Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone....
From my ass to yours!


I'm at my Mom's house, rummaging through old photo albums, scanning up a storm. (You have been warned.)

I grew up in the 60s and 70s, both great decades for wild and wonderful clothing. 
The above is Xmas mid 70s.

Below is Xmas mid 60s.
"Oh Santa, didn't you get my letter? I didn't want to be a Mommy, I wanted the vinyl attache case full of Matchbox® cars!"

What's up with the collar on my blouse? One point has horizontal stripes while the other has vertical.  My Aunt Roberta must have made this ensemble. She was ----

Aw shucks- I'm being called for dinner--- Gotta Go- You're spared 'til next week---

Have a Great Holiday!

A Very Barbie Christmas Tree

I know, you didn't want to click on a link with the word "Barbie" in it, but isn't my shop Christmas tree pretty cute? (click on it for larger version)
All the ornaments are authentic vintage 60's Barbie clothes.
I was supposed to put them on ebay but have now changed my mind...

Slow Day Levi's Quiz

Four pair of Levi's jeans. Match the jeans with the price they sold for on ebay.
One pair got no bids, One pair sold for $10, one pair for $600 (the ones I sold -yay!), and one pair for $4,000.

A)
B)C)
D)
Leave your guess as a comment. Winner gets nothing; it's too easy to cheat...

(and please don't everyone use the alias "anonymous")

All that Glitters

Slow day today, so I'm playing dress-up with a small sampling of the great dresses I have here that would be fab for your New Years party.

Please forgive the poor photography, it's tough being both model and photographer, especially when half the dresses don't fit ...

This silver one is not the one I wore last Saturday night (that one had a jeweled neckline, remember?  plus Everyone made me promise not to sell it)...
This off-white wiggle dress is very fitted with a rouched bustline and gold warp threads.  Very shimmery, much better in person...
This green and black maxi dress has an empire waist:
This metallic glittery daisy dress is extra-large and has a matching coat with rhinestone buttons.  The dress also has pockets, a feature those of us who hate to carry purses just love :
This one is x-tra-small and has a velvet bodice with bubbly skirt.  So No Way for me but maybe you can pull it off:
...And More great glitter I was too lazy to model. The deco one on left below is a generous size and the sequined top is just one of many sequined items I have that are perfect for New Years.  

Five and Diamond will be closed most of week next week for Christmas (Mon 22nd-Thursday 25th) but OPEN Fri, Sat, Sun.  Have a Great Holiday!

My favorite Dress? Again?

One of my all-time favorite vintage dresses is a faux bois knit wool sheath from the 60s that I got at the Salvation Army thrift store about five years ago. 

Imagine my surprise when it showed up again the other day, in the exact same store.

  

Do I need another?

 Of course not.

 

So do I sell it? 

Of course not!

Why on God's good earth would I put an identical dress to my own out into circulation ---and thus invite the risk having someone else wear it on the same day I wear mine?

 Oh the horror! The humiliation!

I'm most certainly keeping them both!

Blog Clog

Too many ho-hum blog ideas piling up in my drafts folder...so I'm going to mush them all together into one big easy condensed ho-hum blog post this week. Here we go--

1) Bad Christmas Sweaters.

I was in this store in Chicago a couple weeks ago, and was quite alarmed to see these horrifically bad sweaters

priced in the $18 + range, while fairly-groovy nylon shirts in the same store were priced at only $5-$8. I am totally out of the kitsch loop or something.  Maybe in Chicago there are hip crowds that have really fun bad sweater parties? 
(Hmmm, I have a birthday coming up next week...maybe I'm onto something here-)

Then yesterday I get this email from Style Mob telling me I can win a $200 gift certificate for finding the best "deliciously ugly" Christmas sweater. Here's the link if you're inclined to enter.  I've got more important things to do---like

2)   Working on my new  Hudson Winter Walk "costume".
It's a miniature, hopefully-wearable Hudson Opera House made out of foam core and cardboard. I've got 72 hours to figure out how to rig it with lights, music, and a harness so my hands will be free.  Ack.

3) Fur is dead.

On Black Friday I sold my last fur coat. No big deal, no preaching, no drama .... just no more fur coats. I will still carry plenty of suede, leather, and the occasional fur-trimmed item. 

4). Melissa

Melissa is the rising star curator at Carrie Haddad Photographs, the new gallery at 318 Warren Street.  She wore this for the grand opening Saturday night. It is the most divine shade of acorn squash you have ever seen, and of course she bought it here at Five and Diamond Vintage....

Last but not least

5) Christmas shopping in Hudson 

..... scads of really great, unique gift ideas under $100, all right here in town. 

Scroll sideways for lots of eye candy.

See you at Winter Walk.  Five and Diamond will be open until 7PM.

Behold the Fast Phat Ascot

Sometimes I fire things out onto the internet just to be sure they're kept in a safe place where I can find them again.  Such is the case with these easy-as-pie directions for a homemade ascot, which I've now had to make for more than one dandy Hudson antique dealer. Each time from scratch without plans.

It's so easy anyone could make it in under an hour.  I should be churning out a bunch for Christmas ...

These plans are really just for me to jog my memory for next time, so if it doesn't make sense and you need better details just email me.

Start with two pieces of fabric 8" x 56". Silk or rayon. Have angles for pointed ends start at 3" from end (see top of my sketch below).

  If you want more drama make that 4" (ascots aren't always tucked in, after all).  

Draw in those angles and trim away excess. Sew right sides together all the way around  leaving 6 inch opening to turn right side out. Press, keeping seam allowances at opening folded, and sew it closed.
 Hold tie lengthwise and divide width of tie into 3 sections. Use a ruler and chalk, or wing it like I do.  Then divide each third into thirds again.  Think: three three-lane highways all along side each other (refer to my sketch again, bottom part). 

Pleat each 1/3 section of tie into thirds and press.  The two outer sections should be mirror image of each other, do them first. Then do center section and press it all down. Make sure the pleated sections lay along side each other and don't bulk up on each other.

Sew down at center, and again 6 inches from center on either side. 
Viola, guess what, you're done.

From here on out you're on your own...see Wikipedia on how to tie the thing.

Helen Shaw: First Lady of Fly-Tying

I'm pretty much a sucker for clothing with interesting provenance, and will usually gobble up any history I can get on the garments I find. These opportunities are sort of few and far between-but fun when they happen.

Last week I went on a house call here:

a little cottage in the woods by a stream, where Helen Shaw and her husband lived for some 35 years.
This is Helen in the left of this photo

Helen was known as the First Lady of Fly-Tying.  Originally from Wisconsin, 
she was an expert fly-tier.   She and her husband Herman, who was a photographer and art director for Field and Stream Magazine, collaberated on a few popular, ground-breaking books on the fine art of fly-tying.

Herman died in 1993 and Helen died just last year at the age of 97.
A major auction house got all the fly-fishing stuff and sold it all on ebay last week;

I got access to the clothing in the closets.

Judging from their wardrobes alone, I would have liked to have known these two.
They were artsy Manhattanites who had moved to the country in the 70s. Down-to-earth sportsmen, but with fashionable good taste.  Brooks Brothers, Abercrombie and Fitch, Saks Fifth Avenue.  Labels with fishies jumping off of hooks and such---and all very wearable.  And--- a big yummy necktie collection that Helen carefully stashed away with home-made sachets ...

This is one of Helen's fly -fishing ensembles, with all these gizmos on it for I-Don't-know-what:And this is one of her silk cocktail dresses:
An olive green suit: and a wool lounging gown with gold embroidered paisleys:
I like to think my customers are as interested in provenance as I am, so I decided to make some special price tags just for Helen's stuff.  When someone buys one of Helen's pieces, they get a little herstory with it.  A photo of a beautiful, talented woman, who once wore this...

I think it would be fun a hundred years from now to buy an old anglers jacket at a flea market, take it home, and find a picture of Helen in the pocket that says ---"this once belonged to Helen Shaw....the First Lady of Fly-Tying."

I've Been Discovered

Five and Diamond Vintage, appearing now, in the December issue of LUCKY Magazine!  THE magazine of Shopping and Style.

"Charmingly shabby....always freshly stocked..."

The people at Lucky were extremely nice and very thorough... they restyled half the store for interior photos, but didn't use them--- so you will just have to travel to Hudson and discover what's inside yourself. I am buried here under mountains of fresh merchandise... Here's a few new arrivals that are not sold yet.....


This week's model, Lucie, walked in on Friday and said she needed a dress to get married in. Not a wedding gown, a dress to get married in---the next day. Here's the dress (and boots) she bought for her ceremony at City Hall.   Perfect....

and Congratulations!

Morticia, Gomez, and Thing..

OK. The only thing I really want to mention about the Morticia Addams dress is the "Fun Stix". Fun Stix are just a Wal-Mart name for 12 inch pipe cleaners, sold in the craft department. I spliced them together and sewed several of them into the hem of the bottom of the dress to help the tails splay outwards (the fake rose doubles as a prop to keep the tails out, btw).
 It was a good idea that worked, but went unnoticed--( just as I'd suspected). Everybody's eyes were on my best accessories, Gomez and Thing.

Alan created the "Thing" illusion entirely from scratch, using a fake hand to hold the box, and then rigging his real hand into the box through a hole in the suit, all the while supporting the box with a handmade belt rig.


Thing entertained all evening by lighting cigarettes and buying drinks.
Thank You Thing.

Good Times.

(more KW: Morticia Addams Halloween Costume, Gomez, Thing, home-made, how-to )

My Halloween Dress- Sneak Preview!

This year I had a serious hankering to make a good Morticia Adams dress.  I finished it yesterday, and today I modeled it for artist Gretchen Kelly.

Check her blog daily for wonderful watercolors and guaches...

Next week I'll post photos and way more than you want to know about the making of the dress.    Meanwhile...    
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!