These Chic Neighbors Joined Forces for an Epic Repair Project
Patricia Voto brought Zabrina Estrada's vintage pieces back to life.
When I first sat down to write this, I could hear my next-door neighbor washing her dishes through the wall. I’ve lived (and worked) in my building for over three years now, but I’ve only crossed paths with her a handful of times. I don’t know anything about her other than her name. Does she know anything about me? Could she hear me scream-singing earlier? Is she reading this right now??
It’s typical for New Yorkers to live on top of one another and remain perfect strangers. However, this was thankfully not the case at one particular pre-war building on the Upper East Side, where fashion designer Patricia Voto of One Of and vintage collector Zabrina Estrada put their proximity to good use. Zabrina, who is the founder of Etéreo Vintage, came to one of Patricia’s fabulous parties in her apartment slash studio (which I happened to cover for T magazine) last year and asked her to let her know if any units opened up in the building. Sure enough, one did, and she jumped on it. Six months later, Patricia, who specializes in demi-bespoke, made-to-order clothing, proposed they work on something together.
It was an obvious match: Both women, who first met through work, have dedicated their careers to reviving a bygone era of craftsmanship and found themselves running up and down the stairs with pieces as though their building were a historic Parisian design house. “We do so much upcycling for bridal, and it’s a lot of fun and a great challenge, but I feel like we rarely get to show this side of our work in any other context,” Patricia said of her desire to collaborate and give clothes a second life. “Zabrina is constantly sourcing and has so many beautiful pieces that she comes across, but with vintage, sometimes you don’t know what will arrive.” So she asked her: Do you have anything lying around that’s maybe not in the best condition? She had plenty.
“The pieces we selected for this collaboration were ones I had accumulated over the years—ones that, while extraordinary, had become too fragile for wear or existed only in fragments,” Zabrina explained.
They started in December with ten looks, focusing on couture pieces from the 1920s and ‘30s. Zabrina supplied gowns by well-known female designers of the period, including Madame Grés and Jeanne Lanvin, a rare dress by Jean Patou, plus garments of unknown origin dripping with Jazz-age glamour. Patricia and her team handled them with museum-level care, but the goal was not only to restore these precious artifacts to their former glory but also to make them wearable today.
“I want people to feel like, even though it’s over 100 years old, that they can throw it on and go,” Patricia says. “Of course, it’s not a sweatshirt. But you have to be able to live in the pieces, too.”
Zabrina found the thoughtfulness of Patricia’s atelier “genuinely heartwarming” to watch. “She was able to breathe new life into these historical garments while honoring their essence,” she said. The results are “undeniably modern” yet preserve the “integrity and exquisite details” of the originals. For example, a pair of embroidered flapper shifts were transformed into a skirt and a pair of palazzo pants. A corseted silk jersey Madame Grès gown that had browned over time was carefully hand-washed to reveal a vibrant yellow sorbet color and made into a two-piece set to accommodate beyond a 22-inch waist (!).
“You just don’t see construction like this now, probably because it’s so much handwork,” Patricia said, running her fingers over the intricate bodice, which she kept intact. “You have brands that are inspired by the overall look of these pieces, but the quality of the workmanship is not the same, so for us, it’s been a treat to see.” It’s how she wants to work going forward. Rather than skimp on materials, she’d like to double down on quality, using real coral beads like Jean Patou and gold thread like Jeanne Lanvin. “The fact that these pieces are 100 years old and still here is a testament to the quality of what they used,” she said. “I want our pieces to be around that long—or longer.”
Below is a closer look at how each piece was transformed.
Original: A rare Jean Patou dress from 1923. (Paris.)
“The straps were falling apart,” says Patricia. “We love outerwear at One Of, so we wanted to find a way to incorporate some sort of tailored piece.” Her team turned the dress into a kimono and used some leftover trim to make it a skirt set.
Original: A 1920s seamed dress by an unknown designer. (New York.)
“The shape just didn’t feel current,” says Patricia. “I wanted to play with how the fringe and panels moved, so we turned them vertical, and they’re not tacked all the way down, so when you walk, the fringe elements move independently.”
Original: A 1920s chiffon midi dress adorned with looped beadwork. (Brimfield.)
“Constanza on our team sat and re-looped most of the fringe,” says Patricia. “We didn’t want to lose the chevron pattern, so we reinforced the neckline and bodice and did a little vent in the front so that there’s movement on top.” They kept most of the bodice but took some of the beadwork off the hem to create a cap sleeve. For the shoot, it was styled with the skirt from the above dress.
Original: A Liberty & Co. dress from 1920-1925. (London.)
“This was the most challenging piece because it was so precious,” says Patricia. “It was literally disintegrating as we were working on it.” The team added a reinforcement behind the silk to stabilize it. They also adjusted the hem but kept the ladder stitchwork up top, making straps with material from the 1930s that Patricia found at an antique fair.
Original: A rare Jeanne Lanvin tulle dress from the late-1930s. (Paris.)
“This maintained the most original design intent,” says Patricia. “We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, but the tulle was also disintegrating, so we gave it a new base with ten layers of silk gauze and gave it a bit more structure.” The team added some pockets and a more delicate strap, plus a sash with a scrap of fabric.
Original: A 1920s silk beaded gown by an unknown designer. (Paris.)
The team transformed this dress into a pair of palazzo pants, adding fringe on the outside. “We didn’t put any embroidery on the inside of the legs so that there’s movement when you’re walking,” Patricia explained.
Original: A 1920s silk dress by an unknown designer. (Rhode Island.)
Also turned into pants. For a top, Patricia sourced ostrich boas from a feather shop in the Garment District that’s “really old and used to do all the Broadway shows.”
Original: A velvet floral-appliqued dress from the 1930s by an unknown designer. (New York.)
“Zabrina had tried to repair and tailor this multiple times, but it kept falling apart,” Patricia said. So they deconstructed it and made it into a three-piece set with an adjustable waist. They took some appliques from the bottom and added them to the top, and created their own with antique velvet ribbon, which they dyed to match so that it wasn’t true black, but instead a little faded.
Original: A 1930s piano shawl. (New York.)
Transformed into a backless dress overnight before the shoot. “That’s fashion!” said Patricia.
The One Of x Etéreo Vintage collection, which ranges in price from $2,890 to $14,990, is available for purchase by contacting the teams directly.
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P.S. — My friends Nick and Phil of Small Talk (and snap cardi fame) released their new spring/summer collection this week, and I was so excited I already wore some pieces on my recent vacation. They’re opening up their Garment District studio for shopping hours this Thurs-Sat, so stop by and check it out for yourself!
This is such a great story!!