The Best of Wiener Werkstätte

One of my favorite parts of running a vintage clothing shop is researching the historical facts and dating the pieces I am selling, and always come upon designers of the past and their garments. So  when when I first discovered Wiener Werkstätte my eyes lit up - I thought flamboyant, stylish, exquisite and beautiful dress making.

Founded in 1903, Wiener Werkstätte, translates to “Vienna Workshops,” started by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser was one of the longest-lived design movements of the twentieth century and a key organization for the development of modernism. Centered in the Austrian capital the primary goal of the company was to bring good design and craft into all areas of life within the fields of ceramics, fashion, silver, furniture, and the graphic arts.

Ankle-length coat with hood

Fashion and textiles became one of the most lucrative parts of the Wiener Werkstätte, influencing the dress of stylish Viennese women and artists and designers abroad catered mostly to women and employed two clothing designers and some 80 artists and craftsmen to design textiles, lace, needlework, hats, bags and other fashion accessories.

Lady in a shirred on the sides reform dress with hood

Silk Dress, 1924 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Wiener Werkstätte 1903-1932: The Luxury of Beauty exhibition on view at the
Neue Galerie New York Museum for German and Austrian Art
from October 26, 2017 through January 29, 2018

 Printed silk wool grosgrain Wiener Werkstätte dress shoes
 (from the collection of Wein Museum)

A very wide coat and turban - Photographed by Madame d'ora

Flashback Tyra

Model Tyra Banks posing in Louis Feraud designs and photographed by Bruno Bisang for

 L’Officiel France 'Tout En Blanc' Editorial - March 1994

In this spread she's glowing and just looks absolutely stunning and to me will always have the most memorable face from the 1990's.

 

Fashionable Arms: Sleeve Styles

I love what sleeves can do to an entire outfit; the uniqueness and individuality some sleeve design can make the most simple dress very unique and beautiful; unusual in a good way.  I'm so amazed how designers back then put so much creativity and thought when designing the styles of sleeves and where quick to draw attention to any piece of garment.

Elsa Schiaparelli's organdy blouse with voluminous sleeves, 1950's

Balenciaga referred to the sleeves of this 1950's coat as the melon sleeve; falling from a dropped shoulder in folds like the skin of a shar-pei puppy

Model Sunny Harnett wearing large sleeve blouse, 1951

Bettina is wearing an ensemble by Jeanne Lanvin, Paris, 1951               

Model Gigi wearing Jeanne Lanvin 1951, Photo Henry Clarke

1970's Ossie Clarke Design

Dress embroidered in flowers with plisse frills on the sleeves by Valentino,Vogue 1968

Givenchy’s “Bettina Blouse” February 1952

Halston: The Designer and His Hats

Halston got his fashion start as a milliner and it was his pillbox hat that Jacqueline Bouier Kennedy wore for her husband's inauguration in 1961, designed while he as at Bergdorf Goodman.  While in charge of the Bergdorf Goodman custom millinery salon, Halston designed some of the most ornate hats ever to grace a magazine cover.

Marisa Berenson modeling tie-died hat by Halston

Halston crowned the great Carol Channing in 1964

Model Marisa Berenson wearing hat by Halston - Vogue,August, 1967

Italian star Virna Lisi finds it hard to choose the one she really wants, May 1964

Designer Moment: Guy Laroche

Guy Laroche (1923-1989) began as a milliner, first working in Paris, then in New York. He returned to Paris in 1949 and worked as an assistant at Jean Desses for about eight years. In 1957, he opened his own couture house, with the first show being staged in his own apartment. In 1960 he added a ready-to-wear boutique label. Laroche was known as a masterful cutter and tailor.

 

Caftan dress Guy Laroche, 1971

Vintage 1960's Leather Mini Dress

RARE mustard and olive color leather mini dress from the late 1960's on Miss Sixties Vintage Shop at https://www.etsy.com/listing/483743577/vintage-1960s-leather-mini-dress-free-us?ref=shop_home_active_1

Designer Moment: Jonathan Logan

Jonathan Logan was a popular manufacturer of younger women’s dresses – geared to the young, but not the super trendy, usually classic and dressy. The company was founded in 1944 by David Schwartz as a small company with ten employees. The designer in the early days was Dorris Varnum, and in the late 1950s Jeanne Carr was the designer. By 1966 Jonathan Logan had become one of the largest ready to wear companies in the USA. http://vintagefashionguild.org/label-resource/logan-jonathan/