Fashion

[MacDUFF]

Did anyone just see this show 1/29/18?   Handsome and I just discovered this show on Fox Business...we enjoy it.

Tonight they interviewed a woman, Charlotte Smith, who inherited approx 3,500 dresses (mostly) from her Godmother, Doris Darnell.   A fascinating story and, OH, the vintage pieces!

I wasn't sure if the links would pass muster with the mods, but you could start with thedarnellcollection and you know the rest.   Also, Daily Mail had a good article with lots of slides of some of the collection.

If the show repeats, I recommend it.

Lanvin and YSL

Oscar de la Renta...

Balmain...

Pagane...

George Stavropoulos...

[MacDUFF]

30 January 2014

source: merino (you know the rest)

In 1937, during the dark days of the Great Depression, a young Quaker woman called Doris Darnell bought a beautiful pink slipper satin silk dress from a shop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She wore it to a ball, escorted by an admirer whom she married one year later and lived with happily for the next 60 years.

RECORDING SOCIAL HISTORY THROUGH FASHION

For Doris, this treasured dress became a link with the past and every time she looked at the dress it brought back memories of a wonderful moment in her life. This one dress triggered a life-long passion to collect special occasion gowns and accessories along with their stories of when and to what they were worn.

More than 60 years later, in 2004, Doris bequeathed me her collection of fashion. More than 3500 garments and accessories arrived from Philadelphia to the Blue Mountains of NSW, Australia. I was suddenly the owner of outerwear and underwear, furs, bathing suits, shoes, hats and handbags and all types of dresses imaginable - wedding dresses, cocktail dresses, elegant day dresses, debutante and coronation dresses and sumptuous ballgowns! Every aspect of a well-dressed woman's wardrobe, as early as 1740, was now in my possession along with a selection of fine men's garments and pretty children's clothes.

And, best of all, almost every one of the garments came with a documented, personal story. This is what makes The Darnell Collection unique. It is a collection that records social history through fashion...

...

VINTAGE DRIVES INNOVATION

Vintage clothing has become an important source of inspiration for designers worldwide. Stimulus can come from shapes and silhouettes, from materials (plain, printed, woven, knitted or spun), from diverse kinds of garments as well as how they were constructed.

The way diverse fabrics were combined and how seemingly clashing colours were used together is also inspirational. Even the way beads and embroidery were applied and whether fabric was draped or tailored to reflect iconic fashion moments in each decade or century continues to inspire dressmakers today - a creative designer can subtly reference a vintage fashion moment or clearly reinterpret it...

[MacDUFF]

The Telegraph had a good article, Surrounded by splendour, by Charlotte Smith, dated 5 October 2016.

[drizzellla]

I have not heard about the collection. I live right outside of Philadelphia.  Will have to check it out. Thanks for posting this. 

[drizzellla]

A local Store - Boscovs - had on display a few years ago a collection of movie star dresses. It was quite a collection. Dresses that Bette Davis, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and many others wore. The collection filled a large room and all through out the first floor. 

It really was impressive. The beautiful fabrics. And how tiny some of the actresses were. I wish they would do it again.

[okaywitheasypay]

@MacDUFFty --some are works of art !

[Greeneyedlady21]

@MacDUFF What a collection. Thanks for posting.

[Iwantcoffee]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting!

[ECBG]

I'd LOVE to see that!