Thursday, April 15, 2010

Fashionable History: Lilly Dache

Lilly Dache is a true fashion success story! Born in France in 1898, Lilly Dache moved to New York City at the age of 18. With some millinery skills under her belt she got a job as a milliner and started making turbans out of scraps of fabric. Her turbans were such a success, that by the age of 25 she opened up her own shop. She is pictured above trying on one of her eye-catching hats. It didn't take long for Hollywood to notice her stylish and outrageous style. Her most famous clients were Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, and Loretta Young. Soon Dache extended her business to include dresses, gloves, and loungewear. She even had two fragrances called Drifting and Dashing. By 1937 she had her own building called The Lilly Dache Building which had two fitting rooms; a silver room for brunettes and a gold room for blondes! Ms. Dache could be heard coming down the hall by the bells on her leopard slippers! Oh how I wished I knew her! When she retired in 1968, her biggest fan Loretta Young bought her remaining 30 hats.

Above is a photograph of a Lilly Dache hat and veil by Alfred Eisenstaedt.


Lilly Dache hats and designs are very popular with vintage collectors. If you would like a part of history the Lilly Dache gloves pictured above are available in my shop Femme Fatale Vintage.


4 comments:

Maggi said...

Those gloves are fabulous!

Anonymous said...

wow things were so emaculately elegant back then

Dusty Rose Vintage said...

I LOOOOVE Lily Dache! Great photos!

Laura Connell said...

Her story sounds a lot like Chanel's! Interesting