The Romantic Lifestyle
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
Moygashal Linen Cutwork Lace Dress
I came across this lovely little dress made of Irish Linen in a vintage store yesterday. amazing work! Beautiful design. A 1960’s wedding dress perhaps? So pretty. It is made by Moygashel – the company famous for fine table linens.
I am researching it so I’ll post more information about it when I get it. Just couldn’t wait to share it!
Friday, May 20th, 2011
That’s right! I’ve been working on it day and night it seems for about a week! There is a lot of writing, photography , posting and set up prep to do. But I feel it is coming along well now and I am quite excited! My goal is to list 36 items – I’m 3/4 there – then design my banner and start figuring out how to promote the store. All with in the next week. If I write about it I’ll absolutely have to see it through so here goes! I’m making my intentions and my goal public!
Jeweled Satin Garolini Italian Evening Shoes Circa 1970s
I am putting really choice top of the line vintage clothes up – things out of my own personal treasures. Everything is in excellent shape and ready to wear or display. Essentially ready to put in a museum. It will be an extension of my blog in a way. I feel they can work well together. I can write about anything on the blog and I can sell items I want to put out in the world in the store.
Corsage Flower on Victor Costa for Saks Fifth Avenue Party Dress Circa 1980s
I think Etsy will be better for me than eBay because I can treat it like a shop. Once I put something in my shop on display it can stay there until it sells or for 4 month periods. If it has not sold by then I can remove it and rotate another lovely item into its place. This is a set up that functions like having a real store does. Rather than on eBay where the main emphasis as in all auctions is rapid continual rotation of merchandise. I am interested to see how the two differ after I have used them for awhile.
LBD Cocktail Dress with Silver Beading
Of course I want my items to move and sell on Etsy, but I want them to stay up and get a chance to be seen and appreciated until the right buyer finds me and discovers them. With vintage it can take awhile because the right person, of the right size has to find the right garment for his or her needs. And who knows when that will happen? You have to face that when dealing with this unique type of merchandise. Each piece requires a special buyer.
Cheerful Cherry 1940's Style Platform Satin Sandals
I research and write a story about each piece telling as much as I know or can find out about it. I love writing the descriptions. They are great reading too. Like my blog I hope but the difference is you can buy something in the store if you love it and want it! You can take it home, wear it yourself, bring the real thing into your own life. Not everything I write about in my blog will be for sale in my store.
Many different things will be featured in both places and there will be some overlap as well. I want to put a few pictures of things I have put up for sale here and give you the link so you can drop by my shop and take a look. Please understand that it is still under construction – I am open – but my banners and decor are not up quite yet. I’ll let you know again when I get further along on that!
Enchanted April 40's Style Floral Chiffon Layered Afternoon Tea Dress
La Dolce Vita Nude Illusion Nylon and Lace 1960's Nightgown size 36
Now, to view more photos of the items pictured in this post and read about their history you can visit my new Etsy shop. These are just a few choice samples of vintage pieces in my shop so far. Please visit there to see them and many others and read about them in more detail. Visit Lady Violette de Courcy on Etsy. I intend to put up new items practically daily for awhile so it will be quite exciting to check them out on a regular basis! I also realize I cannot possibly post everything I would like to. It takes a lot of time! It is quite labor intensive! I may have just the thing someone needs or wants on the back burner so I urge you to ask me if you are looking for something I might have available but haven’t managed to photograph and put out yet. I love finding special items for people. Don’t hesitate to ask!
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
The Lovely Goldenrod Hat From the City of Paris
Goldenrod Colored Fur Felt Midinette Beret Hat from The City of Paris
This is a Goldenrod Colored Fluffy Fur Felt Stylized Beret style Hat made by the French designer Midinette for the grand San Francisco department store, The City of Paris and labeled accordingly. It was made in the early 1960’s. It appears to have never been worn or was worn only once or twice and was stored carefully in a hat box. It is clean and in excellent condition. It measures 21 inches inside the brim circumfrence. Inside the hat is stamped Empress Body made in Western Germany. The brim trim and bow are made of a stiffened knit fabric. There is a lot of elegant hand sewing and hand work on this lovely hat. I worked in NYC for a couture hat designer in the 1990’s and learned to recognize and appreciate these techniques.
I found that this hat can be worn in at least 20 ways! See all the photos! I was only limited by my imagination. And my imagination was only limited by the fact that I had to get some other things done!
Inside View
I tried the hat on tilting and turning it in every direction I could think of. It is very versatile. For example, the bow can be worn in the front or in the back! It is adorable either way. Or you can position the bow to be worn on the side, tilted forward, up or down – front back or sideways! It can be worn over a French roll if you have long hair, or a bob tilted like a saucy beret. It would be darling over a short haircut too! I photographed the Midinette for city of Paris Goldenrod Hat in many positions and from many angles to give you ideas on how to position it on yourself. I was having so much fun figuring them out! The sky seems to be the limit with this piece! It has loads of personality! And I think it would work for many women of many styles and many ages! From a Gigi Ingenue to a Sophisticated Socialite to a First Lady! I could see it on one of the stylistas in Mad Men with a belted black sheath and matching yellow gloves, or on Michelle Obama with a black pencil skirt and chic silk print blouse! It would look lovely accented with gold jewelry! I would wear it myself as a stiffened high crowned French Schoolgirl Beret – think Madeline of Paris – with black capri pants, red patent ballet flats, and a short black or yellow or tweed swing coat. The possibilities seem endless!
The ways you can wear this little beauty are only limited by your imagination…I can see the right person wearing it to church with an elegant matching suit or an artsy Bohemian type wearing it to a gallery opening with wide legged pants and long flowing hair………………New images of women in this Midiette Goldenrod Hat just keep popping up in my mind – like flowers popping into bloom in a meadow overnight!
Designer's Label
Incidentally, If you like the Midinette Goldenrod Felt Hat you might also like The Issa of London 1970’s geometric print silk jersey wrap dress I have listed. I think they are darling together and would combine to make a stunning ensemble!
I love vintage clothing and the history of fashion and I have amassed a vast personal collection over the last 20 years. Please check back often as I will be listing many more very special unique pieces over the next few weeks. I am at the point where I have to whittle down as I have no more space! Everything I have collected I have chosen for myself. You can be sure it is very special as my standards are very high. Alas, it is time to edit a bit and pass on some of my things to other people who will enjoy them. I do love to help people assemble wardrobes for life and outfits for special occasions. I have many things to list. It will take some time to sort through them, photograph and get them up. Please be patient and keep checking back. I will be happy to try to find you something unique from the depths of my collection if you have a special request as well. I always enjoy such a challenge. I just love matching a special piece or co-ordinating a costume for a special person or occasion. You never know! I just might have the very thing you are wishing for! Thank You for looking! And please visit again! Lady Violette
For my blog readers, this was the original description I wrote to accompany my listing to sell the hat on eBay for the listing of The Goldenrod Hat. It was accompanied by many of the pictures showing the ways it can be worn which I put on yesterdays blog post! This is how much work is involved showing and selling a used vintage item online!
Additionally you must answer many inquiries and re-list the item several times! I finally sold it at a substantial discount after 9 months! A crazy difficult sale wouldn’t you say? Poor little hat is worth more than all that! And it is such a cute hat! I really do miss it!
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
I am really happy because I just received a call from Princess WOW! saying she received the two dresses I custom designed and made for her to wear in her concert and they fit perfectly! And she loves them! This is wonderful news because I made them from a distance working only from measurements! Everything turned out perfectly! This is the first time I have done this solely from measurements without try on fittings with the actual client! It was a bit of a risk! We measured very carefully, everywhere. And discussed every detail over the phone and via emails. I was confident it would work, but now I know it did! Now I can relax!
Custom Design Dress for Princess Wow! The First in a Series of Performance Gowns by Lady Violette de Courcy
Especially for Princess Wow! The Second Custom Design Dress by Lady Violette de Courcy
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
Exquisite Fur Stole & Flowers!
My favorite - Fur Coat & Spring Hat!
It’s supposed to be spring! Pretty spring fashions – that means pastels and flowered dresses are featured in every shop. Flowers are blooming, but it is so cold out it is hard to get in the mood to wear them! I have a closet full of vintage coats – several furs, a few stoles, and short fur capes and cashmere coats with fur collars. All pretty and feminine. Many in soft spring colors like champagne and pale blue, ecru, pearl gray and beige.
I love vintage furs, especially the coats from the 50’s and 60’s. They are well made, full enough to fit over suits and full skirted dresses, flattering and above all, warm! I absolutely hate being cold. I do not feel pretty or attractive when I am frozen.
The other day I was reading about Grace Kelly and the author said she always dressed weather appropriate which meant warm enough to be comfortable. That made me like her and respect her fashion sense even more than I did already. So I decided to see if I could find some pretty examples to emulate. And, Voila! I did! Here are two of my favorite photos. Aren’t they exquisitely romantic?
I imagine she is wearing a pretty spring dress or suit ~ that matches her hat ~ under the cozy fur coat. She looks warm, lovely, feminine and happy! Because she isn’t cold! I am inspired to dress this way for the next few weeks. Probably until the Fourth of July the way it is going around here! A quick check of the weather worldwide tells me it is the same in a lot of other places ~ Vienna, Paris, London, Moscow, San Francisco, New York, Tokyo and Seattle are all cold today and it is May 5th!
I don’t know when these two pictures of Grace were taken, but they look like April in Paris in the 50’s to me. I do know the one on the right, in the fur coat, was taken after she became Princess Grace of Monaco. And that is all the explanation I need to be inspired by them! From now on I say furs worn with flowers as accessories are in for spring! The dainty gloves are charming too and serve the purpose of keeping your hands warm. And I love the hat with the flowers cascading over her forehead.Dressing like this epitomizes fashion as a feminine art. Just lovely!
This work by Violette de Courcy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at ladyviolette.com.
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