This week, ‘Tique takes us to Let’s Dish. This antique store is located across from Lamar Square, and it’s bursting at the seams with everything from clothes and shoes to magazines and furniture.

 

The real gem, though, was this coat. A turn-of- the century piece, the coat was made in 1906, the era of the Titanic.

 

The fabric is velvet, but the interesting part is the flowered silk lining. It turns out that up until the 1950s and ‘60s, many fabrics, including silk and thread, were leaded.  That is to say, there was actual lead in the fabrics people wore, which is what gave them that sound of crinkling silk.

 

This is what gave women’s dresses so much of their volume and their durability. However, after time, the lead will deteriorate – it will literally fall apart.  

 

“If you had a 1920s beaded flapper dress, after a certain amount of time all you would have left was a pile of beads,” storeowner Ronal Dodson said.

 

The coat Dodson showed me was tucked away in the back due to the deterioration of the silk lining.

 

“This dress is from over a 100 years ago,” Dodson said. “Time passed, and the leaded silk couldn’t hold up.”

 

The fact that it is still in remarkably good condition is surprising, especially when compared to a silk dress from the 1920s that was falling apart just from hanging on a hanger.  

 

There was also one other quirk the coat had: the little mink sewn around its neck, complete with a tiny face and eyes.  The cuffs were also lined in mink, but the little mink staring up at you was quite a surprise. Of course, this wasn’t uncommon in the era in which the dress was made.

 

Overall, the coat was beautiful, and has truly stood the test of time.

‘Tique of the Week is an Austin-wide search for unique and interesting antiques. With dozens of antique shops around Austin, one-of-a-kind items from the past are not in short supply. Each week we’ll find a new favorite item and feature it as our “‘Tique of the Week.”