Vintage Velvet

I know it's a little hot (o.k., a LOT hot) to be thinking about velvet but it's not everyday something like this comes onto the market.

1928 Babani mauve butter silk velvet caftan with gold metallic passementerie embroidery around neckline and all the way down arms to cuffs, with renaissance style lace up cuffs and matching sash. Silk lining.

Note: Katherine Hepburn chose the same Babani gown in white for her 1928 wedding to businessman Ludlow Ogden Smith (they divorced in 1934). In Miss Hepburn's manuscript for her autobiography, "Me," she describes the dress: "...I had a pretty dress - a Babani. It was crushed white velvet with gold antiqued embroidery sort of around the neck and bit down the front and on the sleeves. "The dress was auctioned in 2004 at Sotheby's and hammered at $27,000.

Madame Babani opened her Paris shop in 1919. She carried decorative items and imported textiles from the Orient as well as designs from Liberty of London and Mariano Fortuny. The influence of Fortuny can be seen in many of her creations.

Babani's work often exhibits historical borrowing that constitutes the life of any art form. Babani's inspiration drew from the past and her palette tended to be brighter than that of Fortuny.

Price $9,500 at The Way We Wore

Phone: 323-937-0878 thewaywewore@sbcglobal.net