Free Astrological Forecast from Stardust Slips - expiration date?

I recently bought a group of unworn vintage slips, still with hang tags, from the late 1940s to early 1950s.
I love finding vintage clothing with their old hang tags. The tags usually give you some info about the fabric that you wouldn't have know otherwise and sometimes washing instructions.

This is a great hang tag for 'Stardust Fashion Girl Slips' introducing their new 'Miracle Fabric' which is a secret blend of nylon and rayon crepe which promises greater strength, softness and draping with minimal wrinkling.
It also includes washing instructions and recommends Lux detergent, like so many labels/tags did back then.

I love the stitching details  on the neckline of the slip.

The back of the folded hang tag has a very interesting offer, which ties in with their 'Stardust' brand. If you send in the hang tag with your name, address, birth date and a SASE, you will receive a free Astrological Forecast prepared by a world famous astrologer. Cool.

Cool Find - Florida Handbags business card, in a Florida Handbags purse of course

While prepping this 'Florida Handbags of Miami' tapestry purse for the website,  I found a business card from Florida Handbags  in one of the inner pockets.  Cool. Check out the lucite purse on the card.
The address today looks like it belongs to a place called 'Vertical Textiles'.

 

 

 

Recent vintage stock purchase!

Last week I made a nice size vintage stock purchase! The call came out of the blue from someone that I had bought from a year or so ago, and then didn't hear from again until today. She stopped by just as a storm started this afternoon, with boxes of goodies for me to go through.

I ended up with 55 hats from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
10 purses, (5 of which I am trying to resist keeping for myself)
32 dresses, mostly from the mid to late 1960s and a few later.
Also a few coats, some lingerie and blouses. Cool. I really needed a nice stock purchase to give me some things to keep busy with over the Winter.

My dad was in the hospital recently and is recovering very well now. But we have doctor appointments, a visiting nurse and physical therapy, so it's been hard for me to get time to work on the vintage the past 2 weeks.
I'm hoping to dive into working on some of this fresh stock Friday, so watch for updates in a few days. I'd love to dive into the hats first, because they are so easy to list, but the website is in desperate need of dresses, so I should try to get to those first.

 

 

 

 

 

Gus is checking out the new vintage hats too.

Many, many Vintage Hats at Dandelion Vintage

I recently bought a collection of 100+ vintage hats and I've been adding them to the website over the past few weeks. The website now has 14 pages of vintage hats dating from the 1940s to the 1970s, over 170 hats to choose from, and reasonably price too.

Below is a sample of some of the hats.
You can check them all out here in the Hat Department  - (all 14 pages, with more to come)

Mystery item - Beach Pajamas, costume, uniform? College pennant novelty print

I picked up this piece a little over a year ago at a local estate sale. It was tossed in a box of vintage costumes. The novelty print caught my eye - College pennants. Cool. When I got it home, I realized that it was a one piece beach pajama - double cool because I love 1930s pajamas. I assumed it was a handmade piece, but then I found the 'Sa Se Maid Brand' label inside the shoulder. Hmmmm. A uniform made like a beach pajama with College names fabric? I wonder what it was used for?

Unfortunately it is only in fair condition. It has some stains and the dark colors have all run in the cotton fabric.

I'm proud to be A Vintage Purse Addict

You can never have too many vintage purses!
I'll admit that vintage purses are my weakness. I have them all hanging on the wall in my dressingroom so that I can see the whole pretty collection and so that I'll use them. If I keep them in a closet or box or something where I can't see the variety, I'll end up just carrying the same purse all the time. I'm that way with shoes too, I need to see them all.
I've built up this collection over the past 20 years of collecting and wearing vintage. Once in a while I'll go through and purge/sell ones that I don't use, a few I hang onto because they are just very cool, even though I don't use them.
It's a lot of purses, but I don't have a lot of money invested in them, because I'm pretty cheap when it comes to buying for myself. $25 is the maximum that I would pay for a vintage purse, and it would have to be super-fabu-tastic for me to pay that much. I think that there are only 1 or 2 here that I've paid close to that for, and that's because the cost would have included shipping. Most of the purse came from stock purchases.
Even if I'm just in jeans, sneakers and a tee, I'm always carrying a vintage purse. It's really the easiest vintage item to add to your everyday wardrobe.

Rose's Knitting Studio - what a lady, still knitting at 99

While doing some Googling to find out  info on this label, I found this news story from 2/6/11 about the 99th birthday of Rose Girrone, who was the owner of Rose Knitting Studio for over 40 years. She custom made the 3 piece knit set above.

She's lived an amazing life and she is still knitting at 99!

From the story - http://foresthills.patch.com/articles/happy-99th-birthday-rose-girone-2


Happy 99th Birthday, Rose Girone

Former Forest Hills business owner celebrates monumental birthday.
By Robin Ziegelbaum

Some seniors stay home when icy sleet covers the ground, but not Rose. Yet despite the cold and wintry conditions, she made her way to The Knitting Place in Port Washington, where friends and fellow knitters gathered to celebrate her 99th birthday on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

Rose Girone has blown out her candles in her birthplace Janov in Poland, in Vienna, a brief childhood memory; in Hamburg, the land she was exiled from; in Shanghai, a place of sanctuary; and then in New York, her journey’s end. She readily admits to being a lucky woman.
On the evening of Kristellnacht (the night of broken glass), in Germany, Rose, pregnant and afraid, watched the Nazis destroy her town, burn her synagogue, and make a bonfire of Jewish books in rubbish heaps. That night’s horror continued when they arrested Jews, including her husband, Julius Mannheim. He was transported to Buchenwald Concentration Camp in 1938. Rose gave birth to their daughter, Rhea, two months later with her husband still imprisoned. Julius’s death seemed certain, however, the Nazi occupation was in its infancy, and a brief opportunity presented itself. British relatives sent Rose a visa for China’s Shanghai, and she was able to present this document to authorities and have her husband released. This reunited family of three left for Asia.

Life was surreal on the German ship on which they traveled. Jews were segregated during meals. While others back in Europe were being taken in cattle cars to concentration camps, on board the “Aryans” swam in the morning and the Jews during the afternoon. Rose, who has never lost her sense of humor, sarcastically commented, “I don’t understand it – because we could have poisoned the water anyway?”
Shanghai during WWII was a place of salvation for Jews where they had religious freedom, and rights to study and work. Still, at one point, Rose and her family were forced by the Japanese to live in a Jewish ghetto.

Rose is fearless. During more then one bombing she would lie over her daughter to protect her and make up stories to alleviate her daughter’s anxiety. Later, when Rhea was older, and more bombings occurred, Rose rushed to her school to scoop her little girl up in her arms, safe.

Rose went into business. She hired Chinese laborers to produce her knitting patterns. She drew pictures with measurements, and acted out her instructions. On one occasion six white sweaters were commissioned for Bubbling Well Road, the chic part of town. When they were completed, however, the bottoms of the sweaters were dirty. Rose washed them with soap and water, but they could not be delivered because they were still wet. Rose put them into her oven to dry them. The bottoms became singed. In desperation, Rose massaged flour over the burns, wrapped them up, and sent them to the store. She got paid but never received another order from that customer.

Finally, their crucial visa for the United States arrived. Officially each person could leave China with only 10 dollars. Rose used her knitting skills and ingenuity to take 80 dollars, over the family quota, by designing a secret money button –bills folded tightly and covered in yarn – on her hand-knits. They traveled by ship to San Francisco with their sweaters and bags, and then took the train to New York.

A year after their immigration, Rose divorced her husband and created a new life with her daughter Rhea. Making her own luck, she moved to Florida. Fortuitously, Rose met the family of the owner of The Sagamore, the resort in the Adirondacks, who offered her a job. A temporary store in the lobby was created for her that summer. She hobnobbed with wealthy clients, and learned American ways.

Mother and daughter moved to Queens. Rose opened her own shop on Austin Street. She worked in that location for 40 years. At a knitting store in Great Neck, Rose met Dina Mor, who is now her close friend and the owner of Port’s The Knitting Place.

During their first meeting Dina showed Rose the sweater she was knitting for her husband, Erez. After examining the piece, Rose warned Dina, “It will hurt less – go to Dunkin’ Donuts – and I will rip it out.” After the third ripping, Dina was an official member of Rose’s fan club.
When Dina opened her store in Port, Rose came with her. She enjoys piecing together patterns on the floor, teaching and entertaining fellow knitters.
Port resident Lorraine Barman said, “My mother used to go to her knitting store, Rose’s Knitting Studio on Austin Street, in Forest Hills, and she used to knit sweaters for me. Rose would write out the patterns– measure me…that was the 80s. Now, 30 years later, I walk into The Knitting Place and here’s Rose. She is very special!” Another woman came into the store with decades-old handwritten knitting patterns asking for yarn to complete the pattern…then she looked up and screamed, “Rose!” It was Rose’s pattern.

Throughout this interview, Rose continued to thread and rethread her needle as she pieced together a sweater. It is with great pleasure that I wish her the happiest of birthdays. Rose is a remarkable woman, resilient and talented. You can find her at The Knitting Place every Tuesday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Stop by for Rose’s expertise and help yourself to her wisdom.
Rose’s eyes twinkle and her cheeks get a little higher when she talks about her family. She met her perfect mate, Jack Girone, and enjoyed 23 years of marriage. Now widowed, Rose says that Rhea and her son-in-law Frankie as well as granddaughter Gina and her husband Joe are her present sources of joy. Rose has walked away from accidents, escaped the Nazis, survived bombings and has these tips for her longevity:


1.“Have the best children in the world – you have to be lucky with that one.”
2.“Always find something to do – have a plan. Don’t wake up and say, uh, ‘what am I going to do today?’.”
3.“Don’t upset yourself with stupid things. It’s not worth it!”
4.“Eat lots of chocolate!”

New ABC series 'Pan Am' - vintage clothing and accessories from Dandelion Vintage!

'Pan Am' is a new series, set in 1963 and it will start airing on ABC Sunday September 25th -

The costumers for the show recently bought some vintage dresses, coats, lingerie and jewelry from my website Dandelion Vintage -  http://www.dandelionvintage.com/  -  hopefully we'll be able to spot some of the items that they bought below on the show later in the season!

From the official website for the show -
http://abc.go.com/shows/pan-am

about Pan Am

Passion, adventure and espionage... They do it all—and they do it at 30,000 feet. The style of the 1960s, the energy and excitement of the Jet Age and a drama full of sexy entanglements deliciously mesh in a thrilling and highly original new series, Pan Am, premiering SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, on the ABC Television Network.
Welcome to the Jet Age. It's 1963. WWII and Korea are history. A new kind of war, a Cold War, is underway. The world is poised on the brink of a cultural revolution, and everywhere change is in the air.
In this modern world, air travel represents the height of luxury, and Pan Am is the biggest name in the business. The planes are sleek and glamorous, the pilots are rock stars, and the stewardesses are the most desirable women in the world. Not only are these flyboys and girls young and good looking, but to represent Pan Am they also have to be educated, cultured and refined. They're trained to handle everything from in-air emergencies to unwanted advances—all without rumpling their pristine uniforms or mussing their hair. These pre-feminist women form a powerful sisterhood, as they enjoy the rare opportunity to travel outside the country—something most women in this age can only aspire to—and one of the few career options that offers them empowerment and respect  . . .


I can't wait to see it!

Found in a vintage purse

I was photographing some vintage purses this week and found these items tucked in a brown clutch.

Some 1960s graduation photos.

A photo of a lady and a 'Scout Mother Membership' card for Agnes Keller in Woodlynne NJ, dated 1965

This is cool. A millinery club from Paris Hats Shop in Cherry Hill NJ. Get a free hat after you or family and friends buy 10 hats. Below is the back of the card to keep track of the purchases. Only one hat bought, in 1966.

War is hell for fashion - Elsa Schiaparelli tells Vogue magazine how she and other designers dealt with WWII in Paris

I just thought this was kind of funny. The ridiculousness of the high fashion world, even back in the 1940s. Germans were marching across Europe, France was being invaded, people were dying, and she had no one to make her fashions and no one to sell them to. Poor Elsa.

I guess it was meant to be an uplifting story, to tell that they tried to continue to work during terrible times. But it just comes off as kind of shallow, since it's only clothing that they were making. And it was clothing that wasn't being made for the people who had to stay and really deal with the war. It was clothing for rich people who probably were able to leave the country.


The story tells in her own words, how Elsa Schiaparelli  and other Paris designers tried to cope during WWII and how she eventually left for America with her Phoenix pin.

From September 1st Vogue, 1940. Click images for larger readable views

I've been shopping in time again

You know that I love old mail order clothing catalog, Bellas Hess is probably my favorite. I went through and few 1930s issues today and did some scans of items that I covet. New scanner, set at too low of a DPI, so the photos aren't the best and I was too lazy to rescan them all.


All three please, because I really do need one for going places and two for doing things.

The best tennis dress ever. I don't play, but I might take it up if I could play in this dress.

Below, I like the 1st one and the 4th one with the polo ponies. $1 each!

Another dress to feed my sailor-nautical-look obsession.

Swimsuits. Just give me them all. I don't care if they are wool. I'll wear them in the Winter over opaque tights with a trench coat if I have to.

Sweetness.

Pants. Again, I'll take them all. I love the hi-waisted, wide legged sailor style of these pants, but I could never pull them off. First, I'm short. Secondly, I cannot stand anything across my tummy. Around the house my jeans are always unzipped when I sit even though they aren't tight jean. I just don't like anything close fitting above my navel. I cut the front of my pantyhose too so that they don't touch my tummy. I'm just weird that way.

But all the same, I love the look of these pants. And the overalls and the pain that they would be to go to the bathroom in.

These are actually pajamas, bu I'd be wearing them out. Again, sailor. Wide legs. Love it.

Some vintage for me (again) Purses, sweaters and a very pretty hatbox

This week I made a vintage stock purchase for the website of about 50 pieces. I ended up keeping some goodies for myself, because it is Christmas time and I've been a good girl this year. First, I kept 5 vintage purses for myself. Yes 5. But I really need these purses. I mean, navy, grey and brown are must-have colors. And you can always squeeze in a few neutral colors. You can never have too many purses.
There were about a dozen hats in the lot, all in their own boxes. I wasn't interested in keeping any hats for myself, but I had to keep this pretty box with ladies painted on it.

And I kept 5 sweaters for myself (I decided not to keep the sweater on the right side of the photo) plus there is a black cashmere sweater not shown. I wore the aqua cashmere today. I love the shade.

Finally here are some glimpes of what I wore one day last week. I just thought that I was so cool because I wore a Spring green skirt with black tights - like no one has ever done that before. And yes, I'll wear open shoes in the Winter if it isn't too cold, with opaque tights.
Not only do I sell it, I wear it - Vintage - skirt, rayon blouse, jacket, shoes and pin. Stockings are the only new thing. And yes, I need a lint brush.