June's sweetness is unfolding all around and though I am still making time almost daily to soak up the bounty outside my studio, I'm also busy getting ready for my first ever CLEARANCE EVENT!
Not just a sale, but a true clearing out.
The goal: shrink my six racks of vintage clothing into three!
That means if you attend my home studio sale you can snag stuff for as little as $10. Not just a scarf or a jewelry bobble of one sort of another but, yes, tops, dresses, pants, slips, shorts and whatever else I am ready to quickly part with. And that pile is growing by the day.
See details below for all the info.
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But first...
TWO EXHIBITS NOT TO BE MISSED! One nearby and another across the pond
Paris always lured the artistically or bohemian inclined, but the first four decades of the 20th century was unprecedented in how many American women from the world of arts and letters, publishing and journalism, made it their home. And of course when you get your portrait painted by who might be the next Modigliani, you make an effort, to, well, - dress! (Or dress well!)
Anais Nin by Natashia Troubetskoia (the painter was in exile in Paris from the Bolshevik revolution in Russia)
Alfred Courmes (1898-1993),Peggy Guggenheim,1926
Edward Jean Steichen (1879-1973),In Exaltation of Flowers: Rose - Geranium (Katharine Rhoades)
If you're from Chicago, carve out a driving weekend to Louisville and add this exhibit to your agenda. The city has charm galore. Grab food to go and eat it at the glorious sculpture park masked a historic cemetery. Show ends on June 22nd so start planning! (Hat tip to Linda for this one).
An Englishman, Charles Frederick Worth, revolutionized first French and then western fashion in general when he opened his eponymous label in 1858. He created and then dominated the concept ofHaute Couturefor four generations andthis exhibithighlights his reign by displaying 400 objects.
Some of his fashion firsts:
~ putting a designer's label/name on a garment
~ Presenting designs on live models ~ Reversing the relationship between client and dressmaker. The lady deferred tohispersonal, artistic vision.
Vogue did a nice write-up of the exhibit, highlighting how this is a rare chance indeed as the silk dresses are physically deteriorating at a pace making them unlikely to see the light of day again anytime soon. Textiles, more than any other medium, require very managed light exposure and handling. It's a fascinating mix of science, technology and costume history on curatorial display.
There is also a parallel to our current concerns with tarriffs as this fascinating snippet attests:
Long before Trump’s ever-changing tariff threats, President McKinley raised duties on imports in 1890, which drastically impacted the cost of fashion coming from Europe. Kisiel pointed to a part of the exhibition explaining how one of the consequences was that Worth dresses would be copied in America at a fraction of the cost, and that Worth’s sons came up with a solution to reduce the incidence by labeling dresses with their season—an antecedent to the industry’s seasonal collections today. (Vogue)
At left is Nadar's 1886 photograph of Princess Grefullhe (apparently the inspiration behind Proust's Duchesse de Guermantes from "À la recherche du temps perdu"). Her wardrobe is actually preserved in Paris's fashion museum, The Palais Galliera, which houses the dress from this picture, known as the "Robe aux Lis". It features silver embroidery of lily branches on black velvet. On loan to the Petit Palais for this exhibition. (If you're intrigued by the Countess, and you should be, thisis a must read!)
Running through September 7th, 2025.
MORE MORSELS WORTHY OF YOUR ATTENTION
ECONOMICS OF FASHION: Has Clothing Declined in Quality? Here is a counterintuitive snippet: Clothing expenditure dropped from 9-10% of household budgets in the 1960s (down from 14% in 1900) to about 3% today.
THE BEST SERIES ON A FASHION TOPIC I HAVE YET TO DISCOVER VIA PODCAST: I never knew just how important and influential the American Ivy trend was. Nor how comprehensive a five-part audio series can be on the topic. I learned a lot and much of it was surprising, including the connection between postwar Japan and Ralph Lauren's ties. Trust me and give it a listen. This is the prologue to wet your appetite to the five-part series.
Strong sun, that bleach The curtains of my room, can you not render Colourless this dress I wear?— This violent plaid Of purple angers and red shames; the yellow stripe Of thin but valid treacheries; the flashy green of kind deeds done Through indolence high judgments given here in haste; The recurring checker of the serious breach of taste?
No more uncoloured than unmade, I fear, can be this garment that I may not doff; Confession does not strip it off, To send me homeward eased and bare;
All through the formal, unoffending evening, under the clean Bright hair, Lining the subtle gown. . .it is not seen, But it is there.
