the golden age of COUTURE

 Okay you guys, I am going to try my hardest to keep this post from sounding like a history lesson BUT it will be kind of hard if those reading don't have a love for fashion.... Today a few members of VINTRO, including myself, went to Frist, Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville Tn, upon arrival we were greeted by a billboard sized poster-thingy with one of the most beautiful dresses I have ever seen in my life printed on to the front.  As we attempted to catch our breaths and find the side door my heart began to race, I could hear a live band playing and feel the excitement waiting for me around the corner. I walked to the counter, quickly flashed my MTSU I.D. (students got in free WHAT WHAT!) snatched my ticket, not intending to be rude but too excited to be held up by small talk with a cashier, and began my journey through time, starting with the opening pieces, a vibrant red formal afternoon dress by Christian Dior for an autumn/winter collection in 1955-56 and a black suit by Michael of Carlos Place in 1954, I soon fainted and had to be rushed away to a hospital, okay not really... I couldn't do that, then I might have had to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity. So i collected myself read about the selected pieces and continued through to the room.

***sidenote I am going to have to leave out somethings to make sure this post isn't 25 pages long, I hope I haven't lost any readers yet!! stick with me its sooo worth it if you cant make it to the exhibit!!****

So fast forward past all the informational stuff, I'm pretty sure most of you don't want to hear that par, so I will skip to my favorite pieces and a little background info on those pieces. I will start with a red Christian Dior "Zemire" Evening Ensemble made in 1954-55. The Zemire is one of Dior's most historical designs. I loved everything about this "ensemble" you could basically see the volume and movement of the full skirt as it sat in front of me frozen in time behind the 5 inch glass fortress built around it. For three seconds I had to fight the urge to kick down that glass wall, take the dress and run screaming out the door, I am assuming the security guard saw that twinkle in my eye and the twitch in my leg because he swiftly ran to my side and tightened the grip on his nightstick and asked me to step away from the Dior, so I did so quickly, happy that someone was there and able to distract me from my momentary crazed obsession.

color appears more vivid in person!!

I quickly walked away trying to avoid a mental breakdown when a luminous hot pink evening dress by Cristobal Balenciaga stopped me dead in my tracks. The security guard saw my new found excitement and began charging at me, I swiftly spun around, put my hand up and screamed for him to stop. "I'm fine" I whispered under breath, and he reluctantly stepped back... "I'm fine" again I reassured him. As he cautiously stepped back into his corner I excitedly skipped away getting even closer to this beautiful work of art. As I got past the glare and reflection of myself, what stared back at me was nothing short of breath taking; the shape, the color, the body, the stitching, buttons, and bows made me jizz a little bit, the guard made a loud uncomfortable grunt so i contained my self and continued to the next item featured in the glass case. (fast forward a bit...)

As I entered the room over I faced a new security guard who didn't seem quite as capable of stopping me if I had another "urge" so I gave myself a quick pep talk, took 3 deep breaths and the next item stopped me mid 4th deep breath so I made my move toward this beautiful Michael Sherard cocktail dress made in London in 1958 with French re-embroidered ribbon lace and taffeta. This dress was enough to send even the most plane-jane-tshirt-jean-wearing women on a wild gooses chase across the world in search of something even remotely similar. But thanks to my 3 1/2 deep breaths I was in enough control to where I could just admire the dress calmly like, well kind of like, the other observers. The dress sent goose bumps, no better yet goose boils, down the center of my back. As I yelp in my excitement at finding yet ANOTHER favorite dress I spot something out the corner of my eye... something big enough to distract me from the security guard's advances...

What do I see?? THE DRESS FROM THE POSTER!!!!! Readers when i tell you guys I heard walkie talkies going off screaming code red code red, saw 4 or 5 security guards, and one REAL cop pacing toward me, and sirens going off you're going to think I am lying... But I promise you it happened and had it not been for those sirens and security officers they would have been one evening gown short when they started shipping this stuff back to the V&A museum in London, and I would have found a way to squeeze myself into that beautiful gown and never let anyone or anything come anywhere close enough to me to take it off. It was a gown from a fairytale, a gown that told a story itself. I wanted to cry, laugh, scream, throw a tantrum, jizz all at once after viewing the dress for only a few moments. Although heavily restrained by the officials I was still able to gain a glance at this dress that changed my life FOREVER!! The dress was way more breath taking in person, although had you told me that at the beginning of  this hectic tour I wouldn't have been able to believe you, as you probably do not believe me as I recite to you my encounter with this piece of art. To get the full affect of this beautiful Pierre Balmin evening dress worn by Lady Diane Cooper and understand my obsession, one would truly have to be within spitting distance (although if anyone ever even thought about truly spitting on this one of a kind gown i would rip their entire face off!!) to notice the intricate roses prickled with thorns climbing up the dress and the beautiful petals laid across her torso, simply breath taking!......After about two seconds of physically, mentally, spiritually, even sexually experiencing this dress I was drug away by top flight security of the world I decided to stop fighting, I got everything and more after visiting this museum I experienced the vintage world of couture, that I originally fell in love with, first-hand.. a blessing only God could give. So I let them drag me across the floor and throw me out onto Broadway in Nashville, because there was nothing they could do that would subtract from the day I had at the Frist! Thank you and VINTRO LOVES YOU... I applaud you if you made it allll the way to the end and i hope you enjoyed reading it!!!
-vicTORIa eLIZABeth jones
follow me @lizabvintro