how i source silk dresses that look like eveliina vintage (for less)
40 secondhand silk pieces under $200 for your next event/wedding/holiday party.
Hello, I’m writing this on Monday afternoon and the view from my desk window looks like the set of Wuthering Heights. The Bay is getting absolutely drenched in the first storm of the season.
My mom gave me the last of her passionfruit harvest over the weekend so I decided to make a curd…I used this recipe because it didn’t call for a stand mixer (I HATE assembling and washing kitchen appliances!!!!). It was refreshingly vibrant to look at on a gloomy day. I loved how the yellowish fruit juice reduced into a thick caramel-y orange. After adding the yolk mixture, it almost glowed.
I felt like I had brewed a magic potion.
I’ve been gravitating towards this color lately—something between carrot, cantaloupe, turmeric, persimmon, etc.
It’s a color I would like to wear more of. But it’s hard to find GOOD orange clothes. Probably because Western culture has everyone thinking that they can’t “pull off” orange. Most people assume by default that they “look bad” in orange/yellows, but honestly many of us should re-evaluate that belief!
And once you see a GOOD orange, it gets seared into your brain.
For me, it was this vintage silk dress from an Anna Sui show a few years ago. It’s the kind of orange that will cure your seasonal depression. You can tell the silk is sumptous by the way it moves. Swish swish, but with a certain heft to it. And the styling is 10/10. I’m so on board with the argyle sock idea.
Anyways, I remember saving a screenshot of this from Vogue Runway and learning that the dress was provided by Eveliina Vintage for Anna Sui.1 If you haven’t heard of Eveliina Vintage, it was founded by Eeva Musacchia in Finland during the 70s. Musacchia has been curating and dyeing vintage dresses for decades, but the business exploded on IG in the early 2020s. I think it’s because their posts were so attention-grabbing: chromatic, floaty lineups of romantic vintage dresses straight out of a fairytale.
Celebrity endorsement from the likes of Alexa Chung and Bella Hadid gave them the “fashion cool girl” factor, and they even had a collaboration with J.Crew in 2022. While I am on the email list for product drops, I haven’t found an Eveliina dress that ticks all my boxes (including budget) yet. The silk ones can run anywhere from $250-$700+, and my philosophy is that if I can source something myself, I will.
I’ve spent the past month online sourcing, figuring out the lay of the land, and successfully bought two silk dresses that have the Eveliina look, but for less.
Let’s do a show and tell. I’m sharing videos, because photos don’t capture the swishy drapey movement of these beautiful pieces.
First up, I found this 100% silk dress on eBay listed for $175. Made an offer for $110 which was accepted.
I like this shade of orange, but I don’t know if I *love* it. I had pictured it to be a little darker and more saturated, so I started researching the best beginner silk dyes (Jacquard comes up often). We’ll see though, I don’t want to make an impulsive decision.
This next dress I had bookmarked for two weeks be, and bought it after I ran it by
for a second opinion. At $275, I had to really think about it for a while.
It’s a classic creamy white color—vaguely bridal—and I loved the shape of the bustline with the tiny buttons. The silk is nice and thick in person, and I am certain that you’d be paying 10x more if this had a Mirror Palais tag on it.
It’s a little bit long/loose on me, so I’m adding it to my tailor pile.
The rest of this newsletter goes into tactical keywords and sourcing tips. But if there’s one major takeaway that I hope sticks with you, it’s that buying and collecting vintage silk dresses are for people who don’t mind a project. You have be in it for the love of the game!
Due to the age of the garments and delicate nature of silk, you will never find one that is perfect. Most have flaws—pinholes, stains, a loose button, something. You might need to get it tailored. Maybe you’ll even be inspired to dye a white dress you found for a bargain.
Below the fold for paid readers:
3 search terms that will make all the difference in getting good results
40 secondhand Eveliina-esque silk pieces curated by me, mostly dresses under $200 for your next event/wedding/holiday party.
Here’s a sneak peek. It’s good.
I decided to include the roundup here instead of the secondhand sonar doc, because vintage silk dress sourcing intel merits greater permanence in the Molehill archives.