A Schiaparelli Design

Designer Elsa Schiaparelli dress, circa 1950's, Photo by Regina Relang

A Hat Day

Nothing like coming across a hat beauty like this by designer Jean Barthet, 1950's

Designer Moment: Simonetta Colonna de Cesaro

Born in Rome 1922 and the daughter of a duke, who had a flair for design which urged her on to build a dressmaking salon of her own in Rome. Her talent has contributed to the flowering of the Italian couture and its influence on American fashions; her clothes are feminine, elegant, flattering. She showed her first collection in Rome during the sping of 1946 and in 1951 was amongst a small group of Italian designers to be invited by Giovanni Battista Giorginai. In 1947 her first designs produced under the label "Simonetta Visconti" were photographed for the New York Times. In 1949 she was photographed by American Vogue and in 1951 she was invited bye the department store Bergdorf Goodman to design an exclusive collection for Spring/Summer 1952. In the 1960's Simonetta created moden looks of accessories, sunglasses, hats and handbags. Her clients included the Duchess of Windosr, Gogo Schiaparelli, Marisa Berenson and Estee Lauder. (Text taken from Simonetta: The First Lady of The Italian Fashion by Judith Clark)

Simonetta modeling one of her designs, circa 1950's

Simonetta 1950's Fashion Advertisement

Silk Evening Dress by Simonetta, 1958 (metmuseum.org)

Designer Moment: Jole Veneziani

Well before designers like Armani and Versace called Milan their home, there was Jole Veneziani. A true fashion pioneer, Veneziani, who rose to fame during Italy's post-war industrial boom, taught Milanese ladies a little something about elegance. She was know for her lavish cocktail gowns and elaborate silk, beaded and velvet gowns, as well as feathered bathrobes and turbans.

1950's Spanish-influence Flamenco dress by Italian fashion designer Jole Veneziani

Jole Veneziani with models circa 1960's

Jole Veneziani was born in the southern Italian city of Taranto and moved to Milan as a child. She set up her furrier shop in 1937 and built her dressmaking and Haute Couture business in the mid-1940's. She had been acclaimed in 1951, at the historical and first fashion show of Villa Torrigiani in Florence,that marked the beginning of the Italian Haute Couture, and she became a pioneer of "Made in Italy" all over the world. She appeared on the cover pages of the most important glossy magazines, and she created dresses for the most important stars of that time, such as Josephine Baker, Marlene Dietrich, Maria Callas, Elsa Martinelli to name a few. 

 Model Iris Bianchi in dress by Jole Veneziani, circa 1950's

Jole Veneziani 1960's designs

Vintage Wedding Style

Photograph by Michael Rougier, circa 1950's

The lucky lady who's fortunate enough to end up wearing this beauty on her wedding

day is assured to be the center of elegance and attention.

Style Moment: The Bag

Model Janice Wakely showing off a fabulous checkered handbag

Photo by Helmut Newton, circa 1950's

Caught in the Moment: Black And White Photos

There's something about images shot in black and white. Not only are they beautiful, but without the color distraction your eyes are quickly drawn too the person's frozen expression at that moment and the truth of who they are comes through. I just can't imagine getting the same feeling looking at black and white images by great photographers like Gordon Parks, Bert Stern, Vivian Maier if they were taken in color.

Edith Head and Gloria Swanson at the premiere of Sunset Boulevard, 1950

Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe at the Hollywood’s Tiffany Club, 1955

1960's Dancing Beauty

Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra at New York Carnegie Hall, 1961

Edie Sedgwick, circa 1960's

Jackie Kennedy, circa 1960's

Ruffled Flare

Model Bettina Graziani wearing the "Byronesque Bettina" blouse by Hubert de Givenchy, 1952

Renaissance Flare: 1950's Pierre Cardin Wool Coat

Photo by Willy Maywald, Paris,1958

I don 't know what Pierre Cardin's inspiration was when sketching the design for this coat, but the collar reminds me of the "Ruff", a detachable collar made of starched linen or lace worn by the European elite during the sixteenth century.

Queen of England Anne of Demark 1574-1619

Angela Lansbury wearing costume from 1948 film "The Three Musketeers"