DRESScapade™ Episode 2: 55,000 Dresses

 

In May of 2014 I visited a warehouse in Gardena, CA full of fashion treasures. If you have followed this blog you may remember my experience, if not you can read it HERE

I started as a shopper and now am the curator of this collection for sale. I shared my experiences and how I got involved in this collection in DRESScpade™ Episode 2!

Or follow the link HERE

You can shop a curated selection from this collection at www.evolution-vintage.com

ENJOY!!!!

DRESScapade™

 

It's been a while since I have engaged with this digital space. Since my last post so much has happened; A global pandemic, an election cycle, I've produced another holiday card, curating dresses for the 55,000 Dresses collection and so much more.

I have started a YOUTUBE Channel and web series called DRESScapade™ ----> Episode 3 will drop this weekend and every Saturday for the remainder of the year!

Enjoy the trailer below.

For those of you who are new to this space or returning after my long absence Thank you for being here! I am Lisa Graystone, Sustainable Wardrobe Stylist and your guide on this DRESScapade™. A dress escapade and fashion adventure that will travel through fashion history, style sustainability, address inclusivity in the fashion industry, wardrobe styling tips, designer profiles, costuming and re-styling pieces of fashions past to creatively keep them in your closet and out of the landfill. I have spent over 10 years in the Vintage re-sale and wardrobe styling industry and have been a student of fashion my entire life. I care about our environment and the impact the fast fashion industry has on it. I want to help you make a wardrobe shift into creative and compassionate consumption. You can dress authentically, "follow trends" AND be kind to mother earth. I am currently curating the 55,000 dress collection for sale and pieces from the collection will be a frequent feature on this DRESScapade™. Some of the items featured will also be available for purchase!

You Ready?

Designer Profile: Jack Horwitz

"Born in London, UK, 1 January 1892, Jacob Horwitz immigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was a child. After graduating in 1910 he opened a grocery with a friend in Manhattan. As a member of the National Guard, he was called into service in 1916 to quell Pancho Villa along the Mexican border, but by the time he had returned the grocery business had gone bankrupt. After returning from serving in the U.S. army during World War I, Horwitz went into business again with a partner, this time making shirtwaists (blouses) and shirtwaist dresses. By 1925 they had formed the company Horwitz and Duberman.

Image of the designer and his signature from a 1951 Pattern Package.

In the 1930s, Horwitz became a pioneer in the field of Junior wear (along with department store owner Irving Sorger and French designer Jacques Heim). Until the 1930s teenagers and collegiate aged girls adjusted ready-made adult-sized dresses to fit their smaller frames, but Junior sized clothing was designed in youthful styles specifically for the smaller framed, shorter-waisted younger woman. Horwitz, who considered himself a manufacturer and stylist, not a designer, hired young women to design the clothes. His first label ‘Judy ‘n Jill’, which was in business from the late 1930s to the late 1950s, was carried by stores across the U.S. Another line he launched in 1939 was branded ‘Deanna Durbin’, after the popular teenage singing actress.

New York Times

Horwitz was awarded the Coty Award in 1947 for his role in creating the Junior market.  In the early 1950s Horwitz bought out his partner Duberman, and the company became known as Jack Horwitz Associates. He retired from his own company by 1960, and died in 1992 at the age of 100." - Source: Fashion's Hall of Obscurity.

 The designer Shannon Rodgers worked as a designer for this fashion house, the labels feature "From the Jack Horwitz Custom Collection by Shannon Rodgers.

I have a dress available that I have curated from the 55,000 Dresses Collection.

1950's Jack Horwitz / Shannon Rodgers evening dress. A floral print fabric adorned with gold metallic threading with an overlay of black mesh, it gives the illusion of fish net stockings. The skirt is full and shown with a petticoat (not included)A sexy deep V in the back with a double bow detail, metal zipper and spaghetti straps complete the design.

B = 36"

W = 29"

H = open

L = 48" from top of straps to hem

*Tip: Die to the semi-sheer nature of the floral fabric, add a colored slip and/or petticoat to change the look of the dress to re-style it in a different way.

Jack Horwitz Associated Inc. was active in the 1950s. The designer Shannon Rodgers worked as a designer for this fashion house, the labels feature "From the Jack Horwitz Custom Collection by Shannon Rodgers"

*Dry Cleaned

*Complimentary US Shipping

$180

Click to SHOP

Johnathan Logan: 1950's Winter Garden

Image from SweetBeeFinds - She has a similar dress from the same collection in Blue.

There are so many special dresses in the 55,000 dresses collection. I am so excited to be able to feature some amazing fashion treasures! Curating this collection has been an incredible experience! We are selling the collection in it's entirety (Inquire HERE) but in the meantime you have the special opportunity to offer pieces of Mr. Brockmann's story to you, one dress at a time.

Today's Featured Piece: 

 Johnathan Logan Winter Garden Floral frock now available from The 55,000 Dresses Collection.

Vintage Johnathan Logan 1950's Fit and Flare Day Dress. The Print is a dark purple, plum and magenta which I am calling "Winter Garden". The Dress is a polished cotton with a metal back zipper and back bow detail. A gathered waist, 3/4 sleeves and a full skirt complete the design. 

Measurements 

Bust: 36"

Waist: 28"

Hip: Open"

Length:  42"

Sleeve Length = 15.5" X 7" (at bicep. Measured flat - 14" circumference)

 $230 USD

*Complimentary Shipping in the USA

*Dry Cleaned and Ready to Wear

SHOP

Bubble Beautiful

Moire Bubble Dress - 80's Christian Lacroix

The bubble skirt or dress is something many of us associate with the 1980's. The dress was seen over and over in mini and midi lengths as well as skirts of the decade.

Shop Vintage 80's Bubble Dress - $48

The bubble dress, however originated in the late 1950's. This was a popular silhouette in 1957/58.

DIOR

Many designers in the 1980's drew inspiration from the 1950's with many shapes and details of the time.

It was interesting to compare 2 sewing patters from exactly 30 years apart. The 80's lost their straps but the bubbles were still as beautiful as the 1950's.

1987

1957

Shop this 1950's Floral Bubble Dress - $150

As I always say, Fashions past is always present! The bubble is BACK for Spring 2018!

ERDEM 2018

Mary Katrantzou 2018

Bubble Beautiful! 

Which decade do you prefer?

55,000 DRESScue Mission: So it begins

Back in 2014 I met dress collector Paul Brockman in his Gardena warehouse that at the time held approximately 22,000 of his reported 55,000 dress collection. Red my blog HERE from my initial visit. With the passage of time I always wondered what ever happened to Paul and his collection. I reached out to him and his daughter in March of 2017 to check the status of the collection and see if I could help.

I visited with a proposal to help liquidate the dresses and approach this mammoth project in a new way. 

Fast forward to last weekend. Myself, Paul's daughter Louise and 2 hired guys moved 495 bags of vintage dresses into a sorting facility. This is the contents of container 1 of 4!! We cannot liquidate what we don't know is there so we are sorting by era/color for now. Everything is for sale!

6am - 495 Bags

Time lapse of unpacking the second truck ..

Of course we unearthed some amazing treasures. 

 1980's Polka Dot Dress - $48

80's Polka Black and Dot Dress - $45

1950's Cherry Print Dress - $85

1960's Floral Maxi - $68

Shop a curated selection from the collection via Evolution Vintage with more to come daily.

Let the DRESScue mission begin .... 

Are you a dealer who wants to shop in bulk? or a vintage fan ready to fill bags to the brim for a great price? email me for an appointment.

Evening Ruffle: Then & Now

Fashion is constantly changing and evolving. Sometimes it goes to an extreme one season and paired down the next. It also varies from era to era with traces of fashion's past always present in today's collections.

1980's

This is how an evening ruffle was done in the 80's - nothing at all understated, major volume, extreme ruffle layers. Nothing was really understated about the 80's, big hair, bold colors and volume/embellished evening wear.

Shop this 1980's 'Bonny Fashion' Gown HERE $150

2018

With the spaghetti straps gone, the ruffle is minimized for cocktail hour with this Badgley Mischka dress

SHOP - $670

So what's your evening ruffle style? EXTREME 80's or Understated 2018?

Mime Your Own Business

As a stylist, clothing and accessories inspire me. To me they are stand alone story tellers. When I came across this gown from the 55,000 Dress Collection I immediately started dreaming. I dreampt of Vintage Paris and Mime's. The Mime; a person who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer would typically be referred to as a mummer. Miming is to be distinguished from silent comedy, in which the artist is a seamless character in a film or sketch.

Mime artists Jean Soubeyran and Brigitte Soubeyran in 1950

The performance of mime originates at its earliest in Ancient Greece; the name is taken from a single masked dancer called Pantomimus, although performances were not necessarily silent. In Medieval Europe, early forms of mime such as mummer plays and later dumbshows evolved. In early nineteenth century Paris, Jean-Gaspard Deburau solidified the many attributes that have come to be known in modern times—the silent figure in whiteface." - Wiki 

I have a son who is "non-verbal" and other forms of communication fascinate me. I also love how powerful and underrated silence is. I loved the idea of a glamorous Mime, not just as a Halloween costume but beyond that. I took a series of images to tell a story through the eyes of a millennial mime in an extreme fashion setting. As always I mixed Vintage with contemporary pieces, high and low price points. 

Vintage ruffle gown (SHOP)

Red "Gelsey" Flat in Poison (Available in Black HERE & White HERE)

Vintage Gold Pyramid Necklace with Tassels (Evolution Vintage)

Vintage Men's Satin Bow Tie (Evolution Vintage)

*Available for sale upon request*

Vintage Red Tribal Bracelet (SHOP)

Vintage Black & White Gown (55,000 Dresses)

Vintage Tiger Ring (SHOP)

Vintage Earrings (Evolution Vintage)

Vintage Black Strapless Shaper (Evolution Vintage)

Top Hat (Stylist Prop - NFS)

Red Lace Robe (55,000 Dresses)

*Available for sale upon request*

 Vintage Bowler Hat (Evolution Vintage)

Vintage 80's Fingerless Gloves (Evolution Vintage)

Vintage Black Satin Skirt (55,000 Dresses)

Vintage Sequin Tube Top (Evolution Vintage)

*All items available for sale upon request*

Blue Satin Shoes - SJP Collection (Lousie Sandal)

Imagination is your only limit to your own creativity and style, the rest is up to you. As for everyone else, the critics, haters and everyone in between, they can mime their own business! 

Lisa

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