SHRIMPTON COUTURE: Preparing vintage for market
By Shrimpton Couture on June 19, 2009
TORONTO (Herald de Paris) - This has been a very busy week at the Shrimpton Couture studio. Lots of pretty vintage dresses are on their way to their new owners as girls really start to buy for the warmer summer weather. Each dress is sent freshly cleaned and pressed, and I go over it one final time to make sure it’s in pristine condition before it goes into its box.
I send out my vintage pieces in as perfect condition as I can get them into, but they certainly do not all come my way like that! I often have to do a bit of restoration work to them to get them presentable. It is common for vintage dealers to do a bit of light-hearted, obligatory, moaning and groaning about the washing and ironing that goes into getting a garment into perfect condition, but its actually one my favorite parts of what I do. There is something I find deeply satisfying about the restoration process. It’s almost therapeutic to take a dress that has been packed away for years, and even sometimes mistreated and give it a new life. Colors & patterns that are covered by a layer of grime and dust suddenly are vibrant again. Dresses that just hang there and no longer seem to have any shape, spring back to life under my hands.
I particularly love restoring 1950s cotton frocks. Maybe it’s because, unlike a garment that goes out to be cleaned, the process to revive them is done entirely by me, by hand. 1950s cotton is one of the best fabrics on the planet – hands down. I don’t know why it is different from modern cotton but it is. It just seems that bit more substantial, colors were often hand screened onto it and it just seems to more vibrant than prints are now. But even this wonderful fabric can be less then pretty if not treated properly. I think of cotton like hair on a bad day when you had no time to properly dry & style it and then the day turns humid on you too. It just goes droopy and hangs there; refusing to do anything you want. Vintage cotton can get just as stubborn if not cared for and loved. An unwashed, uncared for 1950s frock can hang on a hanger looking like the saddest little thing. I think of them as little orphans who have been left to fend for themselves in the big bad world and have given up – a nonverbal sticking out of the tongue in defiance at the world for allowing them to have gotten in that condition. I cannot tell you how many times I have brought home a 1950s sundress, and My Guy has just shaken his head, thinking that this time it will defeat me. That for this particular little dress, all is lost and it is no longer salvageable
But I always try and almost always succeed.
Into a sink full of a light cleanser it goes to soak with just a gentle swish of the hand from me once or twice. Rinse and back it goes into a new sink full of fresh soap and water. Rinse again. I will repeat this till the water runs clear. Then I like to soak it for a while in lavender water, because it smells like sunshine to me. Then out and into the actual sun it goes to dry.
I can almost see the dress start to change its stance as it dries, going from a droopy little thing to a dress that knows it just might be pretty after all. The ironing is where it gets all my attention. If one irons right you go over every inch of the fabric and its then that you find where the dress might need a little stitch, where a spot needs more attention, where a small repair needs to be done. My ironing board is in front of the window so I iron it in sunshine, willing the rays to infuse the dress with happiness.
Then, when it is done and I hold it up before me after a process that sometimes can take a full day from start to finish, it radiates its joy at me. Its zippers & buttons lie flat and perfect, its collars are smart once again and its skirt crisp and full. It beams back at me as I beam at it, and I silently welcome it back to the world where it will now wait to for its new owner to fall in love with it.
Yours in vintage
Cherie
www.shrimptoncouture.com
PS Next Week: My chat with the amazing Norma Kamali. I am terribly excited to share this with you
This process is so neglected as the world seems
in a rush. Drycleaning in general is harsh ,toxic and environmentally unfriendly. Our great grandmothers who had many many children had an arsenal of tricks to remove stains. As a fellow vintage dealer who has been in the business 30 years I could always tell who was a happy bride from the gowns and silk bias cut penoir sets of the 30’s and 40’s. Loved your column and found myself sharing many new restorations.
I too find the washing and restoration process very gratifying. I love watching the wash water turn dingy colors because I know the garment is coming back to life. Great article!
I too, adore handwashing, and pressing – though mostly for myself/ my own vintage pieces. There’s a real art to it, and I’ve been doing it for so long, I think it’s easy to take for granted the “touch” of it. It’s actually not easy for most people – the things that become second nature by experience – not lifting filmy silks that are heavy with water, but rather allowing the weight to drain out of them first. Not wringing anything, but rolling gently in linen. And giving all seams an extremely gentle pull to flatten them. Then pressing while still damp. It’s been a while since I’ve done all this, thanks for sharing. I will post tips at some point…
That’s quite an intensive process and one wonders how many vintage sellers will actually go to this extent to provide a garment in its best possible condition, considering the explosion of vintage sellers as of late.
And how great that you enjoy this part so much. It actually shows in your photos. Those dresses look as fresh as the day they were made.
So many garments that are labeled “Dry Clean Only” are able to be hand-washed and air-dryed just as Cherie describes and often come out looking better than when you get them back from a dry cleaner! Plus this “old-fashioned” method is so much better for the environment than when you use a non-toxic detergent. Let the hand-washing revolution begin!