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Lady Violette

The Romantic Lifestyle

Posts Tagged ‘Art & About’

Vintage Shoes of the Week of Saint Patrick’s Day ~ Green Alligator Shoes From Italy

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Mariola Green Alligator Vintage Shoes

A beautiful pair of vintage dark forest green alligator pumps from Italy with tasteful and comfortable 2″ stacked black leather heels tie in front with a black satin ribbon bow. Handmade, all leather soles, and lining ~ beautifully constructed and exquisitely comfortable. Made by Maraola.

Incredibly well made and very comfortable. European size 38. Just gorgeous!

Practical and their vintage ads said, “Why wear anything else?” This is because they feel so good you don’t want to wear anything else. But they were originally so expensive one might not have been able to afford to wear them!

I do not know exactly when they were made. My research yields an approximate $800 price tag when new! If bought in the 1960’s. The style is timeless so I cannot place the year they were made exactly. It could be as far back as the 1940’s. Or as recently as the 80’s. I got them at a consignment shop in Brooklyn NY. For $30! The owner did not realize they were real alligator and she thought the color green was both unlucky and off beat. I happen to love green so I was happy to take them off her hands.

I know I have used the word comfortable four times in one short paragraph. That came out that way, instinctively because it is really true so I am going to leave it that way! No need to say more!

Perfect for Saint Patrick's Day! & Every Other Day

I am so glad I own these! I can figure out a way to wear them with almost anything! The style is totally classic. I love these shoes! They are green and to me green is very versatile. It is everywhere outside in nature so it follows that it must go with everything!

It goes well with navy. And with many  prints. In the top photo the shoes are photographed against my green Karistan flower strewn carpet. In the bottom photo I have used a vintage cotton gauze shawl as a background.

Green can, of course, be worn with black. And these shoes are perfect with Irish tweeds and hand knitted sweaters because of the alligator skins.

The weather has been extremely cold, wet and blustery so this year’s Saint Patrick’s Day will undoubtedly be very cold. As in the dead of winter! I will be happy to dress very cozily!

So these little guys should be just perfect! With a hand knit sweater, warm tights, a tweed suit, a green cape!

Handmade by Maraola of Italy

Sturdy and Elegant

Some people think green is unlucky. Christian Dior mentions that in his style dictionary. He also says that green has been lucky for him and he finds it  great color for accessories, such as hats and shoes. I have always loved it so I will wear it happily and consider it lucky.

If it was lucky for Christian Dior I think it is lucky for me as well!

There is such a thing as The Luck of The Irish! And I am Irish and I luckily look good in green and I am lucky enough to keep finding lovely green vintage items!

It is wise to rescue things and recycle or reuse them, to go green with the planet and to wear green if it both falls into your lap and makes you happy. I consciously try to do all these things.

Almost everything I own and use is enjoying a rebirth and regeneration in my possession. I want to invite every reader of my blog to recognize this fact and join me in both celebrating the specialness of old and forgotten treasures and finding enjoyment in renovating old things that are often better than new ones and still have a lot of life left in them.

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Great Green Felt Vintage Hats for Saint Patrick’s Day

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

Green Vintage Hats for Saint Patrick's Day!

The Irish love hats. And I love wearing a green felt hat on Saint Patrick Day. Being of Irish decent and having red hair and green eyes I learned long ago that this was a huge hit! Walk into any nice restaurant and bar in your charming green hat and every man in the establishment offers to buy you a drink and dinner. Men love these green hats. And the women who wear them on Saint Patrick’s Day! The one on the glass head is a “Daschette” by Lilly Dache. The one in the back with the two covered buttons is by Stetson for Women designed for Maier and Frank in Portland Oregon. The plain round one is a fur felt beret by Tosca of Italy. It is plain and simple alone or can be easily adorned with a clip or flower from your own collection. All these hats are from the 1950’s. Christian Dior advocated adding a clip to a plain hat to personalize it. The Daschette with it’s black ribbon is undoubtedly inspired by the cloche hats of the 1920’s. And would be adorable with a black flapper dress and a cacoon style black satin coat, matching green tights and black low heeled shoes. In fact, I think that is what I will wear tomorrow! With a long strand of green flapper beads as well! There is a painting by Edward Hopper in which a woman is sitting in a restaurant wearing just such a green cloche hat. I distinctly remember her hat! I will try to find that painting over the next couple of days and post it so you can see her hat. I often find good inspiration from paintings and drawings for how to dress!

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Vintage Shoes of the Week of Saint Patrick’s Day ~ Green of Course!

Sunday, March 13th, 2011

 

 

 

 

Green Metalic Leather and Silk Chiffon Evening Sandals

In the spirit of Saint Patrick’s Day a fantastic pair of green evening sandals that lace up the leg and tie. These are made of green metallic leather with silk chiffon ribbon ties. I will give a couple of views as they were a bit difficult to photograph! Especially without a model!

These were made by BCBG Max Mara and seem just the thing to wear with a Green Greek Goddess Style Evening Gown.

They are designed to wear crossed over, laced and tied at the ankle like a ballet slipper. Very very sexy shoes!

I found these while vintage shopping and they were not my size! They were a size 9 and 1/2 and I wear a 7 and 1/2 But they were fantastic and in great condition.

From the Front & Center

I had to buy them and I kept them around for a while as pieces of art, then, trying to edit down my shoe collection I sold them on eBay. My criterion being that they didn’t fit me so I should probably part with them.

As usual the woman who bought them got a great bargain and really loved the shoes. And as usual, I miss them! I’m glad she appreciated them though!

I always feel bad when I sell things on eBay and take a total financial loss. These were amazing because of the color and the design. And they have 4 inch heels. They are yummy and precarious and very dangerous to wear! No part of the shoe hugs the foot so there is nothing structurally designed to hold them on. They are what my brother calls danglers, the kind of shoe you wear to the opera and simply dangle your feet in the aisles to be seen for the pleasurable sensual and visual effect. Do not try to walk far or on uneven surfaces, run or dance in them. Because you could get easily hurt! But they would be lovely for a photo shoot! These definitely fall into the category of shoes as primarily art pieces! That is their highest and best use as shoes. And a perfectly justifiable use I might add!

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The Teal Box Hat – A Vintage 1995 Design by MIndy Fradkin of Important Hats.

Monday, March 7th, 2011

Teal Box Hat by Mindy Fradkin Important Hats~ 1995

Here is another lovely hat designed by Mindy Fradkin when she made “Important Hats”. This one was done for her Winter 1995 Collection. It is hand pleated and sewn teal silk topped with black cock feathers with a blue/green sheen and accented with a vintage black lace flower with a rhinestone center. MIndy is now better known as Prncess WOW! She still designs the occasional hat for a private client but is primarily involved in full time work for the Smile Revolution. She continues to wear her own designs in her work because hats are joyous creations that make people smile. You can click on the link at the end of this post for more information on Mindy and her work.

I wore this with a belted black lace  tunic over a teal silk camisole with sheer black silk chiffon float pants and a set of two teal and turquoise long flapper style necklaces and delicate dangling earrings of of my own design. I added vintage black lace court shoes. A long black velvet evening cape closed with Oriental frogs, decorated with huge silk tassels and lined in teal brocade printed with butterflies modeled after one I’d seen in drawings of Paris fashions from the 1910’s, subtly completed my look. I say subtly because the cape initially appeared to be all black. It was only after opening it that one would know is was lined in bright silk butterflies. It was all luscious but the hat was the attention getting center piece of the ensemble. I wore this to a performance and benefit concert for the Martha Graham Dance Company at New York City Center Theater and a party afterward where most of the guests were wearing vintage Halston. I think my outfit got more attention than most of the others worn that night. I felt as if  I had stepped out of a scene from  Scheherazade and  was dressed by Leon Bakst. Everyone asked me who had designed my hat! And I told them ~ Mindy Fradkin of Important Hats, of course!

Back View of Teal Box Hat

Someone at this Martha Graham event who was producing a Broadway play wanted Mindy’s contact information so he could discuss designing hats for a Follies-Bergere influenced show he was working on. I did refere them to each other. It was typical to have people ask for the designer’s contact information when I wore Mindy’s hats. I was always delighted to provide this.

I love the way the teal fabric is pleated and overlapped  in the back of this hat. You always know you look just as elegant and intriguing from the back as you do from the front in one of Mindy’s Fradkin’s Important Hat Creations. She designed her hats to flatter the wearer from all directions.

Inside this hat is equally beautiful. All hand stitched and lined in black silk and has one of her handmade labels. She paints these herself for each of her creations so they are essentially “signed” by the artist. Each of Mindy’s hats is really like a small sculpture. When you wear one you are wearing a work if art. Each one is completely handmade. They are true couture creations! What I love about couture clothing and accessories is the care that goes into the conception and production of each piece. And the fact is that each piece is totally unique. For me, as the owner and wearer of such a piece, I derive great personal pleasure in my own appreciation of the designer’s skills and the beauty of the execution of her vision. I love the handmade workmanship and the artist’s individual mark. The quality is unquestionable! That is the private experience of wearing couture.

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“Confessions of a Head Turner” – or What Happens When I Wear a Beautiful Hat.

Saturday, March 5th, 2011

“Confessions of a Head Turner ” was originally  written by Lady Violette for Princess WOW! when she was primarily  known as Mindy Fradkin’s Important Hats. It was published in 1995 in Breukelen Magazine in NYC  with accompanying photos of Lady Violette wearing Mindy’s hats. It still holds true and it is still fun, so we decided to bring it out for contemplation if you find yourself considering wearing hats again this spring and summer as we do. (We being Lady Violette & Princess WOW! )

Over the years we became good friends through out mutual love of hats and our design work together. It is also interesting to note that, years after I originally wrote this piece, Princess WOW! met her husband, artist Roland Mousaa, because he saw her wearing one of her hats while waiting in a line to be seated at a restaurant, just as I wrote happens when you wear her hats! A real adventure!

Now Mindy Fradkin is Princess WOW! and her main focus has changed from making hats to her work for The Smile Revolution but she still makes and wears her own hats in her concerts and performances and for private clients. Lady Violette has taken good care of all her Important Hats and still wears them regularly. We love hats! And spring is coming! A new hat for easter has always been a tradition! So, it has gotten me  thinking a lot about hats ~  Hats off to Princess WOW!  And a stroll down memory lane with ~

“The Confessions of  Head Turner”

I love to wear Mindy’s Important Hats. I never go without an Important Hat. I have two dozen of them. They make adventures happen.

I meet men. Men follow me. I feel mysterious, like a heroine in a novel. Like Zelda Fitzgerald or Greta Garbo. In an Important Hat you create an indelible impression… you become an enigma, unforgettable, memorable…

It’s evocative of romance and another time. A hat is an emphatic statement. Jewelry is more subtle, smaller, meant for close up. A hat can be seen across a street or restaurant. At a distance in a gallery or museum. It casts the wearer’s magic spell…

In giving up hats, women gave up coquetry. Mindy’s hats bring it back, but they are not vintage, not ingenue. They are totally modern & sophisticated, they’re history, too…

They’re true art, completely original form and construction. The simplest looking design transforms a face.

She is the Rodin of the sculptured hat.

When you wear her hats heads turn.

I began collecting Mindy’s hats in 1992. Now I can’t stop!! Each hat represents a different facet of my inner personality to the viewer. They allow me to express the different aspects of my character.

Together Mindy and I continue to discover more ~ a great talent in a designer for her client.

Thank you Mindy for presenting my many inner characters to me and to the the world… To love me you (I mean anyone,) must know me. Your hats project aspects of my inner soul to the outside world (when I choose to do so by wearing one.)

Lady Violet de Courcy, Ballet Dancer, Jewelry Designer, Writer and Mindy’s Muse

Mindy Fradkin-Mousaa, now The Princess of WOW! & renowned hat designer and comedienne performs using her hats, in shows and concerts and at “Hat Happenings” regularly around New York City. She currently works full time for The Smile Revolution raising conscious awareness for the healing power of a genuine smile. She is a singer, songwriter, and concert promoter but still creates wonderful extravagant hats for private clients part time . You can contact her at:

www.theprincessofwow.com

www.thesmilerevolution.com

I will photograph and post pictures of Important Hats from my collection soon…

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