Embroidered 1920s Flapper Blouse

FROM KATE SEKULES'S CLOSET

This gorgeous 1920s blouse is in a black viscose (I think it's viscose) with a slight sheen that's amazingly tough despite its semi-sheerness. It features all-over embroidery in ivory thread, and the scarf effect pieces down the front form a sweetheart neckline. Extra long sleeves end in a pointed cuff. It's about a modern size 6 or 8, more 8. 

STORY: This is probably THE piece that made me start Refashioner, being the thing in my wardrobe most showing inability to part with things I love... I have literally not worn this once since I scored it at Portobello in the days when you could score historic pieces. Those days were, uh, well let's say that if I'd bought this top new, it would now be vintage. So I've made it even vintager for you.  As the label says, it's from Derry & Toms, the bourgeois department store on Kensington High Street. I went there with my mother as a child to buy winceyette nighties and have tea among the flamingoes in their semi-tropical roof garden. A few years later D&T was replaced by the insanity and heaven called Biba: the best store there has ever been.