More age-old perfection from Vintage Textiles

I posted about this almost a year ago. Again I was wandering around the interwebs, and again found myself captured by this site that sells historical vintage clothing from the early 1800s onward. And I still bemoan the fact that they just don't make clothes this fine anymore, or if they do, it comes at an abominable cost.

Looking at the attention to detail and painstaking execution of the most extraordinary embellishments, it becomes clear that this exquisite sort of dressmaking is a lost art...I am reminded of pyramids, of hanging gardens, of great walls and stories my mother told me about old kungfu masters who would withhold one or two secrets from their proteges, as a kind of insurance, should that protege ever decide to try to kill his master.  Eventually, so many secrets were buried that the whole body of knowledge was diluted forever.

At least I can marvel at these relics of the past and just imagine the hands that made them and the impossibly elegant women who wore them.  

All images taken from the Vintage Textile website, where you can purchase pieces for a pretty penny ($1200 and up).  Well worth it if you have that kind of money.
9 responses
Wow! The quality and detail in the clothing is very apparent in the pictures. Very beautiful.
Love the intricate lace pieces!
These are glorious pieces!
yes the lace is amazing... I think my favorite out of all of them though, are the blue gloves with orange graphic accenting. It's so chic and modern! Then maybe the Fortuny hand-dyed caftan (pictures 59 - 62). It makes me sad that no one can replicate the intricate pleating on the Fortuny delphos gowns...the secret died with Mariano Fortuny himself.

http://www.fortuny.com/

I am a lot older than you and I totally remember the resurgence of the "fortuny" pleating with the '70's designer Mary McFadden - http://www.violetvillevintage.com/items/k103.html
@Robyn Thanks for the link... interesting take, but I think I like the original Fortuny gowns much better, maybe because they are simpler/less fussy.
I have to agree with you on that - the Fortuny pleating was much more delicate...
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