Java.Feb-web.2016

“Restoration is hand and eye work, and everything I
do requires my hands to be in water, dye, steam,
freezing temperatures (for decontamination) or
cleaning solutions. These are the conditions that
turn my hands into baseball mitts by the end
of a project.” She has unfortunately started to
experience some arthritis in her hands and has
noticed changes in her eyesight.
Ironically, it was during a period of physical
recuperation that Villardito got into restoration in
the first place. In the early 2000s, she was going to
college for a degree in international business. But
after few years, she determined that this was not
her passion. She then decided, since she loved
animals so deeply, to study veterinary medicine.
Villardito says she enjoys research and learning
(she speaks five languages), and science has never
been too difficult for her, so she figured she would
fare well in the coursework required to obtain a
degree in animal medicine.
But the universe seemed to have other plans for
Villardito. In 2004, only about one year into her
veterinary studies, she was involved in a serious car
accident with a drunk driver and essentially ended up
in a body cast. Her right wrist was crushed. It took six
surgeries to repair her wrist and other bodily injuries,
and she was bedridden for 18 months.
Fueled by an inexhaustible inner energy, Villardito
was frustrated by the fact that she couldn’t get up
and get things done. “One day my husband came
home and found me vacuuming [in my body cast],”
she says. Immediately he and her physician ordered
her back to bed. Villardito asked her husband to bring
her some of her vintage items that needed repair,
and finally she was able to occupy her mind with
something useful.
Though Villardito had done some studies in fashion,
she had not learned restoration, nor had she much
experience in sewing (although she had previously
taught herself how to knit and do beading). From her
bedroom-turned-studio, she delicately deconstructed
and reassembled items, made repairs and did
research. She taught herself how to professionally
tailor and repair vintage items, and the process was
fairly rehabilitative for her wrist, she says.
In Villardito’s collection are items decommissioned
from art houses and major museums. She has
obtained pieces that were once in the collections of
FIT, FIDM and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Some
of the garments have even appeared in films, such as
a dress from My Week with Marilyn, she says.
She hunts down the original owners of items and
collects many pieces of ephemera: receipts, letters,
photographs and magazine clippings to confirm the
provenance for each. Her goal, she says, is to build
proper archival records to fulfill National Archives
standards. She also records oral histories whenever
possible for those items that come with a story.
There are only three pieces in Villardito’s collection
that are too delicate to be worn, and one is a corset
from the 1700s. “Twenty years ago when I started
collecting, I had this nightmare that there was an
item out there, some important item from history, that
was just being thrown away.”
One day she received a call from a friend in Las
Vegas—something incredible was happening, almost
like the culmination of that nightmare. A serious
clothing collector had died and her husband had
rented a dumpster and a backhoe and was throwing
it all away. The woman’s name was Irene Dunne. She
and her husband had been like Las Vegas royalty.
Villardito says, “They entertained the entertainers
in their palatial home.” Villardito contacted Dunne’s
husband and told him: “If you’re just going to throw it
out, I’ll take it. I will take it all!”
She struck a deal with Dunne’s husband. A week later,
three massive trucks arrived at her home in Tucson. It
took months to go through everything, Villardito says.
“She had a taste for the same things I do,” Villardito
says. And this is where she happened upon the corset.
Villardito knew right away it was something very old
and possibly of great value. But it had no provenance.
So she began researching in the archives of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then moved on to
those of the Société des Arts Decoratifs. Finally she
was able to match the style of the corset to those of
the 1700s—something akin to Marie Antoinette’s
undergarments.
Black Cat Vintage is constantly being contacted by
people who want to send in their vintage items. But
because of the crunch for storage space, Villardito is
highly selective. “A lot of people have vintage, but
not all of it is museum-worthy or archival quality.”
All of the most priceless “watershed” pieces in
Villardito’s collection are part of the Black Cat
Vintage collection.
Villardito has also assembled a collection of more
price point-friendly daily wear called Mrs. Robinson’s
Affairs. These items may not have designer labels,
but they are certainly the fanciful and elaborate
dress clothes of everyday women from the 1930s,
’40s and ’50s. Women would get dressed with many
accessories to do regular tasks, she explains, even
housework, gardening, laundry and shopping for
groceries. Back then, one did not leave the house
without gloves, a hat, jewelry and matching handbag.
Villardito’s love of all things retro guided her to her
current spot in downtown Phoenix. The historic midcentury
Monroe Building (111 W. Monroe) was built
in 1969. She moved her business in April 2015. Her
husband, Andrew Papanikolas, runs a high-end audio
retail store out of the space facing Monroe Street.
Black Cat Vintage maintains a well-designed window
(Monroe and First Avenue) that Villardito plans to
change seasonally. Her business is not a walk-in style
shop, but rather mostly conducts business online and
occasionally by appointment.
Villardito says she is energized by the sort of
renaissance downtown Phoenix is experiencing, and
she is quite glad to be situated where she is. “I’m so
proud of what is happening downtown,” she says.
“It is reassuring and moralizing to see young people
taking the higher road.”
Villardito will be a featured lecturer at a presentation
by Arizona Costume Institute at Phoenix Art Museum,
May 11. She is presenting on fashion preservation,
conservation and the history of vintage.
www.blackcatvintage.com
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MAGAZINE