The Promise of Spring

It's 9° in Boston this morning. A look at the 10 day forcast reveals that we're not expected to get above freezing all week. The holidays are over. The pleasure of the first snow has come and gone. The unique feel of the cold on my cheeks has lost its charm. It's the last week of January, and it's right about now every year that I start to long for spring. Unfortunately, we've got at least two more months of cold weather to endure before hints of warmer weather start to appear here in Boston. (Insert huge sigh here.)

In my office, though, it is starting to feel like the new season has arrived. I have started to list pretty spring and summer dresses at Couture Allure. It is always fun to start working on a new season and to play with lighter weight fabrics and pretty pastel colors. I also derive much pleasure through perusing my vintage magazines from the spring and summer months. The photo above brings to mind warm breezes on the lanai. A bowl of freshly picked strawberries, palm fronds rustling in the background, and a wide brimmed straw hat to shade the face all promise warmth from the sun to come. A romantic dress with huge balloon sleeves and a voluminous skirt looks so right in this setting.

Get the look with this 1950's light blue silk organza dress now available at Couture Allure. Can you feel those tropical breezes?

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Vintage Evening Gowns & Cocktail Dresses

Holiday party season is nearly here. If you haven't found the perfect dress yet, I thought I'd spend the next few days giving you some inspiration. At Couture Allure, we've got loads of vintage cocktail dresses and evening gowns, all at affordable prices. Want to be sure your dress is unique? Wear vintage!

October 1964 - Silver and white brocade evening bodice and skirt trimmed with white ball fringe by Leslie Morris for Bergdorf Goodman's custom department. Worn with a white mink fur muff and yellow satin shoes with sparkling shoe clips.

Get the look with this 1960's beaded silver and white brocade evening gown at Couture Allure, $125.00.

September 1961 - Gold brocade on black silk top and skirt by Edward Abbott and sold at Bergdorf Goodman. Worn with black satin pumps and a black satin clutch. $110 ($793 today)

Get the look with this elaborate gold and silver brocade top and skirt from Neiman Marcus at Couture Allure, $95.00

Or this gold brocade on black fitted 1960's dress, at Couture Allure, $85.00.

October 1963 - Bright canary yellow brocade evening gown with matching stole by Nat Kaplan and sold at Saks Fifth Avenue. Worn with a black beaded necklace and black satin shoes.

Like yellow for evening? Not as bright, but still yellow, this 1960's Alencon lace evening gown is available at Couture Allure, $125.00.

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Hippie Fashion Revival

The musical "Hair" is in revival Off-Broadway in New York, and apparently has been a smash. It closes this weekend, but rumors are that it may move to Broadway this winter. Who knows?

What I do know is that Bohemian hippie fashion is back......again. Indian gauze prints, layers, patchwork, fringed leather, vests, long strands of beads, and piles of bangle bracelets - it's all good. The above photo shows the current cast of Hair in Central Park.

Get the look with these authentic 1970's dresses, now available for one week at Couture Allure on EBay. Click the picture to see the listing:

See all of our Bohemian Luxury Collection, available for one week only.

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1950 Fashion Silhouette #4 Bell-Shaped

The full skirt - introduced by Dior after the war with his New Look collection, and worn into the early 60's. This dress is a shirtwaist with very full sleeves to complement the fullness of the skirt. The full sleeves are set onto a dropped shoulder line, which makes the dress look more grown-up. A full gathered sleeve set into a normal armsceye might make this dress look too girlish.

This dress was made from Simplicity pattern 8269. The model is wearing a wide belt, which again accentuates that narrow tiny waist and wide curving hips. She has on a tiny pillbox style hat with a full veil covering her face. Here's a look at the back view:

Get the look with this taffeta check dress available in our EBay store. It's got the same dropped shoulder line, the same full skirt, the same Peter Pan collar, the same shirtwaist styling. But this one comes from a high-end Boston boutique named Jay's. Click the pic to see the listing!

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1950 Fashion Silhouette #2 The Tent

Commonly referred to as a swing coat today, the Simplicity Pattern magazine for Fall-Winter 1950 calls this a tent silhouette. During WWII, there were strict restrictions on the amount of fabric that could be used to make garments. This is one of the main reasons for the shorter lengths, slimmer styles, and relatively plain garments of the 1940's war years. After the restrictions were lifted, suddenly designers were using as much fabric as they wanted, which led to this full silhouette.

This coat is a clutch style (no buttons) with a shawl collar, raglan sleeves and deep sleeve cuffs. Full enough to wear over the widest skirt, the fullness starts at the shoulders and continues to flare out to the wide hem. The back of the coat is fuller than the front, which you can see in the back view below.

This coat was made from Simplicity pattern 8217. It is interesting to note that Forstmann wool was available to the home sewer, as well as being used by some of the finest coat manufacturers of the time. The model is wearing a tight fitting helmet or calot hat, cuffed gloves with her wrist watch over the glove, and a Glentex scarf tied a the neck.

Get the look with this swing coat trimmed in Persian lamb from the late 1940's. Available at our website, click the picture to see the listing.

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1961 Branell Mink Trimmed Suit

My attempts to find information about the Branell label have turned up nothing except items for sale on the web. But isn't this suit from 1961 simply stunning? This ad appeared in the September 1961 issue of Vogue magazine.

The ad copy reads, "American Chic: circa 1961. Branell expresses it in a blend of Dacron polyester. Opulence! and purely American opulence - lean, limber, understated. Hilda Altmark of Branell, one of America's designing greats, finds new imagery for this look in Raefords' Dacron polyester, worsted wool and nylon, trimmed with dyed mink. Shapes it, here, in a blouson dress and eased jacket. Today, tomorrow, and tomorrow, this costume will have the same sure opulence, Because it blends wool and nylon with the enlightened chic of Dacron. About $350. At Best, & Co., New York; Joseph Magnin, Juklius Garfinckel, Gus Mayer, Montaldo's."

There are a few things we can talk about here. First of all, the list of stores that sold this suit includes some of the elite department stores across the country in 1961. At $350, this suit was quite an investment. The same suit would cost you about $2500 today. Certainly, Branell was an upscale brand worn by women with money to spend.

This ad shows the DuPont logo prominently in the lower right corner, and the headline states that the suit is made from a blend of Dacron polyester. "Dacron" was DuPont's registered trademark for its polyester fiber, which was introduced in the US in 1951. The polyester fibers would give added shape retention to the fabric, to help avoid the sagging and bagging that can happen over time with a natural fiber such as wool. The polyester would also help with resistance to moths.

The model is wearing a high crown pillbox hat by Mr. John, and white DuPont nylon gloves. The jacket is trimmed with black mink at the hem and has a mink wedding ring collar.


Get the look with this black wool suit trimmed in sheared beaver fur from another famous suit maker, Jack Feit. Available at our website. Click the picture to see the listing.

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1961 Paulette Mink Hat

Paulette is considered one of the great French milliners. She opened her first shop in Paris in 1921, and by 1939 was designing for royalty and the Hollywood elite. She continued making hats into the 1980's.

This hat from 1961 has a rounded mink brim. It was sold in the Saks Fifth Avenue Paulette Shop. As featured in the September 15, 1961 issue of Vogue magazine.

Get the look with this early 1960's mink hat by another famous milliner, Irene of New York. Available in our EBay store.

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1961 Eva Rosencrans for Ben Reig Evening Gown

Eva Rosencrans worked in partnership with her sister-in-law, Nettie Rosenstein in a wholesale business named Nettie Rosenstein starting in 1931. They worked by draping dresses directly on medium sized live models, which meant that their designs flattered average American women. Another unique aspect of the business was that each dress was sewn by one seamstress from start to finish, rather than by assembly line. They kept the line exclusive by only selling to one store per city.

In 1961, Nettie made the decision to leave the clothing business in order to concentrate on accessories. At this time, Eva Rosencrans went to design for Ben Reig. She was known for her luxurious but simple designs. This evening gown was featured in the September 15, 1961 issue of Vogue magazine, and was probably from her first line for Ben Reig.

"Liquid black: silk evening dress from the Ben Reig collection, designed by Eva Rosencrans." The dress has a draped bodice with straps that come from the side seams below the bust, criss-cross at the upper edge of the bodice and then encircle the neck. The skirt is softly gathered onto the waist and a tulip slit shows the leg from the knee to the hem. Love those long black kid gloves and the full length mink draped casually over the chair. The model is not wearing a hat, but has long dramatic chandelier earrings.


Get the look with this 1950's black velvet cocktail dress with its halter strap that can be worn many ways. Available at our website. Click the picture to see the listing.

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1961 Leslie Morris for Bergdorf Goodman Coat

Leslie Morris was hired by Bergdorf Goodman in 1931 and worked in their custom design department well into the 1960's. She traveled to Paris every year for the couture collections. She was considered in the top rung of American designers in the 1930's, 40's, and 50's on par with Sophie of Saks, Mr. Leone of Bendel's, and Wilson Folmar of Jay-Thorpe. I can find no evidence that Morris' name was ever put on the labels sewn into the garments, although it appeared prominently in advertisements for Bergdorf's.

This ad for Bergdorf's is from the September 15, 1961 issue of Vogue magazine. "Leslie Morris designed this flare-shaped city coat in rich black wool. Exclusive in our Made-to-Order Collection on the Second Floor." Well-to-do customers would go in to the store and have garments made specifically for them and to their measurements - the equivalent of couture. Note the 3/4 sleeves worn with long gloves and the large alligator bag, as well as the high bubble hat.
Get the look with this 1960's coat in Forstmann wool with genuine mink fur collar and cuffs, now available in our EBay store. Click the picture to see the listing.

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