Hollywood Glam is Back!!!

I know I just posted yesterday but honestly, I just couldn't contain myself!

Many of you know I'm a fan of vintage mirrored furniture and accessories. I grew up with a set of 1960s Italian provincial mirror-top tables in my parents living room, and the nested tables from that set reside in my living room today. I am contstantly on the lookout for vintage mirrored items - dresser and tissue boxes, lamps, little wastebaskets, hampers - and furniture. I sometimes find the accessory items, and usually buy them when I see them. But the furniture is out of the reach of most of us - there's a cabinet I've been lusting after in Lambertville, New Jersey, but it's priced over $3000.

There's a reason for that. In the 50+ years since Hollywood Glam (think 1940s Rita Hayworth) was been in fashion, many mirrored pieces have suffered breakage that's significant enough to devalue or discard them. Pieces in pristine condition command top dollar. Wish I looked as good after 50+ years as these pieces do. I am happy to content myself with accessories.

Bombay Company (which is going out of business, if you didn't already know) has had a piece called a Glamour Chest for several years, a little mirrored cabinet that's quite marvelous. It has been the lone example of glam mirrored furniture in mainstream stores. But yesterday I walked into Pier 1 and almost fell over - they have introduced a complete line of mirrored furniture - dresser, vanity, tall cabinet, low stool. It's really quite fantastic.

So now Hollywood glam is mainstream. Wonderful! It represents a great opportunity to "marry" vintage and contemporary. I'm not normally an advocate of this philosophy - particularly if the contemporary equivalent of a vintage piece is made in Southeast Asia of particle board and priced more than the vintage piece. But when vintage isn't accessible to most of us - in this case because of both price and availability - mixing old and new, IMHO, is a perfectly acceptable approach. Buy a currently made piece (and no, it probably won't last 50+ years, but you can enjoy it now), and accessorize with authentic vintage.

I'll be on the prowl for those accessory pieces.

Come in and "mix it up" with us!
marilyn