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Monday, July 8, 2013

Monday Morning Inspiration

Good Morning and welcome to a new week!
Many years ago :) when I was in fashion design school, I met a woman who sold the most wonderful fabrics. She would come by the school about once a quarter and would allow us to thumb through her books. The fabrics were from Valentino and oh my, were they ever beautiful! Very expensive, but beautiful. Ultimately, she stopped selling the fabrics when the down turn in sewing happened. The up side to the story though was that when she decided to get rid of her catalogs, I was the lucky recipient!!!  I have a pile of these catalogs. I rather hate calling them catalogs as they are the loveliest of books. They are housed in a beautiful box and the books are covered in satin. In every way, a joy for the senses to look through them. So, over the next few weeks, I thought I would share a few with you. I did do a little research and found that the books are still being produced. You can find them here,   http://www.elegancefabrics.com/ValentinoUngaro.htm#ungaro. They are expensive, $250.00 each and sadly, they don't look to be of the same quality.
Each page of the "vintage" books that I have contains a lovely drawing and the following page has swatches of the fabrics that were used for the design.
I wish there was such a thing as touch-o-vision as the mohair coating for the above sketch is truly out of this world.
All of the pictures that I am showing you today came from the Autumn 1988/89 catalog. 
Take a look at the picture below. So much for the high/low skirt style being new!!!











I hope you enjoy the pictures. They are a great source of inspiration for me and I hope you as well.
Have a wonderful day!
Rhonda



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15 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness Rhonda! Thank you so much for the beautiful eye candy. Are the drawings from Valentino

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    1. I don't know if they are his drawings. I would imagine that they were drawn by a designer on his staff. They are lovely either way!

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  2. How beautiful, Rhonda...I used to subscribe to these in the 60's...they were always expensive, but not THAT much!

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  3. Lucky lady! These are a treasure. Such beautiful clothing. Thank you for sharing them.

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  4. What a fantastic treasure! Oh how I'd love to explore your sewing studio some day . . ..

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  5. Wow! Those are amazing. I've never seen anything like this before!

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  6. Gosh you do come up with some real gems - these pictures are fabulous.

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  7. To be able to step back in sewing-time like this...these book are definite keepers!

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  8. Those fabrics look so beautiful. How could you resist buying with that sort of temptation!

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  9. These books are positive treasures. Thank you so much, Rhonda, for sharing them with us all. It is quite a treat. I am sure these books are one of the pride and joys of your sewing space.

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  10. Oh my word, Rhonda--what a most delightful post. Thank you so much for sharing this.

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  11. Oh Lucky You! What a catch - but they will be in good hands with you.

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  12. I remember shopping at Elegance Fabrics on Wilshire Blvd. They were super expensive. But the fabrics were so gorgeous. A friend bought their scrap bags for doll-making, but I just window-shopped.

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