Accessorize, Accessorize

Since this blog focuses mainly on clothing, it can be easy to forget that there's a whole world of vintage accessories out there to complement an outfit; they do go hand-in-hand, after all!

Jewellery, handbags, scarves, belts, hats, gloves, pins...*le sigh*, so many options to liven up ones wardrobe (vintage or not!) I was reminded of this when I popped into Gadabout Vintage this past weekend.

Gadabout is a unique spot - it is crammed floor to ceiling (well, two floors actually) with vintage clothing, collectibles, ephemera, oddities...you name it. Bits and bobs from all eras fill every nook and cranny. It is quite a sight to behold. They do a lot of prop rentals for film and television, which explains some of the more random finds; (indeed, while I was browsing, someone came in looking specifically for glass eyes).

I started out perusing the racks of lovely vintage dresses before moving on to the shelves stuffed with purses of every colour. This one in particular popped out at me:

Pfft, who needs fabric when you can have beads?

After briefly letting my mind wander to make-believe-land where I was wearing a bright blue and yellow 50s sundress, a big straw hat and white gloves whilst daintily swinging my new found yellow purse at my side, I decided it was probably meant to be. I stashed it behind some other handbags for safe keeping while I checked out the jewellery.

I've been wanting to get a pair of dangly white mod earrings for awhile, and after browsing with the help of the shop owner (with no luck), I settled on these fun yellow clip-ons to tie me over:

Here comes the sun (doo doo doo doo)

I'm not actually a big fan of clip-ons (I remember them hurting my ears back before I had my ears pierced), but unfortunately vintage pierced earrings are not easy to come across. Apparently women in the 60s didn't fancy an extra pair of holes in their bodies. But, for $5, I figured these would be a fun addition to my growing Mod collection.

So it's all fine and well to own accessories, but what to pair them with? I managed to come up with a few outfits pulled from my wardrobe:

Celebrating sunny days ahead with my bright yellow beaded purse and yellow earrings! Plus, the store was having a 15% off sale for their 15th birthday. What better way to say "Happy Birthday" than by purchasing some fabulous vintage accessories?

THE DETAILS:
Purse:
Era: 60s
Material: plastic beads and...?
Label: Marcus Brothers
Made in Italy

Earrings:
Era: 60s
Material: plastic

Photo credits:
1. Floral dress - JACOB
2. Floral mod shift - thrifted vintage from Bungalow
3. Boost Your Coral dress - ModCloth
4. Jumpsuit - JACOB

My own (disposable) piece of history

They're here!!! They arrived!!! They're...they're...ALL MINE!!!

What the hell am I talking about? Well, let me explain...

Vintage hunting opens your eyes to a whole new world - that of fashion history. It doesn't take long before you start learning about the trends of different eras, the fabrics they used, the styles that were popular during various decades, sewing techniques, labels, brands...the more you search and buy, the more you discover. It's fascinating stuff (at least I think so), and while many people may not see fashion through the years as something important or relevant, it is a part of history, and history always has something to tell us about what life was like in times past. There's no doubt that fashion has always reflected the ideals and morals of every time period (modesty in the 1920s, anyone?), which is why my recent purchase has me so excited.

I'm a huge fan of 60s mod (I'm listening to David Bowie's Space Oddity as I write this). For fashion in particular, the bold patterns, bright colours, sleek and simple silhouettes and futuristic space-ageyness of style from that era is fantastic and fun. I won't give a history lecture here (you can always check Wikipedia), but the post WWII youth of the early 60s were the first generation to have their own disposable income from after-school jobs to spend on themselves. Fashion geared towards youth flourished during this time, and mod-style (short for Modernist) was born.

The 60s are known for mass-production and consumption due to the post-war economic affluence. Materialism and modern conveniences took hold, (hello plastic cutlery and canned food!) and fashion was no exception. There was one particular mod fad born out of this time that I find quite remarkable: disposable paper clothing. Yes, clothing made from cellulose fabric that was made to be worn and then thrown away.

Again I'll spare the history seminar (the links will take you to pages where you can learn more), but in brief, paper clothing  was a short-lived fad that allowed people (especially young women) to order cheap, colourful clothing (usually for around $1) that they could alter with scissors, wear a few times, and then throw away. What began as a marketing tool and novelty item quickly became a craze. Clothing (dresses in particular) had colourful prints and iconic images such as Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup cans and the Yellow pages. Convenient, cheap and trendy, those were the 60s!

I'll take the dress over the soup any day.

A perfectly patterned paper picnic party!

The craze eventually died out since paper clothing wasn't very practical or comfortable, and turned out to be extremely flammable. Paper clothing became obsolete by the late 60s and was relegated to the dustbins of history.

Not quite.

Fast forward 40+ years. Paper clothing? Suddenly a very hot (and expensive) collectors item. I had never heard of paper clothing until this year when I came across a paper dress on the website of a vintage retailer here in Toronto. I did some research, and was hooked. I just found the whole thing fascinating. And after ogling the colourful paper dress of one vendor at this year's Toronto Vintage Clothing Show (for display only...though I did inquire), I was determined to get one myself.

I quickly learned that these things are not exactly easy to find, or very affordable. Which makes sense; unlike other vintage items that stand the test of time, these garments were made to be tossed away, so one could say that there's relative scarcity (apart from deadstock), since people tended not to hang on to them. Which is why they've become coveted collector's items for vintage fashion die-hards. Like me.

Etsy had a few dresses (including an original Yellowpages dress for $2,000), as did Ebay. Prices ranged from $30-$2,500. After keeping my eyes on a few dresses on Ebay, I bid for a colourful dress and apron set still in their original boxes. And lost.

Just my luck though, when the seller contacted me to say she had another identical set she could sell me. Huzzah! $70 and 3 weeks later, my precious gems have arrived. I couldn't be more pleased with my little piece of history:

I've always fancied displaying a colourful paper dress on an antique dressmakers' mannequin as a decorative piece for a living room or bedroom (or perhaps my own vintage shop one day, post-midlife crisis?) I can't exactly wear them, and leaving them in their original packaging would be a shame (considering they lost value the minute I pulled them out of the box...oh well!) And if one day I decide to get rid of them, there's always Ebay. Who knows, maybe in another 40 years they'll be worth $10,000!

THE DETAILS:
Era: 60s
Material: Cellulose
Label: The Disponsables
Made in USA

The unwanted side effects of thrifting

One word: MOTHBALLS

After the purchase of one very lovely 60s gingham dress in NYC, I brought it home and pulled it out of its plastic bag to finally try it on. Only to discover that it REEKED of mothballs.

My nose has had the misfortune of smelling some pretty terrible odours in its 27 years on this planet (the Paris Metro tops the list), and mothballs are up there in the most revolting smell category. I don't know anyone who uses mothballs, and I can't honestly think why anyone would (apart from the whole moth-deterrent thing, obviously...)

I've never really had to deal with mothball smell in my clothing, and before starting my second hand/vintage clothing adventure, it's not something I had ever thought would be an issue. Boy, was I wrong.

Clothing enemy #1

A lot of vintage and second hand stores clean/steam their clothes before putting them on the racks, and I guess so far I had been lucky in that sense. But having thrifted this particular dress from a flea market, I suppose that cleaning garments was not high on the vendor's priority list.

I (wrongly) assumed that dry cleaning would take care of this odourous issue. It did not. I then assumed (again, wrongly) that running it through the wash with gentle, natural laundry detergent would surely drive away the stench. It did not. Ah, a nice soak in vinegar and cold water ought to do the trick! It. Did. Not.

Desperate for relief from the horrible smell of carcinogenic chemicals, I reached out to Google for salvation. Alas, I discovered that the silver bullet for getting rid of mothball smell was none other than fresh air and sunlight.

So after a full day of sunbathing on a drying rack today, my new dress smells like it should belong in one of those happy laundry detergent commercials where people sniff each others clothes, instead of a horror movie.

Who actually does this?

Word to the wise - always Google first!