Vintage Fashion sale!

On Saturday Angela and I, along with Anne Marie and her eldest daughter, and the little Juliette, attended the coolest vintage fashion sale EVER!

Admittedly, this is the first of its type I have ever been to. Unless you count flea markets and vintage shops, which I don't. This was a full-on indoor market with clothing of all eras, thematic shops and not-so-much collections of random items. Beautiful sheath dress and 3/4 coat sets, flowy slips and crinoline for days.

There was even vintage Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Yves St. Laurent, Chanel and more. Not to mention glorious hats, trims, fabric, baubles, parasols, Bakelite, feathers, costumes and more. Can you say overload??

Here are some highlights. There were no low lights, but you can't take 1000 pics and peruse to buy at the same time! I made only one purchase, but meant to get one of those 60s dress suits (darn it!), and at the next one (in the fall) Angela and I will be shopping for party dresses because... well, because you should have a decent collection of unique party dresses, shouldn't you? What self-respecting fashion connoisseur doesn't?

Without further ado...

Oh so many beautiful hats! How come people don't wear hats much anymore (except in the winter, yuck)? Let's please bring back that accessory!

After seeing dozens of these late-1800s skirt and jacket combos (they look like a dress, but they are actually two pieces), I wanted to throw one on...

With a pair of these, and go shoot me some varmints! No, really, I did.

I was in love with this one in particular. Such an intricate piece of clothing for a lady of the prairie! I loved the elaborate sleeves and detail on the shoulders (see below). Best of all - and most important on the frontier?- was the boned corset on the inside. Yep, everyone's waist was 20" back then. Eek! One of two reasons I couldn't fit into this.

Here is a detail of the bows on the shoulder. It would have been a really cool piece to work in - oh yes, I definitely would have worn it - but alas, my shoulders are too wide. Now, I'm not a big person, so that should give you an idea of the tiny-ness of the old frontier womanfolk.

I did have some fun trying on hats though. Not sure if this counts as a fascinator or a hat though. The veil was too much! In a good way. =)

I don't know why, but I was so bowled over by this one that I had to have it. I was actually almost willing to pay the $45 tag price (which Anne Marie said was a very good price anyway) but the woman volunteered to sell it for half price! So this lovely feathered beauty is now in my possession. It was my only purchase - sigh - but I will go back again with more of an idea how to not get overwhelmed and just grab things when they strike me.

Why is this upside-down? Don't know. Anyway, the first floor had a ton of costume jewelry and Bakelite, more hats and gloves and some amazing one-of-a-kind necklaces for over $3000 apiece! I didn't get a picture because I saw them when I was holding the baby.

Sweet little pill box hats. Again, can we PLEASE make an effort to wear more hats from now on???

I wanted Angela to buy this boucle jacket in turquoise, as I consider it one of her signature colors. But I almost bought it, too. Jackets like this are dated but not; still totally wearable in daily life.

Some vintage, some costume, some nice and some chintz. What can I say, they had it all!

A beautiful drop-waist dress from the 30s, a particularly pretty time period.

I meant to buy gloves, too, but I never found that perfect pair. Next time, next time...