Filed Under High Heels: Vintage Fashion and Family Heirloom Pieces

I love learning about history and the stories behind our surroundings, I blogged about my neighborhood, my home history, and research about what the original spaces in our home may have been like.

Those topics are more my "Hammers" side, the "High Heels" side gets pretty geeked about vintage fashion pieces.  It all still ties back to history and storytelling.  I visited with my aunts while back in Michigan a couple weeks ago, and my Aunt Mary thankfully handed down some family heirlooms to me that were my grandmother's.  I think what makes these things so exciting is the fact that it truly is one of a kind, they aren't something that anyone can run out to a store to get, so when I get antique or vintage items from Goodwill, antique stores, or handed down to me, I am ecstatic!

This item was something my grandmother had that was originally owned by my Great-Great Aunt Lucille.  It is a real mink stole, I myself do not wear fur, nor would buy any, but I couldn't pass up being able to hold on to something vintage, and I believe if Aunt Lucille was here today she wouldn't wear fur either, I guess back in the 1950's, people didn't really think about animals... and PETA wasn't around.

Here is a close up picture of the tag, at the time she lived in Chicago, so looks like this was from a store called Evans in Chicago, I tried to find pictures of the store online, but all I could find was its location which was on State Street downtown.  

 Here is a picture my Aunt Mary sent me of my Aunt Lucille wearing one of her other fur stoles, not the exact one that I have now.

 

My Aunt also gave me my grandmother's jewelry box, which meant a lot to me, right when I saw it all the memories of playing with this jewelry box and her jewelry popped right back into my mind.  I love the detail on the wood and the little door-knocker type handles.

Taking a look inside, there are two drawers, and some of her jewelry was still inside.

Here are some of her earrings, I remember her wearing mostly the flat white ones, I think those where her favorite.

 

I love that everyday I use my grandmother's jewelry box, which now holds a lot of the special gifts that my husband has given me.  I can only think that my grandma kept a lot of gifts from my grandpa in there too!

This is a picture of my grandma and grandpa that we have framed in our house, Grandma Elaine was a pretty cool lady, check out that outfit, pretty shnazzy huh?  I think it runs in the family :)  My grandpa William was in WWII, hence the uniform.

This last piece isn't a family heirloom, I found this at an antique store in Stillwater, MN, I love it! How stinkin' cute is this little dress? What made the find all the more awesome? It was my size!

Here is a close up of the tag, it was from Dayton's Oval Room. I know that the Macy's in downtown Minneapolis (originally Dayton's Department Store) still has the "Oval Room" in it, that is where you can find all the super spendy designer clothing now, so I wonder if this dress came from that store?

Ahhh, 'heavy sigh' I love all things history- and mostly family history!