VERY MARILYN

We haven't put anything up on the blog in over a week!  Sorry, I went to fashion week and Eri has been working her buns off with fittings galore for everyone from Lana Del Rey to Freida Pinto.  We're baaaack!  We are still super crazy and multi-tasking but we couldn't ignore our beloved fans out there "in the dark."  The famous Travilla Marilyn Monroe pleated cream halter Seven Year Itch dress is one of Hollywood's great fashion visuals that constantly inspires designers.  Jean-Louis Scherrer must have been feeling the roar of a subway over an iron grate billowing air and making a dress blow in the wind when he designed this navy pleated crepe evening dress.  A constantly flattering silhouette that allows you to have your Marilyn moment although I doubt anyone will be taking the subway in this! 

-CameronDecades

Jean-Louis Scherrer Haute Couture navy pleated dress c.1980's. Modern size 4. SOLD

For additional information, please email blog@decadesinc.com or call + 1 323 655-1960. You may also visit us in person at Decades 8214 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Please reference the description above, if calling or emailing.

WE SELL DRESSES TOO

We have posting bags and jewels quite aggressively since they make for good presents at this time of the year and they are selling so it's great for the bottom line, but what about your bottom. It's no secret that I am a major fan of Jean-Louis Scherrer Haute Couture. It's also no secret that I have reservations when it comes to illusion netting. So what's a boy to do when we receive a Scherrer Couture dress with illusion netting? I have had an epiphany and am pretty much sold on this dress. It's got jet black beading, a second skin of black netting, and a tulle drop waist skirt that evokes everything from Deco, to Charles James, to the Ice Capades. I am a changed man, but who is the woman who can make my change come to life? You just better have what Tess McGill acutely stated in Working Girl: "I have a head for business and a bod for sin."
-Cameron

Jean-Louis Scherrer Haute Couture black tulle evening dress c. 1980s. Modern size 6

For additional information, please email blog@decadesinc.com or call + 1 323 655-0223. You may also visit us in person at Decades 8214 1/2 Melrose Avenue (2nd Floor) at Harper Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Please reference the description above, if calling or emailing. For email requests, kindly include your full name and phone number plus City, State, and Country from which you are contacting, so may offer you a high level of personal service.

SCHERRER HAS A NEW OWNER

Jean-Louis Scherrer apparently sold more Haute Couture in the naughts than any other Couture house. However, it apparently wasn't enough to keep the house from going dormant. On Monday, JSB International bought the brand and has no itention to revive the Ready to Wear or Couture, but plan to develop many licensees with a particular emphasis on Asia. So if you want actual Scherrer, you need me.

This 80s Haute Couture ballerina dress of tulle, point d'esprit lace, and black crystals over a nude lining isn't typical of the Scherrer style which I find intriguing. I equate so much of Scherrer with metallic plisse that looks like it stepped out of a scene from "Eyes of Laura Mars." This is Scherrer doing demure, but certainly a brand founded in 1962 can be demure and saucy at times. Just like the actual House of Scherrer, this dress is looking for a new owner. Unlike the Scherrer of today, the new owner will own something Haute Couture and Made In France and not from a licensee.
-Cameron



Jean-Louis Scherrer Haute Couture ballerina dress, c. 1980s. Modern size 6
For additional information, please email blog@decadesinc.com or call + 1 323 655-1960. You may also visit us in person at Decades 8214 1/2 Melrose Avenue (2nd Floor) at Harper Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Please reference the description above, if calling or emailing. For email requests, kindly include your full name and phone number plus City, State, and Country from which you are contacting, so may offer you a high level of personal service.

SWEET AND SEXY

This Jean-Louis Scherrer Haute Couture pleated blush mauve halter dress with optional capelet may be from the late 1970s, but there's an aura of a modern Daisy Buchanan to the design. When worn with the capelet, the dress wouldn't look out of place at a Great Gatsby-themed party. Remove the capelet, and the sexy halter and X-strap back would look phenomenal with a pair of pewter snakeskin strappy heels for a night out on the town. This is what we call versatile dressing! From sweet to sexy.
-Cameron





Jean Louis Scherrer Haute Couture blush mauve pleated halter gown and capelet, c. late 1970s. Modern 4 to 6 SOLD

For additional information, please email blog@decadesinc.com or call + 1 323 655-0223. You may also visit us in person at Decades 8214 1/2 Melrose Avenue (2nd Floor) at Harper Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Please reference the description above, if calling or emailing. For email requests, kindly include your full name and phone number plus City, State, and Country from which you are contacting, so may offer you a high level of personal service.

BOLERO R US

Call us crazy but we are totally champions of the bolero. At Decades, we have a soft spot for boleros. When we combine that love with our soft spot for vintage Jean Louis Scherrer we are higher than a morphine drip. Let us explain why we love boleros: they are practical. You are going to a black tie and you need a cover-up that is functional and fun and you aren't in the mood for fur, you throw on a bolero. But boleros aren't just for Princess Diana-approved gowns. They are fab with a cheap and chic Sébastien Tellier for American Apparel sheer jersey scoop neck tee with an exposed bra and Elise Overland leather leggings for a rocker chic look. The velvet Scherrer Haute Couture bolero below is Lesage embroidered and reminds us of a men's cutaway jacket with the paillette enhanced collar. The Swarovski crystal trim and leaf motif pattern are very unusual and certain to entertain party revelers this festive season. We think our excitement for boleros is starting to excite our clients, too. While in Dallas this past weekend for our annual trunk show at fabulous Forty Five Ten, we sold two boleros the first day of the event!

Jean Louis Scherrer Haute Couture Lesage enhanced black velvet bolero, c. 1980s. Modern size 4. (some mild impressions on the silk velvet which is natural for a vintage garment) SOLD
For additional information, please email blog@decadesinc.com or call + 1 323 655-0223. You may also visit us in person at Decades 8214 1/2 Melrose Avenue (2nd Floor) at Harper Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Please reference the description above, if calling or emailing. For email requests, kindly include your full name and phone number plus City, State, and Country from which you are contacting, so may offer you a high level of personal service.

Step away from the Curtains!

In honor of All Hallow's Eve, we bring to you a post from our past that would make make you the envy of all the fashionista's this Halloween -- why shouldn't you wear Haute Couture and a Halloween costume tonight?

We might be in a recession, but there is no need to tear down those curtains. This gown was created by Jean Louis Scherrer in the early 1980's as a throwback to the Victorian era. One can only imagine what Scarlet O'Hara would have done with those curtains if she could have had this dress instead.

There are numerous layers of black tulle under the skirt, which gives it all the volume. The outer shell of the gown is canary silk taffeta covered in black Chantilly lace. The same black Chantilly lace drips from the sleeves, and there are black velvet bows on either side of the hip.
This gown has a decollete neck line, which was reserved for the wealthy during the Victorian era. A working class person would have never been permitted to reveal so much skin. If you have a ball to attend, there is only one name you will be called while wearing this gown, that is Belle.

Jean Louis Scherrer Haute Couture Victorian Era-style canary yellow and black Chantilly lace gown with silk tafetta, c. early 1980's. Modern size 4-6.

For additional information, please email blog@decadesinc.com or call + 1 323 655-0223. You may also visit us in person at Decades 8214 1/2 Melrose Avenue (2nd Floor) at Harper Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Please reference the description above, if calling or emailing. For email requests, kindly include your full name and phone number plus City, State, and Country from which you are contacting.

Pardon Us...

Recently we blogged about the Jean Louis Scherrer shown above and seen below on Patricia Kennedy Lawford. A loyal blog reader of ours sent this picture bringing to our attention to the fact that we had the dress on the mannequin BACKWARDS! We apologize and propose that the Scherrer can be worn either way! The pictures above show the way the dress was intended to be worn. We would like to thank the reader who brought this to our attention, and send the rest of you loyal blog readers to her amazing blog.

To view please click here --> SIGHSANDWHISPERS

Jean Louis Scherrer Haute Couture (label removed) black and white georgette 40s style long sleeve evening dress, c. late 1970s. Modern 4 to 6. A few very minor pin-sized spots on dress, not easily visable. SOLD

For additional information, please email blog@decadesinc.com or call + 1 323 655-0223. You may also visit us in person at Decades 8214 1/2 Melrose Avenue (2nd Floor) at Harper Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Please reference the description above, if calling or emailing. For email requests, kindly include your full name and phone number plus City, State, and Country from which you are contacting.

LONG SLEEVES LOOKING SEXY

One of the chicest looks on a woman is a long sleeve evening dress that is sexy. Often designers struggle with the challenge of avoiding a matronly look when not showing a lot of flesh. It is something very evocative of 1940s glamour (think WWII-appropriate attire) and the great Russian-born American Couturier, Valentina Schlee, was the maestro of perfectly executed sexy, dramatic, and feminine dresses that revealed little skin per se, but revealed a lot of the body's curves under the fabric.

Alas, the black and white crepe georgette dress below is not a prized Valentina, but a late 1970s Jean Louis Scherrer Haute Couture evening dress that pays homage to Hollywood glamour of yesteryear with a nod to Valentina's love of wrap and tie styling. The dress has an illusion of looking like two pieces in its black and white combo but the white top seductively gathers from the shoulders to the draped waist and connects to a minimalist, lined skirt. The dress has added pizazz in the form of embroidered epaulets in black and silver leaf motifs on each shoulder. Of course, the sexiest part of the dress is the fact that someone must help you get in and out of it as it buttons up the back.

In a sense, this dress requires a date. Forget Match.com! This dress may not come with a "match" but it will sure draw an admirer who will enjoy getting you in and out of this sophisticated concoction.

Jean Louis Scherrer Haute Couture (label removed) black and white georgette 40s style long sleeve evening dress, c. late 1970s. Modern 4 to 6. A few very minor pin size spots on dress, not easily visable.

For additional information, please email blog@decadesinc.com or call + 1 323 655-0223. You may also visit us in person at Decades 8214 1/2 Melrose Avenue (2nd Floor) at Harper Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Please reference the description above, if calling or emailing. For email requests, kindly include your full name and phone number plus City, State, and Country from which you are contacting.

Remember the gorgeous 1960s Guy Laroche Haute Couture dress Decades friend Kristin Davis wore to the World Premiere of the Sex and the City movie in London last May? Well this isn't the dress, but this is a fantastic electric blue Jean Louis Scherrer Boutique chiffon dress with a similar illusion shoulder, fitted waist, and flirty skirt. But wait, there's more: a coordinating chiffon and marabou feather trim stole. Scherrer manages to design a Parisian decorum lady-like-chic cocktail dress, but electrifies the silhouette with a bold use of color. The stole gives the dress a slight naughty, but nice quality, as the dress suddenly shifts from beautiful to bodacious and boudoir-ready. Now, if describing this dress as being bodacious and boudoir-like doesn't turn you on to this dress, we just don't know what will!

Jean Louis Scherrer electric blue chiffon cocktail dress with feather stole, c. late 1970s. Marked size 38, modern 4 to 6. SOLD For additional information, please email blog@decadesinc.com or call + 1 323 655-0223. You may also visit us in person at Decades 8214 1/2 Melrose Avenue (2nd Floor) at Harper Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Please reference the description above, if calling or emailing. For email requests, kindly include your full name and phone number plus City, State, and Country from which you are contacting.

SURE ABOUT SCHERRER

Jean-Louis Scherrer was one of the most profitable Haute Couture houses of the 1980s and 1990s. The House opened in 1962, but prior to having his own namesake marque, Scherrer worked for Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, and Louis Feraud -- three amazing names that gave him great training.

The Scherrer Couture gown below has many of the Scherrer trademarks: sophisticated, classy, and sexy without a tinge of vulgarity. The intricately embroidered mixed pastel halter connects to a multi-tiered lilac chiffon skirt with a great hip sash. A sexy silhouette, done in an ultra feminine and youthful color story insures that this dress does not suffer from the heaviness of Haute Couture embroidery, but seems light as air.

Jean-Louis Scherrer Haute Couture pastel embroidered halter evening gown with lilac chiffon skirt, Modern 4

For additional information, please email blog@decadesinc.com or call + 1 323 655-0223. You may also visit us in person at Decades 8214 1/2 Melrose Avenue (2nd Floor) at Harper Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Please reference the description above, if calling or emailing. For email requests, kindly include your full name and phone number plus City, State, and Country from which you are contacting.