I purchased this dress recently from an estate and can't for the life of me figure out how the skirt is supposed to be. It has "pleats" that stand off of the skirt but can't imagine that they were intended to just stand off the body that way. I've tried tucking it in many ways but am still unsure. Have you seen a design like this before? I did ask those holding the sale but they were even more unsure than I was about how it would have originally been worn. The dress was custom made for the original owner. Pictures 1-4 have the pleats out and the 5th and 6th are two ways of possibly tucking in the pleats. I'd appreciate any help or insight!
I think you have it right in photo three, where the peaks are outwards, but then relaxed. You could of course have the peaks sitting outwards, or if you didn't like them, you could unpick the skirt and the peaks, and then evenly gather the skirt onto the waistband and you'd have a regular gathered skirt. Yours is more interesting though.
Well, I do like the way it looks in photo #3, and as Nicole has suggested that may be the way it was intended to look. However, I think that the last photo is the way it goes. The "flaps" or whatever we call them, look to be a designer's inventive way to add lots of volume to the skirt without adding bulk to the waistband area. I would say early to mid 1950s. It is really a great dress.
Thanks, it feels so anti-climactic to just tuck in the flaps! But I hadn't thought about the fact that it would add volume without bulk to the waistband, which would make sense as there is already quite a bit of bulk at the waistband, especially with the weight of this fabric. Have you ever seen anything similar?
I've seen a few like this and I've positioned the skirt as I mentioned above. My dating is a little earlier than Barbara's: late '40s to very early '50s. Does it have shoulder pads?
