Old burlesque costumes, get ready to cry

So I bought a trash bag of beaded "things" that had belonged to Gilda Gray. I was in a hurry and didn't go through it, until I got home. I also didn't research her until I got home either and regret not grabbing some of the paper stuff that had her name/signature on it. I actually left canceled checks and other stuff there

anyway, the stuff is in BAD fragile shape. Don't think anything can be done about it without costing an arm and a leg, sigh

it seriously almost brought tears to my eyes to see this butterfly dress with the rips








this one HAD a beaded skirt at one time




this skirt top had feathers at one time


This piece weighs a ton, all glass beading








it even has a sparkly g-string style crotch


metal thread and glass beaded collar


various odds and ends, I WISH whatever came in that Cartier bag was still in there!


and this POOR Lanvin cloche had blue iridescent feathers all over it at one time

 

Hi,

It is sad they disintegrated so badly, but still just to see them is a treat, and they have value for study and research. I would love that butterfly dress just to display!

Actually, what are your plans for the badly damaged Lanvin hat? I do not know if this is the right forum to ask, but if you wish to part with it, I'd love it for the millinery museum, or just to loan for some photos?

Thank you for showing them.

Barbara

 

Thanks so much for sharing these pictures. I so wish I could've seen them in "action," and can feel the history just looking at them.

Lovely work done on these pieces!!

I had to research...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilda_Gray
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CLu8_jFPNZ4/R4aLYd8b4SI/AAAAAAAABSo/Ud4mBPNSjk8/s400/Gilda2.jpg

The shimmy queen!

 

Lanvin!!!!


Killing me. Send it to me, I have the BEST seamstress!!!!!! Consignment, really. We can make this good. !!

Ang

 

really, she's good and we can make it happen.

Ang

 

Good lord.

Some lovely beaded examples on show this week. Try to have the butterfly dress backed if possible. That's basically making a new slip as a lining and attaching the dress to it. I think it would be worth it for the provenance if you can still get the paperwork? That's really important. You can just see Gilda shimmy in those costumes. Great find.

 

Lovely stuff: even in this condition they're beautiful and collectable. Well done! The Lanvin label is fabulous.

Nicole

 

Oh my goodness, it breaks my heart! What wonderful pieces, you can feel the glamour just looking at the photo's. What an amazing find.

 

Wow. What amazing pieces. Even in their sorry shape, they are beautiful to behold. Thanks for sharing them.

 

Thanks everybody. Trust me I am kicking myself hard for not grabbing the brown bag of personal papers! I went to the seller the next day and he didn't have them (I think they may have been thrown out)
there were 3 or 4 huge scrap books she must have made, someone paid a bunch for those. Most of the lot of stuff was furniture and it was a frenzy of people snapping the stuff up! The only other clothes were somewhat modern crappy mens stuff. I'm guessing this was the estate of whoever inherrited her things.

I've done some searching on line for photos of these costumes and can't find a match. These do seem pretty risqué so I'm guessing there weren't photos of the entire show.

I really didn't know what I had until I pulled the pieces out at home. When I did you could hear beads and sparkles dropping, ugh! it took two if us to lift out the heavy dress

I would LOVE to save some of them, especially the butterfly dress. I was wondering if someone could back the fabric with something to make it stronger and wearable.

 

Still sooooo beautiful! What a score!

 

Ms Eel, are you on Facebook? A friend found an image of her wearing one of the costumes;

See here.

Nicole

 

okay, here it is for those not on FB:

See here - and it's dated 1940 too!

Nicole

 

I thinly this is the one with the fringe!

Crud brb with link lol


Gilda Gray Pictures

Found it on fanpix.net under Gilda gray pictures

 

Watch Gilda Gray Dance!

Amazing bead work! Found this info about Gilda Gray on a website about Wisconsin natives. Includes a 3 min. clip from a 1929 movie that shows her dancing. Fun!

http://wisconsinology.blogspot.com

 

Hi,

I just wanted add in another thought. Someone asked about sending the Lanvin hat to a seamstress for renovation, but I have to strongly disagree. Millinery and dressmaking are not the same art, and no matter how good a seamstress she might be, she is not be able to restore an antique Haute Couture feather hat. As a matter of fact, an actual restoration of that hat would require knowing exactly what the hat looked like before the feathers completely fell off, and finding antique feathers of the same type and same age/vintage with which to do the restoration. Applying new feathers would be just wrong on so many levels. I am not a museum curator, but would think that the hat would be better off left as is, and sent/donated/sold to a museum to restore.

It takes and entire semester at FIT or FIDM to learn to create feather hats, so it is not an easy task or something left to an uneducated hand. I would leave it as it is, and attempt to find a clear close up photo of the hat or a description in the Lanvin archives.

Just my 2 cents...

Barbara