Designer sells fashion pieces dating back 250 years!

Published Mar 17, 2025, 12:55 AM

Designer Charlotte Smith is parting ways with her 4,000-piece collection, allowing would-be fashionistas a chance to own some pieces of history.

For more, Charlotte Smith joins.

It's Kylie's birthday coming out, and I've just found their best gift. It's going to transact in a matter of moments.

Stick around a treasure trove of fashion.

Charlotte Smith's Waldrove is what dreams are made of, with designer pieces going back two hundred and fifty years, featuring labels.

From Chanel d Or Prata Oscarvilla, Rena.

The list goes on, and.

Now she's preparing to part ways with her four thousand piece collection, allowing would be fashionists the chance to own a real piece of history. Charlotte Smith, lovely to see you, welcome back and some of these fabulous pieces.

How did you How did you start this collection?

Well, it started very organically with my American godmother in two thousand and four decided to bequeath me her collection, which she started in the thirties, and it was probably about.

Three and a half thousand pieces. When that arrived.

Everything had to go through quarantine and customs to make sure it was all fine. Since then, people have been giving me things. I've been buying a lot very targeted pieces, and I also buy things for me to wear, so it's grown. It grew up to ten thousand pieces. I've now reduced it and it's now down to four.

Is it emotional parting with these items though? Are you excited for them to have new adventures?

Well, I'm very excited for them having new adventures. The only pieces that kind of pulled a little heartstring were the Victorian ones, because when you look inside and you think of this tiny woman wearing these beautifully made dresses by dressmakers in anywhere in America, in England, and you think of that work, there are works of art. Those were the pieces that I thought, Wow, can I ever replace those?

You can really lose your imagine, get lost in your imagination. Where the where these have been?

Right?

I know, are you going to show us some pieces? We'll get to the beaver muff in a moment, but let's work around some of these pieces.

Well, I thought, you know, because I know you're both excellent fashionists and very aware of styles, maybe you could tell me what some of these pieces dates are?

Oh, that's what of twenties forties?

No, yeah, that looks like a flapper dress.

Twenties and forties is a big difference. It's not price. You're twenty to forty, it's nineteen twenties. Yes, it's very much right, is what you meant to say.

Well, you started with twenties, I would have just kept it there. So nineteen twenties. And this one has a really lovely story in the twenty Well, this woman by the name of Patricia lived a very sensible, no frills life, and she worked as a nurse all her life for a small hospital in Ohio. When she passed away, her daughters started going through the house and they found a trunk up in the attic, and in the trunk.

They pulled away layers and layers of tablecloths.

And napkins and things like that, I mean, nothing fancy, And at the bottom, wrapped in.

Tissue, was this dress.

Wow.

And they were so dumbfounded that their mother, who they never imagined earning anything this beautiful, let alone wearing it, had it. So they were sad they never knew the story, but they loved the fact that she passed away with a secret.

So that would have been a going out dress.

Winning, No, this would have been going out dress.

What's the next one? You've got there? We have to get so yeah, so ooh.

I'm going seventies, sixties, Oh, twenties, Yes, yeah, it's like that hostess lounging kind of look. But yep, this was made for the Western market, made in China, all beautifully hand embroidered on beautiful silk.

This one's an easy one.

Oh, easy, easy. I'm going to go I'm going to go seventies again.

But sixties, forties, twenties.

Perfect twenties, yeah, yeah, the rag of twenties. Yeah, so this would have been an evening cape. And you know that they love the twenties, loved all of these beautiful shimmering fabrics so that when they walk past lights, it look very very expensive.

So with a beautiful mink collar.

Okay, next, twenties twenties, we're.

Going to come back to that.

Okay, right, what about this, I'm going to say seventies, These perfect sixties, yep, yep, Jean Shelley Woman California.

They were all each one of those secrets sequences hand applied to a wall mash base, so you can imagine the work that went into that, all done in Hong Kong.

I'm going to say Dynasty for this.

Eighties absolutely, ye one.

We're up to the Blue one now, yeah, eighties for that.

So the Blue one and that one is by a California designer, and you know, you can just imagine she would have had some massive necklace with big huge sapphire kind of hanging down and bling on her hand. So that's eighties and then this would go with the eighties.

That's Henry Bendell bag up to the bags and I mean, sorry, yeah, I was going to say, you know, do you want to guess the age of this or should we move on to some of these.

Shoes look interesting? What's the story about that Wizard of Oz.

Is they are?

Yeah? So these are tom Ford for if Saint Laurent.

So interesting because a lot of designers that we know for their name now, like tom Ford, they actually for designers who had their own name. So this is tom Ford for eve Slar in two thousand and three with the glittery the glib here.

Now back in the muffs were very popular. Yeah, yeah, so you've got a classic muff there.

Yeah.

So this is its sheared beaver with and what's unusual is the detail of this moire silk taffeta ruffle and it's.

A muff's pop sort of a was it a popular way?

It was?

I mean, you know, if you didn't want to wear mittens or gloves. You just had your muff and you could be very demure, very lady. Like the woman or young woman who wore this must have had tiny hands, because I can hardly get my hands in.

Yeah, yeah, yes, I can see it. And so these things are all fas out. Does the beaver muff come with the box?

Because it's a beautiful looking.

Yes, and see things like this. You know, when you price things for sale, it's it's always about, you know, originality. So to have the original box that's one hundred is from eighteen eighties, eight seventies, eighteen eighties, is quite rare with this muff that when you put it in it is made absolutely perfectly.

Hell yeah, how much is that?

Well? This one it's a collector's piece. It might not be very useful, but it is a collector's piece. So this is two hundred dollars.

Kylie's birthday coming up in a couple of months. Always get stuck. I would like to buy you a beaver muff for your birthday to replace you, just to put in your muff collection.

And can I purchase it?

Can I tappen? I've got an apple past with sure.

Sure, I'm old fashioned. I like cash actually.

Okay, cash from the twenties.

Okay, that's all.

That's all leaving here.

I'm buying that.

Okay, that's good, it's lovely. That's the final dress. But we can't go Charlotte without that's so kind of yes.

So now this one is a little bit tricky.

It's beautifause, isn't it beautiful dunning?

Yeah, And it's not a wedding dress. It would have been like a tea dress, a tea gown that a woman would have worn at home. But it's it's unusual because it's actually started as an Edwardian dress, So all of this year is Edwardian. Then the nineteen twenties came in and they put this this little piece on the bottom thirty. So it's like from Edwardian nineteen twenties and then nineteen thirties. So it's a real interesting it's like a sustainable dress.

You wouldn't pay.

That with any It wouldn't pay that with the beaver mup or the bag or anything like. That's not inside a tea.

But if I were brave and you know, had an amazing figure and had a really slender slip underneath, and we're my foot top.

I could wear those shoes, absolutely could.

Sorry, just as we say goodbye, could Kylie just try on her beaver?

Yes, I just want see if it's a good.

Okay, thank you. That's gorgeous. Bird. Oh look at that.

Look at yourct look at that.

Thank you show gorgeous.

That really fit.

It fits you better than I thought it was going to. And it suits you.

It's gorgeous.

Thank you.

For more details about Charlotte's collection and how you can your own piece, just head to our website. I don't think you pat it.

It's very soft.

Thank you, darling beautiful, and we'll put all the details on how you access to the clip.

He's selling it as a whole.

I'm selling it individually, so Dirty Jans in Barrel and Dirty Jeans in in Camera, so it's a six month sale in each of those venues.

So Dirty James in Barrel, that's a fantastic that okay, thank you very much.

Sold

The Morning Show

From Channel 7's popular The Morning Show with Kylie Gillies and Larry Edmur, this podcast brings yo 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 2,022 clip(s)