Vintage dress on Instagram draws granddaughter back to her nana

Emma Whitlock, from Eden Preloved, found the dress in an opshop in Rotorua.

A vintage fashion lover is hoping to reconnect with her grandmother after years apart – because of a dress.

Secondhand clothing reseller Emma Whitlock, who runs the Instagram page Eden Preloved, posted a picture of herself modelling a floral dress and within hours, someone had messaged her saying the dress was her nana’s.

Larissa Darelle recognised the dress as the one her grandmother Valerie Steiner wore to her parents’ nuptials and

had the 1970s photograph of her parents’ big day to prove it. This motivated her to get the dress back into her family’s hands.

“I saw the dress and instantly knew it was my nana’s,” Darelle told the Herald.

Whitlock was delighted to return the dress to the granddaughter and posted that it was so special to be able to return the dress to family.

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For keen op-shopper and artist Darelle, seeing her grandmother’s dress triggered tears and sparked memories of a wonderful and talented woman.

“My grandmother is an incredible, intelligent and strong woman who sewed her own clothes, curtains, cushions and was a painter.”

Darelle recalls introducing her husband to her grandmother as she was shepherding a reindeer and a peacock to the family farm.

“My grandmother did a lot of international travel and one time she returned from overseas and she gifted us kids with personalised Swiss army knives,” she recalls.

Darelle cherishes the childhood times when she’d wander through her grandmother’s Hawke’s Bay home, and attributes her own joy for vintage and secondhand shopping to her nana.

Her grandmother’s talents extended to her creating the gown that she wore to Darelle’s parents’ wedding, which was sewn more than 50 years ago.

Whitlock discovered the dress among a set of three immaculately tailored garments at a Savemart store in Rotorua.

When Steiner transitioned into retirement living, many of her possessions were sold and the dresses ended up in Rotorua.

Valerie Steiner is a well-known member of the Hawke’s Bay community who ran a farm with her late husband Frank and was an active member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Darelle says she will hand the dress to her own daughter.

“My daughter will have something of her great-grandmother’s to wear when she is older.”

Having the dress back in her hands also spurred Darelle to reconnect with her grandmother after a long period when life circumstances and time have kept them apart.

She is hoping to reunite with her grandmother and surprise her with the dress.

“I’m going to write her a letter first, then I’ll call her as well.”