Lace, Lace Baby

Dress? Vintage Victor Costa, thrifted ( Some etsy finds here and here. Also, this VC here is blowing my mind!) 

Clutch? Thrifted Necklace? Antique Avenue Shoes? Lauren Ralph Lauren (here)

I bought this amazing vintage dress about two years ago at Talize. It was $29.99 and I got a 25% discount because there was a hole along the seam and someone had hacked through the neckline and the sleeves. I've already ranted on that before but it never hurts to get repetitive... who cuts into vintage perfection so recklessly? Anyways...
I planned on wearing it to my brother's wedding in Holland two summers back but when I actually read the invitation, I realized it was a beach wedding. Yay for reading comprehension...The following fall I happened to thrift the modern version of this dress. How crazy is that? It's also a Victor Costa lace overlay dress with sheer sleeves... It's a bit more wearable because the silhouette is less dramatic and the back isn't as open, making the bra situation much easier (sidenote: when I wear something with a low back, I use a bra like this. Very handy.). Despite all that, the vintage version takes the cake. The workmanship and the material is way better in the vintage dress. They just don't make them like they used to when I walked uphill to school both ways in 5 feet of snow...

I just spent some time researching Victor Costa and it turns out that this dress is not from the 50's as I originally thought. It's probably from the 70's or 80's but made as a 50's replica. Apparently, Victor Costa was the unapologetic king of knocking off the big designers like Dior and Scassi. At the time, copying haute couture and making them available at reasonable (still high end but obviously not couture) price points was a novel idea. I'm learning...
All that rambling to say that after two years of owning it, I finally fixed the hems and the seams of the dress this weekend a few hours before a wedding we attended. I'm great with a tight deadline. And yes, I felt kind of fabulous. A full lace skirt will have that effect.