Monday, June 4, 2007

Costume Motif Quilted Fabric Bag. Maker: Delill. Probably from the 1960s*. Heavy goldtone damascene-like metal frame with metal flower closure. Goldtone metal chain. Quilty-soft fabric panels are stitched together, with one side featuring an artist’s rendering of late 19th century ladies and the words “Time of Foundations – Germany 1885” and “Period of Foundations – Germany 1882” at the bottom, which you can sort of see in the photo below. The other side (not shown) has quilted panels of women in Renaissance garb and the words “Italian Renaissance – About 1505” and “German Renaissance Dress for Ladys (sic) – about 1510.” Delill is mostly known for its mini-trunk hard-sided purses, but they also made some swell cloth bags, like this one. She looks a little scroungy because I use her. I can’t help myself. She’s just too cool to keep hidden in a closet.

*Note: I initially had this placed at the '70s, but another source says these bags are circa 1950s. I'm not so sure, but I did take into consideration the metal frame and the use of the costume print, which I've seen in box bags and mid-century art as well. So I compromised. The '60s it is.
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3 comments:

Holly said...

Oh wow! I love, love, love this purse. *sigh*

Vintage Voyager said...

well, I've just found that the fabric from the Persian varieties of this Delill purse was also used in some early 70s 'Carpetbags of America' totes, so you may have been spot on at first! I'm with you on '60s' as the safest guess at the moment.

VintagePurseGal said...

Thanks so much for the comment! Sometimes it's just so hard to place the era on vintage items. My dream is to meet someone who worked at one of my favorite purse manufacturers so I can get more insider information--from the purses' exact "birth" dates to the ideas behind the designs!