RareJule Vintage wouldn't exist without my aunt Vicky, who came to this country from Ukraine at age 19, first enrolled at the Ray Vogue School in Chicago, and then launched a career in fashion with barely any English, zero industry contacts, and no funds.
I was six years old when we all arrived in Chicago as refugees in early 1980, part of the large wave of Jews fleeing both communism and anti-Semitism from the then Soviet Union. Not having any toys, books, siblings, or friends (but many other wonderful and intangible things, so don't feel bad for me), whatever she left around on the kitchen table served as my amusement.
Her Vogue magazines, the collage projects she made for school, and most importantly, her hand-drawn fashion illustrations were a window for me out of our small, Rogers Park apartment and into a world of glamour, luxury, and artistry.
It was thanks to her that I even knew what "fashion" was! I watched her for hours as she drew not just her own designs, but what inspired her (most notably, Antonio Lopez).
I took mental notes as she tried on an endless stream of cool outfits before a date, and spent countless hours in tow while she searched the whole mall looking for some perfectly elusive shoe. (She's still searching….)
I looked forward to our weekend outings where we took the bus from Rogers Park, down Lake Shore Drive to hit the famed Rizzoli bookstore at Water Tower Place (the first indoor mall in the city). There she would leave me to peruse whatever I wanted while she hit the international magazine section. Between Rizzoli and the Art Institute of Chicago, my love of books, art, and history was first formed.
By the time I was in high school, my dad was her business partner and they were renting a dilapidated loft in the Old Irving Park neighborhood which served as office and factory. Victoria March Fashions was born!
Here is the only photo we have of the entire crew.
Victoria and Dad are at right; the seamstress and pattern maker at left. Dad was in charge of basically everything that wasn't fashion design, and the guy responsible for operating the button machine which required a fair amount of strength as you had to push down hard on a lever that covered a round form with fabric.
It's impossible to convey what a huge leap of faith it all was. I didn’t think too much of it at the time as there was always such a spirit of optimism and support among us. I only now realize (as a business owner myself) what kind of courage it took.
My dad was a Soviet-trained electrical engineer, raised in a system that was anti-business, to say nothing of anti-capitalist. Not only did he have to deprogram himself, he had to figure out what doing business in this country even meant. His English was whatever he could pick up, and he learned from trial and error on the job, with a mortgage and a family to support.
Victoria March Fashions eventually got a rep and a showroom at the famed Merchandise Mart.
They became known for sumptuous and well crafted wool jersey separates that were sophisticated and eye catching.
The Spring/Summer collections were often dominated by pieces in silk organza.
The label was featured in trunk shows and fashion events across the country, and the two of them made frequent road trips to New York in my Dad’s red Toyota station wagon, filled to the brim with garment bags.
After the business closed and Victoria moved to designing dancewear for various local companies, the remaining pieces were relegated to my parents’ attic.
Shoulder pads were no longer a thing and the whole concept of “career wear” was struggling to find its place among the deconstructed trends that eventually took over in the twenty first century.
Throughout the years, I would dip into the sequestered archive to see what I could rediscover and renew - a long duster coat in gray has been part of my wardrobe for years now.
Me in 2017 in a coat I still wear today.
Finally, this last Spring as my parents decided to renovate the attic area, a decision had to be made on the collection.
I managed to salvage around forty pieces as many of the gorgeous wool items had tiny moth holes while a lot of the silk was, sadly, discolored.
The rescued treasures are now part of the RareJule Vintage Inventory and being made available to the public for the first time in about thirty years! A few of them have already trickled into my website.
There is more to say about the Victoria March Fashions story that is best left for future posts. For now note the collection will be available for purchase at my next studio sale in December, so if you are local, you won’t want to miss it! Details at bottom of the page.
Victoria prepping
one of her models
for a photo shoot
c.1986
