Vintage Star of all times - Marylin Monroe

Marylin is one of these people, almost everybody knows, at least here in the USA. She was not only an idol, a cult icon but also a fabulous actress, despite all the critics who tried very hard to create an image of being a sex symbol. That might be true for some movies but it was not the reality at all.

In the book "Marylin in Art" by Roger G Taylor, she was quoted by famous people combined with photographs and paintings from various artists. One remarkable quote is:
"Everybody knows about her insecurities, but not everybody knows what fund she was, that she never complained about ordinary things of life, that she never has a bad word to say about anyone, and that she had a wonderful spontaneous sense of humor." Sam Shaw

At the end, Marylin was a victim of psychiatric drugs. She ate them like candy, she was not in good and caring hands, and her friends deserted her. Still her name, her style, her voice and glamor has not faded away.
When I look at the clothing she was wearing, I wish that I would have some of those wonderful dresses. And do you know, what man was dressing her? 
It was William Travilla,  one of the most prolific Hollywood designers of the 20th century, and he received an Oscar for his creations.
To the left you can see the White Dress', from the movie "7 Year Itch" (1955) which is obviously the most famous dress. I would say it is the dress that made her famous.

Then there is the "Gold Dress" from the movie "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953). This dress is made from one complete circle of fabric and is hand pleated.

Another famous dress 'The Pink Satin Dress' is an original prototype designed for Marilyn, and was later adapted to make it wearable for the famous routine "Diamonds are a girl’s best friend".

(source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2008/06/19/monroe_exhibition_feature.shtml)

70s - The high season for baby dolls

Have you ever asked yourself where the name of the famous nightgown from the 70s - the baby doll - is actually coming from? I have and I want let you know what sweet little secret  lies behind the short, sometime sleeveless, loose fitting nightgown "baby doll".

1956 the movie Baby Doll, starring Caroll Baker in the title role with Karl Malden, started the beginning of the enduring popularity of this specific night gown. As you can see she wears one, with little sleeves and it is short indeed.
I found a baby doll of the 70s on an estate sale and it is cute. Maybe not  a classic as from the 50s but a 70s shiny star.


Along it went to the store - Viva Vintage - Etsy Store

Lanz Originals - A brand with Style and Tradition

On that same etstat sale I found a very cool Lanz Originals blouse and there were about 5 or more "Dirndl"from Lanz which I did not buy. Can you belove it? I didn't buy them. Now when I think of it, I regret it a bit. Well, too late now. But I have the blouse and want to share some interesting data with you:

Lanz was started in Salzburg, Austria in 1922, by Josef Lanz and Fritz Mahler. They supplied traditional folkwear costumes for Austrians attending the Salzburg music festival (remember The Sound of Music?). They noted their costumes were also bought by tourists (Americans) travelling to Austria in the 1920s and early 1930s.
In the mid 1930, Josef Lanz left Austria, leaving the company there in the hands of other family members, and went to New York, where he opened a new branch of the business in 1936. About this time the hallmark Lanz Heart appeared on Lanz labels.
At the beginning of WW2, the label included Vienna when they relocated their HQ there in 1939. After the war, Lanz began to expand their business by creating fashions that were inspired by traditional Austrian folk-wear, but followed the lines of current fashions.

Lanz of California was established in 1947, and they began to manufacture Austrian-inspired clothing in the US. By the early 1950s, the Lanz of California label was owned by Nornie and Werner Scharff, and the European and American companies were totally independent of one another.
Lanz of California may have been a different company, but the designs still had a strong Old World influence. The chief designer was Nornie Scharff, and she and Werner spent a great deal of time each year in Europe buying fabrics .
By 1978, there were 2 Lanz companies in the US, Lanz Originals, which was still making dresses, and Lanz of Salzburg, a sleepwear maker. Around 2001, Lanz Originals stopped production.
There are still two Lanz companies today. The Austrian company is still owned by the Lanz family and produces traditional Loden suits and dirndls, as well as contemporary fashions with folkloric detailing. The American company, Lanz of Salzburg, still makes primarily woman's sleepwear... read more here...

Vintage Hand woven Fabric - Very rare women's suit

Last weekend I attended an estate sale and this sale was really full of surprises. There was a room full of clothes and more clothes were piled up in the backyard (the cheaper ones!). I felt like being in a costume shop. There were no contemporary or modern clothes at all.
I think the time stopped in the late 90s for the lady who has left all these wonderful clothes she had bought for the last 50 years.
So I went through the clothes and found wonderful items, one is very special: a Tweed suit probably from the 70s or 80s. But it is not just some ordinary tweed suit.
It is a suit of the famous brand Harris Tweed, hand woven in Scotland (see picture), distributed by Orvis. By the way Orvis does not carry this product anymore.
What is special about this fabric?
I found great information on their website which also states that this company is still existing:

The history of the Harris Tweed trademark

By the end of the 19th Century, lesser quality tweed fabrics, exploiting the niche created by Harris Tweed and marketed as Harris Tweed, began to appear in the merchant’s warehouses. These ‘shoddy’ cloths, often woven with machine spun yarn from mills as far south as Yorkshire, began to undermine the markets confidence in genuine Harris Tweed.
In 1906 the Harris Tweed Association was formed with the purpose of establishing a trademark to protect the authentic Harris Tweed industry and the livelihoods of the crofters in the Western Isles.
Lengthy consultation concluded with the Harris Tweed Association publishing the following definition for genuine Harris Tweed.
“Harris Tweed means a tweed, hand-spun, hand-woven and dyed by the crofters and cottars in the Outer Hebrides."
The Harris Tweed definition was registered in 1910 and inspectors were employed by the Association to authenticate and stamp, with the registered trademark, all genuine Harris Tweed. The mark consisted of an orb with a Maltese cross on the top of it, with the words Harris Tweed underneath the symbol.
The years following the First World War were prolific for Harris Tweed. To meet the huge demand for the handmade fabric and with hand finishing falling from fashion, tweed producers began to supply machine spun yarn to the crofters and it was not uncommon for tweed to be sent to the mainland for finishing.
In 1934, after much debate, the trademarked definition of genuine Harris Tweed was amended to read, “Harris Tweed means a tweed made from pure virgin wool produced in Scotland, spun, dyed and finished in Outer Hebrides and hand-woven by the islanders at their own homes in the Islands of Lewis, Harris, Uist, Barra and their several purtenances and all known as the Outer Hebrides.”
Thirty years later in 1964, following a dispute between textile manufacturers on the Scottish mainland and producers in the Western Isles of Scotland, a Court of Session ruling re-enforced the 1934 definition of Harris Tweed and made it quite clear that for tweed to be genuine Harris Tweed, all production processes must take place in the Western Isles.
In 1993 an act of parliament, the Harris Tweed Act 1993, established the Harris Tweed Authority as the successor to the Harris Tweed Association, its purpose being “to promote and maintain the authenticity, standard and reputation of Harris Tweed; for preventing the sale as Harris Tweed of material which does not fall within the definition...”
And with this act the following definition of genuine Harris Tweed became statutory.
“Harris Tweed means a tweed which has been hand woven by the islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides, finished in the islands of Harris, Lewis, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Barra and their several purtenances (The Outer Hebrides) and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.”
Today, every 50 meters of genuine Harris Tweed are checked by an inspector from the Harris Tweed Authority before being stamped, by hand, with the orb symbol. All tweed men’s jackets made from genuine Harris Tweed carry the orb trademark along with a number that enables the Harris Tweed Authority to identify the weaver of the fabric and the date the fabric was finished.