hippos from Madagascar or Valentino earrings form the 1980s?  You tell me - I like 'em both.  Chunky, chunky.  Plumpy, plumpy...

1980s Valentino earrings.  Signed.  $725.

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