V151: Vintage Mexican Dress Day

It’s been 151 days of livin’ la vida vintage, so far this year.  Well…at least celebrating in some way, big or small, something old and cool every single day, via this blog, and today it’s a celebration of this awesome dress my mother bought in Mexico about 25 years ago.

I need to get a cool leather or woven belt instead of this black one, but it’s all I had this morning

I know it’s hard to swallow 25 years old as “vintage,” but the technical, museological definition is only 15 years!   At any rate, I love this dress for so many reasons, one of them being that some lovely little old Mexican lady embroidered this dress completely by hand.  The dress is completely home made, and was made specifically to sell to tourists like my mom, which helped support the families of these amazing craftswomen.

embroidered by hand! This would take me, like, 7 years!

So now it gets a new life in my closet!

8 Comments

  • niddetissus

    May 31, 2012 at 9:42 AM

    Wow, I can't believe the museologists consider vintage to be only 15 years in the past! I'm pretty sure I have some vintage in my closet then that I just think of as "oh, that thing from high school!" 🙂 Btw, my Astorias arrived yesterday and I completely LOVE them. I can't wait to take them dancing.

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    May 31, 2012 at 3:41 PM

    How does one support a family on this? Granted she would be faster than I am but still…it had to have taken days to do this. Then you get some tourist that comes along and wants to pay no more than what a gallon of milk at home costs…because it is Mexico after all and they have no idea how much work that is….Amazing! Awesome summer dress!

    Reply
  • Lynn Brooks

    May 31, 2012 at 4:06 PM

    love it. it's great that your mom held on to it for so long. we live in an age where we are always encouraged to "get rid of clutter", "if you haven't worn it in a year, toss it", which is such a shame, so many beautiful things get lost.
    I really like the color of this, and it fits you well.

    Reply
  • KittyKatt

    June 11, 2012 at 3:00 AM

    I have a friend that knows quite a bit about the social history of this kind of garment. I will email this page to her and perhaps she will get back to you…

    Reply

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