Vintage clothing show returns to Elgin
Beaded flapper frocks, a demure turn-of-the-century maternity dress and not-so-demure late '60s women's shoes with Lucite heels can all be found this weekend in Elgin.
The Midwest Vintage Clothing, Jewelry and Textile Show and Sale comes to the Hemmens Cultural Center, 150 Dexter Court. Show hours are from 5 to 10 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
A $10 admission pays for both today and Saturday and guests dressed in vintage clothing today receive $2 off. Saturday only admission costs $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and children 10 and younger get in free.
A special $60 admission provides early access to the show beginning at 3 p.m. today.
Also featured this evening will be live music by Mangelo and the John Wright Trio and a vintage clothing contest.
About 75 vendors are expected, said the show's producer, Sara Cassidy, owner of Cat's Pajama's Productions of Minneapolis. Cat's Pajamas has run the Elgin show for 19 years, along with events in St. Paul, Minn., and Detroit.
Items range from $5 rhinestone earrings to a Victorian ballgown priced at more than $1,000, and include collectibles and "wearables."
"Wearables are practical, everyday wardrobe items like sweaters, women's business suits from the 1940s which are very cool, men's hats and suits," she said. "We'll also have tuxedos, usually some wedding gowns and things that could be worn as prom or bridesmaid dresses."
Cassidy added that clothing from the 1960s and 1970s has become very popular.
"We're seeing a lot of cocktail dresses, Jackie O-style suits and really hip funky things like bellbottoms, Nehru jackets and love beads."
Barrington-based antiques dealer Carrie Richmond's collection includes a couple of suits inspired by Jacqueline Kennedy and what she describes as some "very wild shoes" with Lucite heels from the late 1960s or early 1970s. Richmond's passion, however, is vintage jewelry.
"I have some very unusual things, lots of signed jewelry from the 1940s through 1960s by Boucher, Schiaparelli, Chanel and Ciner," she said.
Richmond will also feature vintage Christmas tree pins, which she said are difficult to find.
"They were throw-aways, people bought them for $2 and tossed them," she said.
That changed in the late 1940s when designer Albert Weiss created a line of pins that were sold in department stores, including Marshall Field's. The pins came in three sizes and sold for $5, $10 and $15. "Today, they go for $100 to $300," Richmond said.
Mary Tayon, owner of Aberdeen Antiques, in St. Charles' Antique Market I, will offer an array of clothing from the 1860s through the 1960s, including an unusual two-piece maternity dress from about 1900 and a white-eyelet summer dress from 1912.
Tayon's customers for Victorian wear include historical museums, collectors and a Canadian costumer but she said her most popular items are what she calls "I Love Lucy" dresses; cotton shirtwaists from the 1940s and 1950s.
"I think because people can wear them easily," said Tayon.
The show appeals to a wide audience, Cassidy said.
"We have designers from both coasts and serious collectors, but we also get local seniors who come for the nostalgia and college students who want inexpensive, hip items they won't find in retail stores," she said.
For more information and a complete list of vendors, visit the Web site at www.catspajamas productions.net
If you go
What: The Midwest Vintage Clothing, Jewelry and Textile Show and Sale
Where: Hemmens Cultural Center, 150 Dexter Court, Elgin
When: From 5 to 10 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Info: catspajamasproductions.net