• beauty,  fashion,  style,  vintage

    Vintage Love at the Oscars

    I used to sit through the entire Academy Awards, from the red-carpet arrivals through the last acceptance speech. Then one year I thought, Who am I kidding? I only care about the clothes. Now, I skip the awards show itself and head straight for the press and the post-show fashion wrap-ups. There are usually a few outstanding vintage gowns on the red carpet. This year, Ann Hathaway’s ruby-colored Valentino got a lot of attention, but since it was from 2002, I’m not sure it really qualifies as vintage. She called it “archival.” Whatever it’s called, it’s gorgeous. Marisa Tomei wore true vintage, showing up in 1950’s Charles James couture. She’s…

  • art,  beauty,  design,  fashion,  nerdiness,  vintage

    Four Centuries of Fashion

    I’ve been doing a lot of research on vintage fashion for a novel I’m working on. I recently came across a treasure trove of information on the website of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Perusing the photos of garments from the 1600’s through today is like taking a walk through time–albiet in a corset and sometimes painful shoes, but always looking fantastic. Here are a few of my favorite ensembles from the Met’s archives. All photos are from the Costume Institute’s website.