{"title":"1980s","description":"\u003cp\u003eEverything from these years seems to want more space than it's given, shoulders pushing outward, prints refusing to sit quietly. Silk stays cool no matter how long you hold it, indifferent in a way I find strangely comforting. Whatever a piece needs, it gets, and then it makes its way out from Melbourne.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"white-1980s-embroidered-baby-dress","title":"Daydream · 1980s Embroidered White Cotton Baby Dress","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhite cotton · hand-embroidered figures, hearts and flowers · flutter sleeves · yellow waist trim · 100% algodón, Spanish-language label · reads 1980s · approx. 6–12 months\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhite cotton scattered with small embroidered figures: hearts, a leaf, a little flower, a bird, each one slightly raised where the thread has been worked through from behind, each placed with no particular plan, which is exactly how hand embroidery looks when someone is enjoying themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe care label reads 100% algodón, placing this in the Spanish-speaking world, where embroidered children's clothing is a long domestic tradition and scattered motifs like these are worked at home for one particular child. No machine made these marks. Each was stitched and knotted by hand, and if you look closely you will see that no two are quite the same. The round yoke gathers into a full skirt with fine flutter sleeves; a yellow waistband trim gives the whole thing the warmth of something made in the sun.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhite cotton with an openness to it, bright and airy, the embroidery making its small conversation across the skirt.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44084025950342,"sku":null,"price":110.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_2469.jpg?v=1782096730"},{"product_id":"handmade-ditsy-baby-dress","title":"Private Meadow · 1980s Handmade Navy Floral Baby Dress","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDitsy floral cotton · cluny lace waist and hem · embroidered rose · scotty dog button straps · handmade, no label · 1980s to 1990s · approx. 6–12 months\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNavy cotton twill scattered with a whole meadow of tiny flowers, banded in white cluny lace at the yoke and hem, made by hand for one particular child. There is no label, because there is no label on a homemade thing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree details make this dress extraordinary. First: a single embroidered rose stitched at the centre front waistband, where only the maker would think to put it. Second: scotty dog buttons at each shoulder strap, chosen with obvious delight. Third: the whole garment has been made from navy floral cotton that someone already had at home and loved enough to use for something. This kind of domestic dressmaking, a whole dress sewn at home for a baby with lace from the notions drawer and embroidery added for the pleasure of it, belongs to a very specific window in women's domestic life. The 1980s and early 1990s were the last period in which this kind of making was widespread. This dress is a small record of that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lace is white and cluny-knotted; the cotton body is clean and the embroidered details are bright. A genuinely handmade object.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44084081164422,"sku":null,"price":115.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_2642.jpg?v=1782112494"},{"product_id":"vintage-hand-knitted-cable-baby-cardigan-pastel-stripe-1970s-80s","title":"Patient Hours · 1980s Hand-Knitted Pastel Cable Baby Cardigan","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWool · hand-knitted cable panels · pastel stripe · V-neck · pink buttons · handmade, no label · 1970s to 1980s · AU size 0-1, approx 6-18 months\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePastel stripes in pink, lavender, yellow, and white, running the length of a small cable cardigan, hand-knitted in fine wool for a baby. The cables are what make this: they run up each front panel and along the sleeves, a proper display of skill packed into a very small garment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo label, 1970s to 1980s. You do not arrive at cables without practice. They require counting and attention and the ability to hold stitches on a needle while you work others: a technique that takes time to learn and longer to execute neatly. Whoever knitted this was confident enough to add them to a piece about 25cm long, for a baby who would grow out of it in months. That is the particular love of a handknitted baby garment. The pastel nursery palette dates this warmly and precisely to its decade; the V-neck and small pink buttons are the finishing details of someone who knew exactly what they were making.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe kind of cardigan that a grandmother knitted during the evenings, with a particular baby in mind.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44084095713414,"sku":null,"price":105.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_2708.jpg?v=1782125598"},{"product_id":"vintage-yellow-gingham-embroidered-baby-dress-eyelet-frill-1980s-90s","title":"Primrose · 1980s Embroidered Yellow Gingham Baby Dress","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYellow gingham cotton · hand-embroidered flowers and butterfly · broderie anglaise frill · back buttons · 1980s to 1990s · AU size 2-3, approx 2-3 years\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePale yellow gingham hand-embroidered with a scattered garden: flower sprigs across the skirt, a small butterfly at the collar, each motif placed where someone thought it should go. You can feel the embroidery if you run a finger across the surface: each stitch placed individually, raised slightly from the cloth beneath it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1980s to 1990s by its cloth and its trims. Below the skirt hem, two tiers of white broderie anglaise frill, sewn into the dress as its own petticoat layer, carefully cut, joined, and attached. Broderie anglaise is eyelet embroidery, the holes punched and overcast by hand or machine, the resulting openwork giving the frill its particular lightness. A back button closure, a round neck, no sleeves: the components of a dress that was made for a birthday or a christening, for an occasion worth keeping for. Kept in very good condition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44084108525702,"sku":null,"price":70.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_2685.jpg?v=1782126433"},{"product_id":"vintage-hand-knitted-pink-bobble-baby-cardigan-rosebuds-1970s-80s","title":"For Best · 1980s Hand-Knitted Pink Bobble Baby Cardigan","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcrylic or wool-blend yarn · hand-knitted bobbles and cables · embroidered rosebuds · ribbon tie · flower buttons · handmade, no label · 1970s to 1980s · AU size 1-2, approx 12-24 months\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe confection pink of something made entirely for delight: knitted in clusters of bobbles like gathered posies up each front panel, with embroidered rosebuds at the yoke.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo label, 1970s to 1980s. There are four separate hand techniques on this one small cardigan: bobble stitch, cable stitch, embroidered rosebuds, and a ribbon closure. Bobble stitch requires you to work five stitches into one and then knit them back together, creating a raised cluster that takes more yarn and more attention than a plain row. Cable stitch requires holding stitches on a spare needle while you work others, crossing them over to create the twist. Embroidered rosebuds are worked in satin stitch after the knitting is complete. Each of these techniques takes practice. Someone did all four of them on a cardigan for a baby, for one occasion. The flower-shaped buttons are the final warm touch, chosen with obvious pleasure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA genuinely extraordinary small garment.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44084111114374,"sku":null,"price":105.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_2693.jpg?v=1782128241"},{"product_id":"vintage-hand-knitted-fair-isle-baby-cardigan-cream-1980s-90s","title":"Smiling Buttons · 1980s Hand-Knitted Fair Isle Baby Cardigan","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWool yarn · hand-knitted Fair Isle colourwork · cream ground · smiley-face buttons · handmade, no label · 1980s to 1990s · AU size 4-5, approx 4-5 years\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCream wool banded with fine Fair Isle colourwork in red, pink, green, and blue, fastened up the front with smiley-face buttons. Fair Isle is one of the more technically demanding hand-knitting traditions: you carry multiple colours across each row, the unused threads running along the back, which means you are always managing several strands at once and must keep an even tension across all of them or the finished fabric pulls and distorts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo label, 1980s to 1990s. To do Fair Isle well at the small scale of a child's cardigan takes a real knitter. This person was a real knitter: the colourwork is even and bright throughout, no distortion, no loose threads at the back. The smiley buttons are the detail that makes this completely loveable, a warm, funny choice that dates this happily to the late twentieth century and is impossible to resist. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA piece that will be remembered.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44084112392326,"sku":null,"price":120.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_2723.jpg?v=1782129581"},{"product_id":"vintage-pink-applique-baby-dress-tulips-and-fish-net-petticoat-skirt-be-bes","title":"Tulipmania · 1980s Be-Be's Baby Dress","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSoft cotton with net petticoat · hand appliqué tulips and chicken · centre back metal zip · Be-Be's · 1980s to 1990s · AU 1-2, approx 12-24 months\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBubblegum pink cotton with a hem that tells a small story: tulips on green stems and a chicken with a polka-dot belly, cut from fabric and hand-appliquéd onto the skirt with a satin-stitched outline around each shape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBe-Be's\u003c\/em\u003e, 1980s to 1990s by its construction. Satin stitch appliqué is the patient way to do it: each piece of fabric held in place by a dense row of embroidery thread worked tightly around the edge, which is what keeps the motifs secure through many washes and still bright and cheerful today. A metal zip set into the centre back, a net petticoat sewn into the lining to hold the skirt out, dotted bows at the chest. This is a dress made with the full understanding that a child's good dress should be capable of being handed down, and it has been, and it still has something to give.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44084144930950,"sku":null,"price":105.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_2763.jpg?v=1782173117"},{"product_id":"vintage-krickets-ivory-floral-baby-dress-lace-collar-size-00-3-to-6-months","title":"Forget-Me-Not · Krickets Baby Dress, 1980s","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFine cotton · lace-trimmed Peter Pan collar · puffed sleeves · ribbon yoke tie · pearl buttons · \u003cem\u003eKrickets\u003c\/em\u003e · made in Hong Kong · 1980s to 1990s · approx. 3–6 months\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIvory cotton sprigged all over with tiny blue and white flowers, with puffed sleeves, a lace-frilled Peter Pan collar, lace-trimmed cuffs, and a pale blue ribbon tied in a bow at the front. A dress that has thought carefully about every detail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eKrickets\u003c\/em\u003e, made in Hong Kong, 1980s to 1990s: back when a significant portion of Australia's baby clothing was sewn there. The collar is the good kind of Peter Pan, fully rounded and lying flat, trimmed with a narrow lace frill that sits upright. Cluny lace has a knotted, bobbin-made structure that holds its form better than most trims and keeps its brightness through washing; this collar has. A small embroidered motif at the neckline and pearl buttons at the back are the quiet final details of a dress that knows what it is.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA genuinely beautiful dress for a small occasion. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44084156792966,"sku":null,"price":100.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_2818.jpg?v=1782174448"},{"product_id":"the-bow-1980s-burgundy-suede-flat-shoes-innovare-italy","title":"The Bow · 1980s Burgundy Suede Flat Shoes, Innovare Italy, AU 6","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBurgundy suede · gathered organza toe bow · flat sole · \u003cem\u003eInnovare\u003c\/em\u003e · made in Italy · 1980s · AU 6 · EU 37 · UK 4 · US 6\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBurgundy suede, flat sole, a gathered organza bow at the toe cap in the same oxblood-burgundy as the upper. The bow is not a fastening; it is a whole argument for wearing the shoe. It gathers full and soft, the organza having weight to it, sitting at the toe like something a woman pinned there on purpose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eInnovare\u003c\/em\u003e, made in Italy, 1980s. The Italian flat of the 1980s occupied its own category: the decade of the heel also produced its counter-movement, a certain kind of Italian shoe that was architectural and considered without ever being severe. \u003cem\u003eInnovare\u003c\/em\u003e was among the labels working in this register, making shoes that rewarded close attention: the quality of the suede, the precision of the gather, the way the bow matches the upper so exactly it looks grown rather than added. Ballet flats of this construction, from this period, are what Italian craft looked like at its most confident and least showy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shoe that changes an outfit from the ground up.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44108985270406,"sku":null,"price":90.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_2887copy.jpg?v=1782265418"},{"product_id":"the-stage-andrea-pfister-1970s-black-satin-heels-eu-38","title":"The Stage · Andrea Pfister 1970s Black Satin Heels, AU 7","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBlack satin · cone heel · almond toe · bugle bead bow · silver metallic leather insole · \u003cem\u003eAndrea Pfister\u003c\/em\u003e signature · made in Italy · 1970s–1980s · AU 7 · EU 38 · UK 5 · US 7.5\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBlack satin, cone heel, almond toe, and at the toe cap a bow built from black and silver bugle beads: three-dimensional, dense, rising slightly from the surface with the weight of its own construction. The silver metallic leather insole carries \u003cem\u003eAndrea Pfister's\u003c\/em\u003e signature in script. This is a shoe that announces itself before you have crossed the room.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAndrea Pfister\u003c\/em\u003e, made in Italy, 1970s to 1980s. Pfister was born in Pesaro and trained in Paris before establishing himself in Florence, where from the 1960s he made shoes that occupied the intersection of fashion and sculpture. His clients included Catherine Deneuve and Lauren Bacall, and his footwear was collected by the Victoria and Albert Museum. What Pfister understood, that a shoe is worn at the furthest possible point from the face and therefore must do its communicating entirely on its own terms, produced shoes of uncommon authority. The bead bow on this shoe is not decorative embellishment applied to a court shoe; it is the reason the court shoe exists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shoe you wear when the occasion has to rise to meet you.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44108990087302,"sku":null,"price":250.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_2904copy.jpg?v=1782266767"},{"product_id":"the-fold-1980s-90s-black-leather-ankle-boots-tosone","title":"The Fold · 1980s-90s Black Leather Ankle Boots, Tosone, AU 9","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eButter-soft black leather · folded tongue · knotted leather cord detail · inner silver zip · red pebble rubber sole · \u003cem\u003eTosone\u003c\/em\u003e · made in Italy · late 1980s to early 1990s · AU 9 · EU 40 · UK 7 · US 9\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eButter-soft black leather, calf height, with a wide tongue that folds across the front and is held in place by two knotted black leather cords threaded through eyelets. The cords are not laces in the conventional sense; they are part of the architecture, thick and purposeful, ending in small gathered knots. An inner silver zip at the ankle closes the whole thing from beneath the fold.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTosone\u003c\/em\u003e, late 1980s to early 1990s. The Italian leather boot of this period operated in a particular grammar: serious construction, minimal decoration, every detail load-bearing. The folded tongue and knotted cord are not decoration added to a plain boot; they are the boot's entire identity, a structural move that happens also to be beautiful. \u003cem\u003eTosone\u003c\/em\u003e worked in exactly this register: shoes made to be worn seriously by people who paid attention. The leather is the kind that softens to the foot rather than resisting it. The red pebble rubber sole is the one note of colour, and it is correct.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe boot that asks nothing of its wearer except to walk.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44108990218374,"sku":null,"price":100.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_2925copy.jpg?v=1782266911"},{"product_id":"the-bertha-1970s-handmade-blush-all-lace-occasion-dress","title":"The Bertha · 1970s Handmade Blush All-Lace Occasion Dress","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRose-floral lace · blush peachy-pink · satin lining · scalloped choker collar · wide bertha ruffle, 18cm · puff sleeves · fitted bodice · tiered skirt · handmade · 1970s to early 1980s · L 134cm flat · AU 10–12 · Very good\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery part of this dress is lace. Not appliqued over another fabric, not lace trim on a base cloth, but all-over rose-floral lace in a warm blush with the satin lining doing the structural work beneath. The construction is theatrical and precise. A high choker collar in scalloped lace hooks at the back of the neck. Below it, a wide bertha-style ruffle frames the V. The sleeves are full puffed, the cuffs scalloped. The bodice is fitted and darted. The skirt gathers into tiers at the waist, the hem finished with horizontal tuck rows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis silhouette sits at the hinge between the 1970s romantic revival and the early 1980s occasion dress moment: the choker collar and bertha are pure 1970s, the volume of the puff sleeves and tiered hem belong to the early 1980s formal. The piece was made by hand, which accounts for the careful calibration of each section against the others.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default","offer_id":44143286747270,"sku":null,"price":185.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_3085.jpg?v=1783497913"},{"product_id":"evensong-1980s-ink-blue-ruffle-collar-puff-sleeve-dress","title":"Evensong · L.T.D. by Roberta 1980s Black Ruffle Collar Puff Sleeve Dress","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eL.T.D. by Roberta, U.S.A. · black smooth-faced synthetic with a soft lustre · standing ruffle collar · gathered puff sleeves, 37cm at full puff · full sweeping skirt · 1980s occasion dressing · L 109cm flat · AU 10–12 · very good condition\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBlack, but never flat. The fabric is a smooth-faced synthetic with a soft lustre, so every gather takes the light differently and the dress reads in a dozen depths of dark. Around the scooped neckline runs a standing ruffle, gathered tight so it frames the collarbone the way a ruff frames a portrait sitter. The sleeves arrive full and gathered, holding their own air, and below the bodice the skirt simply lets go: yards of it, falling straight into movement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe label reads \u003cem\u003eL.T.D. by Roberta\u003c\/em\u003e, an American occasion-dress house of the late 1970s and 80s whose work now circulates among vintage dealers precisely because it did occasion so well. Roberta dressed the parties of that decade: the proms, the dinners, the nights that required a dress that could hold a room. The 1980s spent a great deal of energy remembering other centuries, and this dress belongs to that current, the decade's romance with the Victorian translated into the fabrics the decade did best. Synthetics get little credit, but they are why a dress like this survives: the colour has not faded, the gathers have not collapsed, and it will pour out of a suitcase ready to be worn. Look at the neckline gathering; a ruffle this disciplined took patience at the machine.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44149777203334,"sku":null,"price":145.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_3199.jpg?v=1783581869"},{"product_id":"signora-carla-zampatti-1980s-navy-jersey-dolman-dress","title":"Signora · Carla Zampatti 1980s Black Jersey Dolman Dress","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBlack polyester jersey · dense weighty drape · dolman sleeves cut in one · centre back seam · carla zampatti sydney label · 1980s · Australian fashion house est. 1965 · L 108cm flat · AU 12–16 · very good condition\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sleeves are cut in one with the body, a dolman line that falls from the shoulder in a single unbroken sweep and narrows at the wrist, so the whole dress moves like one gesture. Black polyester jersey with a dense, weighty drape, a centre seam running the back like a plumb line, and almost nothing else. That restraint is the signature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe label reads \u003cem\u003ecarla zampatti sydney\u003c\/em\u003e, in the lowercase script of her earlier decades. Zampatti arrived in Australia from Italy as a child, produced her first small collection in 1965, and spent the next half-century dressing Australian women who had places to be, prime ministers and premiers among them. Her stated method was ease: clean zips instead of fussy openings, lines that kept their composure at a boardroom table or a long lunch. The fibre is part of that promise. A good polyester jersey shrugs off creases, holds its black through years of wear and washing, and lands on the body exactly the same way every single morning. Here is that philosophy in cloth, the 1980s power silhouette softened into something a body can actually live in.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44149780054150,"sku":null,"price":185.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_3241.jpg?v=1783582153"},{"product_id":"cloud-study-handmade-shibori-silk-dress-with-velvet-sleeves","title":"Cloud Study · 1980s–90s Handmade Shibori Silk Dress with Velvet Sleeves","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHand-dyed shibori silk · indigo grid on storm-brown · black crushed velvet raglan sleeves · square neck · drop-waist pleated skirt · silver back zip · artisan handmade · 1980s–90s · L 111cm flat · AU 12–14 · very good condition\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dye tells you how it was made. Across the silk runs a grid of soft white blooms, each one a point where the cloth was folded and bound before it went into the indigo. This is shibori, the Japanese resist technique in which the fabric itself is tied into a pattern and then released. At the yoke the colour deepens into storm-brown, as if the weather is arriving from the shoulders down. The sleeves are cut from black crushed velvet, raglan, ending below the elbow. The neck is square, the skirt drops from a low waist into flat pleats, and a silver zip runs the spine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy her make, she belongs to the 1980s or 90s, the decades when studio dyers and art-to-wear makers revived shibori in earnest and put it into dresses exactly like this one: hand-dyed cloth, a 1920s drop-waist line borrowed knowingly, velvet against silk. She carries no label, which is common for studio pieces sold at markets and galleries; the dye work is the signature. Every shibori cloth is unrepeatable by nature. The same folds and the same dye will never bloom into the same grid twice. One of one in the truest sense available to cloth.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44149785329798,"sku":null,"price":175.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_3751_9994b8f6-c9e0-4675-985f-8e1ee32d84e6.jpg?v=1784766532"},{"product_id":"never-walked-1980s-90s-deadstock-vinyl-baby-mary-janes","title":"Never Walked · 1980s Deadstock Vinyl Baby Mary Janes","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eVinyl · cotton piping trim · plastic button strap · punched brogue toe · deadstock, original packaging · unsigned, no size marked · 1980s · 11.5cm length · 5cm ball width · never worn\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese have never touched a floor. They came to the archive still sealed in their original blister pack, gold card backing intact, the plastic crumpled slightly with age but the shoes inside untouched by a single step.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no brand on the card and no size marked on the sole, the kind of anonymous, mass-produced deadstock that turns up occasionally from a shop's old stockroom rather than a family's keepsake box. The vinyl upper, the punched brogue-style perforations at the toe, and the plastic button strap are all typical of the cheerful, easy-care baby shoes sold through department stores in the 1980s, built to be practical rather than precious.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook at the toe, punched through in a scalloped brogue pattern that would have taken a machine seconds and a human eye none at all to appreciate. Cotton piping edges the strap and collar, a small softening touch. The white cotton edging has softened slightly with age into something closer to bone, honest for a piece this old, never worn.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44175493693574,"sku":null,"price":55.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_3661.jpg?v=1784617564"},{"product_id":"ringleader-merivale-hommes-1980s-90s-black-satin-lapel-swallowtail-jacket","title":"Ringleader · Merivale Hemmes 1980s Black Satin-Lapel Swallowtail Jacket","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eBlack cotton twill with satin lapel facing · double-breasted swallowtail cut · six covered buttons · Merivale Hemmes, Australia · 1980s · 56cm front length, 52cm back · tagged a vintage 10\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lapel does something the rest of her does not: it catches light. Satin laid flat against matte black cotton twill, peaked high near the shoulder, so the eye goes there first before it finds the row of covered buttons marching down to where the front splits into two long points.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhoever cut this jacket built her the way a proper tailcoat gets built: princess seams to shape the waist without a dart in sight, a back that splits into its own pair of points below the closure, sleeves set high enough into the shoulder that the whole thing holds its posture without help from the body inside it. The label reads Merivale Hemmes, carrying the family name straight through: John and Merivale Hemmes opened the House of Merivale in Sydney in the 1960s and dressed a generation before the family name moved on to restaurants and hotels. This one was made sometime in the 1980s, in the label's later years, when a woman in a swallowtail dinner jacket was making exactly the kind of statement a jacket like this was built for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSix black covered buttons close double-breasted across the front, though she is clearly built to be worn open as much as closed, the deep 35cm drop at the collar leaving plenty of room for that choice. The back falls into two pointed tails below the waist, tailcoat construction rather than a decorative hem, and the sleeves finish with a single covered button at the cuff. She is unlined, which keeps her light for a piece with this much structure, with a dry clean only tag the one instruction stitched inside.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44179892174982,"sku":null,"price":185.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_3808.jpg?v=1784775910"},{"product_id":"night-garden-adele-palmer-silk-beaded-blazer","title":"Night Garden · Adele Palmer Raw Silk Beaded Blazer","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e100% slubbed silk · allover glass seed bead floral embroidery · shell buttons · shoulder pads · hem vent · Adele Palmer · 1980s · 83cm front length, 45cm waist flat · tagged a vintage 10\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery leaf on her is drawn in glass, hundreds of seed beads strung close enough together that the outline reads before the silk underneath ever gets a say. Tonal black on black, so the vine only declares itself when the light catches the curve of a stem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe silk itself has a slub running through it, small irregularities in the thread that catch and hold a bead differently than a perfectly smooth weave would, which is part of why the embroidery reads as hand-guided rather than machine-neat. This one carries Adele Palmer's own name rather than JAG, the Melbourne denim label she founded on Chapel Street in 1972 and built into one of Australian fashion's genuine export successes, a rare local label that made it onto Steve McQueen and Bianca Jagger before it ever made it onto a department store rack. Structured shoulder pads hold the line at the top, the era's answer to a jacket that needed to be noticed from across a room.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe closes with heavy, pearlescent shell buttons, substantial enough to balance the weight of all that beadwork, and two flap pockets sit at the hip, embroidered to match rather than left plain. A single vent opens at the back hem for ease of movement, and the shoulders carry their own pads, giving the silhouette its structure independent of whoever is wearing her.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44179932840070,"sku":null,"price":235.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_3882.jpg?v=1784789640"},{"product_id":"black-rain-bella-j-1980s-suede-fringe-biker-jacket","title":"Black Rain · Bella J 1980s Suede Fringe Biker Jacket","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eSupple black suede with allover fringe · batwing sleeves · adjustable buckle waist · Bella J, Australia · 1980s · 59cm long, 58cm bust at batwing · tagged a vintage M\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the softest, thickest suede in the archive, the kind that moves like fabric rather than hide, and every inch of movement sets the fringe swinging a half second behind the body, black rain that never quite catches up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBella J Leather Fashion made this in Australia sometime in the 1980s, a label that has left little trace beyond the garments themselves, the way small leather houses often do. What she did leave is real craft: batwing sleeves cut deep and dramatic, structured shoulder pads built in but never obvious once worn, and a waist that adjusts two ways at once, back fitting zippers doing the close work and a wide buckle belt doing the visible work on top.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo pockets sit at the side waist, and up front there are two more, one decorative and one genuinely useful, easy to tell apart once you know which is which. The front zip runs 38cm down from a 15cm neck drop when fully closed, and the fringe falls 10.5cm at the sleeve edges, cut sharp and even. Every zipper still runs smooth, and the nap has been aired and brushed back to its original softness.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44180327432326,"sku":null,"price":350.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_3992.jpg?v=1784789752"},{"product_id":"coal-seam-country-road-1980s-wide-wale-corduroy-skirt","title":"Coal Seam · Country Road 1980s Wide-Wale Corduroy Skirt","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e100% cotton wide-wale corduroy, poly lining · deep box pleats · angled hip pockets, tabbed rear pocket · Country Road, Australia · 1980s · 83cm long, 76cm hip flat · tagged a vintage 12, fits smaller\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnder ordinary light she reads flat charcoal, but lean in close and the wale throws up small hints of brown along every ridge, warmth hiding inside what looks like a cold colour from across the room.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wale runs wide and flat underfoot, a hundred small ridges holding light the way a ploughed field holds it at dusk, warmth and shadow alternating down the same narrow rows. Country Road has been building exactly this kind of quiet, considered basic in Australia since 1970, pieces meant to be lived in rather than admired once and put away, and this one carries that instinct through every deep, unhurried pleat. Made sometime in the 1980s, when a corduroy skirt this structured still counted as proper daywear, she has the patience of a piece built to outlast a single season, or several.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo angled pockets sit at the front hip, cut on the diagonal rather than straight, and a third pocket at the back carries its own buttoned flap, tabbed and functional rather than decorative. She closes at centre back with a metal zip and a single plastic button at the waistband, and belt loops run the waist for anyone who wants to cinch her further. The hem falls to 103cm around, full enough that the pleats have real room to swing.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44180518961286,"sku":null,"price":95.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_4077.jpg?v=1784790903"},{"product_id":"shorthand-weiss-1980s-spiral-print-double-breasted-blazer","title":"Shorthand · Weiss 1980s Spiral-Print Double-Breasted Blazer","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eCotton, linen and ramie · double-breasted with faced V neckline and flap hip pockets · Weiss · 1980s · length 59cm flat · tagged a vintage 10, nearer a modern AU 10-12 · exhibition condition\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook closely and the print stops being polka dots. Every white shape is its own small spiral, drawn by a hand that never lifted the pen, the kind of doodle worked out on a phone pad during a call that is running long. No two spirals turn quite the same number of times or sit quite the same width. Whoever set this print for Weiss let the drawing stay a drawing, scattered loose across near-black cotton twill rather than snapped into a grid.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePower dressing in the eighties was never really about power so much as armour, shoulders built out until a room had no choice but to notice who had entered it. This jacket belongs to that decade's particular alchemy: structure standing in for confidence, tailoring behaving like a kind of borrowed certainty. Weiss built her name on exactly this trick, and what survives here is the print doing something stranger than the silhouette, a hand-drawn spiral let loose across the cloth instead of snapped into the usual obedient grid. That small refusal, pattern behaving like a doodle instead of a print, is the particular magic of her at this moment, and it is why the jacket earns its place in the archive rather than a costume box.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe waist is seamed in close, princess lines running from bust to hip so the jacket nips before it releases. There is no separate collar, just the front edges themselves folding back into a soft, faced V that sits open at the throat. One button runs down each side in the double-breasted style. Flap pockets sit at the hip, and the cuffs each close with three smaller buttons in the same near-black. She is fully lined throughout.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44181156036742,"sku":null,"price":195.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_3857.jpg?v=1784795789"},{"product_id":"field-notes-aurelie-1980s-illustrated-rose-print-party-dress","title":"Rose Hipped · Aurélie 1980s Illustrated Rose Print Party Dress","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAurélie · 1980s · tagged a vintage 10 · exhibition condition · puff sleeves \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e· structured drop waist \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e· keyhole back with bejewelled button \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e· tulle petticoat\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe roses on this dress were never meant to look painted. Look closely and every petal is built from a fine cross-hatch, ink over ink, the way a botanist might shade a specimen before the age of photographs: peach over lavender over a teal so deep it reads as shadow. It is a print that rewards standing still in front of it, which is a strange thing to ask of a party dress.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA dress like this descends from a very particular lineage: the party frock that never quite forgot the ballgown it once was, its waist dropped low the way waists dropped in the twenties, then again in the eighties when nostalgia came back around wearing bigger sleeves. Aurélie is barely a whisper of a name now, but whoever set this print onto cloth understood that a screen-printed rose could still ache like something painted by hand, if the ink was allowed to cross-hatch instead of flatten. That is the particular magic of her: an ordinary manufacturing trick, worked patiently enough to fool the eye into tenderness. The tulle beneath the skirt is inherited too, borrowed from grander dresses and smuggled quietly into a Tuesday-night frock. It is why she belongs here: not because anyone remembers her name, but because someone, once, refused to let a party dress stay simple.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sleeves are gathered into a soft puff at the shoulder, and the bodice drops into a structured waist seam before the skirt is gathered full below it, a self-fabric bow tied at the back of that seam for good measure. The back itself opens into a long keyhole from nape to waist, closed at the top with a single bejewelled button, with a concealed zip. Underneath, a tulle petticoat is built into the hem, just enough to lift the skirt without announcing itself.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"caitiedid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183840424070,"sku":null,"price":165.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/5960\/8966\/files\/DSC_4011.jpg?v=1784851040"}],"url":"https:\/\/checkout.caitiedid.shop\/collections\/collections-1980s-vintage.oembed","provider":"caitiedid","version":"1.0","type":"link"}