Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog

Never Is the Next New Thing

No Arsenic. Just Old Lace.

by

This vintage Biba is divine.

Beautiful vintage Biba
$825 at Posh Vintage

If you’re looking for less expensive lace, consider this ’80s Anne Klein top on eBay.

If you bid, don’t forget to snipe!

Check out my previous lace posts:

While I was looking at eBay, I noticed a pair of Moschino harem pants that I’d written about last year.


These were $175 on Yoox, so if these are your style, you might be able to get a nice bargain on eBay.

If you prefer your Hammer/harem/genie pants to be a bit more subdued, check out another pair of vintage Moschinos. The eBay buy-it-now price is $129.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. I’m always dreaming of wearing a pair of harrem trousers but being in such a tiny part of the world i would simply look ridiculous lol but oh how much i do. When i head up north i’ll definately be rockin them 🙂

    The dress above is very beautiful also but so expensive. You found a very nice alternative though 🙂

  4. oh yes, i love the lace biba too… so pretty… also the moschino hamer pants… i have a pair of trousers in that same plaid, but i don’t wear them as much as i should.

  7. Lace is something that can go so wrong at a cheaper price point. I saw some faux prada lace that made arsenic seem like a better choice.
    p.s. I love that movie. Cary Grant is so cute.

  11. I love my daily WendyB hit. Great pants, if they were all voluminous but with the crotch somewhere more north of my ankles.

    In the late 90s, I lived in France for a while. I’d never heard of Burberry but the French wore it like crazy, so I called it “the French plaid.” Everyone had French plaid on — the pastry chefs, the garbage collectors — it was clearly a national movement.

    I thought about buying a French plaid scarf, but I finally had enough when I saw two Japanese tourists — lovely ladies though they were — in French plaid dresses, with French plaid trench coats, wearing French plaid hats, with French plaid shoes, and carrying French plaid umbrellas.

    When I came home and saw the same plaid beginning to sprout up in the US, I finally learned that it was Burberry.

    But it will forever in my heart be known as French plaid.

  12. Deirdre, that’s an awesome story. I think the name of Burberry should be changed to French Plaid in your honor.

  14. another great lace find.

    few months back i saw a metallic pair of harem pants in some store. now i regret not buying them, and buying some other pair of shoes instead.

  15. [I shall refrain from telling you how much you could have bought that one for, after the trauma of the Muir!]

    I’m still not sure I can get on board with the hammer pants, but I’m certainly kicking myself for rejecting a few which my aunt offered me a few years back. I certainly didn’t envision them making a comeback!!

  16. Hmmm. I don’t really get this hammer-pants trend. Gwen Stefani was rocking them in black (in a style like the first pair) a few months before her second pregnancy and she barely pulled them off.

    It kind of looks like you had a little accident and your pants are filled with…. well, I won’t get vulgar.

    Love the lace though. 😉

  19. Since Mr. J is not a sheik, MIss J can pass onteh harem pants. But lordy- that Biba lace top is to die for. Lovely find, WendyB.

  25. Wendy, do you ever bid on the eBay stuff you recommend? Or is this straight up public service? Just wondering if I’ll ever be neck-and-neck with the likes of you, bidding for some hammer pants.

  26. That is one fabulous lace top…wowza! This is mortifying, but we are so old we shopped at Biba on our first visit to London way back oh-so-long-ago!

    The "French plaid" moniker is wonderful, we may have to borrow it for future use.

    The harem pants…we would look like an elf, or worse.
    Grins & Giggles,
    tp

  27. Boy do those Moschino harem/hammer/genie pants ever look like the Burberry Nova check!

    They’re a very cool shape.