First and favorite vintage: Another story

Leigh Anne has a story about favorite vintage that really falls into a lot of categories: It’s her favorite vintage item, it’s a sentimental favorite, it’s her earliest memory of vintage, and it’s the one that got away...at least temporarily. Read on:

My “first vintage” was before I knew what it was, or even before it could actually be labeled such—it is also one one my earliest memories (before I was 3). 

In the back of my mother’s closet hung this dress that she had purchased at the Neiman’s in Atlanta with her very first paycheck some 6 years before I was born. She paid $100 for it and was so proud of the fact that she had earned the money herself to buy it—definitely a splurge for a 20-something single working woman at that time. 

Fast forward to 1975: I had climbed into her closet to play with her shoes and came across this. It was hanging in its dress bag and my earliest “textile” memory involves feeling the wool chenille squares on the skirt. I remember thinking “what is this?” and being intrigued as I never saw my mother wear it. When I was older I asked her why it wasn’t worn. She said that after she was pregnant with me she couldn’t fit into it and of course, the style had changed. But rather than get rid of it, she kept it due to the expense and the memories of the dress. As a teen, I LOVED it and wore it for various 60s costume contests and such (and of course I won). 

In 1996, my dress was lost in a house fire and I thought I would never see it again. Then a couple of years ago out of the blue the dress showed up on Ebay with a seller in Dallas; she had purchased at the Neiman’s there and was finally selling. I immediately bought it and have it today. I wear this dress any chance I get now—not just the costume contests—and always get feedback on it. Amongst all of my vintage that I now have, this is still my most favorite piece—it’s what hooked me in the first place for a lifelong love affair with clothing and especially with vintage.

Leigh Anne told me it’s nice to know she’s not the only “crazy vintage girl” out there.

What’s your first vintage, your favorite vintage, your one that got away? Please share your story and let Leigh Anne know she’s in good company!