The slightly fuzzy girl in the photo is me, circa 1974.  It was taken by my boyfriend (now husband!)  at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville.  I chose this particular photo not to show off how short I was wearing my skirts in 1974, but because I made the top from fabric I bought at the Vanderbilt factory outlet.  At the outlet one could buy the finished products of the factory, and they also had a big bin of fabric pieces that were left over from their products.

I remember this fabric well because it was such a bear to sew.  It was a two way stretch knit that had a mind of its own.  The top is actually a bodysuit, and there is a zipper down the front.   And you can’t tell, but what looks like dots are actually ladybugs.  I loved that outfit.

Today my plea on my last post about Vanderbilt paid off.  My post was seen by Pat Purvis whose mother Helen Watts had worked for the company.  I was able to talk with Helen on the phone and got some great information about the company.

The Vanderbilt Shirt Company was started in 1946, and had no connection to the Vanderbilt family who built the Biltmore House.  As Mrs. Watts put it, people in Asheville just like to name things for Biltmore and the Vanderbilts.  The factory was located in downtown Asheville, on the corner of Walnut and Lexington in the building I showed last week.    In the late 1960s there was a fire, started by a homeless man who had gone into the building to stay warm.  Because of that, the owners built a new factory  where they relocated in 1969.

My biggest question was how was Vanderbilt shirt connected to Langtry, Ltd.  As it turns out, Langtry was a label that was actually started by the Vanderbilt Shirt Company.   Previous to this label they did contract sewing for other companies like Levis and they made shirts and jackets for the US military.  Most of the output of Langtry was women’s blouses, but they also made other women’s garments like dresses and jackets.  Mrs. Watts was not sure about where the name Langtry came from, but thinks that it probably was named for actress Lillie Langtry.

As American companies began to outsource part of the manufacturing process, Vanderbilt Shirt Company turned to Haiti.  For a while much of  their product was made in Haiti, and this led to the ultimate undoing of the company.  During the political unrest of the late 1980s following the ouster of the Duvalier dictators, the Vanderbilt factory in Port-au-Prince was destroyed along with all the machinery, the fabric and inventory.  It was a hard blow from which the company never truly recovered.

The company limped along in a smaller facility on French Broad Avenue, until the early 1990s when they finally declared bankruptcy.  

Before talking to Mrs, Watts, I just assumed that Langtry was just another victim of the flood of cheaper imported goods that was making it harder and harder for American manufacturers to compete.  How much more interesting the story turned out to be.

Many thanks to Pat and Helen.

A few weeks ago I got an email from Janey at Atomic Redhead, asking if I’d like to have an early 1970s White Stag tennis dress.  That was a simple “yes” as you probably guessed already.  And I was really sold after seeing the embroidered stag on the pocket.

White Stag was one of those big sportswear companies that sort of lost its way in the late 1970s.  The cotton canvas togs of the past didn’t appeal in a polyester world, so they went polyester.   By then the  Hirsch family, founders of the company, had sold it to the giant corporation, Warnaco, which was interested in profits, not the heritage of White Stag.   They continued making ski and other sports clothing, but they were not able to compete in the increasingly more technical business of active sports clothing.  Eventually the company concentrated on making casual separates.  Today the label is owned by Walmart.

In the early to mid 1970s, Americans were really loving their red, white and blue.  Funny how the celebration of an historical event (the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence) helped shaped people’s color choices.  And I have the perfect red and blue tennis panties to go along with this sweet little dress.

Janey, many thanks for such a super gift!

I posted this ad on Ad Campaign a year ago, and it continues to be a favorite novelty print.  There’s just something about a flag on a sailboat that screams summer.   I was browsing etsy last week when I spotted the print in another colorway.

photo copyright SweetBeeFinds

It’s always a treat spotting a garment that I’ve seen in an ad or in a magazine editorial.  It just brings the ephemeral past together with the tangible present.  And the print looks so fresh, like it could have been designed recently.

Am I asking too much to hope that this print exists in red, white and navy?  Possibly not, because fabric companies often made a print in several different colorways, as you can see from the ad and the photo of the skirt.   And if you read the ad you’ll see that “white with red” is also available.  I can only hope that I’ll someday find it in my dream color combination.

The fabric was made by Fuller, which was known for their great prints.   Often a company would sell the same fabric to several different garment makers, which is the case here.  My 1957 ad is for “Just Juniors”  but the skirt for sale by SweetBeeFinds has a “Bogart’s of Fort Worth” label.

One of the great things about living near a place like Asheville is the fun of playing tourist for a day.  We often get up to a day with nothing important on the agenda and take the drive into the city for lunch and window shopping.

Last week we were walking down a street passing by a favorite antique mall when I noticed the old sign above the door: “Vanderbilt Shirt Co. Inc.”  I’d seen the sign before and never given it a lot of thought.  At one time there were quite a few manufacturing businesses in the upper floors of Asheville retail establishments.  I can remember Vanderbilt from when I was a teen in the late 1960s and early 70s because they had a factory outlet that I loved to visit.  Suddenly, I was overcome with curiosity about the company.

I spent some time on the net, looking for information, and for a while I thought I was going to come up empty.  How is it that thriving businesses can close, and 20 years later there is little evidence that they ever existed?  Finally I found the transcription of an oral history interview in which the owners of the factory were mentioned.  Once I had their names, I got lucky.

Thanks to a project called The Family Store, there is a fairly good record of the Jewish businesses that flourished in Asheville in the early and mid 20th century.  Researchers Sharon Fahrer and Jan Schochet conducted interviews and compiled information about these businesses that was in danger of being forgotten.  In 2003 they interviewed Milton Lurey, who founded and owned the Vanderbilt Shirt Company along with his brother-in-law, Herb Wadopian.

Milton had been in the tire retread business, but it was dirty and smelly.  There was a small manufacturer of boy’s shirts next door, and it seemed like a pleasant place, so he sold the tire business and when into the shirt making business with Herb even though neither of them knew anything about making shirts.  They were able to get expert assistance when they found Evelyn Bookbinder, who had been a supervisor at a sewing factory.

They started by making men’s dress shirts, but before long they were doing contract work for other companies.  One of their big clients was Levi Strauss, for whom they made western style shirts.  They then made women’s shirts for Levis as well.  The interview does not give a good idea of dating, but it was probably in the early 1950s.  Around the same time they began making shirts and jackets for the US military.

After a fire the factory moved out of downtown to the outskirts of Asheville, where the business was located when I remember it.  The outlet was located in a fantastic old native rock building that was probably at one time a restaurant.   The outlet also sold blouses and dresses that were labeled Langtry, Ltd.  I’m not sure of the connection, but Langtry was located in Asheville on the same street as Vanderbilt, so it is possible that they contracted with the Vanderbilt factory.  At any rate, that outlet was my favorite place to shop for several years.  They not only sold clothing, but the leftover fabric from their lines.

I’m hoping the internet will not let me down, that someone who knows more of this story will stumble across this.  If that is you, please post a comment.

photo copyright net-a-porter.com

After the news flash of a week ago that Karl Lagerfeld was lamenting that there was no marriage between people and animals because he is in love with his white kitty Choupette, I thought the time was right to rewatch a film I saw five years ago, Lagerfeld Confidential.

Released in 2007, the film is not so much a biography of Lagerfeld as it is an extended interview.  The filmmaker follows him around, filming him at home, at work, in the air, at parties.  Lots of questions are asked, but few are answered directly.  Instead, you get a better sense of who Lagerfeld is by looking at his surroundings and his way of working.   In one of his apartments (the one for sleeping, not the one for eating) he has a chest of drawers just for his collars.  On top of the chest are trays of his silver rings.  I’d estimate there were several hundred rings.

On top of one chest his ipods are lined up.  There were maybe twelve of them.  At the foot of his bed is a huge TV, and the walls are lined with books.  In fact, there are books everywhere.

Some of the best scenes are of Lagerfeld at work.  He freely admits to knowing nothing of clothing construction, and has no fashion training.  His work often, he says, starts with dreams, (but one can’t always count on them) and then proceeds to a sketch.  Then it is up to the atelier to  interpret the design and give it life.

Lagerfeld dreamed the entire concept of his fall 2005 couture show.  That must have been a fantastic dream, as it is one of his most memorable productions, with all the models going out onto a circular runway, all wearing black coats, capes and cloaks.    When all of the models were in place on the runway, they all removed the coats as one, revealing the colorful suits and dresses beneath.

The film is about an hour and a half, and a good deal of it is wasted time, with a blurry sequence of a young boy in the sea and other sequences set to music and looking all arty.  You can see it on youtube or netflix.  It is in French, and the English subtitles are rather bad.  Or perhaps it is Karl’s rambling but at any rate, through much of it one is left wondering what the heck he is talking about.

If you were around in the 1960s and early 70s, chances are you were in love with the clothes from John Meyer of Norwich.   In my little corner of the world, there were only two shops that carried John Meyer, and both of them were the best stores in town.  Not every girl was lucky enough to own clothes from John Meyer, but the influence of the brand was huge, and one could buy cheaper versions of their beautiful heathery tweeds at places like Sears.  As they say, imitation is the highest praise.

There is currently an exhibition showcasing John Meyer of Norwich at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut.  Meyer’s daughter Elise’s collection of clothes from the family company along with photos and other items about the company make for a charming display, and a gives a good account of how many girls and young women were actually dressing in the period that is more associated with the mod look and then the hippie look.

You can see a slideshow of the exhibition on Elise’s blog.  And look for an interview with her here in the near future.

The first two ads are from 1967; the last one is 1968.  All can be enlarged by clicking.

And does anyone recognize the famous model?

I’ve shown this little bag before,  about a year and a half ago when I told how I discovered a collection I didn’t even know I had.    I’ve had this so long that I can’t recall where I found it, but I do remember that I paid $2 for it. I loved the bag and would have bought it even if it had been empty.  But to sweeten the deal, there was a little surprise inside.

This is actually a traveling mini bar.  There is room for two flasks, but one is missing.  I do have two jigger measures, both of which read “Only a thimble full.”  It really is a sweet object.

I’ve spent the day doing a much needed clean up of my office, and in doing so I uncovered several things I’d pretty much forgotten about, including this bag.  Now some experts will tell you that if you have not used something in six months or a year then you need to get rid of it.  That’s a bit drastic, especially when it comes to something this great.  Instead, I filled a big box for the humane society thrift shop with true non-essentials.

The reason I don’t use this bag is because there is a dangerously damaged strap.  At any time it could completely break in two.

The more I look at this, the more I love it and want to carry it.  Not as a bar, but as a little shoulder bag.  So I’m trying to think of a way to repair it.  The entire strap is in poor condition and will have to be replaced.  I’m hoping someone will have a clever idea on how to attach a new one.

Inside the bag I found all the original literature concerning the kit.  It is hard to believe that this cost $15.  In 1955 that would equal $126.80!

At first glance this skirt simply looked like a nice early 1950s straight skirt in a lovely  color and with an interesting button placement.  But then I noticed the belt.  It was a golf tee holder.

By that time the seller was starting to unbutton the skirt, which is not a skirt at all.

It is actually a culotte or divided skirt, but  it is cleverly disguised by the stitched pleats.  The back is also stitched, and it just looks like an inverted pleat.

This was not a new idea in the 1950s.  Before it was acceptable for women to wear trousers, there were all kinds of ingenious ways to make a skirt have two legs.  I have an example from the 1910s in my collection, and it is quite similar to this 1950s culotte skirt.

I really don’t know a thing about Sporteens, except that the listings that I’ve found of items for sale with the label are overwhelmingly skirts.   I also found a 1944 ad for a jacket and matching skirt.

And here is a very similar one, but without the buttons, from California sportswear designer De De Johnson, 1952

Bertha Wagner looks like she is having a pleasant ride on her bicycle.  By the time this photo was taken in 1917, the big bicycle craze was over.  This form of transportation that was so important just a few years earlier was rapidly being supplanted by the automobile.

*  In 1894, Annie “Londonderry” Cohen Kopchovsky decided to ride a bicycle around the world.  This site tells the fascinating story.

*  The BBC has an interesting story about what is probably the first fashion book.  It is the record of what  Matthaeus Schwarz, an accountant in  Augsburg, Germany wore starting in 1520.

*   Threads of Feeling, the show that featured the scraps of fabric that were used to identify children at the Foundling Hospital in 18th century London, is now at Colonial Williamsburg.  Now through September 1, 2014.

*   There’s more on that fascinating Irene Saltern archive at American Age Fashion.

*   People have been picnicking for a very long time.  Listen to a short history at NPR.

*  Advance notice:  Costumes from Downton Abbey will be on display at Winterthur (Delaware) March 1, 2014 through January 4, 2015.

*   Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, will be having an Icons and Idols fashion auction on October 11 and 12.  Featured will be items from the estate of William Travilla.

*  This blogger looks for the inspiration for modern fashion in art and fashion of the past.  Part Nouveau.

*  ArtSpace has an interesting article about the rise of fashion exhibitions.  It explores the fashion as serious art angle, and asks some hard questions about the corporate influence we so often see in conjunction with fashion exhibitions.

*  And finally, Colin McDowell tells us what is wrong with fashion today, and it is plenty.

One of the great things about antique stores it that they are often located in the best buildings.  I love getting to go into an old mill or barn, or as in this case, old turn of the 20th century stores.  This mall is located in three joined buildings, all with the same arrangement of the upper floor being open in the middle like a balcony.  Very little seems to have been done to these great old stores, and shopping in them is almost like stepping back in time.

I love running across this old print.  It always makes me smile!

This shoe display was simply beautiful.  It’s enough to make a person want to open a shop just so she could justify its purchase.

I collect these cardboard movie star hangers from the 1960s, but I passed on Sophia and Michael.  The condition was pretty bad, but even worse, they were not priced.  Had they been a very reasonable price, I’d have picked them up, but in an antique mall if an item is not priced then usually the person at the counter has to track down the seller to ask the price.  It just was not worth the hassle, especially since there was a big chance I’d not want them anyway.

These were a set of old curtains.  I loved the print, but hanging in windows does more than just fade fabric.  It makes it brittle.  Again, these were not priced, or I might have gotten them for pillows for the patio.

Interesting!