Monday, February 27, 2006

$950 and they aren't even leather.

There's this web site. Vintage Textiles. They are... mind boggling. The clothing. My gods, the clothing. Ever had the urge to buy a twenty-six hundred dollar evening cape you will never wear? You will if you go to this web site. (I'm already plotting knitted replicas.) The workmanship, the creativity, the utter coolness... someone talk me down. (And while you're at it, knit a copy of that green Worth capelet and call it a poncho. I'll never have the time with the ten million other ideas I've gotten from this site.)

At any rate. As I was cruising the web site, drooling and caluculating what my tax return would be (and whether the husbeast would divorce me if I spent the entire check on one shawl that I would then consider too nice to wear), I ran across these: Socks. Not just any socks, mind you. These are hand-embroidered silk socks from the Edwardian era. Mmhm. Hundred and forty year old socks. For nine hundred and fifty dollars. But let's take a closer look, shall we? Those are beads in there. Seed beads. Now I suppose I should be having a fit about the price, and I will in a minute, but actually, my first thought is, "In the Edwardian era, women wore long skirts." NO ONE SAW THE FREAKING SOCKS. This is up there with ribbons on your underwear. (As a small child I once asked my mother why we decorated underwear when no one saw it. I don't remember her answer, but I do remember being positive it was dumb to decorate clothing no one saw.) So there we have it. Socks that probably cost a fortune new (allowing for inflation rates and currency revaluing and blah blah, I suspect that the prices of most vintage clothes haven't really changed much from when they were made), with hours of handwork put in to them, and they wouldn't ever be seen. No sense. I hope someone buys them now and wears them with a short skirt.


The last of the great discoveries was the Fortuny jacket. I'm thinking a tealish chenille yarn for the velvet and a yellowy-beige smooth, shiny rayon for the gold stenciling. I know this classy woman who needs a Christmas present next year. And it'll probably take me that long to plot out the pattern and knit it.

Turoe? Never heard of it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ummm... The Edwardian period is 1901-1910.