Fendi Baguette Shoulder Bag - Gold Lace Limited Edition with Crystal Buckle
By Fendi
Located in Basaluzzo, IT
This Fendi Baguette shoulder bag is a rare limited edition piece from the early 2000s, crafted in Italy. The bag features a shimmering gold lace overlay, a statement crystal buckle c...
Chanel coat with camellia Like new
Located in Basaluzzo, IT
Coat , Chanel Boutique long jacket in black color Round neck, 4 pockets Button closure Bordeaux Camellia Brooch Wool composition with silk interior, ideal for all seasons Fine fabri...
Bob Mackie 1980s Size 6 Light Pink + Grey Silk Chiffon Strapless Grecian Gown
By Bob Mackie
Located in San Diego, CA
Phenomenal vintage late 80s Bob Mackie Couture light pink and gray silk chiffon, lace and rhinestone encrusted strapless Grecian gown ! Features grey lace and rhinestones on the bodi...
1960s Turquoise Ribbon Lace On Tulle Sleeveless Mod Mini Shift Dress
Located in Gresham, OR
1960s Turquoise Ribbon Lace On Tulle Sleeveless Mini Shift Dress: This stunning and iconic 60s Mod silhouette is amplified by a stellar fabric in a floral ribbon embellished pattern...
1990s CHANEL Black Bustier , Skirt and detachable Sleeves
By Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Chanel Boutique
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
1998 3 pcs Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld Black Crepe Bustier Corset and Creme bustle skirt with detachable sleeves and short sash that you can style it as a strap or scarf. Perfect for We...
Chanel Nano Kelly Bag NEW Lilac Gold Hardware
By Chanel
Located in Roosendaal, NL
From the collection of SAVINETI we offer this NEW Chanel Nano Kelly Bag: - Brand: Chanel - Model: Nano Kelly - Color: Lilac - Year: 2024 - Condition...
1960s Givenchy Haute Couture Silk Organza Blue Sheath Cocktail Dress
By Givenchy
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
1960s Givenchy Haute Couture Blue Silk Linen Dress designed by Hubert de Givenchy. Sleeveless and large collar at the back. Fit best size: Small 2 or 4. Perfect for cocktail dinner ...
1970s Arnold Scaasi Off-Shoulder Rhinestone Embellished Velvet Bell Skirt Gown
Located in Gresham, OR
1970s Arnold Scaasi Off-Shoulder Rhinestone Embellished Velvet Bell Skirt Gown: Boned bodice with slightly ruched silk jersey off-the-shoulder broad band neckline with dropped but fi...
1960s Jean-Louis I. Magnin Op-Art Chiffon Cocktail Dress in Chartreuse & Blue
By I. Magnin
Located in Gresham, OR
1960s Jean-Louis I. Magnin Op-Art Chiffon Cocktail Dress in Chartreuse & Blue: A strikingly delicious spring/summer cocktail dress by a masterful Hollywood designer, this Op-Art pat...
1950s Philip Hulitar Ivory and Black Velvet Pearl Encrusted Beaded Gown
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
This vintage Phillip Hulitar 1950s, ivory silk chiffon and black velvet cocktail dress is the perfect party dress or great for wedding. Gown has intricate black velvet, ivory silk chiffon, pearl encrusted, leaf-motif bodice and its double-layer, silk chiffon ballroom skirt...
2000s Gucci by Tom Ford Red Karung Snakeskin Acrylic Lucite Handle Bag
Located in West Hollywood, CA
This rare deep red Gucci bag from the early 2000s is crafted from dyed Karung snakeskin and finished with gold-tone hardware and a sculptural red lucite handle. Approximate Measure...
NWT 2004 Roberto Cavalli Pink Print Lace-Up Corset Bustier Top
Located in West Hollywood, CA
From 2004, this new-with-tags Roberto Cavalli bustier top features a vibrant floral paisley print in pink and tan tones. The structured corset ...
F/W 2003 Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford Runway Babydoll Sheer Chiffon Pink Tank
By Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent
Located in West Hollywood, CA
This pink and black lace tank top from Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, designed by Tom Ford for Fall/Winter 2003, debuted on the runway as look 18. Craft...
S/S 2002 Gianni Versace by Donatella Runway Sheer White Sleeveless Ruffle Top
By Donatella Versace for Gianni Versace, Gianni Versace
Located in West Hollywood, CA
This Spring/Summer 2002 Gianni Versace by Donatella sheer white sleeveless ruffle top debuted on the season's runway. The lightweight, semi-transparent fabric is adorned with delicat...
NWT 1990s Dolce & Gabbana Black Bodycon Stretch Sleeveless Beach Cocktail Dress
Located in West Hollywood, CA
From the late 1990s, this chic black stretch Dolce & Gabbana dress features thin straps, a square neckline, and small slits on either side. This never-worn Dolce & Gabbana beach dres...
Burberry ankle boots Fall 2016
By Burberry
Located in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FR
BURBERRY - (Made in Italy) Leather ankle boots ornamented with trimming pompoms. 2016 Fall-Winter Collection. Condition: Very good condition Dimensions: Size 39 SKU:CH94
Hermès Birkin 35 Miel Shiny Porosus Crocodile Palladium Hardware Handbag
By Hermès
Located in Banbury, GB
Investment Piece and Great Deal SKU 33301488 Comes With Hermès Dust Bag, Keys,Padlock,Clochette Date 2007 Model Birkin 35 Serial Number [K] Metal Palladium Materials Crocodile Leath...
Bonnie Cashin for Sills Leather Jacket Kimono Sleeves Orange Zig Zag Edges Rare
By Bonnie Cashin, Bonnie Cashin for Sills
Located in Port Saint Lucie, FL
Authentic, preowned, vintage Bonnie Cashin for Sills orange leather jacket, likely made in the 60s. A chic kimono sleeve leather jacket in a vib...
Vintage Swank Silver Light Green Lenses 1970's Sunglasses Made In France
Located in Baleares, Baleares
Vintage Super Rare Swank Sunglasses, Silver Mask Frames With Metal Perforated Temples. Made In France. Measurements Front : 16 Cms Lens Height : 4.5 Cms Lens Width : 5.5 Cms Tem...
S/S 2001 Gianni Versace by Donatella Off-White Shimmery Mini Dress
By Donatella Versace for Gianni Versace, Gianni Versace Couture
Located in West Hollywood, CA
From Gianni Versace by Donatella’s Spring/Summer 2001 collection, this off-white mini dress features shimmering fabric and an elegant, body-hugging silhouette. The plunging neckline ...
Chanel Vintage Black Lambskin Camellia Embossed Wallet On Chain WOC
By Chanel
Located in Scottsdale, AZ
This stylish clutch wallet is finely crafted of camellia embossed black lambskin leather. The wallet features a long silver chain link shoulder strap threaded with leather and a fron...
S/S 1992 Gianni Versace Light Green Ribbed Knit Bodycon Mini Dress Cap Sleeve
Located in West Hollywood, CA
This ribbed bright green Gianni Versace mini dress, designed by Gianni Versace for the Spring/Summer 1992 collection, is a form-fitting bodycon piece. It features off-the-shoulder pe...
Very Rare 1990s Chanel Coco Mark Black Patent Vanity Heart Bag
By Chanel
Located in Jakarta, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta
Collector’s item chanel vintage heart vanity in black patent with gold hardware. Original condition. No touch ups or recoloring. Slight cloudiness to the ...
F/W 2004 Gucci by Tom Ford Genuine Python Rhinestone Dragon Black Flap Bag
Located in West Hollywood, CA
Designed by Tom Ford for his final collection as Gucci's creative director, this black python flap bag from the Fall/Winter 2004 collection is an ultra-luxurious must-have. A python ...
Hermes mini Evelyne 16 Black
By Hermès
Located in London, England
Hermes mini Evelyne 16 black bag with black strap. This very practical and stylish bag has a detachable strap and can be worn over the shoulder or across the body. Metallic finish:...
F/W 1999 Gianfranco Ferré Runway Beige Strapless Corset Boned Top
Located in West Hollywood, CA
From Gianfranco Ferré’s Fall/Winter 1999 collection, this beige strapless corset top debuted on the runway. Designed with structured boning, tonal stitching, and a hidden double zip ...
S/S 2000 Gucci by Tom Ford Light Green Iridescent Silk Straight Leg Pants
Located in West Hollywood, CA
From Gucci’s Spring/Summer 2000 collection by Tom Ford, these light green cigarette pants are crafted from shimmering iridescent silk. Designed with a high waist and subtle pleats, t...
NWT S/S 2001 Gucci by Tom Ford Black Buckle One-Piece Swimsuit
Located in West Hollywood, CA
From Gucci’s Spring/Summer 2001 collection by Tom Ford, this new-with-tags black one-piece swimsuit features a sleek silhouette with a deep V neckline, square branded accents, sewn i...
S/S 1992 Dolce & Gabbana Lime Faux Pearl Beaded Green Tulle Bralette
Located in West Hollywood, CA
Presenting a lime green tulle bralette from Dolce & Gabbana’s Spring/Summer 1992 collection. Debuting on the season's runway as part of look 24, modeled by Linda Evangelista, this airy piece is constructed from layered ruffled tulle embellished with scattered faux pearl beads. Also featured in the "Baby Doll" editorial for the February 1992 issue of Vogue Italia, captured by Walter Chin...
S/S 2003 John Galliano Rhinestone Buckle Black Floral Ruffle Slip Gown
Located in West Hollywood, CA
From John Galliano’s Spring/Summer 2003 collection, this slip gown features a ruched bodice adorned with vertical rows of rhinestones and a central floral appliqué, finished with a s...
NWT S/S 2007 Michael Kors Runway Pink Chiffon Flare Ribbon Trim Ballerina Dress
By Michael Kors
Located in West Hollywood, CA
Presenting a fabulous pink chiffon ballerina dress from the Michael Kors Spring/Summer 2007 runway collection. Crafted from flowing pink chiffon, this elegant dress is accented by a ...
1999 Gucci by Tom Ford Black Nylon Mesh Trim Skirt
Located in West Hollywood, CA
Presenting a black nylon skirt from Gucci, designed by Tom Ford for the 1999 collection. This minimal a-line silhouette is finished with a sheer black mesh trim at the hem. Approxim...
S/S 2004 Ralph Lauren Runway Pink Lizard Skin Chain Flap Shoulder Bag
By Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Ralph Lauren
Located in West Hollywood, CA
From the Spring/Summer 2004 collection, alternative versions of this fabulous hot pink lizard skin Ralph Lauren bag debuted on the season's runway. This beautiful Ricky-style shoulde...
2000s Guy Laroche Couture Dark Navy Shimmery Panel Mini Skirt
By Guy Laroche
Located in West Hollywood, CA
Presenting a fabulous dark navy mini skirt from the 2000s Guy Laroche Couture collection. This piece features contrasting shimmery moiré panels at the hem and hips that add movement ...
Fashion is littered with stories we can’t help but consume with voracity. Behind the world’s revered luxury houses and designers, there are often accounts of modest beginnings that gave way to the resonant work we’ve cherished all of our lives.
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel learned to sew under the tutelage of nuns in an orphanage. Later, as an impoverished teenager at a boarding school in central France, clad in the drab clothes of the underclass compared to those of her classmates, she furthered her needlework skills. By the early 1900s, she was helming a hat shop with help from her sister and her aunt.
Chanel made spare, unadorned hats at first, and the now-momentous “little black dress,” published in the form of a sketch in Vogue in 1926, symbolized her intention to design for all social classes. Working with simple lines and ordinary fabrics, Chanel created garments that she hoped would encourage women to leave extravagant clothes behind. The young milliner would soon become pivotal to the evolution of both covetable casual wear and handmade high-fashion apparel, building a brand that has influenced countless designers all over the world.
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only,” Chanel said. “Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”
Around the same time, a young former hotel bellboy named Guccio Gucci began to sell imported leather luggage from a small retail space in his native Florence, and it wouldn’t be long before he was overseeing a number of artisans who were making leather goods and other accessories. With the help of his sons, he opened a second shop in Rome and later launched his handbags, wallets and more.
There are people like Chanel and Gucci, sometimes of meager means, working in near obscurity to create lasting and innovative garments and accessories that today fill the interiors of our favorite boutiques and, ultimately, the closets of our home.
There are family-owned luxury-goods companies, such as Hermès in Paris, which began as a saddle manufacturer in the 1800s, serving the era’s carriage trade before it would expand to include venerable handbags as well as its numerous silk scarves, each emblazoned with a richly decorative design.
For many of us, the narratives behind the ornate monograms that adorn these iconic works are just as important as the items themselves.
Haute couture from the House of Chanel — practical, form-fitting evening dresses and menswear made of fine tweeds — has a long lineage, but now it’s earned a legitimate place in museums as often as it has in the homes of modern marquee influencers. Vintage Yves Saint Laurent leather clutches and handbags couldn’t have aged better over time, either. The French luxury fashion label’s long history of vibrant, gender-blurring designs, including the revolutionary Mondrian minidress in 1965, owe to the creative inclinations of a young Yves, who made paper dolls as a child and designed dresses for the women in his family by the time he was a teenager.
The appeal of vintage and designer clothing — whether it’s nostalgia for ’80s fashion treasures like oversize blazers or the bright and elaborate patterns that characterize sundresses of the 1960s — endures, and our appetite for irreplaceable garments as well as their riveting origin stories won’t recede anytime soon. An authentic handbag or purse from Hermès isn’t merely durable and alluring. The Birkin, for example, is hand-sewn according to Hermès’s centuries-old saddle-stitching technique, comes in a variety of exotic leathers and is also a savvy investment.
“The Birkin’s value has consistently risen and never fluctuated downward,” says Reece Morgan, head of handbags and accessories for Xupes, citing the fact that “production has been highly limited to maintain its unattainable aura.” In fact, he adds, Hermès has been “scaling back production each year.”
Today, we’re captivated by the work of prodigious Illinois-born talent Virgil Abloh, who not only triumphed in the fashion world with his Milan-based streetwear label Off-White, but was also a visual artist, a furniture designer and more. In 2018, Abloh, who learned about fashion from his seamstress mother, became one of the first Black designers to head a French luxury fashion house, having secured an artistic director role at Louis Vuitton.
“His clothing turns wearers into accomplices of his grand artistic scheme,” Michael Darling, the chief curator at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, wrote of Abloh’s work.
On 1stDibs, you can revel in the stories behind the fashion we love and browse everything from classic, one-of-a-kind gowns crafted by Parisian couturiers to stylish, modern streetwear designed by forward-looking brands. Shop 19th-century Louis Vuitton trunks or kaleidoscopic and colorful 1960s skirts by Emilio Pucci or edgy ensembles by visionary designers like Azzedine Alaïa. Your fashion journey begins right here.