Hats of Bill Cunningham from the New York Times

What a surprise I had when I was reading the New York Times this morning and found out that their writer Bill Cunningham had created some marvelous hats starting in the 1950’s . His colleagues in The Times’s photo got him to  share photographs of the hats he had concocted decades ago as an aspiring — and very imaginative — young milliner.

Mr. Cunningham designed his first hat for his mother to wear to the World’s Fair of 1939 and she decided not to wear it.  He continued working as a milliner under the name William J. because he did not used his last name because his family was embarrassed until the late 1950s.

 Mr. Cunningham’s inspirations came from nature. He enjoyed working with feathers. His hats were different but stylish. In the New York Times article he said that he did not make a living off of his designs but they paid for themselves. He said that he didn't  think that many sold  because he created exotic hats.

I would love to be able to wear one of his little cocktail hats. I think his hats would be such fun to wear.

Please go to this link and see the wonderful hats that he created.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/bill-cunningham-a-rare-birds-feathers/?ref=fashion

Goodbye! Elizabeth

Things to remember

Today was not a good day so these are things that I need to remember. The next posts will be more on vintage clothing. Take care.

Love,
Vintage Diva 

VINTAGE SUMMER

vINTAGE sUMMER by vintage diva featuring an esther williams swimwear

It's time to start looking for that vintage swimsuit to show off your curves.

Katherine Hepburn

Untitled by vintage diva on Polyvore.com

On the runways of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in NYC, there was short dresses in bright colors and bead embellishments, sleek pants, and high teased hair were retro-inspired looks many designers incorporated into their Spring lines.
The 70s Bohemian vibe has been around for quite some time now, but is it back as embellishment on steroids. You will see tassels, lace, crochet, and beaded embellishments make their way onto many Spring 2011 tresses. This trend doesn’t stop there— wide leg pants, wooden clogs, and retro inspired floral prints are back and ready for Spring 2011.
A new trend that has evolved from the “motorcycle chic” trend, is the “80s punk” trend. This look includes lots of studs, heavy boots, safety pins and leather pants.
Looks like it’s time to go vintage shopping again ............................................

A Sparkling Zipper

Most women wrestle with zipper through their lives. Those zippers are on dresses, slacks or jeans. I found this zipper while I was doing the required reading of what was going on in the world and I stumbled upon a zipper that I would not mind having to struggle. The well known fashion writer for the Washington Post and the New York times gave us this sparkling news about a zipper from Van Cleef & Arpels.

“The white gold teeth clench and then slide open — the zipper reveals throat and then breastbone, as a diamond tassel quivers in the cleavage.

Van Cleef & Arpels’s zipper necklace

The zipper necklace, set as a cluster of geometric gem stones, is a marvel of workmanship. And its history at Van Cleef & Arpels goes way back — to when a special client in 1939 asked the Paris jeweler for a diamond-encrusted working zipper.
This feat of technology for a madcap jewel was not achieved until 1951. By then, the client, Wallis Simpson, had become the duchess of Windsor, and she never did have a diamond zipper to close the back of her little black dress, as Elsa Schiaparelli, the surrealist designer, had suggested to her.
The sartorial link between dressmaker’s zipper and couture clothing is not a coincidence. The Van Cleef archives are rich with lace “collars” and gem-set cords that have linked the jeweler to fashion. “The zipper shows jewelry’s capacity for transformation — in its function and its ability to make the ephemeral eternal,” said Stanislas de Quercize, the chief executive of Van Cleef & Arpels. ”

This is an except from an article entitled Jewelry: Unzip the Bling By SUZY MENKES,Published: January 31, 2011 in the New York Times and a version of this article appeared in print on February 1, 2011, in The International Herald Tribune.