Vintage Clothing and What to Do With It

RB, a loyal reader from Santa Barbara, sent me a photo of a wonderful silk blouse she made in the 1950’s. It won her a prize in Home Ec. A woman of a certain age, she wrote that her friends elected her to ask me what to do with vintage clothing. She also sent me shots of clothing her friends treasured for 70 years. RB’s note said,“These fine garments are too nice to give to thrift shops, and too old for Renaissance Consignment shops, and none bear high end labels. I’d happily give my hand sewn blouse to a museum or someplace where people may appreciated it, and not use it as a floor mop. I appreciate any ideas.”

RB, I feel your pain.

Categories of vintage clothing that have resale value are as follows:

• Designer labels on clothing of the last 3-5 years
• Designer labels on clothing of a HOT era (think the 1960’s)
• Garments with a pedigree or provenance (think Jackie wore this, or this is Liz’s caftan)
• Garments in excellent condition representing an historical era
• Garments that represent a slice of time, or workmanship, in a collection.

An example of a donation I made to a museum of historical garments in a collection

I worked on behalf of a client whose grandmother in the 1920’s worked as a seamstress in a high-end French Couture shop. On her days off, she copied the designs for her own wardrobe. After she wore a dress once she meticulously put it away in a cedar chest. Yes, she stole the designs, but she herself wore them and did not sell them, during the 25 years she worked for the House. She copied over 250 gowns, each preserved. Now that’s a collection an historical museum WANTED.

Here’s why:

• It represented the style of a famous French designer 1920-1945
• The collection represented ‘women in the fashion workplace; during an important era
• The excellent condition of each garment
  

RB, beautifully made objects such as your blouse, winning you an award in Home Ec in 1950, is not the type of donation a museum will welcome. However, I might not know of a Home Ec museum somewhere, that WANTS examples of a specific type of ‘female craft of the 1950’s.’ If such a place does NOT exist, it should!

Another client contacted me desperate for my help to auction off her wedding gown from 1949. Her father from Louisiana paid a seamstress $2,000 to make his daughter something wonderful. It possesses all the class you ever want for a New Orleans formal wedding. Despite its great midcentury look and old style satin, wedding gowns are plentiful on the secondary market. We cannot find interest at auction. Sotheby’s and Christies only take the true designer labels, like Worth and Dior.

I consider getting rid of the abundance of clothing we ALL store in our closets a first world curse. We need to faced this problem. Thrift stores are packed with wearable things, selling for a penny on retail of each $10 spent originally. I myself have an entire wardrobe from our local Catholic Charities, the Unity Shoppe, and the Assistance League. Many well-dressed women have no choice but to give their clothes away because they don’t want last year’s fashions. A sad state of affairs when so much of the world has nothing.

Consignment shops locally want things in excellent condition, with great labels, on hangers, and recent designs. Of course, they want things ready to sell.

Other options my clients use

They give furs and fine historical garments to local theater departments. But all outlets for used garments are choosy because too many garments exist. We have too much.

If RB owns any great scarves (think Hermes) or great handbags (thing Gucci) they are the bomb these days. Online consignment organization The Real Real reports they get record prices for these objects.

I’m sorry about your Home Ec blouse, RB. If you find a museum for it, let me know. I have a Home Ec dirndl skirt I can offload from the 1970’s, with the elastic waistband! Remember those?