The Shrimpton Couture Blog

Lots of New Items going up at the shop today!

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:38:00 PDT

This is the first batch!
There are more to come today and every day this week!

1960s Chiffon Mini Dress with rhinestones at neck & cuffs

Gorgeous 1930s Floral Cotton Wrap Dress

1950s two piece Nude Nylon Baby Doll Top & Pant set

1950s Silk Floral Wiggle Dress

Pretty 1960s Green Nylon Slip Dress

1970s Chiffon draped harem Jumpsuit

A 1970s Mr Dino Maxi Skirt that you can wear as a strapless dress too!

1960s Silk Dynasty Print Dress - lined in silk too!

1970s Bill Blass Silk Scarf
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Click here to jump to the New Items page
There are also a TON of new items listed from last week to see that were not posted here on the blog - have fun!

RSVP me!

noreply@blogger.com (RSVP) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:39:00 PDT

Hi, I am the designer behind the RSVP line.
I decided to call my re-rejuvenated vintage line RSVP as I like the idea of things from different eras still being both charming and relevant, useful and responsive to the needs of the modern woman. And we have so many: How else can I explain the Massive vintage collection I seem to have - somehow gosh whoops accidentally - gathered over the past 25 years? As a visual artist my excuse is/was always that I need them for sculpture installations. This IS true. However, these precious textiles, glam dresses and exquisite bits and bobs are crying to be loved and worn. Now this splendor-in-the-grass green flapper gown you see here has the most beautiful 'respondez s'il vous plait' story as the two pieces just found each other, magically, after 20 years of solitude! The gold lace lame flapper was lovingly restored last year (thanks for the early onset reading glass) with delicate 20's lame thread purloined from a sad old scarf. And last spring along came a glowing 20's satin slip dress in mr. right green and the lovely yet lonely golden flapper realized this was it - time for some bubbles and limelight. So this is what the RSVP line is all about; the serendipity of unique pieces that create something new out of the old. I think maybe it could be called green dressing, envirofashion, wastenotstyle or maybe just recycling? Oh, but what irreverent glamour and total devotion to beauty!

For the Shrimpton Team,
RSVP

RSVP VIRTUAL TRUNK SHOW

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:16:00 PDT

Is now live!

ALL NEW ITEMS are now listed
Discounts now range from 10-25% off the entire line!!

Dita Does Vintage!

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 05:50:00 PDT

The lovely Dita Von Teese must be reading my blog and took note of my open letter to her a few months back because lately she is sporting vintage left right and center much to my delight! Now I do not have 100% confirmation that all these looks are vintage (maybe I will tweet her and she can tell us herself like the wonderful Rachel Zoe has done for me in the past), but they sure do look it. She also seems to be going back into full on glam mode these days which I love!

Enjoy and find inspiration to wear YOUR vintage frock today please!

top 2 & bottom 2 photos: Just Jared

Shrimpton & The Glamourai go to dinner with Jill

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:41:00 PDT

Ok not really (damnations) but Jill of the fab blog Stella's Roar did WEAR her brand new Glamourai Peruvian Patchwork neck piece out to dinner to great accolades!

Click here to read the full night's adventures for Jill though judging by the table alone in this bit of a pic I stole from her blog - the night looked to be a smashing success.

I love how you added the big cuff and that your dress picks up the pattern of the neckpiece You look stunning Jill!

oxoxoxoxox

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Update I posted the link to this entry on Twitter (click here to follow me) & thought I would share some of the comments from there since they are so lovely!

@aliciakan says: Gorgeous! The copper in @theglamourai necklace picks up similar shades in her hair.

@jennandthecity says: It looks great on her with that outfit and the cuff. Very nice.

@maryjanefrances says: wow! she looks amazing!

@hanako66 says: wow, she looks stunning!!!

Inspiration - Ellen Von Unwerth

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:44:00 PDT

July 2009 Italian Vogue
Milla Jovovich & Sasha Pivorarova

Bye Bye Ossie

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:39:00 PDT

Its Official the relaunched label Ossie Clark is closing its doors

A spokesperson for the company told WWD today
"Due to market conditions, developing the business has been challenging and the decision has been made to cease trading,"

I have to say that the collection never truly hit the mark for me - it lacked that extra bit of magic that seems to be infused in original Ossie Clark pieces. But it was not always a miss here are a few of my picks from the last collection - Fall/Winter 2009-10 .

Although I have to admit as I look the pictures over that they all look eerily like they came out of the archives. Maybe that is why I like em.

Ahh hell, just buy an original will you?

This week's Herald De Paris Column

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:04:00 PDT

Just went live!

Photo: Angela Y. Martin, AYM Photography
All rights reserved aymphotography.com

Click here to go see the behind the scenes scoop on a photo shoot that took place for Shrimpton Couture last weekend and watch for MORE behind the scenes shots later this week right here! If you have missed the earlier columns click here to see them all

Spotted - Elle Style Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:20:00 PDT

The Elle Style Awards where held in London and I have pulled a few of my fave looks for you.

Courtney Love attended wearing Givenchy spring 2009 couture - lucky girl.
It seems like Givenchy is rapidly becoming the new "darling" of the fashion set so to snag a look from the line is probably not easy for stylists.
I love this dress on her and I think she was the best dressed of the night

I also loved this dress on Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Emilia Fox wore a vintage look

Sienna Miller wore a Matthew Williamson dress paired with a Louis Vuitton jacket with feathered shoulders. Something about this does not work for me - I think its the tights

and I loved this look on Alex Chung - she is all legs!
It looks vintage too don't you think?
This girl has a terrific style

Beautiful Client Vintage Spot!

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:09:00 PDT

This is my most favorite type of post to do
a picture of a gorgeous client sporting her Shrimpton Couture find!
Check it out as the gorgeous Alicia dons her latest treasure
The Black Orchid Petal necklace by The Glamourai for the cameras.

I love how she paired the necklace with a crisp white shirt and kept everything else simple so the necklace makes a statement. It never hurts to be a stunner either.
You look amazing Alicia!

Alicia posted this for me on Twitter
and you can follow Alicia, The Glamourai and me as well there.
Come chat with us?
@shrimptoncoutur
@aliciakan
@theglamourai

PS Are you a Shrimpton Couture client?
Of course you are!
So why aren't you sending in YOUR picture for me to share?
Silly girls, don't be shy!

Histories

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:22:00 PDT

Hello there! My name is Alexandra Fallows and I'm one of the new guest bloggers here. I can most generally be found over at Musie, where I ramble on about art, photography, fashion, and whatever else happens to catch my fancy. Here I shall do my utmost to limit my vagaries to vintage clothes and things pertaining to them. Feel free to virtually slap my hand if I veer too far off-topic… I do tend to be a bit of a chatterbox.

Anyways, introduction done. On to content.

One of the things that draws me most strongly to vintage clothing are the stories contained within the clothing. I’m enchanted by the histories and personas that can be assumed simply by donning an item from a given era. You know the drill. The slightest hint of marabou and (in your head at least) you're simpering like the dizziest of starlets, menswear-inspired pantsuits make you imagine you can drawl like Katharine Hepburn, and perfectly-tailored Forties summer dresses turn you into an Italian grandmother.

No?

Works that way for me.

As a child, I spent countless secret hours poring over pictures of my step-grandmother I discovered while snooping through my stepfather's bureau. She appeared in many guises, but the two that stood out the most were the proud mother, clad in a pale summery dress, leading her chubby-kneed sons by the hands through the streets of postwar Rome, and the dreamy light-eyed girl in the white cotton dress leaning against the steps of her family's home in Venice. I would trace the lines of her face and her dresses with my fingers, dreaming life into the black and white images. It seemed an incredible task to reconcile the visions I saw here to the more familiar figure of the ageing matriarch, presiding with a mixture of lace ruffles and steel backbone over the world of her beloved sons. Eventually, features would emerge to prove to me that this was in fact the same woman—the unmistakable line of her flat nose, the particular shade of her lovely eyes, and most of all, her proper carriage and sense of decorum, evident even through these static images.

These pictures stayed with me, adding to the arsenal that makes up my mental idea of what it is to be Properly Dressed, in the primmest, most underscored, most delightfully old-fashioned sense of the word. By the time I knew her, Nonna Luisa possessed the fantastic style characteristic of elderly bourgeois Northern Italian women, but tracing her past and her development as a woman (always impeccably dressed and presented) allowed me a glimpse at what it was that defined the image she presented to the world. To this day, when I come across dresses of a certain cut, I am instantly projected to thoughts of a young Venetian woman living in Rome with her husband and three rambunctious boys, in the precarious period when Italy was picking itself back up and inspecting the extent of its wounds. I don’t know enough about her life to do more than romanticise it, but I do like to think I don a little bit of her grace and backbone when I put on something in her style.

Sadly, the pictures I talk about are all at home in Italy, and unless one of my family there can be prevailed upon to learn to operate a scanner properly, I fear they won’t see the light of day in these parts. This picture of this pretty dress shall have to suffice. While not precisely in Nonna Luisa's style, it conveys the same sense of grace and practicality that I got from her pictures. I think she would have approved.

Signing off for the Shrimpton team,

Yours in maunderings and mental wanderings,

Alexandra

Spotted - Rachel Zoe

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:38:00 PDT

Rachel Zoe wears Pucci to the Lia Sophia clam bake

Here she is with the beautiful Estella Warren too!

Bibs are Hot

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:30:00 PDT

This was posted on The Sartorialist this morning note the fabulous red floral bib necklace

This was just listed at Shrimpton Couture

And this is going to be listed in about 10 minutes from the posting of this post
(but it is now SOLD - sorry)

Notice that these are also fabulous bib necklaces AND they are constructed by The Glamourai exclusively for Shrimpton Couture and they are made from vintage pieces so are therefore even MORE fabulous!!

Bibs are not for babies anymore
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Click here to see all the new items at Shrimpton including these neckpieces

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:23:00 PDT

Huge update coming your way this week
check out the What's New page often!

Inspiration - Givenchy Haute Couture

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 06:58:00 PDT

This dress has a past

noreply@blogger.com (karenjeffery) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:49:00 PDT

I first met the dress in the 1960s, some 30 years after it was created. Hi my name is Karen and I want to tell you a story.
I was the poor starving New York artist living in a loft on the Bowery across from Hilly's which later became CBGB. I paid 27.50 a month for a 500 square feet studio(illegal to live in) and did my dishes in the shower. I just graduated from Hunter College studying with Marc Rothko, Robert Morris and Raymond Parker with a MFA in painting. I also got my first real job directing Leo Castelli Graphics where I meet artists that inspired me as a student, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein to name a few. I was both awe struck and intimidated and wondered why I got the job as I was in my early 20's from Maryland and thought that bagels were a breed of dog. I was expected to attend the gallery and museum openings and had nothing suitable to wear until I discovered Harriet Love's vintage store on West Broadway. In the store window was the Dress that stopped me made me spent my first pay check of $127.50 and turned me into a vintage addict for the rest of my life.

The Dress became my History. I wore her to the opening night of the Ansel Adams retrospective in the 70's, I danced the night away with my husband at a embassy party in Guatemala and later that night I knew that I was pregnant with my daughter Kate. The dress was retired for many years as we moved to Toronto to start family life in the 80's. . My husband asked me one day what I was going to do with all my vintage collection and that got me started.again. More collecting. exhibiting and meeting others with the same love. The dress was bought by another artist several years ago and is now waiting to start a new history at Shrimpton. I hope the young lady who buys her has the passionate adventures that I have in the forty years that I have known her.
For the Shrimpton Team,
Stories and vintage from life in the trenches
Karen Jeffery Collection

Guest Bloggers!

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:30:00 PDT

I am very excited to tell you that you will soon be seeing a variety of guest bloggers on the Shrimpton Blog! Each of my re-worked vintage designers will soon be popping in to share their inspiration and give us a behind the scenes look at how a piece gets to the site as well as sharing their inspirations and other stories with you. You will also see a post or two from some bloggers you already know who share my love for vintage (nope can't tell - you will know em when you see em). The Shrimpton Couture interns might pop in once in a while and I have talked my number one buyer, Karen, into sharing her stories with us all - she has been in the business for over 30 years and has had one of the most incredible lives that is an incredible mixture of vintage and art and I love that she will share it with us!

This has been in the works for a bit and one of my most favorite new projects!
I hope you all enjoy it as much as I know I will!

The Serpentine Party

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:10:00 PDT

There was some vintage appearances at the recent Serpentine Party as well as some pretty new frocks as well.
My faves!

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley paired a Topshop sequined bolero over a 1930s vintage dress.

Model Jade Parfitt wore this killer dress which I believe is from Top Shop

Natalia Vodianova looks stunning as usual

Erin O`Connor got fugged for wearing this Donna Karan Grecian inspired gown.
Which just goes to show how much those silly girls do not know

Jo Wood (pictured here with her daughter Leah) wore a vintage capelet and I had a moment of recognition when I realized its a pretty close match to the vintage remnant piece used in this RSVP gown

Yasmin Le Bon and Linda Evangelista both went for full black gowns

as did model Elle Macpherson

photo: vogue UK

Zandra Rhodes made an appearance - wearing Zandra Rhodes of course and looking like - well Zandra Rhodes of course

photo: vogue UK

and finally the beautiful Bianca Jagger made an appearance in the look she alone has made iconic - the white trouser suit. For you babies out there that just went huh?

Look and learn

Bianca Jagger 1972

On her wedding day in 1971 to Mick Jagger in a white custom designed suit by YSL

Congratulations Louise!

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:54:00 PDT

I am so pleased to finally be able to share a secret I have held for a while now. I recently launched an exclusive capsule collection of Louise Black pieces on Shrimpton Couture and knew she was headed for greatness and now that is confirmed!

Louise was announced today as one for the contestants on Project Runway Season 6!
The show debuts Aug 20th so I hope all the vintage lovers out there send her extra love and good wishes!

Click here to see her bio on Lifetime and click here to see the capsule collection she designed just for Shrimpton Couture!

Press! Got some Canadian Love Today

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:46:00 PDT

I was contacted by a lovely journalist a few weeks back - Suzanne Wexler - who asked for some background from a vintage perspective on the whole one shoulder trend! I almost jumped for joy - you all know my obsession with that look!

The story came out yesterday and I just received the link. I have copied it here for you all to see! Thank you so much Suzanne! You where fabulous to speak to!

_______________________________

Baring arms
By SUZANNE WEXLER, Special to The Gazette

Kate Winslet at the Academy Awards in February.
Photograph by: Kevork Djansezian, Getty Images

The one-armed Jane - Tarzan's gal pal - is coming on strong this summer on the runways, red carpets and Winners outlets near you.

And most fellas don't like it. After the initial "Huh?'' some eyes can re-regulate to the concept - depending.

"I really hated Kate's dress at first," said Access Hollywood commentator Steve Harding about Kate Winslet's Oscar gown, a one-armed blue-grey satin Atelier Yves Saint Laurent. Eventually, he liked the dress more and more - only after he saw other starlets wearing the same style, but worse. "Kate's was the best," he said, just after the Feb. 22 Oscar ceremony.

The asymmetrical trend even puzzled some female stylists at first. "I actually wasn't the biggest fan of asymmetrical," said Montreal's Cristina Acevedo, who dressed Creature Band for this year's Juno Awards and will be styling The Stars and Broken Social Scene for their coming albums.

"I found that (asymmetrical) didn't really give any one look - classic, beautiful or edgy."

Asymmetrical tops pull the eye in all sorts of directions, from the arm to the neck and up to the face, so all that extra effort had better point our gaze somewhere worthwhile. For edgy gals, it may lead our eyes to a flower or even a turban - which is what Kate Moss wore with her silver asymmetrical mini Marc Jacobs dress to a gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in May.

But ladies who can direct our eyes toward something symbolically large - like toward hope, to a baby, or a dashing new president - are the ones who've truly dazzled in asymmetrical in the last year.

Think of Michelle Obama at the Inaugural Ball in January with her white chiffon Jason Wu gown.

The new president's goofy smile said it all:

"How good looking is my wife?" a charmed Barack Obama asked the press that night. Like a moving statue - not a dinky trophy - the first lady's dignified drape swished as she danced. Her bold character, paired with that classical dress, made her the perfect embodiment of a Greek goddess.

Other memorable asymmetrical looks this year were worn by breast cancer survivor Christina Applegate at the Screen Actors Guild awards (in green) and Heidi Klum, who donned an off-the-shoulder disco silver mini dress, with a cape, to the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards in June. Her look was radiant, especially with her enormous pregnant belly.

Who looked the worst? Most would agree that Heather Graham looked ridiculous at the premiere of The Hangover in June, with the outlines of her nipples visible through a shapeless bright blue asymmetrical dress by Michelle Jonas, and a peace sign dangling around her neck.

In her book Seeing Through Clothes, art and costume historian Anne Hollander explains the significance of asymmetrical dress in paintings.

Prior to the 15th century, she says, asymmetrical dresses were worn by the suckling Mother of Christ or the fighting all-female Amazon warriors of ancient Greece. (Amazons, rumoured to have pinched off one breast for ease of combat, were always depicted in painting and sculpture with two full breasts, one that was showing and the other still covered.)

These images usually came with partial nudity - as in, the fabric slung so low that a naked breast was revealed. The woman appeared to be in motion and pre-occupied with a greater cause, which denoted "unselfconscious movement," Hollander writes, helping to conceal any erotic connotations of the breast.

However, dishevelled frocks and exposed flesh eventually took on more heated connotations, including an "emotional disarray," signalling that "unsettling events were under way," Hollander says.

Even though the asymmetrical look has been worn often through the years (think Jennifer Beals in the 1980s movie Flashdance), those who wore it before were often powerful muses - an important point to keep in mind before throwing one on.

In the modern age, the trend seems to have resurfaced from the disco dancing '70s era with designer Roy Halston.

Halston, who brought the one-armed jungle dress look and Grecian glamour gown together, boasted cocktail dresses with asymmetrical tops and skirts that swirled as you twirled. His designs were popular with Bianca Jagger and Elizabeth Taylor.

"Five years ago, you couldn't sell a one-shoulder dress if you tried," said Cherie Federau, an avid Halston collector and owner of www.ShrimptonCouture.com, a full e-commerce vintage site based outside of Toronto.

But, she says, ever since stylist Rachel Zoe and Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon were spotted everywhere in vintage Halstons - only to relaunch the label last year - the one-shoulder look was everywhere.

"Now a high-end vintage original can be $1,200 to $2,500," Federau says. Her clients include Courtney Love Cobain and the Boston Museum of Art, which just purchased a dress for their permanent collection.

Federau explains how asymmetrical Halstons won over her heart:

"The pieces actually change when they're worn on the body," she says. "They tend to be very fluid and loose and really capture the feel of the '70s - freedom, glamour, and women coming into their own after the constraints of the past era."

Another relaunched vintage brand that Federau says is doing great is Hervé Léger, which is designed by BCBG's Max Azria and his wife, Lubov.

In 2008 the couple re-launched Léger line, which was famous in the '80s and '90s for Egyptian-inspired mummy snug bandage dresses.

Azria's Hervé Léger numbers are more casual and form fitting than many of the draping goddess gowns he designs for his other labels, BCBG and Max Azria (though also more expensive). As such, they tend to attract the exercise queens of the world - probably because they're the only women who can wear them.

In fact, just a few weeks before her blue gown blunder, busty glamazon Heather Graham gleamed in a golden one-shoulder Léger at a Vegas magazine event in May. She appeared like a perfectly shiny trophy gal and a must to Vegas's wild nightlife. Her look inspired thoughts of vodka tonics and slot machines. The glitzy asymmetrical number suited her much more.

We go looloo for our LuLu Award!

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:21:00 PDT

I cannot believe I have not posted this yet but I am just proud as proud can be that Shrimpton Couture has won a spot on Lulu's Vintage Top 10 Award for the second year running AND we also landed a spot as People Choice Award as well!

Huge thanks to all the people who make Shrimpton possible:
my beautiful buyers, all of the hugely talented designers who allow me to highlight their fabulous reworked designs, my fantastic web guy and of course my terrific interns!

The fellow sellers in both categories are all exceptional dealers so I am especially proud!
Congratulations to all of you as well!

Rachel Zoe's Photo Shoot!

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:48:00 PDT

Rachel is posting pictures form her photos shoot on her twitter stream so I thought I would share them with you - its an instant behind the scenes look!
And she is wearing vintage so how can I not?

She tweets:
Behind the scenes look at my website photoshoot—shot by the insanely talented Andrew Durham. I'm wearing a YSL jumpsuit, Chanel gloves, and hat (all vintage) with a Hermes cuff and YSL boots. playing dress up :)

Looks like the jumpsuit trend is still going strong for Rachel!

Better Rachel Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:20:00 PDT

I posted a picture of Rachel Zoe in a Kamali vintage jumpsuit a bit ago, and just found these pictures that show it better so thought I would post them

Chanel

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:53:00 PDT

I am not 100% sure what has inspired Karl Lagerfeld behind the scenes but the clothes he is creating at the moment are stupendous. I am just gutted that these are couture as my little hand will most likely not acquire one unless I luck out in 50 years when they are vintage.

I haev pulled some of my personal favourites for you.
Not only enjoy these but marvel at them

Celebrity Vintage Spot - Emma Watson

noreply@blogger.com (Shrimpton Couture) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:48:00 PDT

Emma Watson wore this FANTASTIC Ossie Clark dress to the world premiere of 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' held at the Odeon Leicester Square on July 7, 2009 in London, England

I MIGHT just have TWO of these tucked away in a different pattern uh huh
be nice to me and maybe one day I will post em