SPOTLIGHT ON VINTAGE: VINTAGE COLLECTIONS – WHAT DO YOU COLLECT?

Aloha, and welcome to the first “episode” of “SPOTLIGHT ON VINTAGE.” I’m your “host”, VFG Trade Member, Linn Alber. SPOTLIGHT ON VINTAGE will focus each time on a particular aspect of vintage or vintage collecting. Starting today and for the next two weeks we will be talking about our personal vintage collections. Please tell us where you are from; a little bit about yourself, and what prompted you to start your vintage collection.

All VFG Members and Registered Guests are encouraged to participate! You may show up to four items. Please remember to follow the Forum rules – no links to pieces for sale from Registered Guests.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am a retired interior designer and a Collector! I grew up on the East Coast, and have lived in Hawaii for many years. I became interested in vintage and antique items a few years after college. I collect/collected many things – cups and saucers, roosters, furniture and accessories, Oriental rugs; vintage clothing and accessories – and more! However, I am mostly known at the VFG for Vintage Costume Jewelry. Initially I bought vintage jewelry to wear. I started collecting Vintage Costume Jewelry after a friend showed me a few of her grandmother’s 1940s designer pieces. I was hooked – and that was the beginning of “Linn’s Collection!”

I have many favorite pieces – here are just a few:

1. Large Floral Unsigned Brooch C. 1930s (4" x 3")




2. “Faux” Emerald Art Deco Ring C1930s



3. Trifari Pastel Fruit Salad Brooch C1937



4. Coro Quivering Camellia Bracelet – C. 1938




Please share WHAT YOU COLLECT!

 

Thank you for starting this Linn!! It looks like you are especially fond of 1930s jewelry—gorgeous pieces.

I have several vintage collections, including 1960s half slips with wild prints, and nearly every pair of vintage shoes in US size 9 that I have ever found. But my favorite collection is my vintage fashion with horns. I am a French horn player, and so it was only natural to collect these! (I hope it's not cheating to make my four photos be collages—I just have lots of horn vintage fashion!)

 

I suppose I am drawn to 1930s pieces but I like/collect pieces from the '20's and '40's, too. Maggie, although I LOVE shoes, I don't have any vintage shoes. I do have a large collection of shoe ornaments that I place under and around my tree. I've been collecting them long enough that some of them are vintage. I love your horns, Maggie!

The only vintage coat I own (anymore) is one I bought for myself in the late '90s. I have a number of vintage jackets - but at present I am not wearing anything but very casual lightweight summer clothes! Anne, I have LOTS of vintage handbags. We'll do a segment on handbags soon!

 

Claire,

That's so interesting! It would be great if you could share a few photos with us - favorite clothing and turtles! Like, Anne's family, my childhood home was filled with antiques. I have some pieces that were my mother's. (And other family member's before that.) I also have some pieces that my mother acquired at auctions while I was growing up.

 

Uh, we have to see this Sophie Gimbel dress Victoria! And 50 Suzy Perettes?

The Maypole Kitties are hard to come by for sure! I've never seen one in person.

 

Ah! Do you wear it?

 

Fabulous dress, Victoria.

Beautiful jewels, Linn.

Your collection is so perfect for you Maggie.

I have collections of vintage purses and coats and jewelry and scarves and shoes and hats and dresses and gloves...
and prints and antique glass and lamps, etc.

I think you get the picture. I have to head out today...will get around to posting some photos in the next couple of days.

 

I want to live in your closet

 

Janice -

Thank you for sharing two of your collections. Your Lucite purses are fabulous! I am pretty sure that many of us who "collect" have more than enough of each of the things we "collect" - but unless we are struck with the urge to "declutter" or have to move, our collections either grow or stay stored or out on display. I have "stuff" all over my house - it gives it "character!"

Claire, your Dior dress is gorgeous. Sadly, no formal events this year!

 

So many great collections.

Victoria, that Sophie Gimbel dress is spectacular - I wouldn't let it go either! Claire, love your Dior dress as well - so clever.

What do I collect? I guess I was born with a gene for that, I started with postcards as a kid, then coins, stamps... I've given up on those, just kept one stamp album with my most "exotic" treasures, as I swapped stamps with someone in Russia for a while and got tons of USSR stamps commemorating space missions and the like.
I have a small collection of vintage powder compacts, which came about after my mom started collecting them as well. She started with vintage costume jewelry after inheriting some 1930s dress clips from a relative, and the compacts turned up in a lot of places too where we were hunting for costume jewelry. She still collects the jewelry, but mostly to wear as well. I have a small collection of mostly vintage brooches to wear on jackets and dresses. Mostly rhinestones, and I like fun stuff, like fruit, fish or other funny animals.
My closet overflows with vintage clothes - these days though I tend to buy things that I can wear, preferably every day. I love 1940s suit jackets (they are simply indistructible, will survive two weeks in a suitcase, and their shape is so flattering!) , 50s-60s cotton blouses with interesting prints, vintage silk scarves, 70s polyester dresses with interesting prints, vintage cashmere sweaters (I have a few 60s Ballantynes that are heavenly!) and printed Darlene sweaters/cardigans. But again, I will go for anything that looks good on me, preferably in bright colors.

My one big collection that can't be overlooked if you visit me though is my Barbie and other fashion dolls! I have somewhere between 300 and 400 dolls, set up in a few different display cases around my apartment. I got my first Barbie doll as a child, and basically, I haven't stopped playing with dolls since then . As a teen, I didn't want to give my dolls away, so I'd save up my pocket money, and get my dad to take me to the big Toys'r'Us store twice a year so I could spend it all on some more dolls. I then dressed them up and displayed them on my bookshelf. On my first trip to the US, I bought lots of dolls we couldn't get here and I got hold of my first Barbie Bazaar collectors magazine. After that, I went full steam ahead, ordering dolls by phone from dealers in the US, joining a doll collectors club here for a while, customising dolls and so on. The club has gone since, and I am not buying a lot anymore, I have to keep it manageable (either they all fit into my cases or I have to take some out of the collection) but I still enjoy them and delight in putting up display scenes with lots of details. I have mostly Barbie dolls, but also Sindy and many others of the same size, plus some of the larger Gene and Tyler dolls. I love having different dolls together in my displays - basically they come in all shapes and colors, and blondes are definitely not in the majority. I have always loved diversity in my dolls!

Here's a few photos of my collection - a lot of dolls are redressed, and there are of course also vintage outfits involved, and some vintage dolls!






And as I work in the travel industry, I recently also created a "travel agency" after I finally got my hands on the 1980s Barbie travel agency set:

 

Karin -

Thank you for showing your dolls! It's always a delight to see the vignettes you've created! It's obvious that you have a lot of fun with your dolls!!!

It seems many of us who collect and sell vintage fashion have multiple collections. I know I do!