Vintage Treasure

Today was the day. My last oppurtunity to bike to the thrift store until next school vacation. It is only open on Friday and Tuesdays (and every last Saturday of the month) but I am working both days. But right now it is the holidays (last day) so it was a perfect chance to go there once again. I love looking at all the stuff there.

First I let the kids run wild in a playground. After some climbing, gliding and rocking we went to the thrift store!

I wanted to have a glance in the clothing department, and to my surprise I saw some pretty shawls in a large crate. They were priced 50 (euro)cents per piece so I rummaged into the crate and pulled out some pretty shawls. Four came home. One with big excitement.

 

See the second shawl from the right? It had some lovely flowers and felt nice.

So I looked at the label with all the information:

 

 

I cannot for the life read japanese, so I had no clue what type of fabric it was. I really have hard time feeling the difference between polyester and silk.

 

It did not ring a bell at all, but here's to smartphones! I typed this name into Google and here is the first hit:

Hanae Mori (森 英恵 Mori Hanae, born January 8, 1926, in Yoshika, Shimane, /həˌnɑːeɪ ˈmɔːri/) is a fashion designer in Japan. She is the only Japanese woman to have presented her collections on the runways of Paris and New York, and the first Asian woman to be admitted as an official haute couture design house by the fédération française de la couture in France. She is also the most honored female designer in Japan. Being one of the first women to have a career in Japan, she is widely regarded as an icon of the liberated women. Her fashion house, opened in Japan in 1951, grew to become a $500 million international business by the 1990s.

Really!? So no doubt this shawl came home with me!

 

It is a very pretty shawl. After a bit of Googling I found out the japanese character before the "100%" stands for silk, so I have a very pretty luxurious designer vintage shawl!

I am still a bit flabbergasted about this. She makes some pretty clothing, and her hallmark is the butterfly. Here is her website.

If there is any fashionista out there who can tell me what collection this shawl came from (I would love to know how old it is) and how to proper take care of it, please drop me a note!

I found several sites about cleaning silk scarves, but I am a bit hesitant as I do not know how old it is or how fragile it is...

And look what also came home:

A small black leather purse, more of a little doctors purse. Absolutely lovely, and in great shape! It only needs some repair on the stitching of the strap. I can manage that!

All in all I spend 8 euro 50 (about 11 dollars) for 4 shawls, 1 bag, 2 little booklets and a bag of buttons. 

I love thrift shopping!