In love with 20s French Melons, Gripoix Anyone?

1920s-30s Green Melon Bead Necklace. Images by Sarara Vintage.

Alright, so that title sounds weird but upon examining a recent 1920s-30s necklace, that I just dug up, I found precisely that- Green French Glass Melon cut beads. I was instantly captivated by their vibrant light emerald color, size and shape. Their feel in general is divine.  The necklace is simple, yet chic.  French Melon style beads like these are beautiful. I found them on the cover of my classic costume jewelry guide by Harrice Simons Miller, 1990.

 Notice the longer red rhinestone necklace with the melon shaped beads towards the front of the cover image.  This is the mentioned piece which brought to light the history and origin of the beads, for me. I like their organic yet modern appearance. I have become a fan of French glass beadwork, now maybe so will you!

    

Skinner auction house image. Their description below:

"Lot 18
Vintage Colored Glass Leaf Necklace, Maison Gripoix, of lavish pate-de-verre foliage with faux pearl accents, lg. 21 in., unsigned.  See listing archive at skinnerinc.com"

If this does not convince you, French glass beads are important to the history of early high end costume jewelry. Early important designers used what are called the French Gripoix glass beads. 

The House of Gripoix, one of the oldest makers of glass beads was used by Coco Chanel. See the necklace above, auctioned at skinner for an example of Gripoix. Their revolutionary process of creating costume pearls and such brought the level of quality needed for the production of high end costume pieces.

The house of Gripoix was founded in the 1890s by Augustine Gripoix, and their abilities concerning glass did indeed make couture jewelry what it is. Anyone who is anyone used them to make their high end babbles. Think Miriam Haskell's Glam Glass pieces -Dior, Chanel, YSL, Balenciaga...etc. etc.  They also made unsigned pieces for clients who commissioned them to wear with a certain dress or fur, such as the skinner example above. The house is still in business today, acquired in 2006 by Marie Keslassy who also designs gorgeous works based on her aesthetic and that of the Gripoix archive.

Flower Necklace, Gripoix. Image property of Gripoix/CoutureLab, for sale here

Her goal is to bring Gripoix from behind the scenes to the forefront as its own brand. The current, Gripoix Jewelry collection can be seen at this link and Marie's website here.  Just, a little nod to the French glass makers of the past and present brought on by on "old" green bead.

Norman Ambrose- Best new fashion designer with a Vintage Edge!

The Daily Beast Article Image. Photographer Kevin Tachman.

All fashion designers, as well as jewelry designers for that matter, inspire from history, vintage designs and various cultures. Norman Ambrose, a new designer of Turk descent, debut his Spring 2012 collection at Mercede's Benz Fashion week and I was inspired! He avoids just producing flat vintage copies and designs at the quality level of what one could expect from past tailoring techniques. He produces both ready-to- wear and couture. This knowledge of historical designs and process translates into a couture aesthetic, something which also attracts many to vintage clothing. His experience working at Versace and with tailors that had couture experience, no doubt has impacted as well as added to his natural eye for detail.  His designs so far have been influenced by the 1970s and the 20s-30s in particular, as one can surmise by eyeing his collections.   I can see his attention to tailoring and a woman's body is taken into consideration as well as creating a look. Anita Sarko discusses his inspiration and quality level in her article for newyorkshoppingdiary.com:


"Though quite vintage-y looking, Ambrose's confections somehow manage to avoid looking costume-y. He cites Faye Dunaway's 1970's/early '80's style and '...her strength of character, intellect, and bold femininity...' as his inspiration for daytime, whereas it's the 1920s, '...where comfort and over-the-top embellishment are focal points...' that influence the evening wear..........."(Sarko,Anita).


"It helps that, like Alexander McQueen and Azzedine Alaïa, Ambrose has some heavy-duty tailoring chops. 'I was mentored by a former pattern cutter who had been under Balenciaga and trained by a Blass tailor.' He explains. 'During my early career, I would spend weekends and evenings creating patterns and studying construction. It was a finishing school to my formal education. Today, I create many of the patterns for my new collections and custom orders, but an excellent team is essential'(Anita Sarko)". 

Norman Ambrose. Fall 2011. Press image. Norman Ambrose, MAO.

His fall 2011 collection was a blend of historic quality and design with a current feel. The clothing above basically is today's woman doing Faye Dunaway circa 1967-70 who is taking on a 1930s aesthetic post -Bonnie and Clyde (1967). It's like being in the vintage fashion matrix.... Only instead of Keanu Reeves in black you have Alexander Mcqueen in a mix of 18th century clothing and his accessories.  I digress sorry..... I love his process, which is clearly well thought out.  He doesn't just look at vintage but sees and feels it. He seems to take in what was iconic in an era or special style wise about a leading lady, he then makes impeccable and wearable clothing.   This aesthetic appeals to the vintage girl!

Faye Dunaway. Vintage ad.

My first impression of his work was that it was sort of as if Adrian Greenberg aka Gilbert Adrian, was reincarnated working now with today's iconic woman in mind but remembering his past love of the silver screen diva while throwing in a little of us all. This feeling is still holding true, as I look at his various designs in anticipation of the next collection. 
As we see both young actors such as, Jenna Ushkowitz who wore the Ambrose dress below, and hollywood taking notice we will begin to see more of his evening dresses on the red carpet where they were born to be.   This stunning Spring 2012 evening gown embodies early 30s grace and style. 


It is fitting that he has been so inspired by the 30s as of lately. In the 30s-40s as the nation left the 20s decadence behind and went into war, through depression and humbler times, fashion was bigger than ever on the screen. Such bling and glamour appealed to women.  They longed for such looks then and as we go through an unstable economy today, such glorious flowing dresses once more remind us of the good times or the dream of those moments.   A girl can dream right? 

Photo credit: Juan Rico/Fame and WENN.com

Finally, my personal pick as an anthropology nerd, fashion lover and vintage fiend: The Tunisian turquoise beaded jacket, click here to see it and a full selection of images from his show. Another favorite reminds me of some of my 70s tunic jackets, below. You see this lovely sheen to his 60s 70s inspired pieces from Spring 2012. Check out: www.normanambrose.com for more!


         

1970s tunic, Metallic Embroidery. Sarara Vintage Image.

Long Tunic Jacket, 1970s Metallic embroidery. Sarara Vintage Image.

                   

SOLID GOLD: Vintage Bulletin, the Vintage Clothing blog: 1970s Gold!

Check out my post on the New 1970s vintage jewelry collection arriving in the shop this week:

Vintage Bulletin, the Vintage Clothing blog: 1970s Gold!: I love when I have the opportunity to purchase whole collec...

Part of the 1970s golden jewelry collection being listed this week! Image Sarara Vintage.

Daphne Guinness Fashion Muse, Collector of Soulful Pieces

MARIO TESTINO  for BRITISH VOGUE, MARCH 2008

Who is Daphne Guinness?

The museum at FIT, in NYC, featured an exhibit about her life which ended in January 2012. As they discussed, she was born to the brewery heir Johnathan Guinness in 1967 but came into her own after her divorce:

"In 1987, at the age of nineteen, Daphne married Spyros Niarchos, who was twelve years her senior and the second son of the fabulously wealthy Greek shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos. A year later, she had the first of their three children. According to all accounts, they lived in a gilded yet constrained world, surrounded by bodyguards, traveling by yacht or private jet between homes in St. Moritz, New York, and the family’s island in Greece. After her divorce in 1999, Daphne resumed her maiden name, and over the past decade she has emerged on the world’s stage this extraordinary fashion creature" (Fit Biography).

I love the museum at FIT, as they are always bringing great exhibits, which are current as well as historically significant. They split her styles into types,  including her love of structured armoresque clothing. She is able to shield herself and find herself in fashion. You could see some of those types of items found in the auction archive. The exhibit highlights, which featured a large quantity of her clothing and quotes, can be found here: Fit exhibit.  She is seen as a fashion icon, collector and artist.  Daphne creates her own fashions when needed and has worked with other companies to create pieces.

To some of you, the auction itself is old news and to others new, but either way I wanted to highlight the best sources for images of the auctioned items online while they are still up. The original photographic image above alone, set records. When it was all said and done it had raised 742,000 dollars! Christies, in South Kensington, auctioned off this record breaking collection on June 27th.  The catalogue alone is pure eye candy...yum.  See the Christies film below:



Now her Mcqueen pieces, which will no doubt only increase in value, broke records at the auction.  Alexander Mcqueen is another obvious option for those who want future mind blowing vintage for their collections.  His genius pieces as you can see are already sought after, especially the structural metallic Mcqueen dress sold there. It was also part of the Matt Collishaw Bazaar photo shoot. Please, don't even get me started on Alexander's Iris platforms- you can view them in the catalogue below. It is no surprise that Lady Gaga bought at least one piece successfully, as confirmed if not more anonymously.

It is fitting that this auction was in memory of Isabella Blow. It had been rumored that Daphne opposed an auction that would have as she put it "scattered her friend's memory to the winds". She feels the collection should be in a museum or for student study.  This auction may have been the compromise.  She purchased the clothing archive after her friend's death and has revealed it will be exhibited possibly online for all to see. The loss of both friends Blow and Mcqueen to suicide have impacted her life greatly, hence her foundation. As stated in Vogue UK: "I just wanted to preserve who she really was, I had to make sure it was safe. It's difficult for me to look at it though-it smells of her. Her wardrobe was a narrative of her life".

I think this is a beautiful as well as very true statement and one of the reasons many of us are attracted to vintage....that narrative.

Who was Isabella Blow?

She was most famously accredited with discovering Mcqueen at the Saint Martins graduate show in 1994. She was not only his patron and friend, but she was soulful inspiration. She was a fashion editor, stylist who loved to transform her body into sculptural art.  Mcqueen's creation of amazing head gear, were inspired by her constant head art.  His tribute collection can be seen here in this article: tribute article. Isabella Blow's quotes and photographs are a joy to take in. Vogue UK did a great bio article and image archive which can be found at this link.

The Auction:
You can find a complete image gallery of the lots in the auction here: Christies.  The Christian Lacroix gown and the opera jacket are amazing!  The 1930s inspired Anna Molinari  and the 1920s inspired Marni sequin dress appealed to my heart. So why are we vintage lovers discussing this? Firstly, there were Christian Lacroix pieces from the 80s included and are certainly considered vintage already.  However, as you seen in the title, though many pieces were relatively new in terms of what constitutes a vintage garment-- they will soon be VINTAGE. The lucky owners will have some of the most iconic fashions of our time worn by an avant guarde icon!

The Girl Who lived in the Tree. Alexander Mcqueen Dress circa 2008-9. Photograph Matt Collishaw, Harper's Bazaar.



The Daphne Guinness Collection Catalogue 
Just hit view ECatalogue and agree to see the complete catalogue.

Daphne Guinness: Undressed on Nowness.com

Alfred Hitchcock presents: Wearing a Vintage Brooch 50s style!

One late night, watching Hitchcock presents and admiring the 1950s wardrobe, I saw something compelling yet simple. A rhinestone pin of a medium to large size, placed on the side of a wide belt.  Magic! The character played by Phyllis Thaxter, was wearing it on the belt with a full skirt cascading downwards.   Many people love the wonderful designs of old pins/brooches, but have no idea what to do in terms of wearing them, in a modern way. You can find delightful adaptations by jewelry designers using old pins and repurposing them as rings or necklaces. However, if you do not want to alter the piece sometimes we draw a blank. Well,  I wrote a full article packed with such ideas on this blog see- pin article.  Most of us have seen the ribbon belt with pin buckle. However, this particular style had not occurred to me, I had thought about wearing it over the center buckle to hide and spice up a boring buckle but to the side? I love the idea of the natural leather belt worn placed with an upscale rhinestone pin in the center or to the side is great.  I think to pull off either placement on a belt, the pin needle must be strong enough for the belt's material. However, normally one can pin them through the top layer only of the fabric or leather, if it is a softer leather, without much effort.   So just another tip for wearing those wonderful heirloom brooches we all have and do not want to alter into something else.

See the outfit and the wonderful pin on her belt in Alfred Hitchcock presents: Season 2- Malice Domestic below. It appears about 6 minutes into the episode.