1980's Glam Emerald Sequin Boyfriend Jacket With Amazing Gold Braid

C. 1980 A. J. Bari black and silver lamé metallic top with tuxedo styling including a bib detail at the bodice and detachable bow tie. It buttons down the front and at the rick rack...

This 1970's two piece dress and jacket ensemble by Victoria Royal is quite a ladylike version of a tuxedo. The dress zips and hooks at the back with a built in bow tie, silver beading at the waist and a row of rhinestone buttons at the front that replicates a tux shirt. The cropped collarless jacket is embellished with a beaded trellis pattern that compliments the beading on the dress. Both pieces are in a weighty sea foam blue matte satin. Think of this look as 'First Lady Fashion' ... Pat Nixon, Betty Ford...

An Yves Saint Laurent silk blouse with an abstract pattern in shades of fuchsia, lilac, green, yellow, orange and white all resembling a cheerful watercolor painting. The details ad...

1970's Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche striped cotton blouse in a peasant style silhouette. The fabric is reminiscent of cotton ticking with a relaxed feel in dark shades including b...

This two piece pants and maxi vest by Whims of California has all the bells and whistles for chic 1960's party attire. The 100% cotton construction has the appearance of painted or ...

We are mad for plaid! And it is especially fun when applied to a 1980's Norma Walter's strong shouldered silhouette and black sequins are added for a l...

This wonderful square cut berry silk crepe Fortuny coat is gilt stencilled in a Bellini pattern. Fortuny's ethereal crepe and gauze garments are extremely...

Lilli Ann, Tisse a Paris, One Button Hidden Top Closure, Pink Satin Lining, Two Satin Lined Pockets, Mink Fur Collar, Heavy Weight, 3/4 Sleeve, Beautiful Coat Measurements Laying Fl...

Veronica Beard, Made in USA, Polyester/Viscose/Elastane, Green, Navy, Colorblock Plaid, Hook and Eye Closure on Jacket, Two Front Pockets (One with Flap), Zipper on Back, Size 10, Re...

Rare Schiaparelli Haute Couture Mandarin Black Quilted Faille Cape, 1951 Amazingly chic and modern quilted silk faille Haute Couture cape by Elsa Schiaparelli from the 1950's. M...

Schiaparelli Haute Couture Changeant Faille Jacket, 1938-39. "France gave me the inspiration: America gave me the approval" Elsa Schiapa...

"In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous" Elsa Schiaparelli,1930's. "Life has changed so much, A Schiaparelli was never made for the streets." Karl Lagerfeld, 1970's. 2 quotes,2 designers, 4 decades apart. 4 decades later. Although these quotes are highly debatable, especially in the context of today's high-low designer collabs and pop up retailing, iconic fashion endures. Whether now relegated to a museum exhibition, a collector's acid free box or a celebrity one nighter, these fashion artifacts from the french Haute Couture of the 1930's echo a time, pace and culture unrecognizable to most people today. Schiaparelli changed the definition of what it meant to be a designer at an important time in the evolution of the Haute Couture. Rather than simply making beautifully elegant garments (which she also did), she focused on the concepts behind the pieces. For her fashion was a fluid medium and she effortlessly blended fashion, politics and the fine arts. She was one of the most innovative and rebellious designers of the period working against what she considered the stale fashion currents of the day. She was elegant yet untrained. As a protege of Poiret, she gained entry into the world of Parisian fashion. While her rival Chanel was essentially uneducated and a “primitive” in the artistic circles in which she socialized, Schiaparelli’s impeccable social credentials as the daughter of an old and distinguished Roman family gave her a relatively easy entree into Paris society. She was a subversive, a punk, a desecrator, a collaborator, an innovator as well as the ultimate insider whose plans on design domination and creating "la zone rose" for the modern world were cut short by the advent of WWII. She was at the height of her influence and power showing 4 iconic collections in the last years of the decade. Fascinating to consider what the House of Schiaparelli could have brought forth in the following decades had the world not been swept away in turmoil at that moment. In the context of her short prewar career, few remaining masterworks have survived. The rare "moment" she created in the 30's lives on within each art piece, safelocked away within each stitch and sequin. Each design retains her spirit and legacy as a free thinking, modernist rebel who used the avantegarde as her platform in the most creative period of fashion design in the 20th Century. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rare and Important Elsa Schiaparelli Haute Couture...