Tag: 1980s

Auction alert: Passion for Fashion

Beaded black chiffon flapper dress, circa 1926

I have a passion for vintage fashion, so the Passion for Fashion sale at Kerry Taylor Auctions is always a highlight of the year. This one takes place on Tuesday 7th December 2021 from 1pm. There are 265 lots of quality apparel from around the world, dating from the mid-1800s through to the 21st century.

Many of the lots are museum quality, for both craftsmanship and provenance. There’s such exquisite workmanship in the beading, braiding, sequins and embroidery in many of the pieces. There are hundreds of man hours in there! The are a few of the dresses that I think would make spectacular wedding dresses and despite the fact that they’re ‘couture’, they’d probably be less pricey than one from a bridal shop today.

Buyer’s premium is 25% (ex. VAT). If bidding live via Invaluable, the buyer’s premium is as follows: £0 – 49,999: 28% / £50,000+: 23%

Ivory chiffon couture dinner dress, attributed to Gabrielle Chanel

Lot 54: An ivory chiffon couture dinner dress, attributed to Gabrielle Chanel, circa 1925
With simple V-neck, with double layered chiffon sash-like waistband with ties to one side, the tiered skirt with asymmetric point to one side, the whole finished with picot edging, the back with floating panel with centre-split, bust 102cm, 40in.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a similar chiffon Chanel dress with floating back panel and waist sash with side ties. Their dress is labelled in the slip which is missing from this example, see accession Number: 1995.468.1a–c
Estimate: £1,500 – £2,500

Beaded black chiffon flapper dress, circa 1926

Lot 61: A beaded black chiffon flapper dress, circa 1926
With stylised floral motif to waistband, embellished with cut beads in shades of silver, spangled with sequins, bust approx 86-92cm, 34-36in, waist 92cm, 36in; together with a later-made associated slip; together with two lengths of devoré velvet and floral chiffon, probably 1920s-30s (4)
Estimate: £200 – £300

Paul Poiret purple sequinned evening dress, 1928

Lot 64: A fine and rare Paul Poiret purple sequinned evening dress, 1928
Large woven satin Paul Poiret à Paris label with Iribe rose, the purple chiffon ground applied with a shimmer of sequins to the bodice, the V-neck edged in seed pearls and silver bugle beads, revealing pink satin petticoat, the pink cotton overlaid with purple and silver lace, the dropped waistline defined by demi-lunes filled with brilliants, silver ovoid, seed pearl beads and glass bugles, the skirt formed from gladiator-like similarly-worked sequinned floating panels interspersed with chiffon godets to produce an irregular handkerchief hem, the integral black chiffon underskirt with sequinned gold to purple dégradé sequinned bands which are visible through the chiffon over-skirt, bust 97cm, 38in; with matching chiffon stole (3)

Exhibited at the Melbourne Art Festival ‘L’Époque d’Élégance’, 1991. The Sandy Schreier Collection
Estimate: £6,000 – £10,000

Mainbocher couture ivory satin court presentation gown, early 1930s

Lot 68: A Mainbocher couture ivory satin court presentation gown, early 1930s
Labelled, with handwritten bolduc: ‘232 Kiefe 33 69-388’, the belt to front waist with decorative oversized metal buckle inset with cut brilliants, integral silk petticoat with knife-pleated hem; together with a pair of ivory leather opera-length gloves and Ostrich feather fan (4)

Provenance: Margaret ‘Peggy’ Winifred Fass. Peggy was presented at court twice: first as a debutante in the late 1920s, and then c.1931 as a married woman – ‘Mrs Logan’, when she wore this gown for the occasion. Her father was Sir Ernest Fass, who at the time of his daughter’s wedding was financial advisor to the Sudanese government. He was knighted for his services to the British government and had a very distinguished career, which culminated in his appointment as Public Trustee.
Estimate: £400 – £600

Audrey Hepburn's Givenchy couture white point d'esprit ball gown worn in the opera scene of 'Love in the Afternoon', 1956

Lot 79: Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy couture white point d’esprit ball gown worn in the opera scene of ‘Love in the Afternoon‘, 1956
Paris labelled but not numbered, the boned, fitted bodice lined in rayon, the bodice and skirt completely overlaid with double-layer of white tulle, the upper bodice edged with scalloped lace embroidered in silver thread with vermicular trails and florets centred with turquoise, silver tinsel strip florets with clear and turquoise rhinestone brilliants overall, full skirt, three integral tulle petticoats, the two upper layers of organza underskirts, bust approx.76cm, 30in, waist 52cm, 20 1/2in; together with a photograph of Audrey with the dress; together with a letter of authenticity from the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund, signed by Sean Ferrer, 12.01.2009 (3)

Provenance: Formerly in the collection of Tanja Star-Busmann.
Tanja and Audrey were friends from childhood. Whenever commissioning gowns from Hubert de Givenchy, Audrey always requested he made extra-large seam returns so that she could pass the dresses on to others. Having been brought up with the privations and shortages of WWII, she held a ‘waste not, want not’ attitude that she retained throughout her life.

Audrey gifted this dress when Tanja gave birth to her daughter in 1958. It arrived in a large cardboard box with a note attached from Audrey, stating that she thought it might remind Tanja what it was like to have a waistline again. In 1961 Tanja lent the gown to her then nanny who wore it and adapted it, removing most of the lace trim, removing the bow from the front and making three smaller bows on the back to help conceal the panel that had been inserted to make it larger. These later alterations have been painstakingly reversed and the dress is now returned to its original size and shape.

It is extremely rare to find a screen-worn Audrey Hepburn garment – doubly so when the piece is also haute couture, designed by her close friend Hubert de Givenchy.
Audrey wears this gown in the Opera Scene of ‘Love in the Afternoon’. She plays the role of ingenue Ariane who captures the heart of a libertine American playboy played by Gary Cooper (who at the time was old enough to be Audrey’s father). Renowned French cinema veteran Maurice Chevalier plays the role of Ariane’s protective father, whose profession is a private detective, specialising in adulterous affairs. The film was directed by Billy Wilder and released in 1957. It is a light-hearted romance with an unlikely plot – and Audrey, with clipped English vowels, seemingly an unlikely daughter to French Maurice Chevalier. However, Audrey’s performance, her beauty and Givenchy’s fashions light up every scene in which she appears.
Estimate: £30,000 – £50,000

Felisa Irigoyen couture embellished cocktail dress, 1968-69

Lot 89: A Felisa Irigoyen couture embellished cocktail dress, 1968-69
Unlabelled, the ivory wool crêpe shift entirely covered with coiling bands of pearlised, domed discs, centred by rhinestones, and infilled with silver sequins, seed and faceted beads, leaf and floret shaped pearlised paillettes, lined in ivory silk, bust 86cm, 34in

Felisa Irigoyen worked as an embroideress for Cristobal Balenciaga in his Eisa couture ateliers in Spain. She was responsible for all the major embroidery including bridal gowns for Queen Fabiola of Belgium and Carmen Martinez Bordiú (the daughter of General Franco). After Balenciaga retired in 1968 she joined forces with Jose-Luis Molina Zumel, a famous Spanish fur designer, whose wife had been a major Balenciaga client under the company name ‘Felicia-Jose Luis’. They produced Balenciaga-inspired designs or near-identical Balenciaga copies, catering for a mainly Spanish clientèle, who had felt bereft at the loss of ‘the Master’.
Estimate: £800 – £1,200

Rare pair of Biba two-tone suede wedge-heeled shoes, 1970s

Lot 125: A rare pair of Biba two-tone suede wedge-heeled shoes, 1970s
Faintly stamped to interior, together with a pair of Biba blue cotton-twill knee-high boots and three pairs of shoes with ankle straps, 1970s, stamped to interiors, various sizes (qty)
Estimate: £200 – £300

Rei Kawakubo/ Comme des Garçons 2D collection ensemble, Autumn-Winter 2012-13

Lot 241: A Rei Kawakubo/ Comme des Garçons 2D collection ensemble, Autumn-Winter 2012-13
labelled and size S, the red felted wool ‘cloud’ top with matching angular shorts, size M (2)

The Sandy Schreier Collection
Estimate: £500 – £800

Designer Desire: Roger Hargreaves

Montage of Roger Hargreaves Mr Men and Little Miss illustrations | H is for Home

Roger Hargreaves (1935-1988) is Britain’s third best-selling author of all time, having sold in excess of 100 million books. He is the man responsible for entertaining generations of children with his Mr Men and Little Misses books.

You can find Roger Hargreaves’ author page on Amazon here. In addition, we have some original vintage books for sale in our shop.

The first 43 of 84 Misters and Misses books were drawn by Roger and the subsequent ones were created by his son, Adam.

Portraits of Adam and Roger Hargreavescredit

Adam (b. 1963) explains:

It was a good 10 years after his death before I wrote one of my own Mr Men books because I always saw it as his thing… (I’m) principally trying to follow what my father did as closely as possible… My dad’s style of drawing changed enormously and I started drawing the characters in the way that he was doing it at the time of his death. But now my own hand has taken charge.

It was actually Adam who was the initial inspiration for Roger’s first ever Mr Men book, ‘Mr Tickle’. In 1971, when he was eight-years old, Adam asked his father what a tickle looked like. Roger spontaneously drew the first version of what would become the renowned cartoon character; a small, round orange man with extraordinarily long arms that could reach out anywhere to tickle people. He soon followed this up with Mr Greedy, Mr Happy, Mr Nosey, Mr Sneeze and Mr Bump.

The books have been reproduced in many other languages, and their titles often make me smile; Mr Bump is Herr Dumpidump in German and Mr Greedy is M. Glouton in French.

If you fancy a trip down memory lane, I found a play-list on YouTube that includes all the episodes in the Mr Men television series.

Designer Desire: Wolf Karnagel

Mosaic of Wolf Karnagel designs | H is for Home

The most well-known designs by Wolf Karnagel (b. 1940) are ones he produced for German companies, Lufthansa and Rosenthal.

In the 1980s, he designed around 120 food service items for the airline. From cutlery, cups & saucers, tea & coffee services, drinking glasses, condiment sachets and napkins to the trays it was all served upon.

Latterly, he has produced award-winning designs for KPM Berlin and Kahla. Functional and tactile, his designs are influenced by Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus movement.

Examples of his work are regularly available on Etsy and eBay.

Wolf Karnagelcredit

What’s your era?

'What's your era?' blog post banner

Eclectic sitting roomcredit

Just as it is with music and fashion, there’s no abrupt beginning and end to style in interiors at the start of a new decade. There’s always an overlapping and evolution in design and décor through the decade. The seventies is the perfect example – nature, flowers & flares in the first half of the decade, punk rock and hard-edged technology in the latter years. People don’t just throw out their furniture, pull up the carpets, paint over the wallpaper… it’s a gradual, almost imperceptible, change. Decades drift into one another other. Saying that, we’ve tried to give an essence of what each decade – the 1950s to the present day – looks like. Do you love the groovy 60s… the Scandi-inspired 90s? What’s your era?

1950s

Original 1950s sitting roomcredit

The 1950s was an exciting and creative decade with a new wave of optimism after the harsh war years. Designers could express themselves once more after rationing and glut of utilitarian products. The Mid Century Modern look was born with atomic & Sputnik styling drawing on influences from the new scientific discoveries flourishing around this era and mankind’s first ventures into space. The Festival of Britain in 1952 was a major landmark event for interiors – furniture, textiles, wallpaper and lighting all took an exciting new direction. Clean lines, bold shapes, bright colours and exciting new patterns captured the mood. Materials such as teak appeared for mass market products. Striking shades of red, yellow and blue also came to the fore.

1960s

original 1960s sitting roomcredit

The 1960s was a decade of flower power, psychedelia, peace and love. There was sexual freedom and explosion of youth culture. It was also a time of protest marches and rebellion at the established order. Space age styling really came to its peak with the space race and moon landings being a great influence. Interior designers were fascinated with the use of new processes and materials to produce exciting new versions of familiar objects – moulded plastic and inflatable chairs being perfect examples. Colour restrictions seemed to completely vanish.

1970s

original 1970s sitting roomcredit

The disco decade saw spage age influences fall away and a return to nature & self sufficiency – lots of florals, browns, beige, mossy greens and avocado – who can forget the classic coloured bathroom suites from the era! Flashes of brighter orange & yellow were used to lift these neutral schemes. There was extensive use of wood panelling, shag pile carpets, cork and hessian. Bohemian lifestyle, Biba, op art, pop art, glam rock were major influences in the first half of the decade. Later years saw the influence of punk styling and new technology – digital watches and early computer graphics, for example.

1980s

1980s study roomcredit

New wave styling continued into the 1980s. The previous decade had seen economic troubles and hardship – and these certainly continued for manufacturing industry… but the eighties is remembered as a time for new money, the city and consumerism. Home computers and mobile phones began to appear. Interiors were influenced by this rise of new technology and the fashion for power dressing perhaps. Memphis design was very influential – lots of hard edges, strong lines, zig-zags, hatching and bold colours. Stencilling, rag rolling, horizontal decorative wallpaper borders were other notable trends – and black ash furniture was everywhere! Dominant decorating shades were black, grey, pink, pastel & primary colours.

1990s

1990s IKEA interiorcredit

IKEA opened its first outlet in the UK in the late 1980s but it was in the 90s that it really began to proliferate. It’s largely responsible for this country’s ongoing love affair with Scandi cool. Its affordable flatpack furniture was a huge success – blond wood, cream & white were all the rage. It was also the era of programmes such as Changing Rooms and Home Front which really got the UK population dedicating time, money and energy to their homes… and really going DIY mad!

2000s

Vintage industrial factory conversioncredit

The clean lines and unfussy styling of the late nineties continued into this decade. The industrial styling of warehouse conversions seeped into general home décor. White and pale neutrals were the predominant colour scheme with flashes of bolder colour or pattern on feature walls.

present

Bedroom with black painted walls and brass accessoriescredit

For what will this decade be remembered? We may be biased, but we think it will be eclectic vintage – a style we love. There’s a mix of eras within one space – contemporary pieces are freely mixed with antiques. There are still strong industrial influences on home, shop and restaurant décor still, but the look has been softened somewhat. There’s a desire to make interiors individual with foraged objects, personalised homewares from indie makers and unique market finds. Dramatic dark greys are the most notable current colour scheme.

[disclosure*]