Down Mexico Way - Cool In My Roberta Vencillino Kaftan

Blame it on a blogger! When I commented on how fabulous Betty looked in a kaftan on a recent post about her holiday in Costa Rica she'd replied that it had been hard to find one. Although I own a few, I thought I'd have a quick browse on eBay and see if I could find any. The ones listed in the vintage section were either ludicrously over-priced or not vintage in the slightest so I had a scroll through the general listings instead.

Even by selecting UK Only it still took me an age to trawl through the fifty plus pages of listings but, Betty was right, in most cases the garments didn't remotely resemble kaftans, being either hip-length tunic tops, those polyester fringed kimono jackets which were the in-thing on the festival scene a couple of years ago or semi-sheer belted cover-ups resembling dressing gowns designed to be worn over swimwear. Anything resembling a traditional, floor length, cotton kaftan with wide sleeves was a rarity.

Then I happened upon the above photo. Although not listed as vintage it looked suspiciously like it was and the description, mentioning the panelled construction, metal zip and side pockets, suggested something a bit special. So I added it to my watch list and stalked it for days, finally submitting a bid in the dying seconds of the auction. I was thrilled to be the only bidder and to win it for £8, the starting price.

Just over an hour ago Izzy, our postman, knocked the door and handed over a heavy box with my name on it. Confused, I tore it open and there was my kaftan, neatly encased in bubble wrap along with a homemade lavender bag, weighing in at a whopping 1.5kg.

I was right. It's vintage. Roberto Vencillino was a native of Spokane in Washington State, USA. Over fifty years ago a dance class she was hoping to take in San Francisco got cancelled so she booked a trip to Mexico instead. During her travels she called in at a popular Mexican-Italian restaurant and struck up a conversation with the owner, Luis Vencillino, falling in love and marrying him shortly afterwards.

Roberta wanted her own career so she borrowed $250 from her mother, started designing clothing, hired some local women to make up her dresses and opened a store in San Blas, Mexico. There really was not much to buy here back then. My biggest seller was shift dresses. Remember them from the ‘60s? Knee-length in vibrant colours with lots of hand-embroidered flowers and birds. I sold them for $10, Roberta reminisced.

The couple moved to Mazatlán, Mexico in 1968 and opened a cottage industry shop, making the clothes in the back and selling them out front for the next twelve years. In 1980, they built a larger shop on land Luis bought “for a song” in the 1970s when the area was still a swamp. After moving premises they discontinued Roberta's designs, concentrating instead on crafts, textiles and clothing created by artisans from all over Mexico. Roberta & Luis have since retired but shop continues, run by the couple's son, Jason.

Info and photo SOURCE

A trawl of the internet while researching my kaftan threw up these Roberta Vencillino y Luis beauties - selling in excess of $200. You can tell mine was originally bought by a Brit - all that colour to choose from and they went for the black, brown and grey version!  

As well as being taken by surprise by the weight and the desirability of a Roberta Vencillino original the colour of mine shocked me, too. I didn't expect it to be grey! Hopefully I've worn it stylishly like Beate did HERE rather than indifferently, which I wrote about HERE. As the cotton is so heavy I won't be taking it to India (it's a tenth of my 15 kg internal flight allowance) but it'll be thick enough to keep me warm all winter long. 

Vintage 1960s handmade Roberta Vencillino y Luis kaftan (£8, eBay) worn with bastard massive Aztec-inspired brass earrings (originally Topshop but bought from a charity shop back in 2010 for 99p), Vintage African brass breast plate (Inherited from Mum), River Island suede ankle boots (£5, charity shop) 

In other news the For Sale board isn't up yet but the estate agent has already got viewings for The Cottage booked in. I'll keep you posted.

Bit of a dilemma tonight - Peaky Blinders is back but it clashes with The Apprentice! What do we watch and what do we save for Thursday?  I'd better have a rum and reflect.

See you soon!