Today has been such a perfect summer day that it remined me of this photo I've been meaning to post.  Time: 1920s.  Place: Lookout Mountain: Tennessee or Georgia.  I can never remember where that battle took place.  Anyway, it overlooks the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and judging by the number of vintage photos one finds taken around this particular cannon, it must have been a popular spot.

I imagine this family was on a summer Sunday afternoon outing.  I love outing photos, and search them out.  It always amazes me to see how dressed they all are.  Today, they would probably be the object of many stares and not a few giggles.  But how special they look, and it must have punctuated the specialness of the trip.  In today's go as you please atmosphere, it's refreshing to see people who took pains to look their best when going out in public, even it that meant the side of a mountain.

Yesterday my husband and I went to a local tourist spot, Cherokee, NC.  I had some vintage photos I wanted to compare to the way the town looks today so we took the whole afternoon to just ramble around the town and to look for the Cherokee of our childhoods.  The town has grown a lot, spread out, actually, due to a huge casino that was built outside of town about fifteen years ago.  But the little downtown, shown above still has the mom and pop appearance that it sported in the late 1950s postcard at the top.  Many of the buildings are still there, but the business have changed.  The Sequoia Restaurant with its fantastic neon sign is long gone, and the building now houses a leather shop.  And we could not tell if any of the buildings on the right were the same, as it looks like the widening of the road may have forced those to either be moved or rebuilt.

This one was a little harder to pinpoint.  I thought I knew exactly where it was taken, but I was wrong.  And the only way we finally spotted this was because of the stairs on the outside of the right side building in the vintage photo.  Look carefully at the modern photo to see a diagonal structure behind the Black Bear sign.  When we went over to look more closely, sure enough, there was an old outside staircase.  This was the old building with a new facade!

The teepee building not in this area, but the Tomahawk is still there, though now it is Fort Tomahawk and is greatly remodeled, or perhap even a new building.

I also wanted to photograph all the vintage neon signs that are remaining.  Several of the very best ones are gone, but we did locate some gems!

Love that by-line!

I can rembember the Pink Motel from my childhood.  We were on our way to Gatlinburg, Tennessee when we passed by it, and my little sister, who was probably about 6 at the time, had a fit to stop there for the night!  The motel is still open, still a mom and pop, and seems to be doing well.  We went in (we spotted Pink  Motel tees in the window) and the woman in charge told us all about the place.  And she also said they are getting ready to repaint the sign.  The sign is pretty spectacular at night - all pink except the  wings and her swimsuit which are blue, and the star on the wand, which is yellow.

Yes, it really is pink, and pretty darn fantastic.  The rooms open up onto the river which runs along the back of the motel.

We also went by Mac's Indian Village Cabins.  I would think that these date to the 1940s, but we could not find anyone who could tell us about them.  There are about 20 cabins, but several of them have been enlarged and updated.  The others, like the one I'm standing in front of, are tiny, with just enough room for a bed, a TV stand, and a sink.  There is a tiny bath on the rear of each.

One of the things that has always made Cherokee so much fun is the mixture of kitsch, bad history and just pure tackiness!  A group called Cherokee Travel and Tourism seems to be trying to battle this image with a series of slick ads stressing the culture of the Cherokee and the historical attractions.  They have put together one of the best free travel guides I've seen lately, and their website is beautifully done.   These are long on culture and history, short on tacky.  They seem to sincerely want visitors to get an authentic view of the Cherokee.

So I'm wondering why the Eastern Band still allows the presence of bear zoos inside the Qualla Boundary.  For a culture whose very survival depended upon respect for animals, why is this disrespect being allowed to continue?  Roadside bears in cages and pits were a common sight in the 50s and 60s, but public outcry has eliminated this practice.  But they are still allowed in several bear "zoos."  I love finding the few remaining vestages of the Cherokee I remember, but there are some practices better left to the past.

It's been almost a year since a large number of fake vintage Vivienne Westwood tees were seized from the Kerry Taylor and Christie's auction houses.  I posted about this last August, when there was all kinds of spectulation about who was really involved.  Now, three defendants will appear in court on August 18, charged with fraud.

What is interesting is what this seems to have done to the market for 1970s punk clothing. According to a Christie's spokeswoman, buyers are now requiring solid proof that any such item is authentic, including documentation.  Try getting that when you are lucky enough to pull a Sex tee shirt out of a thrift store bin!

I thought the comment from Westwood's organization was the most revealing. They pointed out that even when the Westwood items were new, in the 70s, they were being copied.  So to confuse the issue even more, there are vintage fakes as well as modern ones.  No wonder collectors are being super cautious!

It seems like half of the country is in the grips of a heat wave, and the other half has cool and rainy weather.  Here in the mountains, it has been quite nice after record breaking heat over the weekend.

People flock to the mountains in the summer thinking it is very cool here, and it is cooler than other places in the South.  The coolest of all mountain places are the streams and rivers.  I spent many summer days in my childhood and youth, cooling off in the swimming holes of the Pigeon River.  Back in those days - before people felt that air conditioning was a necessity - people would commonly load the neighborhood kids in a truck, back it right up to the river bank, and use the tailgate as a makeshift diving board.

Even on the hottest days, the water was freezing!  In the photos above, which were taken from a 1940s tourist advertisment book called Gateways to the Smokies, the bathers on the dock were probably just glad to be there, and not actually in the water.  The streams in the high Smokies are even colder than the valley river I was most familiar with.

Side note:  I don't think swimming au naturale  had the same meaning in 1940 as it does today, or perhaps the brochure writers had a flair for the double entendre! 

The photo below comes from a 1945 brochure advertising the Mountain View Hotel in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  This was back when people went to Gatlinburg to enjoy the mountains.  Now they visit Gatlingburg to... well, for what I really can't say.  To me it seems like the town is a huge money-sucking distraction to what should be the main attraction, the Smoky Mountains.

But back in the 40s, Gatlingburg was a place to stay, a home base, for exploring the mountains.  The hotel even planned day trips for their guests, complete with a box lunch.  They did horsebacking riding and fishing excursions.  The hotel was rustic, but it offered a level of service that is extremely rare today.

Aren't these 1920s golfing girls great?  They arrived in the mail last week from etsy seller Primelias.  If you love vintage photos, you need to check out her store - fantastic images and very good prices.

I'd love to tell you more about these young women, but as is so often the case, there is no identification written on them.  What a shame to not even know their names.  But old photos like these are still valuable in that they show us how people actually were dressing, and so I love collecting them.  And I enjoy posting them here and on my website and on flickr, because I guess the teacher in me keeps wanting to share information.

I've noticed lately that more and more bloggers and website owners are watermarking their photos in an effort to protect their rights to their photos.  Unfortunately, blogging seems to have blurred the lines of what is acceptable use of photos and what is not.  People have gotten used to just taking images when they find them for use on their own site or for whatever else.  And so much blogging is of a commercial nature, and sellers are usually very open to bloggers singing the praises of their wares and in posting photos and links.

I get emails all the time from people asking if  they can use my images.  I appreciate that.  And I usually say yes if the image is mine.  But often the image is not mine; it belongs to another vintage site owner who has allowed me to use it, or it is from a news site that I have credited.  In that case, the rights are not mine to give.

You are probably wondering what brought this little lecture on copyright into being.  Yesterday I had the shock of reading my own words in an ebay ad.  Actually, that is not so unusual, as people lift things from the VFG Label Resource all the time.  Most times the seller credits the Resource, or me, and I'm cool with that.  But this was different.  It did not come from the Label Resource, and I was pretty sure it was not from my blog or website, and though I was not credited I was just as positive that I had written those two sentences. I knew the words were mine because the information was very specific and was given to me by the daughter of the designer.

Through the miracle that is Google, it took me all of three minutes to locate where I had made the original post.  It was on the blog of a friend in reply to a post about Key West Fabrics. 

Which brings me to what has to be one of the great evils of the computer age - Copy and Paste.

You native-born computer users will not be able to relate to this, but I can distinctly remember the day I discovered C&P.  It was in a teacher workshop, and we were all amazed.  Here was a truly useful tool, one that eliminated hours of work.  But as any teacher who requires research will tell you, C&P has made it even easier for students to copy.  It's the 21st century version of copying from the encyclopedia.

I guess what really worries me is that "research" has become too easy.  For every person who is willing to track down leads on a designer from the past, there are ten who seem to be content to sit and gather blurbs from the internet.  And while I freely admit to using the research of others, I also am quick to give credit where it is due.  Are you?

I've been working on an interview for another site and one of the questions got me to thinking about the reasons why I choose the things I do to wear.  When it comes to vintage, I really love wearing the styles of the early 60s, but I've shyed away from anything with a very full skirt.  I just feel overwhelmed by too much fabric around the waist.

Well, I decided it was time to see if I'd even like a gathered waist dress, so I picked out this pattern.  Actually, it's been in my "to make a copy for myself" pile for a while now, so it's obvious I like the styling.  So I've got my vintage fabric all ready to go, but I have decided to make this a little less full.  The fabric is a crisp chambray-type eyelash:

Results to be posted later.

Remember this lovely dress and the nightmare of a zipper job?  Well, it's all fixed now and ready to go to a new home.  I replaced the turquoise nylon zipper with an off-white vintage metal one.  I also removed the velveteen band and bow because the dress was dirty.  It washed beautifully, and now, with bow reattached, it looks as good as new.

I normally would not put so much time into a dress, but this one was just too special not to rescue.  It will be on etsy later this week, probably even tomorrow.  Here's a view of the "new" zipper:

Summer is in full swing, and here in my corner of the world, that means shorts time! I've loved wearing shorts ever since I was a little girl and we were not allowed to wear them to school. Shorts meant school was o-u-t, so shorts meant freedom!

Unfortunately, I'm having a non-shorts moment. It's bad enough that my 54 year old legs really aren't what they used to be, but to add insult to injury, I had a bad accident involving a crazy dog and a step ladder. I won't go into details, but believe me when I say the sight of my bruised leg is not for the faint hearted!

So instead of wearing shorts, I'll just write about them. Shorts-wearing by women is a relatively new concept, having its beginning in the 1920s, but not really catching on for any place other than the beach or sports field until the 1940s. The first reference to shorts being worn by women that I've ever found is in a 1925 Bonwit Teller Catalog. In this page from the catalog, the shorts are meant to be worn under the sports frocks: "Little Chanel running trunks to match, made to special order if desired."

Toward the end of the 1920s, school and college girls began trading their gym bloomers for shorts.  In this ad from 1929, the shorts are still referred to as "trunks."  (Also of great interest is the use of a slide fastener, or zipper.  It was another decade before zippers became commonplace.)

And another from a 1931 Sears catalog shows a sports costume, and this time the garment is called "shorts."

By the mid 1930s, someone had come up with the idea of a playsuit - a one piece shorts and top over which the wearer could add a button-up skirt after she was through with the tennis match, or when she left the beach.  It was just not okay for a woman to be seen on the street wearing something as revealing as shorts. The playsuit/skirt set was so practical that it lasted for years.  One of my favorite summer outfits in the early 70s was one I made from a stretchy knit with a little ladybug print, and a matching red wrap skirt.

In the 1940s, shorts became very popular, and women began wearing them for more than just active sports.  Personally, I think the best looking shorts ever came from the 40s, with the flaring legs and mid thigh length being so  flattering... at least to the young and fit!

I got the above ad from Pam at glamoursurf.com. The ad comes from 1944 - note the reference to War Bonds.  Even though clothes were rationed and fabric was in short supply, the American sportswear makers still managed to come up with some wonderful sportswear.  This pleated (front only, to save fabric) short style is one of the most flattering shorts ever made, and they look just as fresh in 2009 as they did in 1944.  Here are these shorts:

I spent the morning organizing my box of vintage trims. In doing so I ran across these two orphaned labels from the 1940s or 50s. I put them in my stack of things to file away and happened to turn the Trimtex over to see if there were any dates printed on it.

No dates, but I was surprised to find the following guarantee:

Unconditionally Guaranteed

This product is unconditionally guaranteed for color fastness and perfect workmanship. If it is not satisfactory, the cost of your labor and the materials on which this product is used, will be refunded by the manufacturer.

I was shocked! And quite remarkably, the Wright's label has a similar guarantee. I pulled out a more recent package,from the late 60s or early 1970s, and of course, the guarantee was not on it. It's really amazing how quickly attitudes changed toward expecting quality products. Today we'd never expect a guarantee of such a sweeping nature.

And even when things are guaranteed, it takes a miracle for one to collect. I've been trying since late March to collect a $53 payment from H&R Block for a mistake they made on my 2007 tax return. Their guarantee states that if they make a mistake, they pay any interest or penalty the IRS charges me. But I'm not holding my breath (and I'm not ever using H&R Block again).

Every once ain a while someone will post on some of the vinage chat boards that I read asking the question, "When did you discover vintage clothing?"  I love reading these, because each one is different and interesting.  But most of them have something in common.  It seems to me that most people discovered vintage when they were young.

Not so this latest fan.  She is 79 years old and is my drawing teacher.  I've been taking drawing and watercolor classes since September, and I'm really in awe of teacher.  She had an extraordinary education, going to London in the late 40s to study at an art school.  From her class, she was chosen to study and work with Henry Moore, even though sculpture was not her field.  And after that she toured the Continent, learning and painting.

Several weeks ago she and I went rambling arond the area where I live, looking for interesting spots for the class to draw and paint.  We ended up at my little Victorian house, and we spent the remainder of the afternoon looking at some of my old clothes.  I find that older women are the very best audience for such a thing because you hear great stories about their wedding hat or a certain swimsuit.  But after the ohhing and ahhing, the interest usually ends.

So I was surprised when teacher called last week all excited.  She had been to Charlotte and had caught the Mint Museum's exhibition, The Art of Affluence, Haute Couture and Luxury Fashions.  She said she was so thrilled to see it because her eyes had been opened to a new art form in the afternoon she had spent with me and my clothing.  She's not a collector, but she knows art when she sees it.  I just felt so good to have this lady see in fashion the thing that makes  it so interesting to me.

And besides that, she is a great teacher!  Some of my drawings from last winter:

I pulled this peachy little dress from the Goodwill Clearance bins yesterday.  Even though I've yet to find my couture Dior dress, I do find loads of fantastic vintage linens and fabrics, and occasionally, a pretty frock or two.

I was in mid swoon when I turned the dress around to look at the back.  I was totally unprepared for the back view:

For once, I was speechless, and you can ask my brothers and sister how rarely THAT happens.

Now I can admire anyone's willingness to tackle a new and daunting task, but sometimes it's just easier to hire a professional, or at least a friend or grandmother who knows his or her way around a sewing machine.  I will say that this DIYer was very good at the machine's back-stitch function!

Usually I would not touch a dress like this, as I've had my fill of wounded baby bird garments that need a little TLC to make them wearable.  These birds tend to multiply and the repair pile will soon run you out of your house.  But this one was just too special, and this was, after all, the clearance bin, and I knew that if I did not take it, this dress would most certainly end up at a raggers, or even worse, the landfill.

So now it, with its screwy zipper, is mine for the restoring.  Let's just hope that no other of these birds get their claws in me!

Caution, the following photos are not for the faint of heart:

It's official; Memorial Day is here and so now you may wear white shoes, sandals, patent leather or any of the winter fashion don'ts.

And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, then you must be too young to remember the days when fashion rules ruled the seasons.  For some things, print cottons and flowered hats, for example, the benchmark date was Easter.  For others, May 1 or Memorial Day (depending on where you lived) was the begin date.  And then there were the "house rules."  One of my mother's was "No shorts until Memorial Day.  It made no difference that the thermometer read 85* F, the rule was to be obeyed.

I looked in the great Elegance  book, by Frenchwoman Genevieve Antoine Dariaux, and saw only one such rule - No print silks before May 1.  Perhaps the French had not heard that wearing white shoes in the winter was not proper.

Back in February I posted a photo from the early 1930s of a group of campers from Camp Dellwood.  Since then I've heard from three people who attended or worked at the camp.  Margaret Crum, who is the daughter-in-law of the last owners of the camp let me know that it closed in 1973. 

And a former camper sent me these great photos taken from her time at the camp, the late 60s and early 70s.  According to her, the campers wore white on Sundays.  It looks like from the photos, that there were no other real restrictions on dress; the girls are wearing sportswear typical of the times.  No middies and bloomers for this bunch of modern girls!  Some of them do seem to wearing proper riding attire, but who could resist the opportunity to wear those great boots?!

Photos courtesy of a former camper, Dellwood and Hemlock
Newsletters, 1969-1972

Several days ago I got an email from Arthur Massey, who during the 1960s and 70s, photographed the collections of Bernat Klein.  While not especially well known here in the US, British readers will certainly be familiar with his work.

Klein studied art and textiles in Jerusalem and England, and in 1952 started his own textiles company, Colourcraft.  The company produced various woven fashion accessories such as ties and scarves,  but in the late fifties Klein began experimenting with producing tweeds.  These tweeds, based on years of color study and experimentation with dyes and weaving, were like nothing ever before seen.  They were so special that Chanel chose them for her spring 1962 couture collection.

That was only the beginning, as other couturiers - St. Laurnet, Cardin and Laroche - discovered the beautiful Bernat Klein textiles.   And thanks to the research by Jacqueline Field, it is now well documented that some of the fabulous mohair blend tweeds used by Bonnie Cashin were produced by Bernat Klein.  (See her article in Volume 33, 2006, Dress)

In the late 1960s Klein began working in polyester, developing ranges of color-coordinated separates in printed jersey knit, mohair tweed and wool twill.  Production continued throughout the 1970s, with the firm closing in 1981.

Klein is still alive and living in the Scottish Borders.  Mr.  Massey would love to reconnect with Bernat Klein, and so if someone who has his contact information will post or email me, I'll happily forward this on to Mr. Massey.

Please note that all photos are property and copyright of Arthur Massey, and may not be used without his permission.

Klein at his easel. 

Bernat Klein and his wife, Margaret

Love this shot, showing a 1970s range of color-coordinated separates.

One of the best things about having an on-line presence is that it helps one connect with others with like interests.  Through my website and the VFG Label Resource, I've received hundreds of emails over the past 5 years.  Some are teenagers who want me to do their homework, but others have been truly amazing.

One such source of amazement was an email I got from Robert Colman, son of sportswear maker Alex Colman.  If you missed it, you can still read it in my archives.  Through the miracle that is Google, a former Colman employee named June found that post a few days ago and she added some personal insight to working at Alex Colman:

I worked for Alex Colman during the time that Robert (known widely as Bobby at that time) was president of the company. Over my professional career I worked for many apparel companies, but none could compare to the wonderful atmosphere at Alex Colman. The facilities were top-notch, and there were lovely little perks (awesome employee picnics, $100 annual Blue Cross medical deductible was reimbursed by the company, and we got our birthdays off as a paid holiday!).

One thing that Bobby forgot to mention that had a h-u-g-e emphasis was the importance of all pieces coordinating with each other. Related separates was in its infancy, but Alex Colman fully understood that. They also brought plus sizes for women out of the dark ages... no more were women of a certain size relegated to verticatl stripes, dark navy and black.

Thanks June.  I loved hearing from you.

I've got a few more connections to share this week..  Stay tuned.

These two photos came from the same batch from an estate in Chattanooga, TN.  Judging by these and the others in the lot, the date is early to mid 1920s.  Unfortunately, none of the photos were identified, but it must have been an extended family.

Side note:  I hope YOU are labeling all the photos you are taking - both digitally and on prints.  You need to do this.  Trust me.

The early 20s still required that women wear quite a bit of clothing for swimming.  Of course, things had gotten considerably smaller and lighter than just a few years before, but women swimmers in 1922 were still quite modestly dressed. 

It began with the cap.  Swim caps of this era were often made of silk and were lined in rubber.  That appears to be the case with our five females in the top photo. 

The girl below is more covered up that most girls on the street today.  She has on a swim dress with sleeves, and there are most like bloomers beneath.  She's also wearing stockings, and some cute shoes with pompoms on the toes.

I can't help but wonder if women wearing that much clothing had the same kind of swimsuit anxiety we suffer from today...

This one is the real deal, and it's a bit unusual.  Most Vested Gentress pieces are screen printed on a white cotton/poly poplin, though you also see the same fabric in pink, yellow, green and aqua.  I got these photos from Sue Langley last week after she saw my previous post about the Vested Gentress Gingham Horse print.  Instead of the usual white or pastel, this is printed on a gauzy cotton gingham.

Sue also had a story to tell :

When I was a teenager, an elderly school principal friend of my mom's wore one - and that I'd lusted after it ever since. It seems to me that her's was a bit more late 50s though, with a dirndl skirt perhaps. I do vividly recall the bows on the horses' fannies and my mixture of shock and admiration that this lady would wear a dress like that. 

How I wish I'd taken a photo of the school principal in hers (it would have been 1958-60 I think); it seems to me that the horses' manes and tails were fine string, and the tails did have bows.

Now that's interesting, because Vested Gentress opened in 1961.  Could it be that the idea was not original to them??  The plot thickens!  Any way, enjoy Sue's cute new dress.

When I first posted about this new book way back in March, I had not seen it.  But a couple of weeks ago I received a copy and ever since my nose has been stuck in its pages.  What a treat!  Susan Langley has done it again,   Even if you have the original book, you owe it to yourself to get this one as well, as there is no other book on the market that covers hats the way Susan has done in this one.  And most of the 2nd edition is new.  After all, Susan has had 11 years in which to expand her wonderful collection!

And what really makes this book so great is how Susan has pulled together so many resources to show modern photos of a hat combined with vintage photos of women wearing similar hats, plus vintage ads,  magazine features and catalog pages.  For older hats, she uses fashion plates.  It all adds up to a well-rounded view of not only what hats of each era looked like, but also how they were worn.

Scandal, as in Scandal Suit, the earth-shattering 1964 design by Margit Fellegi for Cole of California.  At the time, Lycra was still new, and it was the development of new fabrics containing Lycra that enabled Fellegi to make this suit - so bare, yet so covered up.

The Scandal was basicly just a maillot with strategic bits made from a fabric containing Lycra, and cut outs being replaced with a stretchy mesh.  Fellegi worked with fabric makers for months developing both mesh and fabric, and the result was that she was able to "slice up the body any way I want to."

The first of the Scandal suits were shown to Cole sales representatives in September of 1964.  The show was stunning, and many salesmen declared it would not fly in the more conservative parts of the country.  But Cole was committed, with a huge ad compaign already in the works, an ad campaign centered around the line, "Isn't it time somebody created an absolutely wild scandal for nice girls?"  This line was uttered by a young lady perched on a brass bed on a beach.  Yes, this was scandalous in 1965!

It was also successful.  The suit was on the cover of the New York Times, and featured in an article in Life magazine.  Imitations soon flooded the market.  It seems as if American women were ready to be a litle daring!

The suit was made in all black, and it was made in the above print and a similar print in black and white with black mesh.

I've been looking for one of these for years, and yesterday, I plucked this off the rack of an ultra-conservative group's thrift store.  Bet they didn't know the scandalous story behind this one!

I've said this before, but maybe now is the right time for repetition.  I do not play golf.  My husband adores the game, but I've just never warmed to it.

I do, however love vintage golf clothing, especially those great golf frocks from the 1920s and early 30s. Golf wasn't like tennis where you had to have a special dress.  It was very similar to street wear, with some modifications thrown in to help the golfer swing her arms.

About two months ago I was asked by Kristen at Women's Golf Apparel to write an article on the history of wome's golf wear.  I love assignments like that one, as it made me take the time and do some close evaluating of vintage books and magazines and the images of women golfers in them.  See, I said it was a great gig!

Anyway, you can check out the finished product and read the very nice things Kirsten wrote about me!

Illustration is a Martha West ad, 1937

If you know Vested Gentress, them you have undoubtedly seen this, one of the most fanciful of the VG designs.  I've seen it called the Gingham Horse, because of the attached bows, and I've also seen it in a shift dress and with the bows printed on rather than attached.  I've seen it without the field of flowers.  VG got a lot of mileage out of this one.

The vintage skirt pictured is courtesy of Joules.

Now it appears that someone else is getting mileage out of it.  Last week I spotted this in an old farmer's market in Wilmington, NC that has been converted to retail use.

When I first saw it I was tickled to think I'd found such a peachy vintage dress, but before I even touched it, I knew the truth - this was a reproduction.  The fabric, a slick synthetic, was a dead give-away.  And sure enough, it sported a new label - one of those mid-priced department store teen lines, I think. 

I was in shock, but had the sense to look at the tags.  No mention whatsoever of this being a copy of a vintage piece.  Not an adaption, a copy.  And it is possible this has been out a while.  I'll admit I'm rarely ever in a shopping mall or department store.

I know, I've preached this one before, and yes, I do realize you readers are the choir!  But honestly, how in the earth can this be justified?   Is everything that doesn't have the words COPYRIGHT stamped on it subject to being copied?

This did stir me to do a little on-line investigating about Vested Gentress.  For a company that has been closed only about 20 years, there is surprisingly little information about it.  I did find a blog post from last September where a niece of the company owner posted.  I'd love to hear from anyone who has more to say about Vested Grentress and the company.

Now for all I know, the makers bought the rights to the design, but if that is the case, why not play up the vintage connection?

I just finished a photo essay on vintage golf clothing.  It seems like it took me forever to get it finished.  I wrote an article for a golf clothing site, and then used my photos and those that other vintage lovers agreed to let me use.  So thanks to all of you.

One of my favorites was the Vested Gentress top and skort shown above.  I think it is so cute.  Can you tell that the writing is !!!@!*?@!!*  type cursing?!  Thanks to Secondlooks for the use of it.

I picked a Vested Gentress set because tomorrow's post is also about VG.  Stay tuned!

I've learned that it is true:  Build a blog and they will come.  I've heard some really great stories from readers, and here is the latest.  It's from Heleyne, whose grandmother was a longtime employee of Hattie Carnegie.

My grandmother, Irene Bernstein, began working at Hattie Carnegie in much the same way as Shirley Kerwin  [another Carnegie employee who was interviewed by Amy Higgins on her website several years ago]. She began simply sweeping floors at 17 or 18 and worked her way up over the next twenty years. She modelled her life after Hattie. She changed her name to Berns, smoked cigarettes, had a wild temper and dressed impeccably. She loved everything about working there and transformed herself from a small town girl from upstate New York into a chic businesswoman.

Hattie gave her a string of pearls to wear on her wedding day. My mother wore them and so did I. I also have her sales book from her hattie days (in which she has all the department store buyer contacts).

She would tell us stories about when she was working her way up the ladder and she was the secretary. She would handle all of the calls and therefore knew all of the big contacts. When new employees would start as salespeople in the company, she would never give up the contacts she had. She would hang on to them as she would then become indispensable to the company and they had to promote her.

Anyway, this is what I am looking for. My grandmother married a few years before leaving Carnegie and adopted my mother through someone she knew. This was all done privately and there is very little info since she has passed away. I do have a name that was given to my mother on the original certificate and the last name is Marcus. When I saw on the thread [on a workshop I gave at VFG] that Mrs. Kerwin referred to a Connie Marcus, it sparked something. I think there may be a possibility that this Connie may be a link to something. It makes sense with the stories we have to go on. I know this is a very strange request and I doubt that many of the people that worked there in the 40's and 50's are still alive but if I can connect with anyone that may know this Marcus, it would mean so much. My mother was born 9/18/58 if that means anything.

Well, there you have it.  If we are very lucky, someone who has the answer to this riddle will read this and contact me.  Stranger things have happened!

And stay tuned, as I hope to have photos of the glamourous Irene shortly.

Isn't this jacket the niftiest?  Pam of Glamoursurf took me literally when I said I was looking for golf clothing, and this arrived in my mailbox today.  I practically squealed with delight as I pulled (ripped, actually) it from the envelope.  Here's the label:

Now, I'm not familiar with Louise Suggs, but she made very nice things if this jacket (and the I. Magnin label) are any indication.  If you look closely at the bottom of the pocket, you can see the pull of a zipper.  Yes, both pockets zip.  Also note the raglan sleeves.

I like this jacket so much, that I'm going to break my "No yellow" rule.  It's a dumb rule anyway.  I'm still adhearing to the "No golfing" rule though.  I see this jacket as being perfect for travel, to throw over a little white dress while driving through the mountains.  Or how about on a beach in the early morning?  The possibilities are astounding!