Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Sunday Road Trip

On Sunday a girlfriend and I took a road trip from Melbourne to Bendigo and met up with the lovely Nicole from Circa Vintage on the steps of the Bendigo Museum, temporarily the home of "The Golden Age of Couture" exhibition which is on loan from The V&A Museum in London.


Let me just say, the four hour round trip to get there and was well worth the effort and I urge anyone who has the opportunity to do so. It finishes on the 22nd of March 2009. I will do another post exclusively on the exhibition, as I was so privileged to have Nicole - a true expert give her fascinating and valuable insights into the incredible pieces we saw and I'd love to show some of them to you.

In honour of the New Look, as pioneered by Christian Dior I wore the following dress (remember to click on my images for a closer look):


I have a crinoline underneath to give it pouf and swing when I walk, so it's a lot of fun to wear. I got lots of lovely comments from others visiting the exhibition.


Cute bow detail on the detachable modesty panel at the front. The panel is fastened with press-studs at the shoulders and base.


The nice, wide collar wraps around the back and meets low at the front at the large button.

I always had assumed this dress to be a home-made 50's confection, but the eagle eyed Nicole spotted the union tag, hidden away in a side seam near the dress hem. After a little Googling, I now know it is a professionally made dress from around 1955-56. Happy Days!

13 comments:

Andrea Eames said...

What a stunning dress!

Anonymous said...

Indeed, that outfit is incredible!

Thanks for participating in my retro give away; I am very pleased to have discovered your blog!

Take care,
Mademoiselle M.

Amber said...

That dress is dreamy! And the crinoline really adds that special something to it.

Candice DeVille said...

I love the collar on the dress in particular. Great choice. Sounds like you had a wonderful time, sorry I couldn't make it. Did you have a favorite highlight piece?

Neroli said...

ACOIC. Thank you. It's quite a standout dress considering it's so, well... brown!

Thank you too Mademoiselle M, and it is a pleasure to see you here - come back again soon!

Emer, the crinoline is lots of fun to wear, I'm getting Nicole from Circa Vintage here in Melbourne to source other dresses I can use it with too.

SKM, we certainly had a great time, hopefully you can make it on our next adventure. We indulgently spent hours peering at all the exhibits. I had so many favourites, but there was a STUNNING red silk ball gown where all the detail was in the back that was a particular stand-out piece. Stay tuned for a post regarding the exhibition soon.

AusAnna said...

such a great dress!

Miss_Red said...

Nicole is so cleaver isn't she! You look simply amazing in these pics, a true vision of vintage beauty! Sorry I wasn't able to tag along this time

Anonymous said...

Great post Miss V! So glad to hear that you managed to track down the year of your lovely frock. Union tags can be so handy: if only every dress came with such useful information.

Jen said...

Wow, what a most beautiful dress - its gorgeous!!

thevintageyear said...

Oh my goodness, I love this dress so much, I think I have to take a Bex and have a good lie down!

It's just so gorgeous because it is the epitome of a '50s dress yet is still so modern with the fabric... and I LOVE that it has a detachable modesty panel. So you can be a vintage vixen one day, and a prim'n'proper lady the next ;)

I really want to check out that exhibition, it's a pity it's not coming to Melbourne, but it's great that Bendigo Gallery is getting lots of publicity!

P.S. I am not sure if I've commented here before but have been lurking a while! so Hi!

Neroli said...

Thank you AusAnna and Pretty little Pictures - thanks for commenting too, it's always lovely to see you've been here.

Miss Red, yes indeed, Nicole certainly is worth her weight in gold! I stopped by to see her at her shop on the weekend and I can't wait to see what she has in store (geddit...)for for a couple of events I've got coming up!

Vintage Year - welcome and thanks for your comment. I say reserve the bex and open a champagne! I will say that the exhibition is worth the two hour drive each way, so if you have the opportunity, please do go along. Bendigo is very pretty (that is where my photos were taken).

Retromodgirl said...

You look absolutely lovely. And it is so wonderful to see some greenery in your pics, it is so cold and snowy here in Upstate NY USA...

esme and the laneway said...

OMG that dress is STUNNING! I LOVE it (and I need caps to say how much!!!) :D

I am hoping to get down to the exhibition next weekend, I can't believe I am only just scraping in to see it!