Marisa Tomei confirmed her preference for vintage and pink - a woman after my own heart it seems - when she wore a 1950's Traina-Norell frock to The Art of Elysium's "Heaven" Gala this weekend. Marisa is friends with Cameron Silver, owner of Decades in LA, and the store featured this classic example of mid-century American design on their blog. I must confess I don't know much about the Traina-Norell label, so I looked it up on the Vintage Fashion Guild's website and they tell me that Traina-Norell's designer was Norman Norell and he was a ..."Major American designer, born in Noblesville, Indiana. Norell worked with Hattie Carnegie from 1928-1940. He then partnered with Anthony Traina in 1941 to form the firm Traina-Norell, where he remained until Traina's death in 1960.
Anthony Traina was, for years, Norman Norell's backer. He died in 1958. At that point the Norman Norell label (without the Traina name) appears. Prior to that everything is marked Traina-Norell - back to the 1940s.
In 1960 he formed his own company, Norman Norell. Norell used a basic repertoire of shapes, yet achieved a great deal of variety. He was known for the waistless chemise dress, his "mermaid" sequin sheaths, the pussycat bow, and for making day sportswear shapes in evening fabrics and doing up sport fabrics for evening. Also known for his precision tailoring, he favored the finest imported fabrics, and thought it better to have one really good but threadbare dress than a wardrobe of cheap clothes."
In 1960 he formed his own company, Norman Norell. Norell used a basic repertoire of shapes, yet achieved a great deal of variety. He was known for the waistless chemise dress, his "mermaid" sequin sheaths, the pussycat bow, and for making day sportswear shapes in evening fabrics and doing up sport fabrics for evening. Also known for his precision tailoring, he favored the finest imported fabrics, and thought it better to have one really good but threadbare dress than a wardrobe of cheap clothes."
On the red-carpet at the same event - which all together featured some wonderful dresses - I noticed a couple of other looks which I think may well become the vintage of tomorrow.
Anna Paquin aka Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood was brave and beautiful in this fabulous Viktor & Rolf 2010 design. This is one label that is truly cutting edge and completely of our time.
And Ashley Olsen was very glamorous in this 2006 Alexander McQueen gown. The lace on this looks stunning and the train is very old Hollywood glamour. Like something Joan Crawford might have worn if she was at an Edwardian party.Photos courtesy of True Blood Online and Red Carpet-Fashion Awards.
3 comments:
love how you found a vintage image of Marisa's dress!!! Agree about loving on the Ashley sister's gown!
Lovely picks! My fave is Marissa's, that's so sweet.Love the A McQueen dress, but wish she had worn a more subtle lip color to match the pretty ladylike shade- I suppose she liked the contrast of the strong lip with the demure dress.
Marie @ Lemondrop ViNtAge
Marissa's dress is beautiful! The color combination of pink and black is a classic, what a standout!
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