I had the pleasure of being invited to a special event at Varga Girl, a boutique in Leederville.
This event launched the first capsule from the “ML Vintage Collection” featuring original, never-been-worn 1970s vintage Missoni, Versace and Courreges and Krizia clothing and accessories.
There is a pretty cool story behind this collection!
Mary Lipshut was a fashion buyer and owned a fashion label. She worked for Myer Australia in the 1970s where she bought labels such as Pucci, Missoni and Courreges… plus made friends with fashion royalties such as Gianni Versace, Ottavio and Rosita Missoni and Anna Piaggi (fashion editor of Italian Vogue)!
However in the early 70s the French began nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the Australian government impounded all imported French products for 2 years as a protest. So by the time Mary was allowed to sell her shipment of garments, the fashion had changed and it was too far behind.
She decided to store her shipment and over the years she added other unique and vintage pieces by Versace, Pucci, Missoni, YSL and more. The extensive collection has over 4000 pieces of clothing and accessories!
25 years later she decided to open up and share her collection with the world, and began ML Vintage, selling to the public, and displaying her garments in museums and galleries.
Mary passed away from cancer early this year, and her family has worked with Philip Boon (celebrity stylist) to curate capsules to take around the world to exhibit and to sell, to tell Mary’s the story and celebrate her passion through photographs and charity events.
Philip’s first stop was Perth! At Varga Girl in Leederville!
The collection was pretty amazing and rare. The pieces all looked like vintage, second hand clothes – but they were brand new! New vintage!
This printed skirt caught my eye and I quickly grabbed it try on.
OMG I was in love! It was a 1980s Vintage Missoni silk wrap skirt with a loud flower print. It was way too big for me (like double my waist size?) so I had to pin it at the back.
It cost $495, which was a bit out of my price range. But I was happy to wear it for a few minutes and prance around the store!
Um, it was actually extremely embarrassing, because I was the only one trying on clothes, taking photos of myself in the big mirror and everyone was looking at me like I was modelling the clothes as part of the entertainment?! Ugh, a part of me wanted to crawl into a hole and die. But I knew I wanted some great photos of the clothes being worn, so I just swallowed my pride and my sheer embarrassment that I looked like a self-absorbed, self-loving, look-at-me fashion blawhger (cringe!).
This is me and stylist Philip Boon, looking very loud, colourful and like a pair of happy peacocks.
Turns out that after I reluctantly put the skirt back on the rack, another lady tried it on and eventually bought it! I wanted to high five her!
Speaking of peacocks… I looked like a tropical bird on heat in this 1980s Vintage Missoni Floral Silk Top ($525).
It even had the classic 1980s big boofy sleeves and front-tie. It was totes cray cray :P
I also tried on this 1970s Vintage Missoni Rainbow skirt ($275) and I even hitched it up to turn it into a dress.
The colours were more subdue, but I still really liked it. I think the fact that it is such a rare piece, made it very desirable.
Just to mix it up a bit, I tried on some NEW Missoni clothes (launched this season and also in stock at Varga Girl). My favourite piece was this amazing printed knit top. Looks like I threw a bunch of tropical birds, some butterflies and a leopard into a blender? Can I say that on a fashion blog?
Missoni is well known for their crazy colored knits featuring a zig zag pattern, but this blended bird and butterfly print still seemed to fit beautifully in the new collection.
It perfectly matched my colourful necklace too.
This is the zig zag pattern I’m talking about. Missoni have recently collaborated with Converse to release special edition sneakers with the signature Missoni print! They are selling for $149 at Varga Girl.
And lastly, this is what I wore to the event. A white sleeveless shirt from ASOS, tulle skirt from Birdsnest, multi-colour jewel necklace from Colette Hayman, heels from YesStyle, bag by Marc by Marc Jacobs.
I was told that this collection is only Capsule 1 from ML Vintage. Philip Boon is off to launch other collections in LA and New York. Then he’ll be back to launch Capsule 2 in Perth, in November. So hey, if you’re in Perth, make sure you pop into Varga Girl to check out (and try on) these rare, never been worn, vintage pieces!
Varga Girl
148 Oxford Street
Leederville, Western Australia, Australia
(08) 9444 8990
http://www.facebook.com/thevargagirls
