I think women are really going to tap into the Gatsby look because it’s quite feminine and soft and joyful, and I think that, post financial crisis, people are looking for a little joy. And women are rediscovering the power a hat has to transform their look and to give them some extra ways of styling themselves.
Rosie Boylan, milliner. (Ms. Boylan created most of the 1000 hats used in the new The Great Gatsby film.)
Posted in Events, Fashion, Vintage | Tagged film costumes, hats, Rosie Boylan, The Great Gatsby film, vintage fashion | Leave a Comment »
Hats designed by Rosie Boylan for The Great Gatsby.
Hats are always important. Full stop … Hats enhance the characters, create an otherworldliness, and help the audience understand that we’re in a time other than our own.
Catherine Martin, costume designer for The Great Gatsby.
Ms. Martin worked with milliner Rosie Boylan designing hats for the blockbuster film, which premieres May 10th, 2013.
Posted in Events, Fashion, Vintage | Tagged Catherine Martin, Rosie Boylan, The Great Gatsby film | Leave a Comment »
Helen Uffner (far right) and her helpers. Left to right: Chelsea Bjerk, Lauren Bostic, and Dan Travis. Photo: Richard Aiello.
Helen Uffner is well-known around NYC and Hollywood for having the best old duds. She runs her own business renting period clothing and accessories for theater productions, films, television, magazine editorials, and book covers.
I met Ms. Uffner over hats at the reception opening for the Milliner’s Guild exhibition. When I mentioned that I write about fashion and have a fondness for vintage, Ms. Uffner generously invited my partner and me to her warehouse.
Now that’s an offer I wasn’t going to refuse. Plans we had for the next day were forgotten as we hopped on the subway to Queens and knocked on the door of Helen Uffner Vintage Clothing, LLC.
It seemed a fun place to work. Vintage tunes played in the background as staff chatted with actors who were getting fitted for a local play. A woman visiting from Hollywood was sorting out costumes for an upcoming film.
When not busy reorganizing or working with clients, the staff model some of the merchandise for Ms. Uffner’s Etsy site, Vintage Pickle. Apparently on some days they just can’t resist playing dress-up.
What started as a personal collection for Ms. Uffner is now a 6000-plus square foot warehouse of clothing for men, women, and children from the 1860s on.
Photo: Richard Aiello.
Since she was a young teen, Ms. Uffner has been drawn to all things antique and vintage. Her first purchase was a 1920s beaded dress for $5, which she found at a flea market in Connecticut. “Then I went to a big antique faire,” she explains, ”and I had to debate for about an hour and a half whether or not I could spend $20 on an Edwardian dress.” Good sense won out and she still has both of those dresses.
As a fine arts major in college, Ms. Uffner continued to collect but never with the thought of wearing her pieces. She preferred to study the fabric and construction of what she considers works of art. Everything she bought she hung or kept in boxes at home. Before long she became the go-to person for friends and friends-of-friends in need of a costume for this or that. One day the costume designer for Woody’s Allen’s film, Zelig came over and ended up buying just about everything Ms. Uffner had. (BTW, the film won an Academy Award in 1984 for Best Costumes.) It was then that she realized she could rent rather than sell, and a business was born.
In addition to basic clothing, Ms. Uffner has undergarments for men and women, hats, handbags, ties, shoes, anything needed for a complete period ensemble. Among her many clients are popular fashion designers who rent pieces to copy for their own lines.
Photo: Richard Aiello.
Ms. Uffner stores everything on racks or shelving arranged by time period, then color and fabric. “We don’t quite do it by decade,” she explains, “but by how styles changed.” Interns are charged with sifting through the racks looking for misplaced pieces, which is a great way to learn about vintage details. Details that Ms. Uffner can rattle off the top of her head. Such as, button-fly trousers for men are Victorian to the early 1930s.
Photo: Richard Aiello.
Over the past 35 years, Ms. Uffner has provided clothing for the films Fatal Attraction, Out of Africa, The Color Purple, Mona Lisa Smiles, Julie & Julia, Mildred Pierce (HBO), and Far From Heaven just to name a few. Currently staff is working on 42 and Behind the Candelabra. Theater productions include The Producers, The Seagull, Trip to Bountiful, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Oh, and Catherine Martin, costume designer for the new Great Gatsby film spent six months visiting the warehouse and renting various pieces for inspiration.
Ms. Uffner is still actively buying, both for the business and her collection. She says her personal favorites are not necessarily the pretty dressy pieces, but the character clothes – the faded, patched, lived-in and worn. “Because they have a story.”
Ms. Uffner spent two hours showing us around and answering our questions. It was a rare NYC treat for this vintage-lovin’ tourist.
Posted in Arts, Fashion, Vintage | Tagged Cathrine Martin, Helen Uffner Vintage Clothing, period costumes, The Great Gatsby film | 6 Comments »
Shun the cheap and shoddy as you would a contagious disease and … sink your all in a few perfect clothes. Well-made shoes, well-cut clothes of classic, lasting style, good hats, however few in number – these form the foundation of our lady’s wardrobe.
Vogue, January 1931.
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I’ve been reading a new book called Jane Austen’s Guide to Thrift: An Independent Woman’s Advice in Living Within One’s Means, by Kathleen Anderson and Susan Jones (Berkeley Publishing Group, 2013). The authors, both English Literature professors, offer basic budgeting advice using examples and quotes from Jane Austen’s novels and characters. The fashion section includes discussions on how to repurpose forgotten clothing in your closet, how to succeed at thrift-store shopping, and the advantages of investing in quality classic pieces.
With good humor and wit, the authors poke fun at modern society’s consumptive ways.
“We wonder: Would Jane Austen or her characters have succumbed to personal trainers to achieve a svelte look? Would Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey pore over fashion magazines and think that a pair of $400 shoes was money well spent?”
No they would not and why should we? Although the advice is old-hat for those of us who already practice thrift, the book is entertaining and makes living within one’s means sound like the best trend of the season.
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Style is everything. It helps you get up in the morning, it helps you get down the stairs. It’s a way of life. Without it, you’re nobody. And I’m not just talking about clothes.
- Diana Vreeland (1903-1989), fashion columnist and editor of Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.
Have you seen the documentary film on Ms. Vreeland, The Eye Has to Travel?
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Essie Davis as Miss Phryne Fisher.
As an enthusiast of vintage fashions and a fan of mysteries, I am super excited about the new television series, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, based on the books by Kerry Greenwood. Filmed in Melbourne, Australia the debut series was a big hit there and in the UK when it aired last year. Now it’s coming to America on DVD from Acorn and airing on PBS starting April 22.
The Honorable Miss Phryne Fisher, delightfully played by Essie Davis, is a well-clad woman of the world in 1928 with plenty of money, wits, and courage. She’s a Lady Detective toting a gold-plated snub-nose revolver who enjoys the company of handsome male admirers and a good murder to solve. So charming is she, we can’t help but love Miss Fisher and her closet.
The mystery plots are somewhat unsatisfying, however, the costumes by Australian costume designer Marion Bryce are the real treat. Ms. Bryce put together 150 outfits for Miss Fisher including the necessary hats, gloves, and handbags. Many of the accessories used are original pieces, but most of the clothing was built with vintage fabric from Ms. Bryce’s personal collection. “The 1920s was a time of extreme excess in many ways,” comments Ms. Bryce. “They lived a lot with gay abandon and that’s always reflected in the clothing, especially the women’s clothing.”
Our heroine’s zest for life is indeed reflected in her extensive wardrobe. She is always well dressed plotting her next move in silk kimono; chasing bad guys in fine tweed suits; and slinking around potential beaus in beaded gowns. I appreciate that Ms. Bryce reuses several key pieces, including the black and white coat shown in the photo above, allowing viewers to get a really good look.
In addition to Miss Fisher there are the supporting characters and extras, most of which are not of Miss Fisher’s social standing but nevertheless still properly and well-dressed for their class, offering a useful piece of fashion history. The sets and props are nothing to sneeze at either.
For anyone who loves vintage this series is an excellent period resource not to mention a great inspiration for creating our own ensembles. Calling all designers and fashion students – this is a must for you, too.
Hey, and the costumes aren’t the only chichi thing going on with Miss Fisher. The show’s theme tune by Greg J Walker is pretty snazzy as well. (You heard it here first.)
So readers, make a pot of tea (or a cocktail), don your favorite cloche hat (or fedora) and settle in for the adventurous new series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries starting April 22nd on PBS.
Posted in Events, Fashion, Vintage | Tagged 1920s costumes, Marion Bryce, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries | Leave a Comment »
