Vintage-Inspired Gucci

 

I used to be really into fashion shows, scrolling through the thousands of photos on Style.com every season. Lately though, I've tired of it a bit. There are so many collections to keep up with now: spring, fall, resort, couture, pre-spring, pre-fall! Anyways, I happened to stumble onto these photos from Gucci's pre-fall collection and loved them. Combining vintage inspiration with modern styling is not easy but Gucci pulls it off. 

All photos from WWD.com

Playing Dress Up

1940s velvet dress...in the shop soon!

Since I started La Poubelle Vintage in 2009, I’ve maintained more or less the same method for photographing the clothes—on a dress form. Mostly this is for convenience, I can photograph items more quickly this way, but I’ve always been interested in using a model since some things just look better on a person. I personally hate being in my own photographs because I’m not terribly photogenic (you’ll notice that I’m not looking straight at the camera in any of these photos!) but I thought I’d give it a shot to try and breathe some new life into items that have been hanging around the shop for awhile. It also gave me an excuse to play dress up this morning which is always fun! Any vintage sellers out there have an opinion about models vs. dress forms? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

 1960s blouse and 1970s necklace.

 1950s silk blouse and 1950s wool circle skirt.

 1950s cotton dress.

1970s sheer blouse and 1960s Mr. John hat.

The Classics

I don't know about other vintage sellers out there, but one of the hardest things for me as a seller is curating my shop properly. Anyone out there can pick up some old dresses from the thrift store, throw them up on Etsy and call it a vintage store, but I think what really sets the great shops apart is a well-edited collection, and that is something that I am still struggling to get a hold of. When people ask me what my shop is like, I always say “It’s all stuff that I like!” but lately, I’ve been trying to edit down my vision for La Poubelle Vintage a bit so that everything feels more cohesive. Though that vision is still evolving, one thing that you really can’t go wrong with is well-made classics. These are pieces that will virtually never go out of style and are so well constructed that they’ll hopefully last a lifetime! I’ve got a few such pieces hitting the shop soon: a Coach saddle bag, a Ralph Lauren wool blazer and a pair of Cole Haan woven leather flats. Look for them in LaPoubelle Vintage this week!

Vintage Designer: Mr. John

Spread from Vogue, April 15, 1965. Mr. John hat is on the left. Source: On Pins and Needles

I picked up an awesome orange hat by Mr. John the other day not knowing much about the designer. After doing some research, I realized what a great find this really was! Mr. John, whose given name was John Harberger, was a milliner who started his own hat line in the early ‘50s that was favored by celebrities and film stylists. According to Mr. John’s New York Times obituary (he passed away in 1993), his hats were worn by the Duchess of Windsor, Gloria Vanderbilt, Lauren Bacall and Joan Crawford, and also appeared on Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind, Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express, Greta Garbo in The Painted Veil and Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Not too shabby! Mr. John’s hats also appeared in many fashion spreads, including the above photo from a 1965 issue of Vogue. I also love this New York Times quote about his designs: “In the 1940's and 1950's, the name Mr. John was as famous in the world of hats as Christian Dior was in the realm of haute couture. At a time when other milliners were piling on flowers, feathers and tulle, Mr. John was stripping hats naked, relying on pure shape for effect.” Here are some of my favorite photos that I found of Mr. John creations including the style below that will be listed in the shop this week!

Miss Sweeden Anita Ekberg wearing a Mr. John veiled hat in 1951. Photo from Fans in a Flashbulb.

All from the Powerhouse Museum collection

Special Occasion

Some very pretty fancy dresses will be arriving in the shop soon for an especially special occasion!

It's All In The Details

 1970s Cream Lace Dress

Hurricane Sandy sure is putting a damper on things here in New York. The subways are shut down, no one is going to work, and most of the city is cozied up inside watching Netflix. So far, I've been cooking a lot (I made a from-scratch pumpkin pie and French onion soup yesterday) and also catching up on some shop tasks that often get left by the wayside like repairs and redesigning my logo. I also managed to take a few shop photos before the rain ruined my natural light, and each piece happened to have some really exquisite details. These items will be trickling into the shop over the next couple of days, here's a little preview. I'm also having a little storm sale, take 20% off of everything in the shop with the code SANDY20!

1950s Wool Circle Skirt

 1950s Silk Blouse

1940s dres

 1960s Wool Suit

1940s Coat

Vintage Designer: Hanae Mori

A Hanae Mori ad from Vogue, 1976

When I'm not updating La Poubelle Vintage, my internet time is usually spent trolling Pinterest, Etsy or an infinite number of other sites, oogling lovely clothes and expanding my vintage knowledge. In doing so, I came across the Japanese designer Hanae Mori and was instantly smitten. The story behind her brand is pretty cool as well. According to the Vintage Fashion Guild, Mori was a small-time fashion designer who had married the son of a wealthy textile manufacturer. Mori happened to meet Coco Chanel while on vacation in 1960 and was so inspired by her, that she decided to expand her business and focus on haute couture. Her first collection was launched in 1965 and went on to be carried in high-end department stores and become a favorite of Japanese royalty. Her pieces are definitely Japanese influenced but they also have a bohemian goddess vibe that I love. I am really enamored of her beautiful printed silk fabrics and kimono-like dresses and caftans. Unfortunately, Mori's last collection was in 2004 but luckily there are plenty of photos of her pieces online. Here are some of my favorites.

 

Photo credits: 1) Get Some Vintage-a-Peel 2) The Goldstein Museum of Design Archives 3-5) The Metropolitan Museum of Art 6) OMG, that dress! 7-12) The Metropolitan Museum of Art 13) The Modern Bohemians on Etsy 14-16) The Metropolitan Museum of Art 17) The Goldstein Museum of Design Archives 18) Paper Blog