Sunday, February 21, 2016

WE ALWAYS SAY "YES"TO A DONATION


Last Thursday a woman called the costume shop and asked if we were interested in a donation of "old clothes" that a family member left after some family problem (don't really care). A shed full of stuff. We always say "yes", because you never know. On Friday we unloaded 2 pickup truck loads of boxes, bins, more boxes. This is a small look at the donation.



 Theses are in the woman's dressing room, there was twice as much in the men's.

 Just a fraction of the shoes and hats. I didn't get to them yesterday, but my guess is over 100 pairs of shoes and the same number of hats.

 Spent a great deal of Saturday sorting and cataloging the clothing.....all 340+ pieces of clothing. A rack of evening/cocktail/ beaded tops. From the 1920's to modern day.


 A whole lot of coats. The yellow one in the middle is an opera coat from the 1920's. Very Lady Mary.

I took some photos, but I really needed to log all the pieces in. Could have spent the whole day taking photos. Enjoy this taste.


 Odd modern day dress with a velvet top and unusual skirt.

The next photos make me sad. Beautiful 1920's dresses that are falling apart. The silk is so fragile we'll never be able to use these. We will put them in acid free storage boxes and use them for teaching and research.

 Pretty flapper dress. Imagine how cute this was new.

 This one makes me cry. Every time I moved it some for the fringe fell off.

 Glass bead and rhinestone feathers on this once beautiful dress. Don't leave 90 year old dresses in a shed, ok?

Most of the donation was woman's clothes. There was a couple of tuxes and military uniforms. And these 2  fun skirts.

all-over floral print from the 60's


Welcome to the 70's

 A great deal of the clothes were from the 40's and 50'. Not much from the 70's.

 This beauty is prime 40's evening wear. The dragon is in great shape, as is the dress. The color is more red then pink. We'll be used this in a show sometime.


 White leather suit from the 1960's. Aslo in great shape.


 Red wool dress with matching cape. It's not missing that button. By the shape of the collar I'd say early 1960's.


 Everyone into the pool! Calling Esther Williams. Beautiful Jantzen swimsuit from the 40's. Wonderful condition and the zipper (yes, swimsuits had zippers) works fine.


Like I said, only a very small part of the donation. I will take some more photos ( some of the labels are fun) when I get time. The musical is fast approaching. I probably won't get to the shoes and hats until April, but there are some really awesome shoes. Too bad I wear a size 10.


In the immortal words of Joan Crawford: No Wire Hangers!


5 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness what a treasure!! I would love going through all of that!!
    xo
    Lynn

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  2. Beautiful dresses, the offwhite and the pink princess dress!

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  3. What fabulous things despite the decay! that white leather suit is incredible, like Jackie O gone kinky! xxx

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  4. The Mother Lode. One believes the woman who wore these beautiful garments would be touched by your tears over the fragility of remanants of her youth -- and tickled to see her glam gown slinking across the stage.

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  5. Oh my gosh!! I would have fainted! Look at all that!

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