The 1920s in New York City were indeed "Roaring". The Garment District in the heart of the city was beneficiary to all that energy. Art Deco-inspired buildings featured showrooms on the ground floor. On the upper floors workers sewed clothes that would be sent not only to the showrooms, but all over the world.
My mother was a seamstress. She worked on one of those upper floors.
This is a picture of the factory in which my mother worked. The picture was part of her personal photo collection.
In later years, when I was growing up, my mother never complained about the work. The factories had been unionized under the International Lady Garment Workers Union, so conditions weren't bad. She was young and single. She got to see the newest fashions before they hit the stores. And Manhattan was her playground.
Image Credit: Kheel Center Used under CC 2.0 license
This strike was a turning point in the union's history. The right to organize was codified in NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act). The union capitalized on this and within a year its membership had grown from about 40,000 to 200,000.
Image credit: Alan Light. CC 2.0 license. The original Waldorf Astoria was torn down in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building. In 1931, the new Waldorf Astoria was constructed with strong Art Deco influence.
My mother had mementos from that time in her life, pictures of her in the Waldorf Astoria, pieces of fabric that were exotic and beautiful. And she had this strange bauble. I've never been certain about its intended purpose. Was it to be sewn on a dress? Turned into a broach? Attached to a hat, or shoe? It was just something my mother held onto, as though one day she would find a use for it. That day never came, until now.
New York City was awash in Art Deco...architecture, clothing, jewellery. This bauble shows the definite Art Deco influence. I'm not sure what the green glass (?) ornaments are intended to be. They look like highly stylized leaves. Or maybe they are hands. The brass beads are woven together with thread which has, remarkably, held up all these years. There is one corner that seems to have torn and then been repaired.
You can see from the back flap that the bauble is supposed to be attached to something, probably by threads. Or, perhaps, more metal beads were to be added. I don't know. It's just a relic that reminds me of my mother and the stories she told about a happy time in her life.
Evening in Paris
In 1929 a perfume called Evening in Paris was imported into the United States by the Bourjois company. This perfume became so popular that it was formulated and packaged in a number of forms, including face powders, rouge compacts and talc. The bottle pictured above is the classic cobalt blue, Art Deco style bottle in which Evening in Paris talc was sold.
Image credit: Unknown author. 1923. Public domain
I believe my mother also had the face powder featured in the ad, although I'm not sure. The scent comes back to me and it seems familiar.
My mother used to keep the talc bottle on her bedroom dresser, next to a hairbrush inlaid with mother of pearl. In my recollection, she never used the hairbrush, the face powder or the talc. These were part of the furniture, decorations. The hairbrush and face powder were lost over the years, but this cobalt blue bottle is still filled with talc today.
A few days ago I was surfing different blogs and came across @qwerrie's September 6 post, which featured an antique Russian document. I was delighted to discover that an Antiques and Vintage community existed. It took me a while to put this post together--I'm not much of a photographer, as you can see.
This was great fun. I'll bet most people have some relics hanging around in their closets. It would be interesting to hear the stories behind those.
art-deco was a great style and epoch.
not my fave (I prefer modern myself) but still, very enjoyable. I wish I could see all this stuff at NYC. probably never happen in my lifetime.
those earrings are nice! (to me, the blue elements look like stylised leaves, too). its so cool to have in posession some family oldies treasures!! especially like this jewelry. fascinating!
!BEER
Thank you. Yeah, I think they are leaves. And this is far too large to wear on the ears...although from what I've seen lately, nothing is too large :))
More goodies in the closet for future posts.
Have a great day and thanks for the beer.
Amazing journey back in time! It must feel weird revisiting these items and trying to put some pieces of your family history puzzle together (at least that's how I feel whenever I look at old photos or mementos).
I really loved this post!
Thank you ruth! It's wonderful going back and retracing. My son has been telling me to take the piles of family pictures I've got tucked away and start identifying the faces. Some day when the kids, and the cousins and grandchildren look back, they'll know more about their legacy.
Thanks so much for the visit Ruth. Really appreciate it.
🌷🌷💙 🌷🌷
That's quite some great story about your mum and her beautiful bauble. She might not have gotten a meaning for it or the combined colour but you can create one for it-something you can relate it with
What a nice thought that is. Thank you very much :)
Wow!
I like this post!
I like the big vintage photo.
I have also no idea for what your mothers gem was for.
Maybe somebody knows and tell us....
Good night!
I love vintage photos and collect them, when they are hi-res and suitable to watch all the tiny details of the urban environment. probably I should start posting it. at least some of my scans left from different book projects that are not in the circulation... or maybe some St.Petersburg cityscapes combined with my contemporary photos of the same places. it is all in the future.
:)
Thank you!
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