Tag: silk crepe de chine

Vivian revamped

Irma RomeroLeave a comment

Here’s a golden oldie from my 1930s bow dress collection from a few years back, the “Vivian”, an early 1930s style dress in burgundy silk crepe de chine with its dramatic large bow in original vintage rayon bringing interesting contrast to it, typical to the era. It also features the unusual detail in the shoulders of the half moon shaped “wings”, that were also a popular style detail in the 1930s. The long sleeves have small cuffs in the same fabric as the bow. The belt features an early vintage plastic buckle. Closure at the side with snap fasteners.

My homage to Helene Schjerfbeck’s “Girl from Eydtkuhnen II” (1927)

Irma RomeroLeave a comment

Here’s my interpretation of the dress of the wonderful abstract painting “Girl from Eydtkuhnen II” (1927), by the amazing Finnish artist Helene Schjerfbeck which I wore for the exclusive preview of opening of the new exhibition “Schjerfbeck and Fashion”, which opened at the Villa Gyllenberg in Helsinki on February 14th 2024. See my previous post about how I became involved in this project.

This rather unusual bolero dress, which was a novelty in the 1920s, in silk crepe de chine, features joining panels of fabric, in this case, in different colours with the technique known as “faggoting”, a very popular thing in the Twenties, which could be made by hand or as in this case, by machine. It creates an interesting patchwork effect. The bolero top attaches to the front only. The light yellow main dress also features a beautiful accordion pleating on the skirt, in this case my homage to Clara Bow, and the skirt she wore in the film “It”, also made in the same year as the painting. The light blue belt, with a bakelite vintage buckle, fashionably placed on the lower hip brings a lovely balance to the elaborate bolero front.