Quicksilver · 1970s Silver Sequin Clutch
Silver round sequins · rectangular silver-tone frame · ball clasp · grey satin lining · no label · 1970s · approx. 22cm wide × 12cm tall
Overlapping round silver sequins, so that the surface shifts and ripples as the bag moves: not a flat mirror but something alive in the light, constantly renegotiating. A silver-tone rectangular frame, a small ball clasp, a grey satin lining. The kind of clutch that changes the room.
No label, 1970s. The sequin evening bag arrived in full force with the disco era, but this one is from the side of that decade that understood restraint: the frame is architectural, the proportions deliberate, the sequins allowed to do all the talking without any additional decoration. Sequins as a technique are ancient, found in Egyptian burial cloths and medieval church embroideries, but the 1970s industrialised them, made them democratic, put them in the hands of women going out on a Tuesday. The bag looks like water.
Unsigned masterwork in the way that unsigned things often are: made well, kept well, arrived here with its beauty fully intact. Approximately 22cm wide, 12cm tall.
Care
Store flat in a soft pouch to prevent sequins from snagging or scratching. The satin lining should be spot-cleaned only if needed with a barely damp cloth. Do not press.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: Approx. 22cm wide, 12cm tall, excluding frame.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
Archive-ready. The sequin surface is complete with no loss and excellent coverage. The frame clasp mechanism is functional. The grey satin lining is clean.
Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.
Before it reaches you
Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.
Named for a metal that refuses to hold still, and it earns the name: the sequins overlap like scales and the whole surface keeps renegotiating with the light, so the bag appears to be gently pouring even as it sits on a table. Quicksilver was the old name for mercury, which the alchemists believed could turn base things to silver, and this clutch has plainly made up its mind about which side of that transaction it is on. Carry it and the room reorganises slightly around the brightest thing in it. Set it down and it goes on rippling out of pure habit, unable to be quite still.