Selling Part of My Collection, Part 2 -- Yves Saint Laurent, Fendi 365, and More

Suits, dresses, fabric, more!

(edited to note: all garments gone at this point.)

Here's a second batch of clothes that need to leave my closet and find new homes. Yesterday I posted a Mad Men lace little black dress, a circa 1940s peplum dress, and so on. If you haven't looked at Part 1, please look now! It's rather funny, actually, what is leaving: all the slender-skirted clothing. The bouffant dirndl skirts and A-line dresses are staying.


Are you ready?

Circa 1980s Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Sun Dress

This dress is mint condition, and very nice on, and it's the real deal. See the label. I bought it at a top consignment shop when I loved in New York City back in the 1980s and, guess what, never wore it, for the neckline did not suit. Still, it was such a favorite to look at when I opened the closet that I kept it. Made of polished purple satin-weave cotton, it features grosgrain straps and a fitted silhouette, with kick pleats to help you move. Look at how clever the design is: even the folds of the dress fold symmetrically. Measurements: 27" waist, 42" long. On Vintage Textile and other dealers, and on Ebay, prices vary wildly, but are in multiple hundreds of dollars. Price negotiable.

Fendi 365 Cropped Black Jean Jacket with Silver Metallic Threads

For the slightly luxe rocker girl, a little Italian jacket. Again, it's mint condition, with no signs of wear. I wore it infrequently because it was too big. It's size 46 European sizing/ size 16 U.S. Again, this is a pricey little number on vintage dealers' sites. Price negotiable.

Handsome 50s or 60s Tropical Wool Check Suit, Hand-Tailored in Lexington for the Carriage Trade

This is a great little suit and in such perfect condition it could have been made yesterday. A checked tropical weight wool, the jacket features covered buttons, handsome fitting, and the coolest little twisted cord self-belt in the back. Lexington is horse country, and this is the sort of hand-tailored suit that one would have worn to the Fall Meet at Keeneland, perhaps with spectator-style heels and a perfect hat. Measurements: jacket: 32" waist, 35 1/2" bust, 20" long. Skirt: 30 1/2" waist, 27 1/2" long. $75.00, which I think is a very good price indeed for such a suit.

Circa 1950s Nipped-Waist Wool Double-Breasted Jacket...With the Skirt, If I Can Find It

I wore, and wore, and wore this little jacket. It looks great with jeans, with a black pencil skirt, with a little black dress underneath. It's the coolest dark mocha and black check. I bought it in Atlanta in 1989-1990, with a matching pencil skirt, but right now cannot locate the skirt for some reason, and it's driving me nuts, for this is a sweet suit. It has a few small moth holes, which a clever needlewoman could reweave. Also, the top right button doesn't match the others, but I bought it that way. I will have to get better pictures of the jacket as a whole. Measurements: 29" waist, 20" long. $35.00, and $10.00 for the skirt if I can locate it in whatever box it's hiding in.

Circa 1980s Metallic Velvet One-of-a-Kind Smoking Jacket

We sure wore big clothes back then, didn't we? This single-button jacket was handmade by someone fairly accomplished in New York back in the 80s, from velvet printed with a multi-color, metallic pattern featuring paisleys and I don't know what all. As you can see, the back shows the fabric to be well centered. I wore this to the office a good deal, because it was warm and cozy and suited the Metropolitan Museum where I worked in Membership in an often-chilly room. Measurements: 32" long, and approximately 40" around. $35.00

Jim Thompson Thai Silk Fabric, 180" long by 39 3/4" Wide, in Original Packaging

How the silk looks when it's set
in front of a light.

Long ago a boyfriend traveled to China for vacation, and stopped in Thailand on the way. Before he left he asked what I'd like him to bring back, and I asked for three yards of plaid silk fabric. He didn't return with plaid or with three yards, but with three 180" lengths of printed fabric, which was very sweet. Sadly, I have never used them, for the prints didn't lend themselves to the bouffant tea-length skirts I preferred during the 1990s. Here is the first dress length. It's buttery-soft silk, very slightly translucent, and enough to make more than one vintage-style dresses, and still in its original package. I didn't know what I had until I looked him up this morning. It's a little embarassing that I never appreciated it for what it was, for Jim Thompson silk is very high end, and very, very nice. $50.00, OBO

Four Vintage Patterns, All Used, and Somewhat Tattered, But Still Usable

Quite a funny mix. Still, three of the four patterns have some good age on them and the garments to be made out of them are nifty. $10.00 for all four.