Pucci Dress in Distress!!

When I first saw it, I was instantly enthralled! An ebay listing for a Pucci nightgown featuring only a few very small and very blurry photos. But it was not a Pucci for formfit rogers poly night gown, for it was made in Italy and 100% silk!! The auction started out at a mere $9.99, and I knew I wanted that dress! It had a huge hole in the bottom of the skirt, and holes at the bottom of the sleeves, what that dear dress had been through was anyone’s guess! It looked like it had been chewed up and spit out by some rabid creature! I messaged the seller a few hours before the listing ended asking for measurements and the exact location of the holes. His response instilled enough confidence in me to place a bid, and I battled one other bidder in the last 30 seconds, jumping my winning bid up to $75. When it arrived I was ecstatic, as the damage was below areas I could have hemmed into a mini with ¾ length sleeves. I practically ran to my tailor and shared my vision for the dress with her, and she made the magic happen. From there it was off to the cleaners, it had a few spots but no underarm stains (a minor miracle with vintage silk!) and voila! She’s not perfect, and I wouldn’t have altered her if not for the substantial damage, but I’m glad I was able to resuscitate the poor abused dress!!

60s era Emilio Pucci silk dress, altered. $75 ebay last year (another $20 for alterations and cleaning)
60s stiletto pumps, traded at Cheap Thrills Vintage several years ago also seen here
Hue tights, $8 macys last year
60s sunglasses, $20 ebay a few years ago
60s silver purse, $5 Sierra 2 flea market about 5 years ago
Giant spuntnik necklace someone made out of a 60s brooch glued to an 80s choker , $3 weird little thrift store in South Sacramento a few years ago
Rings, bracelets, ebay and flea market finds, $5-$20 each

We are the vintage clothing preservation society

It's a cause near and dear to my heart, the preservation of fine vintage clothing! We are proud members of the vintage clothing preservation society, with over 20 years of manically haunting thrift, flea and church sale alike. Hoarding is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but that's ok with us. Esteemed vintage clothing seller Denise Brain put it well in a blog post she did several years ago about saving the maxi dresses. Also making a convincing argument to preserve and stay long is fantastic blogger and shop owner extraordinaire Nicole of Crimson and Clover (and dig vintage, and flaming hag folkwear!! ) fame who wears maxis with aplomb! If the vintage clothing has survived decades intact it should stay intact. I will professionally alter to fit and if the hem has been carelessly taken up crooked ( as is usually the case, grrrr) it has to go up higher to correct. The most heartbreaking of all is to see a once beautiful maxi dress chopped off into a tunic length shirt. Anything shorter than 32" from shoulder to hem is a shirt, and this opinion is coming from a short waisted 5' 2" lady!
I thrifted this gem of a dress a few years ago on my birthday! Goodwill was good to me with this $5 treasure. It fits perfectly (length and width!) and it's a novelty print with naked ladies splayed throughout. It was made by San Francisco Dress Works, est. 1971 A.D. I'm wearing it with thrifted pull up faux patent boots I got at thrift town for $4. Also included over the gown is a favorite custom made velvet trench coat I found on ebay and won for $40 several years ago. I'd cry to see either maxi garment get chopped as they are in such good shape. I thrifted these sunglasses so long ago I can't remember where! They are 70s cool ray by polaroid. My necklace is a 70s cameo I fished out of a huge pile of tangled up jewelry at the local antique fair, $3 (down from $5, a discount for my effort!).