There is a growing interest in sustainability in fashion. For many this means using sustainable materials and methods in the manufacture of clothing. You might support the movement by wearing and/or restyling vintage clothing. Or in some cases, simply redesigning or restyling a piece of clothing you already own and have not been wearing.
For example, this vintage looking top was once a tunic dress. The dress was too short for me, but the cotton fabric and lace as well as the tucks on the sleeves were immensely appealing. So much so they compelled me to purchase two and wear them as a tunic top paired with a slightly above the knee black pencil skirt and black ballet slippers with ankle straps.
These photos from the June 2024 issue of Harper’s Bazaar were the inspiration for restyling one of the tunics. This is a Ralph Lauren cotton dress and belt. The accompanying text reads, “Boho is back; bangles and broderie anglaise are your gateways to nailing the trend.” The bodice of the dress seemed quite like something at the bottom of one of my dresser drawers! Could the tunic length top be made shorter with a wide piece of elastic inserted in the hem to make something reminiscent of the bodice of the dress in the magazine?
The transformation was accomplished in minutes.
The restyled blouse reminded me of an Edwardian blouse purchased from a rack in the back corner of an antique store in Galveston. This blouse is almost too fragile to wear; it is enough to own it and to look closely at its impeccable stitches and tiny spherical cloth buttons. Restoring it has been a challenge; attempting to mimic the tiny stitches to mend the garment.
Blouses from the Edwardian era with a contemporary bohemian feel.
(Kilmurray, E. & Ormond, R., eds. John Singer Sargent, Princeton University Press)
John Singer Sargent painted this portrait of Alice Vanderbilt Shepard in 1888 when she was sixteen years old. The daughter of Elliott Fitch Shepard and Margaret Vanderbilt, she would at age nineteen rebel against her parents’ wishes and elope with a man she met on a steamship returning from Europe. They would have six children together.
(ar.inspiredpencil.com)
Thinking further about how to wear the new blouse. Perhaps with a long straight skirt slightly flared at the bottom…sans the petticoat…add chunky short boots.
John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Mr. and Mrs. I.N. Phelps Stokes made in 1897 is in the Metropolitan Museum of New York collection. Though her blouse is high necked, it inspires a potential styling for my “new” blouse with a long cream skirt…wide black leather belt…no jacket…and perhaps a straw boater if appropriate for the occasion. Of course, I have one in my collection of straw hats! As to the skirt, a cotton Victorian slip with rows of tucks a slight train at the bottom…to be found in my dresser drawers.
(enchantedserenityperiodfilms.blogspot.com)
These photographs from the Edwardian period give me another idea… the blouse could be worn with a lacy skirt…add ballerina slippers or chunky short boots. In my dresser drawers there are two possibilities – a skirt I made of vintage cream-colored handkerchiefs sewn together and a vintage lace petticoat…
Thinking further about romantic blouses and clothing reminds me of some of Karl Lagerfeld’s designs for the French fashion house, Chloe in the 1970’s.
(www.alam.com)
A 1970’s magazine advertisement for Chloe.
A Karl Lagerfeld drawing for Chloe and the completed design. (Bolton, A. Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Distributed by Yale University Press)
Below are photos of Chloe designs from 2015 to the present. All delicate, detailed, romantic, and perhaps a bit bohemian!
(
(visualoptimism.blogspot.com.au)
(www.coolchicstylefashion.com)
The Black Knot, Georges Seurat, c. 1881, conte crayon on paper. (Bonafonte-Warren, A.: The Musee D’Orsay. Paris.
To me, and perhaps to you, thinking about what I am wearing is not only a decision about what would fit the occasion, the weather, and the terrain.
Thinking further about what we are wearing may lead us to the historical references and potential significance of our clothing. And perhaps, to understand how the way we dress may reflect our thoughts, feelings, and/or intentions…a little secret between you and your clothes.
What will you wear today?
One Response
I love the vintage look and all the research you did was so interesting. Thank you for sharing. I want you to know how much I love reading your Blog. Many times I go back and read the past blogs. Love you so much.