Back to the future
Youth is often seen as the epitome of beauty. But it would seem where buttons are concerned it's very, very cool to have a little age on your side, as Tracey McEldowney reports.
You see it in everything from models and beauty editors to mannequins and shop fittings. Those with too much mileage on the clock need not apply.
However, Howwith the increasing popularity of everything vintage, it seems at least as far as trimmings are concerned - the button rulebook has now been well and truly cast aside.
Deborah Deichsel, who with business partner Heather Brown runs Margo Richards Antiques store in Sydney, says she has noticed a marked increase in the number of customers seeking to buy vintage buttons and buckles in recent years.
So much so that five years ago she and Brown launched their own store Buttons Buttons Buttons at the Rocks, specifically to cater for this rapidly increasing market.
Specialising in unused vintage and retro pieces, Deichsel says this category of buttons now accounts for 60 percent of her entire stock.
"Some of the detail is so great people are now starting to wear the buttons as pieces of jewellery within their own right. They are recognising that the colours, the sizes and the shapes that were produced in the past simply can not be replicated in modern materials."
While most of her vintage range dates from the early-to-mid 1900s, the store boasts some unused pieces dating back to the 1800s still in their original casing.
"Some of the earlier ones are made from cut steel. We also have sets of stirling silver buttons which come in boxed sets of six and shank-back buttons. The late 1800s buttons are made from materials like tortoise shell, enamel, Japanese Satsuma and hand-painted porcelain. We also have a limited stock of new Swarovski crystal pieces and lots made from mother-of-pearl."
Such is the uniqueness of many of the pieces in the store, Deichsel says customers willingly part with anywhere between 50 cents and $500 for each button, depending on shape, size, age and condition.
While she is reluctant to divulge what sales percentage the vintage pieces account for, with Deichsel and Brown both making annual overseas buying trips to the US, Europe and Asia specifically to source unused pieces, it is fair to conclude business is not doing too badly.
Travlon Trimmings managing director Ricky Fink, whose company began manufacturing buttons and buckles in the late 1950s, agrees sales of classical features on garments have been very strong over the past year.
The company has seen "very strong" demand for bejeweled buttons, broaches and garment ornaments, he says.
Aside from the interest in vintage buttons, metal buttons have recently been very prominent in interesting and unusual treated finishes, he says.
"We see this trend continuing for the short term and we are adding new designs to our collection on a daily basis.
"Further, along the vintage line of buttons, laser-engraved designs on buttons provide wonderful points of detail. These types of buttons are making a huge impact on the market at the moment."
Fink says Travlon, which ceased manufacturing buttons in Australia only this year, unusual shaped and large buttons have been very popular for the past six months with customers seeking points of difference and a new focus of special interest on their garments.
Fink says button and trimming trends are continually changing which he claims is what makes the market so "interesting and energetic".
It should come as no surprise fashion designers too have recognised the beauty of all things old, with popular womenswear designer Lee Mathews, handbag label Eliza Clare and Sydney-based start-up label Andrea Cainero all utilising vintage buttons in their collections.
Relishing in a new-found appreciation for vintage pieces and working hard to establish a key point of difference, these designers regularly scour trimmings manufacturers, antique stores, button stores and sometimes even online auction website Ebay to secure their piece of choice.
Cainero - whose self-titled label specialises in creating "modern pieces with a timeless feel" - uses both buttons and vintage fabrics in her dress and jewellery designs and says non-modern pieces have their own character, which modern buttons do not.
Paying between 50 cents and $9.50 for each button she uses, Cainero says she elected to utilise vintage buttons in her designs to help draw a wider audience to her collection.
"My jewellery pieces are quite contemporary and very original. I thought the vintage buttons would add to the uniqueness and individuality [of each piece] and give a sense of nostalgia to something that would otherwise be considered modern.
"[The vintage buttons] are just so gorgeous, they really do help give each piece its own character."
Cainero, whose era of choice in vintage buttons is the early 1900s as well as the late 1950s, says the colours, shapes, textures and size of the vintage buttons she uses also help inspire her prints each season.
"These pieces generally have a very intricate feel to them. I like the idea of admiring something from afar and then seeing all the intricate details up close."
She too believes there is a greater selection of colours in the vintage style but admits it's not always easy finding the right piece.
"It's really up to luck. You can obviously only get what you can find. [That said] it's generally not too hard to find something to make a statement of."
Designer Samantha Grant, who alongside her mother Sally and sister Emma Wilson launched handbag label Eliza Clare late last year, also agrees vintage buttons offer something that can't be replicated in modern design.
"We love the textures and colours of the antique pieces - they acquire such a lovely patina over time. The buttons are also often made from materials such as glass and bakelite and other materials like mother-of-pearl - modern buttons don't cover this range of mediums. We love to sew history and life into our bags and the antique pieces are without equal and truly distinctive."
Grant, whose label charges from $200 to $450 for its current collection, agrees while sourcing the buttons can be a problem for some of her competitors, she says this is only a problem when they are used in large quantities.
"We buy them when we find them - we don't go purposely looking for them.
"Most of our buttons are from a collection we inherited from my grandmother who was a couturier and my great aunt who was a milliner and jewellery designer in the early part of last century. We were so unbelievably lucky to inherit such a gift. The only disadvantage [we find] can be their fragility - vintage buttons are often quite brittle."
Alan Recht, of trimmings specialist M.Recht Accessories, which supplies buttons as well as sewing threads, zips and elastic, however, believes button suppliers should be weary when considering jumping on the latest trend bandwagon.
Recht says there is always an element of risk when looking at introducing new, or for that matter old, pieces in your offering.
"Buttons, like many other accessories, can be 'flavour of the month' for a few seasons, and then disappear off the radar for just as long again. When choosing a range of buttons one has to consider fashion trends, designers tastes, price affordability, competitors ranges etc etc. An element of risk is always part of the deal in trying to introduce new style buttons in new shapes and sizes that may or may not take off. When trends change there is a lot of consideration required to introduce new buttons to suit that trend.
Recht says his company tries to have a large stable range which can usually work in all fashion trends. It then introduces smaller, newer ranges to fit the new trends as they come along and usually pass after a season or two only.
This minimises exposure to left over 'dead' stock once a trend has moved on, he says.
"When people say 'a button is a button', they must understand that this is not so. There's so much more to contemplate when we suppliers choose our button ranges."