The Vintage Fashion Expos in Santa Monica and San Francisco featuring 85 dealers of vintage clothing, accessories and textiles
What the press is saying today!!!
Like Raiding Diana Vreeland's Closet
The Vintage Fashion Expo comes to Santa Monica
"Vintage ensembles from the legendary designers were on display creating enough of a buzz to draw a slew of top film costume designers, West Coast fashion editors, LA's hippest fashion designers, and of course, a smattering of celebs."
Elizabeth Snead, Fashion Wire Daily LA;
on the February Vintage Fashion Expo in Santa Monica
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At the May 3/4, 2003, Vintage Fashion Expo in Santa Monica, clothing and accessories offered by the West Coast's top dealers will range from the sublime to the stylish.
The sublime will include designs by Halston, Dior, Rudi Gernreich, James Galanos, Clare McCardell, Bill Blass, Issey Miyake, Azzedine Alaia and many, many more. But there will also be marvelous finds in every price range from every era from the 1850s to the 1980s, including 1930s bias-cut day dresses, 1940s sling-back shoes, 1950s eyeglass frames, 1960s 'Catch Me if You Can,' leisure wear and 1970s cowboy boots made by the Nudies of the boot world. The show will be held at the at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium at 1855 Main Street at Pico Boulevard.
The May Expo will feature a book signing by Josh Curtis, who will autograph "Sunkissed: Sunwear and the Hollywood Beauty 1930-1950." Virginia Mayo (who will be signing her own book), Ann Rutherford, who wrote the forward, and Dorothy Morris, all pictured in "Sunkissed," will appear with Curtis on Saturday, May 3, at Noon. The actresses will sign vintage 8" x 10" glossies of themselves, and Curtis and his guests will speak briefly on the juxtaposition of glamour and swimsuits that exemplified Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s.
Celebrities who shopped the Santa Monica Expo in February, 2003, included designers Henry Duarte and Jennifer Nicholson (Jack's daughter), Mimi Rogers, Lisa Bonet, Jane Seymour, Sofia Coppola, Kelly Lynch, Kate Moss, Keanu Reeves (with his stylist), Shiva Rose, Barbra Streisand (with husband James Brolin), David Arquette and Mike Ness of the rock band Social Distortion.
"More and more young actresses are choosing to wear vintage to awards shows," says Expo exhibitor/manager Doris Raymond. "This year's Oscars will be no exception." Stars love vintage because they know they will not see anyone else in the same outfit, but vintage is having quite an impact on the mainstream fashion market as well. "While vintage initially inspires the trends you see in fashion magazines, the trend also rebounds back into the market," Raymond says. "Right now Donna Karan is doing a strong 50s silhouette [that is] very film noir and John Galliano always does a 30s feel, creating an interest in that time period. And the popularity of 60s, 70s and now 80s retro looks has always been very strong."
In addition to movie stars who attended the February Santa Monica Expo, Raymond reports that costume designers were buying vintage clothing for 'Sea Biscuit' and NBC's 'American Dream.' The costumer for the new Tom Hanks film 'Polar Express,' set in 1956, was there too, looking for children's bathrobes, slippers and pajamas, and another costumer was looking for 1880s-inspired clothing for 'Haunted Mansion,' a new film starring Eddie Murphy and Terrance Stamp.
The Santa Monica Expo will be held on Saturday, May 3 from 10:30 AM to 6 PM and on Sunday, May 4 from 11 AM to 5 PM at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium at 1855 Main Street at Pico Boulevard. Tickets cost $10, $20 for early buying admission on Saturday at 9 AM (a number of fashion professionals take advantage of the Expo's early buy). All tickets are good for both days. For more information, please call (707) 793-0773.
