Linda Zukas Antique Textiles and Vintage Fashions Show & Sale was once again a sellout with 150 booths and 200 dealers offering all that the show title said: the old, collectable and in most cases valuable clothing, bedding and fabric. Visitor attendance figures were not disclosed but the aisles were full, even three hours after the 9:30 am opening on September 4. Show manager Zukas was thrilled with the attendance, the dealers’ offerings and the overall appeal of her show.
This is the place where visitors find bed covers that are fine art, signature fashions and folk art in textiles. It is where the rich and famous come to mix and mingle while shopping for some special piece for their own collection at this one-day show and sale held three times a year, May, July and September, on the Monday of Brimfield Week.
The exhibiting dealers at this show are a unique bunch. Some have conventional antiques such as Perkins and Munson who come with a collection of furniture, art, stoneware and porcelain, while others are simply textile related such as Monica’s Vintage Fashions.
For this show Martha Perkins, West Townsend, Mass., brought out her large collection of quilts and coverlets as well as some other soft antiques. Monica Seggos is from Great Barrington, Mass., and she has been specializing in designer clothing for women. Her sales are to some who may wear the garments but also to designers who will copy or alter the classic designs to manufacture their own line.
Rambling Rose Antiques is from Frederick, Md., and the owner, Marcy Schmidt, came with several lovely dresses from the Nineteenth Century. She called them street outfits, as they were to be worn by ladies when out during the day, shopping, visiting or simply out for an afternoon stroll. Both were made primarily of wool with other materials for the trim. She finds these outfits primarily through her network of customers, clients and friends.
Near the entrance of the show was an exhibit of exotic hats, one made of Persian lamb, the next from mink and the third was coonskin, as a bit of a joke. The dealer was Verna Scott from Yarmouth, Maine.
As a regular dealer on London’s famous Portobello Road, Marie Niforos is also a regular at this show, three times each year. She is originally a New Yorker who moved to London with her English former husband and now makes a living with vintage garments and other textiles. For this show two of her principle exhibits were for children; an Irish crocheted dress at $1,200 and a silk coat for $950.
Rose Lazaro of Metropolis Antiques in Albany, N.Y., was offering ball gowns and furs. Midland, Texas, dealer The Cats Meow was selling a variety of fashionable dresses from the 1950s.
There were many novelties in fabric and clothing as well. Bonnie Barnum brought a dummy at about half life-size from her Brookline, Mass., home. Emmon and Martin, Essex, Mass., was offering garment accessories such as trim and buttons while Gandia-Todd Antiques from Williamsville, Vt., was selling scarves and accessories. Kelter Malce had a collection of dolls, African American dolls, which would be politically incorrect today but might still qualify as folk art. This New York dealer offered the collection of seven for $4,500.
Sunne Melet was there modeling costumes. Sunne, age 3 ½ was having a great deal of fun trying on a variety of outfits, most of which fit her very well. They had been made about 60 years ago for a professional dancer, part of a family dance company. Subsequently the costumes were sold to Special Times of Akron, Ohio, an exhibiting dealer at this show, thus Sunne and her mother, Pam found them.
Asian Textiles and Himalayan Antiques was also offering its collection at this month’s show. Owner Tom Arsenault does his own buying in Nepal, Tibet and other Himalayan countries for textiles, furniture, household antiques and contemporary jewelry which he sells from his Ipswich, Mass., home.
For buttons there was Dusty’s Vintage Linens from Holland, Mass., Jennifer Zanetti, Atlanta, Ga., had all kinds of trim for upholstery and Koval’s of Schellsburg, Penn., was selling quilts and bedcovers.
The textile show will happen again in May, July and September of 2007. For more information, 207-439-2334 or www.vintagefashionandtextileshow.com.
