Blog Posts

Vintage Curiosities: Mouthwash for your Mimsy

8/4/2016

Circa 1950: When Dick is cool, it's time for Zonite.
(Ad excerpt courtesy of vintageadbrowser.com)

I might be the only person who would delight in its discovery, but the truth is I squealed when I uncovered it. There it was, in an old cardboard box in a neglected corner of my mother’s garage: my grandmother’s 1930s douche.

Was my Irish Catholic and often humorless grandmother that obsessed with cleanliness, or did she like so many women use it as (gasp!) birth control?

Warning: this post acknowledges the existence of sex and women's reproduction.
Now's the time to turn back if you can't bear to read the word "douche" used as a verb.

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Icons: Marchesa Luisa Casati

6/28/2016

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Luisa Casati in 1912.
(Image courtesy of courtesy of Ryersson & Yaccarino / The Casati Archives)

It may be 120 degrees in Phoenix, but in the world of fashion, Summer 2016 has already begun to give way to Fall. Disparate though the specifics of Fall’s fashions may be, the take-away from each collection remains the same: high drama. Upon even closer inspection the seemingly incongruous designs appear to share a common muse: the Marchesa Luisa Casati.

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My "London Season"

5/16/2016

Downton Abby, Season Four: Lady Rose is presented to King George V and Queen Mary by her aunt,
the Countess of Grantham, during the London Season of 1923.
(Photo courtesy of Carnival Films)

Queen Elizabeth may have abolished "the London Season" in 1958 but for me, the "Phoenix Season" was alive and well in 2016.

Love letters from the past

4/22/2016

Dead letter mail, ca. 1917. Supt. Marvin McLean and Mrs. Clara R.A. Nelson.
(Photo courtesy of Library of Congress.)

I anthropomorphize.

As a kid growing up in Chicago, I would never leave my bike outside in case it rained; it might get cold. I cried when I passed a stand of leftover Halloween pumpkins because I didn’t want them to feel bad about not having been chosen. Even today, if I have to throw something in an empty garbage bin I make sure I put another piece of trash with it so it doesn’t get lonely.

The auction of a lifetime, Part II

7/22/2015

A Madame Grès asymmetrical gown circa 1971

The object of my affection: a pristine Madame Grès from 1971.
(Photo courtesy of Sothebys.com.)

Though the auction included garments dating back to the 1920s, I had fallen in love with a floor-length gown made by Madame Grès in 1971. Trained as a sculptor, Grès was best known for expertly draped and meticulously pleated Grecian gowns that showcased her love of classical sculpture. The gown I coveted was one of them.

The auction of a lifetime, Part I

7/14/2015

A view of the pre-sale exhibition inside the Galerie Charpentier, Sotheby's Paris.
(Photo courtesy of Kerry Taylor Auctions.)

Last weekend’s article in the New York Times Magazine, “How to Conduct an Auction,” could not have come at a more appropriate time given that I had just participated in the auction of a lifetime only days earlier.

Found: Clothes that talk

6/23/2015

Ready for battle: my office/studio in its infancy

When I began my business in 2005, I could never have imagined I would have the experiences, meet the people, or know some of the dirty secrets I know today. I quickly learned that like many businesses, the vintage clothing trade has less to do with clothes than it has to do with people...especially the people who inhabited the clothes.

Disposable fashion: where throwaway clothes get thrown away

6/9/2015

A rag factory in Panipat, India. Photo courtesy of Meghna Gupta and Soul Rebel Films.

I already know how I’m going to die: I will be smothered by an unbalanced pile of vintage clothing and discovered by one of my cats weeks later. Turns out that thanks to the West’s appetite for fast fashion, however, this scenario (minus the cats) is a real possibility for some women in India.

Black Cat: What's in a name?

6/1/2015

Where's Don Draper when you need him? Proof it took time to choose a name.

For my inaugural post, I thought it might be appropriate to explain why I chose Black Cat for my business name. Why not Mint Car (90s!), Red Wagon (30s!) or Pink Popsicle (50s Barbie Dream House!)? The truth is it took me months to choose Black Cat, and I still have the stacks of napkins, envelopes and scratch paper from business naming attempts both drunken and sober to prove it.

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Claudine in her mother's European travel suit circa 1962

The Little Black Book thoughts about life, luxury and the pursuit of vintage fashion.

The author

Claudine Villardito is a vintage fashion historian, collector, conservator and cat whisperer living in Tucson, Arizona. Her archive of over 3,000 fully restored vintage items from the 1850s to the early 2000s is sold online at blackcatvintage.com.

She began this blog because she got sick of people commenting that she should really write a book.

Her work has been featured in Vogue Italia, Matchbook Magazine, Tokyo-based En Vie magazine, on AMC's Mad Men, and in theatrical productions and museum exhibits worldwide. She also contributed a monthly editorial column to the award-winning online periodical 3 Story Magazine.

The Little Black Book thoughts about life, luxury and the pursuit of vintage fashion.

The author

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