Debra Pezzullo, Mahopac, N.Y.
Review and Photos by Tom O’Hara
STURBRIDGE, MASS. – Linda Zukas hosted her 77th Antique Textile Vintage Fashions Show & Sale for the 27th year at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Conference Center on May 8. The event is a one-day affair with about 150 exhibiting dealers offering their wares to a huge, international crowd of shoppers. Said Zukas after the show, “The buying was remarkable, sales were just great. One Italian man when I asked him said he had taken 25 trips to his car with things he had purchased, and that there was no room left for him in it.” She added that “the exhibitors are so good at what they do, it seemed to be the best looking show yet.”
Kimberly Kirker, Leesport, Penn.
Susan Voake of Forget Me Not Antiques, Norwich, Vt., regretted only that her daughter was unable to assist her at the show. This is because she believed she may have lost business just by being so busy selling small sewing notions, Valentines and nosegays.
Verna Scott, the proprietor of 1840 House of Maine from Yarmouth did not have that problem. She brought her daughter and sold from her collection of Victorian wedding dresses and party gowns.
Carolyn Forbes, Hollis, N.H., was busy right from the first minutes with a young businesswoman, Dannielle Snyder, who was trying on and buying negligees and other elegant 100-year-old silken gowns for her internet business. She was trying on a great many of the outfits while there.
Maria Niforos, who still shops and sells in Westchester County, N.Y., and Portobello Road, London, had great success for the day as well with her Victorian era collection. Party dresses, wedding dresses and the Sunday strolling outfits are her specialty.
Yard goods and coverlets are the mainstay for Carlson and Stevenson at this show. Phyllis and Tim bring vintage fabrics for draperies, upholstery and an assortment of bed covers, not just quilts from their collection back at home in Manchester Center, Vt.
From Leesport, Penn., Kimberly Kirker brings variety in the field that includes almost everything in the show’s title. She has a collection of vintage fashions, quilts and bedcovers from times gone by; fabrics and a small variety of little things made from cloth like teddy bears and dolls.
Michelle Fox, Weston, Conn.
Connie Marks, trading as Victoriana from Rocky Point, N.C., specializes in the dresses ladies and girls would have worn on Sundays in the latter half of the Nineteenth Century. She does have a lot more than that, but she seems to like this part of her collection the most.
Galerie Arabesque, Stuttgart, Germany, specializes in European tapestries with some textiles as well.
Taking one of the largest spaces in the show, All Ohio Antiques from Dover, Ohio, looks like a ladies clothing store from 50 to 75 years ago. The dealer’s space overflows with clothing racks filled to capacity with ladies fashions from the Twentieth Century, and as the doors opened, shoppers swarmed over the offerings, checking sizes and prices to set them aside and take home.
Jane Lury and her business Labors of Love from Hillsdale, N.Y., was there with some unusual quilts. Her most prominently displayed piece seemed to be a collection of many quilting ideas, a kind of crazy quilt, but unusual and well made.
Steve Mohr, More & More, New York City, was too busy to talk from the minute he arrived that morning until much later. His collection included textiles, dressing table accessories, art, fashions and fabrics, and the customers were lined up waiting to pay from the start.
Emmons and Martin, Essex, Mass., had a collection of costume jewelry known as “Lunch at the Ritz.” They were selling it by the piece quickly.
Old as Adam, Portsmouth, N.H.
Returning to the show after an absence of some years, Elizabeth Baird from Portland, Maine, was selling from her collection of sewing notions and miniatures. The dolls were attracting a good deal of attention as well as antique pin cushions and emeries.
Litchfield, Conn., dealer Karen Reddinger was selling ladies hats from the last 100 years, most with a summer flair. She also offered linens for the kitchen and dining room.
New to the show, John Zannini came from Vineyard Haven, Mass., with clothing for hippies or punk rockers, the worn denim look and appropriate accessories.
Old as Adam, Portsmouth, N.H., was only slightly more upscale in style, going collegiate, circa 1950-60.
Antique Textiles Vintage Fashion Show & Sale is twice each year, always on the Monday of Brimfield Week in May and September at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Conference Center. The date for the next show is Monday, September 4. For more information, www.vintagefashionandtextileshow.com or 207-363-1320.
