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4D/Toto/Score
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The Ballad
Of Vintage Couture by Barbara, Head Daisy
|
(cont'd) |
Back
to FrontPage
of article
Thrift
shops selling vintage couture become a staple of modern
cities near the turn of this century. Theme parties,
Halloween, cross dressers, transsexuals would bring
customers to thrift shops for costumes. It was no longer
the excitement of vintage clothing that was driving the
traffic, but the sheer nature of mimicking an earlier
time. |
I was
not in any of the refined markets listed above when I
happened upon a severely abused, moth ridden, red and blue
striped, wool jersey Chanel suit with a skirt tagged $13
in 1995. I was, instead, looking for merchandise for an as
yet nascent resale shop which would specialize in used
couture clothing and accessories. My shop was to be
located somewhere in wonderful Chicago devoted to
obtaining couture merchandise by outright purchase, not
consignment. My money for inventory was very tight. I had
to resort to thrift shops to obtain sufficient inventory
to stock a shop whose square footage ultimately could be
no more than 300 square feet. The sleeve and its clearly
identifiable Chanel button caught my eye. Neither stripes,
nor red, nor blue, nor suits with skirts, nor wool jerseys
were in style. The jacket was unstylishly fitted; the
skirt was unfashionably designed with a pleated torso. |
I
bought it in a moment, along with each and every other
couture item I could find that day and each successive day
until the 'starter' store opened on June 10, 1995. I paid
hundreds of dollars to renovate, recondition, and dry
clean these items. I blew my budget and resorted to
consignment for current couture clothing and accessories
to bulk up to 450 pieces. I arranged the Shop by couture
label, interspersing current with passe. I sold to
encourage
women to try on styles from 40-50 years ago, reminding
women of couturier names from the past, drawing up
similarities between then and now styling and associating
obscure couturiers as muses of present couturier houses. |
And to
this day, seven years of operation later and in another
shop four times larger than the starter shop from six
years ago, I cannot tell you exactly why I did this. What
I can tell you is that I had to, was compelled to, because
the clothing and accessories were simply wonderful. Now,
this merchandise is called Vintage Couture. It's very
difficult to find at reasonable prices for it's very
popular. I find it here and there at somewhat reasonable
prices and stock it in the Shop, where it proudly hangs
amongst its younger cousins. |
You
might ask about the red and
blue striped wool jersey
Chanel suit with a skirt which began the epiphany. I
renovated it, reconditioned it, had every moth hole
repaired, replaced the lining, shortened the skirt and
wore it for a publicity shoot at the kickoff of the
starter store. I can' tell you why I choose it. Turning
fey, I can pretend it called to me from my closet,
"I'll be a good luck talisman during the heady first
year of operation roller coaster all new merchants are
required to ride." Maybe; maybe not. The roller
coaster has smoothed out to a highway where I drive The
DAISY Shop car, steering it this way and that and loving
the merchant qualities I've learned to acquire. |
The
suit has transmuted into my uniform. I wear it to speaking
engagements, where I sit nervously through the MC's
introduction and zone out concentrating on the rippling
stripes until I hear the polite smatter of applause. Then,
I stand up, feel well turned out, as I proceed to the
podium, and do my best to give back to the entrepreneurial
community. I wear it to preview parties, where I mingle
and munch with other merchants from Chicago's wonderful
Oak Street and feel well turned out and a part of the
merchant
community. I wear it to business meetings, where I listen
or am listened to and feel well turned out. The fact is I
never tire of wearing it. |
I don't
know who purchased this suit originally from Chanel, but I
wish I did. I know she was a small-framed, lean person,
for the suit is small, and only thin women are willing to
wear horizontal stripes. I imagine she was fair-haired,
for red and blue look well on fair-haired women. I know
she had a relatively large disposable income, for Chanel
was always pricey. Frankly, it's a rather jazzy outfit,
and I'd like to think she was a jazzy lady, not quite
quietly elegant, sometimes outre and other times
conservative. I'd rather not think it was a fashion
mistake that she put in the back of her
closet, never wore, but couldn't bear to donate for the
high price she had paid. I think she went to the Chez
Paree in Chicago on Saturday night dates with her husband
and smoked cigarettes there from long cigarette holders. I
think she did volunteer work some where worthwhile and had
a long and happy life with her large family around her. I
think she would enjoy knowing her suit is still valuable
and doing its job of making its wearer feel well turned
out. |
I think
CoCo would be pleased, too. The suit appears on the
FrontPage of this article (click HERE,
if you just missed seeing it while reading the first part
of this article). That's me, posing nervously in front of
the photographer who's attempting to assure me that my
head is tilted properly so my nose doesn't look too long
and neither does my skinny, skinny neck. The home
page of The DAISY Shop's merchandise catalog
website is at http://www.daisyshop.com/. |
The End
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