Vintage Fashion & Textiles

A house clearer has won a High Court battle to regain possession of a pair of medieval embroideries thought to be worth millions after a longstanding dispute with a fine art specialist.

A NEW textile conservation centre – the first of its kind in the UK – is to be established at the University of Glasgow.

EARLY 17th century embroidery is a fairly rare beast, but it does surface occasionally.

THE deadly sin of avarice was the theme of this large 16th century Flemish tapestry, but the warning failed to temper the desire of bidders when it came up at Skinner's most recent sale of European furniture and decorative arts in Boston in the USA on April 11.

This 18th century needlework panel appears to be a fragment of a work conceived on almost Bayeux Tapestry proportions.

One of the quirkier and more unusual offerings to feature in Christie’s £3.7m sale of English furniture and works of art on June 7 was this rare Elizabethan map fragment, one of the first tapestries ever produced in England.

What’s in name? Everything as far as John Miles of Swansea is concerned. For years now, he has been researching his family tree and, in that time, learnt of a unique heirloom that has been lost for about 80 years.

SILKS from China, carpets from Persia, cottons, shawls and kilims from India, Euopean embroidery and lace, antique buttons and bows – some of these fine textiles, fabrics and accessories are now an essential part of any vintage fashion fair.

SO successful have been the three vintage fashion fairs organised by Sally Woodhead and Sam Tankard at the Queens Hotel in Leeds that they are moving to one of the city’s finest Victorian buildings, the town hall, with their first vintage fashion fair there being held on Sunday, February 4.

JUDITH Lidell is celebrating the success of her first vintage fashion fair on her home patch of Newcastle-on-Tyne on Sunday November 19.

ANITA Bott of Vintage Fashion Fairs is adding another venue to her bimonthly vintage fashion fairs at Battersea Arts Centre, events now firmly on the fashionistas circuit.

VINTAGE fashion fair organiser Edwin Dyson has banned the sale of fur at his events.

BEYOND France is the name of Maud Lombard’s linen company, but it is actually Hungary where Maud sources her homespun, handspun vintage linens in and around the village of Nagynyarad in the south west of the country, near the city of Pecs.

TO raise funds for the Stratford-on-Avon Hospice, Jeannette Laight of J&G Vintage Clothes Fairs, and Matt Curtis of Stratford-on-Avon hair stylists Toni & Guy held a vintage fashion show at The One Elm bar and restaurant, Guild Street on Monday September 11 where models Dani Davies and Sam Rannage, right, took to the catwalk and paraded some of the clothes that you won’t find in Top Shop.

More suited to the wall than the bed and more a piece of social history than a functional textile, this 19th century appliqué felt coverlet reaped the rewards when it sold for £24,000 (plus premium) at Kerry Taylor auctions in association with Sotheby's on June 26.

Whether it was the result of quiet, pious reflection, plentiful practice, or simply the bonds between close friends, the samplers produced by the girls of Ackworth School in West Yorkshire developed a distinct individual style.

A THIEF who used a key to get into a display cabinet and avoided being filmed on CCTV has made off with two unusual artefacts from a museum in Surrey.

It’s well known that diamonds are a girl’s best friend but handbags surely come a close second. The two combined can be a killer combination.

The regular sales of costume and textiles at Christie’s South Kensington (20/12% buyer’s premium) occasionally produce surprises. What seemed to be a sleeper in their March 15 sale was the mid-late 18th century linen court petticoat shown here. It was made from four oval split cane wooden hoops and half hoops on the hips for extra width, suggesting that it was intended for the most formal occasions.

SOUTH London based Paola-Francia Gardner who operates as P&A Antiques, has been a pioneer of the now booming field of vintage fashion and she holds her first fair of the year this Sunday, January 16.