I declare a garment to be “double vintage” when it’s vintage by nature and vintage in terms of how long I’ve owned it. Here’s the double-vintage Clovis Ruffin dress I wore last week to The Acting Company’s fall gala, which honored my friends Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel and Carl Spielvogel.
What Wendy Wore
Dress: Clovis Ruffin (purchased from eBay in 2005, probably)
Unseen shoes: Prada (2010)
Purse: Louis Vuitton (2016)
Shawl: Zang Toi (seen here in 2012)
Designer Clovis Ruffin launched his company in 1972. He died of AIDS at age 46 in 1992, so any clothes with his label are obviously vintage by nature. As for how long I’ve owned this dress — here it is on Dec. 31, 2005, when I accessorized it with some extra hair.
Ringing in 2006.
In the pre-blogging days, I didn’t take a lot of head-to-shoe photos. I would have thought that was very odd! But you can see a bit more of the dress in a tiny photo in this post from 2007 (I can’t find the original right now). You can see other Clovis Ruffin dresses I own in these posts. It makes me very happy to share some information about Clovis. To me, the best thing about what I call “slow fashion” isn’t the sustainability — it’s the story, whether that’s your story or someone else’s or both.