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The Sun /Sunday, April 6,2014


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 jLook what I found! (941) 505-1624 The more th
 16480 Burnt Store Rd. the more pla
 By HERB FAYER Punta Gorda, FL 33955
 SL', LULL l~ www.SandmanBooks.com


Read, 1
g95 you will know.
it you learn,
Ces you'll go.
 -Dr.5eu55


It's always Christmas for ornament collectors


ne of the most practical areas of
 collecting is old Christmas orna-
 ments. Avid collectors use their
ornaments every Christmas to decorate
trees and wreaths and holiday displays.
Vintage ornaments date all the way back
to the early or mid-1800s, which gives
collectors a large variety to search for.
Most were made in Germany and Italy
and some in other parts of Europe. In the
mid-20th century The Shiny Brite Compa-
ny in the United States made millions of
now collectible decorations.
 American entrepreneur Max Eckardt,
founder of Shiny Brite, who had been
importing European ornaments since
1907, met with Corning engineers after
realizing they could make ornaments
for him based on their capability of
blowing glass light bulbs. The Woolworth
Company got in on the project, and after
a few months Corning was producing
machine-blown ornaments for sale in the
five-and-dime stores.
 Some of the most cherished vintage
Christmas ornaments were made
from cotton and cardboard as well as
glass. Ornaments made from cotton
or cardboard are some of the highest
priced ornaments available. In addition,
some of the glass ornaments will cost


 SUN FILE PHOTOS
Avid collectors use their ornaments every
Christmas to decorate trees, wreaths and
holiday displays.
between $100 and $1,000, depending
on the rarity of the piece.
 Cotton ornaments are usually always
figural, they will have a primitive look
and can range from $400 up to $600.
The cardboard ornaments are Dresden
Ornaments made from embossed
cardboard that was painted in a way
to resemble delicate glass. Dresden
ornaments can range from $800 up to
$2,000. Some Dresden ornaments have
even brought as much as $15,000.
 The first Christmas decorations


This rare heart-shaped ornament produced in
Germany is called a Kugel.
produced in Germany are called Kugels
and authentic pieces are highly sought
after by collectors. The most popular
shape for Kugels was balls, in sizes
as large as 30 inches. They were also
produced in different fruit molds, in-
cluding berries and grapes. They were
made of very heavy colored glass and
had brass caps and rings where the
hanging hook was placed. The rarest
colors are the deep reds, burgundy,
orange and the very rare amethyst.
 Recently on eBay a very rare
cardboard zeppelin ornament sold
for almost $600. A set of 12 Kentlee
glass candy canes in the original box
went for $295. Individually these are


not worth much, but a full set in the
original box will appeal to collectors.
 Years ago, in Philadelphia, I cleaned
out an old farmhouse that was hidden
away behind hundreds of 1960s row
houses. In one closet, buried under
some really moldy old clothes were
boxes of German ornaments including
about 50 smaller Kugels and at least a
hundred heavy glass grape and berry
ornaments. The total cache was almost
300 pieces. I bought it all as part of a
big lot of stuff that filled an old Buick
Electra. It was a fabulous deal with
a hidden bonus of about 50 vintage
Valentine's cards from about 1910 to
1915. The cards I sold. The ornaments
went to about a dozen people that
year as well-received Christmas
presents.
Herb Fayer has been collecting for over
30years and knows his stuff Ifyou have
questions or comments please write to
him at drjunk94 1@gmail.com and please
tell him what city you're in.

 HAVE A QUESTION?
 Herb Fayer has been collecting for over 30 years and
 knows his stuff. Please feel free to email him with
 questions or comments at drjunk941@gmail.com.


Prom dress shopping perilous for plus-size girls


 By LEANNE ITALIE
 ASSOCIATED PRESS

 NEWYORK- Maria
Giorno has nothing against
long gowns with high
waists and flowing fabric -
dresses that are designed
to camouflage curves on
plus-size women.
 But the New Jersey high
school senior had no inter-
est in buying a loose-fitting
style for her senior prom,
even though it was all she
could find in a size 16 or so
at nearby stores. So many
stores, Giorno said, "never
have anything that's a little
more sexy or a little form-fit-
ting, or anything like that for
my age."
 Clothes shopping for
plus-size teens can be
frustrating in general, but
shopping for a dream prom
dress can be a tear-induc-
ing, hair-pulling morass of
bad design and few options
- especially for girls who
want a dress that hugs the
body instead of tenting it.
 "It's like people kind of
assume that's what I want
and that's what I like. I'm 18.
I really like the way the tight
dresses look," said Giorno,
who plays roller derby
and hopes to study music
education in college.
 She finally found one that
didn't make her look like
a bridesmaid or worse,


mother of the bride at
a boutique: a V-neck black
lace"fit and flare"style with
an open back and pleats
above the knee for dancing
ease on her big night.
 Consignment shops and
organizations that collect
donated prom dresses for
girls in need also say they
can't get enough plus-size
gowns. Shop owner Kristen
Harris went on a mission to
collect them after a teen left
her store empty-handed
and in tears. Harris was
tagging stock at her
just-opened Designer Diva
Consignment Boutique
in Abington, Mass., when
a plus-size teen shyly
approached the ball gowns.
 "I said,'Hey hon, what size
are you looking for;and she
said 22, and that's when I
felt like someone had just
kicked me in the stomach,
because I knew I didn't have
anything that size" recalled
Harris, who desperately
pulled some smaller sizes
in stretch fabrics for the girl.
Moments later, the teen was
crying in the dressing room.
 So Harris began begging
on social media for plus-size
consignment and hunted
down her young customer
through Facebook, offering
a private appointment and
free dress from about 40
she'd collected. "She was
so sweet," Harris said."l just


 AP PHOTO
This undated image released by New York City Glitz shows Maria
Giorno, 18, a high school senior from Manchester Township, NJ.,
models a prom dress at New York City Glitz boutique in Pine
Beach, N.J.


couldn't get her out of my
head.'
 Operation Prom, which
offers free donated dresses
to girls in need in eight
states, has also had to hunt
for plus-size dresses. Noel
D'Allacco, founder of the
decade-old project, took
in about 7,000 gently used


dresses and new ones from
corporate partners last year,
but only about 700 were
size 18 and up, she said.
The shortage of donated
plus-size garments forced
her to purchase some.
 "We are going crazy
trying to get plus-size
dresses," said D'Allacco, in


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Bronxville, N.Y."We have
this problem, unfortunately,
every year. A lot of times we
get plus-size donations and
they're not appropriate for a
17-year-old. They're for your
grandmother to wear. It's
difficult:'"
 Online options for
plus-size prom dresses
have proliferated in the
past decade. But shopping
that way for an already
difficult fit along with
restrictive return policies,
can feel risky. Giorno was
not comfortable searching
for her dress online, yet
many retailers carry few to
none in stores and on trend
for teens. Many designers
don't bother making them
in larger sizes, prospective
customers say.
 Sixteen percent of
women's clothing sold in
the U.S. is size 14 and up,
according to the market
research group NPD. But
the plus-size women's
business has "pretty much
been ignored by the big
stores,";' said Marshal Cohen,
NPD's chief retail analyst.
 The shop in Pine Beach,
NJ., where Giorno found
her dress, called NewYork
City Glitz, makes it a priority
to stock trendy plus sizes.
"There's not that much
made'owner Cat Hutton
said."l have companies that
I deal with that only carry
uptoa size 16"
 David's Bridal, with about
300 stores around the
country, estimates half of
the company's prom-wor-
thy choices come in sizes 16
to 22, with interest in those
sizes growing every year,
said Marissa Rubinetti, a
senior buyer.
 "They do struggle.
They may fall in love with
something they see online
and they don't have the
opportunity to try it on and
buy it," she said.
 A decade ago, the
company carried a fraction
of prom dresses up to size
22, Rubinetti said. Southern
stores, particularly Texas,
have a higher demand, she
said. Stephanie Mekhjian,
manager of David's Bridal in
Fort Worth, Texas, estimated
20 to 25 percent of her


prom customers wear sizes
18 to 22, including some
who travel 100 miles or
more to shop there.
 J.C. Penney sells plus-size
prom dresses online only
and offers just three styles.
Target does not sell, in its
brick-and-mortar stores,
dressier styles appropriate
for prom in any size, but
the company does sell
them online. Other retailers
restrict all plus-size clothing
to websites.
 "Manufacturers are
starting to create more
plus-size prom dresses but
they are just not as readily
available as traditional size
prom dresses," said a
Penney spokeswoman,
Sarah Holland.
 Phyllis Librach in St. Louis,
Mo., knows the heartache
of the dress search as
both a mother and a dress
designer who specializes
in plus sizes for special
occasions. She started her
business 10 years ago after
her daughter, now 29, was
that curvy girl in tears in
search of the perfect prom
dress. They finally had one
custom-made after the
teen refused to buy a white
wedding gown and dye it
for prom.
 Librach now designs
and manufactures her
own styles, including
prom dresses sizes 14
to 40, which she sells on
her site, Sydneyscloset.
corn, and through about
125 boutiques. She started
out in the business buying
inventory from others, but
switched to producing her
own after contacting a com-
pany that planned to knock
off a gown worn by Queen
Latifah at an awards show.
 "I wanted to place an
order, a very nice order, and
they said,'We're not making
the dress in any size larger
than 14;"'Librach recalled.
"I said,'Let me understand
this, you're going to knock
off an evening gown worn
by a plus-size celebrity and
you're not going to make
it for plus-size women?'So
I got angry, I got frustrated
and I said,'Damn it, I'll make
it myself.'That dress sold
out"


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