Massachusetts - Fashion

Quintessential Geoffrey Beene in cut and detail, this stunning and sophisticated gown is composed of olive green satin with black wool crepe panels strategically integrated into the ...

Sleek rectangular black fabric clutch by Judith Leiber, the border ornamented with brushed silver metal and crystals. Magnetic clasp. Interior features attached mirror and side compa...

The late Italian Gianni Versace near the end of his life--cut short by his murder in July 1997--designed this couture heavily-embroidered semi-transparent silk chiffon sleeveless hou...

Double-faced fuchsia wool swing coat with deep shawl collar, single breasted with low patch pocket and turn-back cuffs. Welted seams. Unlabeled. Size M.

A profusion of multicolored beads and sequins adorns the surface of this eye-catching evening jacket. The mostly pastel beads cover the entire black silk surface in a riotous patter...

Off-white jacket featuring narrow rows of lace, three-quarter sleeves, round collar, and rhinestone decorative buttons over snap closures. Lined. Perfect vintage top to dress up a su...

1980s white cotton cropped jacket by Oscar de la Renta features black topstitching at the edges and diagonally placed decorative black buttons fr...

Long dress in navy wool/acrylic blend featuring a long torso with metal skate hooks laced with narrow self belt, and a large sailor collar that covers the upper arms and descends to ...

Black wool 1980s coat by Christian Dior is double breasted and features a faux Persian collar and cuffs. Square shoulders with pads. Longer length. Marked size 6, but oversized cut.

Jean Louis Scherrer shoulder bag in black suede bordered in rust suede, the front border ornamented with Art Deco-style medallions, each centering alternating black and carnelian sto...

Classic Missoni men's pullover featuring a complicated intarsia design in subtle colors of mostly beiges and grays highlighted by teal. Fabric is a soft bl...

Small-brimmed 1950s hat decorated with clusters of white flowers and green leaves and finished with a green velvet band. Stiff lace structure underneath. Retailed by Lord & Taylor. ...

Diane Freis cotton dress in a tropical floral print featuring a shirt collar and double tier full skirt, both banded in black cotton. An elasticized waist makes it easy to pull the d...

Morris Moskowitz clutch in silver leather that has been quilted in a star design. The foldover clutch has a divided interior, one side with zippered compartment. A thin silver chain ...

While sleek cloche hats were the rage in Art-Deco "flapper" fashion, this antique fur felt hat was commissioned by Parisian couturier Elsa Schiaparelli and...

A great piece to spruce up your Fall wardrobe, this snakeskin blazer is shaped close to the body with front darts and contour seaming in the back. It ...

Beautifully crafted Bill Blass two-layer dress, the main body a strapless sheath of repeating ribbon stripes in aqua, mint, beige and gray. Skimming over this is a sheer net sleevele...

1950s top, the hip-length fitted body in black knit featuring an openwork yoke with cap sleeves and round neckline above. Four crystal buttons with loops at...

Over 20 years ago, the late Roberto Cavalli who recently died in 2024 designed this silk-and-cotton top-and-jeans set showcasing his signature mix of animal prints with luxurious emb...

1960s navy suede suit in the style of a classic Chanel, it features a red and gold zigzag braid around the edges of the jacket and the top of the bodice poc...

One of the best combinations we've seen for one of these vintage Hong Kong pieces from the 1960s. The brocade tunic jacket, in a beautiful shade of m...

Black faux astrakhan coat that features a detachable cape. The fitted, princess-style body is single breasted and fastens with 8 black stone and silver...

Diane von Furstenberg maxi dress, c.1970s, its allover floral print of varied gold-tone flowers and green leaves against a black background. Accompanying the dress is a deep, rounded...

Like his contemporaries Bill Blass, Geoffrey Beene, and Oscar de la Renta, Chester Weinberg was a star NY designer during the 1960s and '70s, as well as a respected teacher at Parsons School of Design, where Donna Karan was one of his protegées. After his untimely death from AIDS in 1985, his name and work were largely forgotten, save for those in the know. This dress is an example of his work, c.1970, composed of a black matte jersey bodice with long sleeves and mock turleneck and a velvet wrap-style skirt. The high waist, zippered wrists, and skirt slit edge are ornamented with gold and velvet...

A unique piece from renowned coat and suit manufacturer Lilli Ann, this vest is extravagantly and boldly decorated with large multicolored paillettes in geometric shapes that echo th...

Such a fun cocktail dress! This vintage late 1960s designer Bob Bugnand dress is an explosion of color, with a multi-colored Indian paisley print fabric completely covered in transpa...

Unique, ivory woven summer bag hand painted with multicolored tulips across the wide body front and back, as well as on the double wooden loop handles, which are painted in gold, exc...

Black velvet three-quarter coat in black velvet embellished with gold sequined leaf design curving from the shoulder to the armhole. Collarless, with balloon sleeves and white quilte...

Cropped jacket in navy blue wool studded throughout with pearls and featuring a short shawl collar and curved front. Set-in narrow sleeves. Navy crepe lining. Approximate size 6.

Nice size black snake clutch with silver metal trim featuring diagonally pieced skins and multiple interior compartments.

Open-toe platform shoes in plum-colored snakeskin by Robert Clergerie featuring ankle straps, a thick high heel and gold bars under the toes. Retailed b...

About a decade ago Brunello Cucinelli debuted these impeccably-tailored 100%-virgin-wool grey shorts whose back is completely concealed by tuxedo tails fashioned from a curvilinear-c...

Turquoise suede pumps feature a bow held in middle by lucite element at the low vamp and a sculpted plastic heel. Approximate size 7.

This timeless quintessential corseted, shirred, ruched and topstitched "little black dress" produced by Victor Costa in the 1980s was made for the high standards of New York's trendsetting Bergdorf Goodman. It was the first U.S. luxury department store to order exclusive special-occasion dresses from this Texas designer and subsequently to give him a namesake in-store boutique. He soon became associated with the feminine glamorous gowns worn by "PYT" (Costa-speak for pretty young things) on the Dallas-based television-series "Dynasty", which idealized status-conscious Texan women mostly via fashion. With a strapless curvaceous sweetheart neckline (spared from '80s shoulder pads!), narrow sinuous folds of crepe silk-blend jersey cross diagonally below the decollete, while contrasting vertical ruching defines the seven bones of the invisible corset structure that is fully lined on the interior. Under the bust in front below the empire-like peaked high waist, the fitted tucked underlay of the cocktail dress wraps around the back to end as an overlay in front, where the opening on the left side extends to the bodice like a discreet slit. The freely hanging bias-cut overlay in front is gathered underneath each breast for a forgiving central drape that adds additional curves to make the wearer's torso underneath appear in sleek condition despite a potentially less than ideal figure. The dress closes with a concealed zipper in the center of the back, with exterior hook-and-eye fastening to narrow the waist. There is a second concealed hook-and-eye fastener at the top of the zipper. Although the only remaining tag is the Costa/Bergdorf label, it is a contemporary U.S.-size 8, which will also suit a large-busted size 6 or a svelte size 10. Now 88 years old, Victor Costa (b.1935) became widely known by the 1980s in The States for perfecting affordable luxurious gowns that could be mistaken for one-of-a-kind flamboyant designs by foreign couturiers Christian Lacroix, Arnold Scaasi, Oscar de la Renta or Valentino Garavani. Early on, the avid female sketcher...

A unique vintage find, this ensemble consists of a long black maxi skirt and sleeveless top, its floral design repeated in cut-out appliqués down the left side of the skirt. the A-li...

Allover sequined and beaded cardigan on an off-white knitted ground, the body with iridescent sequins and small gold beads, the collar, hem and wrists with iridescent sequins and cle...

Featuring a dramatic never-worn zipper skirt from the iconic Spring/Summer 1986 Alaia Paris collection--which dominated the Vanity Fair published preview of Foundation Azzedine Alaia...

Tom and Linda Platt day dress, c.1980s, in textured black cotton emphasized by a white vertical panel down the front that follows the contours of the body. A clever take on a shirtdr...

In the 1930s when French fashion couturier Jeanne Lanvin (1867-1946) was creating decorative bias-cut silk tulle overlays for her feminine full-skirted sleeveless "robes de style", she designed this black semi-transparent silk-tulle formal jacket featuring diagonally-striped topstitched silk-crepe appliques throughout the bias-cut panels. This sheer geometric-patterned cape-like jacket has a skirt that drapes from an open waistline and a top-fastening bodice with gathered rounded 3/4-length sleeves that each have two arm seams and shirred embroidered cuffs. It could have been the first "swing coat" design that was given that name around 1935, when Lanvin was the "uncontested leader in the haute-couture field"--according to the French Palais Galliera that has collected and exhibited similar garments at its fashion museum in Paris. In New York, TheMet collected a House of Lanvin black evening coat with a similar shape that also features dramatic linear appliques, but in a white starburst that it dates to Spring/Summer 1927. The unprecedented modern look of this Art-Deco women's jacket, which was inspired by 18th-Century French and Spanish topcoats for aristocratic court dresses, may have been good cause for Maison Lanvin to custom-make some close reproductions of a one-of-a-kind couture original for additional clients in Paris, which is implied by the remaining French brand-label noting "Adaptation Jean Lanvin...

Missoni sundress, c.1970s-'80s, with spaghetti straps and interior elastic band that gathers the fabric in at the waist. Predominantly raspberry zigzag stripe knit. Light, packable a...

While at Paris-based Balenciaga in late 2007, Nicolas Ghesquiere designed this 100%-silk bias-cut paneled dress that explodes with a grey and pale-yellow flower print and features un...

In 1996, Japanese Junya Wantanabe (b.1961) made this sculptural red whorled-rose jacquard padded cocoon coat/evening jacket/cape to convert to an equally unique and versatile asymmet...

From one of the last fashion collections for French Maison Martin Margiela by its renowned founder Belgian artist Martin Margiela before he prematurely retired in 2009, this asymmetr...

Sarong-style skirt by Hermes in softest camel lambskin with asymmetrical waist and hem. Zipper on the high, left side slants to tiered tie motif on the right hip with opposed diagona...

Brocade gown in a geometric silver and charcoal pattern featuring a wide, square neckline, empire waist, and long sleeves. The skirt is gathered under the waist seam and there are sl...

An unusual example of the work of Greek/American master Stavrapoulos, known especially for his fluid chiffon creations. This shift dress, with open neckline and three-quarter sleeves, appears to be made from an antique embroidered shawl...

Count Romi specialized in all-weather coats, as well as those suitable for travel. This example, from the early 1970s, is crafted of bright red wool knit and features double-breasted...

Black broadtail beret trimmed with velvet band and bow. Retailed by Bonwit Teller.

In 1994, Martin Margiela did something unprecedented with his luxury fashion brand Maison Martin Margiela, which was to debut a collection with no new designs but rather a new-for-it...

Blouse and shawl ensemble in pale olive and black striped silk, the collarless blouse featuring hidden buttons and juliet sleeves with deep buttoned wrists. The shawl, matching strip...

Valentino 1980s black and white wool check jacket, single breasted, round neckline and front bordered with black ribbon. Integrated pockets, shoulder pads...

Mr. John was one of the preeminent American milliners during the mid twentieth century, closing up his elaborate New York salon sometime in the 1970s, although he continued to design...

Tiktiner gray check oversized, double-breasted coatdress with a nipped waist, large collar, and raglan sleeves. Soft feel to the fabric. Looks great belted.

In 1999, Rei Kawakubo (b. 1942) focused on unprecedented sculptural texture and irregular color blocking to design her Comme des Garcons Spring/Summer 2000 collection, which was domi...

Franck Olivier hunter green corduroy jacket features an off-center zipper closure, mandarin collar, and coordinating knit hip and wrist bands. A patch p...

Black wool/cashmere blend easy jacket featuring a large and plush brown fox shawl collar. Raglan, above-the-wrist sleeves, no buttons, , hidden pockets in si...

Belgium former fashion designer Martin Margiela for his eponymous Paris-based Maison Martin Margiela Spring/Summer 2007 collection in a minimalist style debuted this cherry-red crepe...

1980s red knit cardigan elaborately embellished at the shoulders with appliquéd yarn, beads, and sequins. The sweater features an oversized cut, a deep V neckline with coordinating b...