A favourite vintage cocktail dress - and 2 fun new dresses!

I've been pretty busy with work lately, what with only one month between two business trips, which was just enough for the follow-ups from the first trip, and preparations for the second one. So I haven't been posting so much here lately. However, my mom and I have been to the opera again, which was really good. It was so hot here the other week that I took the opportunity to wear one of my favourite pieces of evening wear. It's such light little dress that I really only wear it when it is warm - it would be such a shame to pull a jacket over it .



This little 60s beauty is originally from Bonwit Teller, and I found, it like some other vintage faves, in Montreal (I bought vintage there every time I visited ). It's a very light fabric, lined with a light pink thin lining. There are gold threads throughout the fabric, which make up flower motifs, and the gold braid has three rows of aurora borealis rhinestones. Let's just say it glitters a great deal!
I would have age-wise just about matching golden vintage evening shoes... but I went for the higher ones, which are modern. The bag and watch are vintage too though.

The one shop here at home where I spend the most money on clothes certainly is the Caritas shop around the corner. And now they even take credit cards... dangerous! It used to be cash only, so there was still a little restraining factor there . Anyway, I usually buy newer secondhand stuff there (they get really good things at good prices), but today they actually had two vintage dresses and I went home with both of them.

First up: I'm guessing early to mid 60s, a synthetic light blue formal dress. Maybe it was a bridesmaid's dress. It fits, and I like the shape in the back, which makes for a bit of a bustle effect. There's also a stiff tulle layer under the skirt. It's commercially made, but someone replaced the zip (that one looks too new) and with that also the labels.







I googled the name on the label, and I think I found it! There is a Schellenberg boutique in Winterthur (second-biggest city in this canton after Zurich), and the logo still looks almost the same: http://www.schellenberg-mode.ch/page.php They carry a lot of well-known brands that aren't the cheapest, and their location certainly is the best you can have in Winterthur. There's no company history there, but I shouldn't wonder if that shop has been around for that long.

The second dress is a fun maxi dress, my rough guess is 70s. There's a care label, the dress is an acetate-poly mix, and it has a nylon zip that looks like it's original. It's fully lined and fits nicely. Vintage 60s/70s size 36 usually is my ticket, as this fits like a modern 34. German sizes switched somewhere maybe in the 80s/90s or so, when the 34 was introduced I guess.



I like the label too: "Fink" also means finch, as in the bird... No info to be found on the company, but a search for "Fink Modell" turned up quite a few results on Swiss and German auction sites, with casual and evening wear, ranging from th 60s to the 80s.

Karin

 

I always enjoy your posts so much Karin, thanks for showing us these beauties, and you always wear them so well.

 

It's always such a pleasure to see you wearing your finds! You are such a wonderful vintage spokesperson!

Glad to hear you get lucky in my city, Montreal!

I must say that I love that polka dot affair as well! That pale blue number with the right belt and jewelry will be lovely too on you! I realize it was not meant to be worn
with a belt, but I can see that would modernize it some. I can even see that one with a lovely sequin or beaded sweater.

 

Thanks everybody! Been away for a bit, on a business trip and immediately afterwards was too busy with work to check in here. This was not my first business trip in my new position, but this was the "big one" - the most important I guess, the Australian Tourism Exchange. Out of four days of the trade show, I wore vintage on three, and talked vintage costume jewelry with the lady at the South Australian tea stand a few times. She took one look and knew the brooch on my jacket was vintage, but she didn't know about Etsy or the VFG, so I recommended her to look them up. They gave all us buyers a little trolley in a shade of dark red, which matched both the vintage dress I wore, and the check in my vintage suit as well. It looked so coordinated - as if I had planned it . Not to mention the compliments I got... even for the fact alone that I wore a suit "which nobody wears these days" as one lady said. I will keep wearing vintage for business!

Maybe the white-and-green maxi is going to a wedding next week - I don't know yet, but it is an option. The light blue one is a little too formal for the register office... but it might go to the opera or some other event some time.

@ Mary Jane - Montreal is one of my favourite cities! There are actually thread belt loops on the light blue dress, but someone may have added them.

Karin