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Paper Dresses of the 1960s

Discussion in 'Paper Dresses 2008 By Jonathan Walford' started by Jonathan, Apr 25, 2008.

  1. OMG
    This is so wonderful! Thank you Jonathan! i loved every bit and learned so much!

    I was having probems with my dial up at home, got frustrated and gave up waiting for the pictures to load~total withdrawl waiting to see this, and just got on a dsl computer so could really enjoy it tonite.

    your workshop was great and appreciated! it even brought back some memories!
    thank you,
    von
     
  2. Thanks Jonathan! That was amazing - I've never even seen a paper dress, much less known anything about them so that was a real eye opener.

    I have three little girl's fancy dress costumes from the 1880s: one of them, "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" has paper "maids all (sewn) in a row", around the hem. They're Victorian decoupage cardboard ladies - and very cute (if a bit shabby after all these years). Now I know that my costume is part of the wonderful history of paper dresses!
     
  3. Ookoo

    Ookoo Registered Guest

    [​IMG]

    I just came across this 1967 ad.
     
  4. Jonathan

    Jonathan VFG Member

    GREAT ad! I haven't seen that one. Which magazine issue does it appear in?
     
  5. Ookoo

    Ookoo Registered Guest

    Seventeen

    February 1967
     
  6. Jonathan

    Jonathan VFG Member

    FAbulous - thanks!
     
  7. coffeegrl

    coffeegrl Registered Guest

    Wow, I had never even heard of this untill I came on this site - those are SO cool! Thank you Jonathan for sharing these with us, so, so , so cool!
     
  8. SalvatoCollection

    SalvatoCollection Registered Guest

    This may sound very silly, being they are called "paper dresses" but (since i have never seen one in person) what does the material feel like? How do you know if a dress is "paper"? Im trying to get a feel by the images, but I dont really see one close up enough to gage an understanding.
     
  9. Lady Scarletts

    Lady Scarletts VFG Member

    Thank you Jonathon! Learned so much Love the name CHUX for diapers!!
    So very thankful to have someone with such knowledge on this guild !!
     
  10. vivavintageclothing

    vivavintageclothing VFG Member

    What a wonderful workshop! Thanks to Jonathan for giving me more things to fantasize about finding, someday.... :)
     
  11. Vinclothes

    Vinclothes Alumni +

    Jonathan, thank you.
    I am sure somewhere in the dim distant past I have seen disposable under panties. Not for incontenence, but for the convenience of travelers. Was I dreaming?
    Marian
     
  12. Metro Retro Vintage

    Metro Retro Vintage VFG Member

    I'm so glad that this workshop was bumped up, as I hadn't seen it before. I've learned sooo much! Thank you!
     
  13. Jonathan

    Jonathan VFG Member

    Good heavens, talk about your past coming back to haunt you - I actually looked like I do in the picture when I did this workshop!
    Paper dresses aren't that hard to find anymore - there was a bit of a buying curve when eBay was young, and the prices soared as they came onto the market, but they have settled back down now. The only ones that have remained very desireable and a little more expensive are the Pop Art ones, like the Campbell's Souper dress, that people frame as art.

    Marian - I now have a few examples of disposable underwear in the collection, including some that were sold on board the Queen Elizabeth when you ran out of undies!

    Salvato - To be completely accurate they should be called non-wovens, not paper, as not all of them were made of wood pulp paper. The true paper ones have a lot of fire-retardant chemicals so they are a bit stiff when new, however, they are paper-towel like in appearance - like the type of paper towelling you get in public washrooms to dry your hands that come off a roll - not exactly soft, but not stiff either. The other type are pressed fibres, but they are made of rayon or polyester and although lighter than paper, and even stronger, they also tend to be more translucent. I don't consider these ones to be true paper dresses because they also came late in the paper dress fad.
     
  14. lkranieri

    lkranieri VFG Member

    How nice to have this thread resurrected, as it is one of my favorites. The 1927 photo below here is one of my favorite paper-dress photos, from my collection...and she has a paper hat, too.

    PaperDress1927NoMarkSm.jpg
     
    The Vintage Merchant likes this.
  15. Jonathan

    Jonathan VFG Member

    Correction on my post #25 regarding the London Poster Dresses. They were produced in London first as a set of 6 but when they were reprinted for the U.S. market 4 months later, Bob Dylan took exception to his face being used and his wasn't included. So the U.S. set only had a set of 5
     
    bartondoll likes this.
  16. foofoogal

    foofoogal Registered Guest

    What a fun thread. Brought back memories looking at the Halloween crepe paper dress.
    One of my costumes as a child was a big pumpkin made out of crepe paper. I was in a school play and my mom made it.
    Green stockings and stuffed pumpkin with black for the eyes and mouth of course.
    ---------
    Interesting about Bob Dylan.
     
    Pinkcoke likes this.
  17. Jenny

    Jenny Registered Guest

    Interesting...I first found about 60s paper dress from Pawn Stars. A woman was selling her mom's Nixon campaign paper dress for couple hundred bucks. Google search led me here! =P
     
    cotmyey likes this.
  18. foofoogal

    foofoogal Registered Guest

    Would of loved to see that dress and episode. I still cannot believe they even made them back then. I have run across a few paper dresses before.
     

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