Congratulations on Your Escape from an Edith Wharton Novel.

You’ll find the 21st century much less confining.

You can be seen on the street in the company of Mr. Julius Beaufort now without raising eyebrows. You can arrive late (well, a bit late) for dinner at the van der Luydens. You can leave one prominent gentleman and cross the parlor to converse with another, less-prominent gentleman.

A word of advice, though: keep the clothes.

(They’re even more fabulous today than they were back then.)

The Silhouette Men Dueled Over. That nipped waist, those pert shirred sleeve caps and eyecatching inverted back pleats…still effective, as well as quite distinctive. Bonus: you no longer need to wear a corset.

Vintage Velvet Jacket (N^o. 1935), in rich rayon-and-silk fabric, satinlined. As described, with dramatic notched lapels, small flapped pockets, 10 domed, self-covered buttons down the front.

Sizes: 4 through 16.

Color: Imperial Purple.

Price: $189. Sale: $70.


Seductress. The literal meaning of the word “charmeuse,” chosen by the French with Gallic precision to describe the silk fabric you see here. Lustrous stuff, flows beautifully, and whispers as it flows.

Silk Charmeuse Gore Skirt (N^o. 1942), pure silk lined in satin acetate, falls just above your provocative ankles. Ten topstitched gores to swirl and flirt with.

Women’s sizes: 4 through 16.

Color: Imperial Purple.

Price: $229. Sale: $159.