It's his day too, you know!
September 2, 2013 12:46 PM   Subscribe

My fiance very much wants to wear an authentic celluloid dickey for our wedding and I fully endorse his decision. Where can we get one?

Preferably vintage but reproduction would do as long as it's celluloid/plastic. Mostly, he's excited about the possibility that it will flap up to humerous effect. This is the first thing he's actually expressed a preference for during the wedding planning, and I would love to see him get his only wish. He's been trawling ebay for awhile with no luck. Ditto vintage stores and charity shops in the area. Sadly, we can't find one for sale anywhere. Any ideas/leads/suggestions for where to look?

We're in the UK and would be willing to pay postage for shipping from almost anywhere. Alternately, we could probably organize in-person shopping in W Yorks, the Midlands, Oxfordshire, and London. Any help would be SO very appreciated.
posted by Eumachia L F to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (10 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
If you don't find one in the UK, I would contact the proprietors of Fine and Dandy. I've never seen a celluloid dickey in their store, but these guys know everything where to find all things vintage and obscure, so they may have good suggestions of where to look.
posted by cushie at 1:19 PM on September 2, 2013


Amazon Dry Goods is mentioned in the wikipedia article you linked to as still making cardboard dickeys.

On their website they list reproduction "celluloid" collars but, "These reproductions are made of acetate instead of celluloid, as celluloid is extremely flammable."

So you are unlikely to find any authentic vintage celluloid dickeys, due to the flammability.

I would contact them to see if they have any leads on dickeys, i didn't see any in their more extensive catalog, but its pretty dense and not particularly organized.
posted by TheAdamist at 1:26 PM on September 2, 2013


Celluloid degrades pretty awfully, so it's highly doubtful you'd find a vintage celluloid dickey at all, let alone in good condition. It's also incredibly flammable, so that might be something to consider.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:28 PM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]


Yes, don't wear celluloid. It burns easily, contains its own oxygen supply so you can't easily put it out, and as it burns gives off nitric acid vapour, nitrogen dioxide, methane and cyanide.
posted by cromagnon at 2:57 PM on September 2, 2013 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: Right, so no celluloid. Is there a functional alternative?
posted by Eumachia L F at 3:38 PM on September 2, 2013


close

close

Search terms: boiled shirt, boiled front shirt, stuff front shirt, false shirt front, Marcella shirt front.
posted by bq at 4:49 PM on September 2, 2013


What's more important, the look in general, or the possibility of flapping up?
posted by barnone at 6:17 PM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]


http://www.amazondrygoods.com/categories/collars/celluloid.html
posted by antiquated at 7:02 PM on September 2, 2013


Response by poster: Flapping up is the OBJECTIVE here, so the shirts with stiff fronts won't really work. Are there still cardboard alternatives? What do they use for period costumes in theatre? Is there some way to make this if we can't find one to buy?

And perhaps I should point out that this question was posted in response to his howls of disappointment at what was available on the Amazon Dry Goods website.
posted by Eumachia L F at 1:21 AM on September 3, 2013


If you can find a soft front dickey maybe you can just starch the heck out of it....
posted by bq at 7:10 AM on September 3, 2013


« Older My husband is driving me nuts (is it just me?)   |   Feeling exhausted? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.