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' "Chanel" Gowns ' Vintage beaded dress 30's/40's? Help please

Discussion in 'PUBLIC Vintage Fashion - Ask Questions Get Answers' started by GemGem, Jan 3, 2021.

  1. GemGem

    GemGem Registered Guest

    Hi all, good to be back and have a catch up with some of the marvellous threads. I do so miss this place but will be around a bit more for a while as have deferred a year of part-time study, yay.

    I bought some wonderful vintage clothing, mostly between 1930's-1960's from a closeout sale of a vintage store.

    I'm a bit stumped on this dress, the label reads "Chanel" Gowns 5 Darlinghurst road, Kings Cross (which I have discovered is in New South Wales, Australia).

    I'd like to find out if it has any connection to CHANEL and to get some more accurate dating and maybe some understanding of why/how they could also have the name Chanel (maybe to do with licences only being valid in country of origin?). Also wondered if I have the dress on the mannequin back to front? The label is at the front on the reverse to the beading.

    The zip is a side zip and is metal, no shoulder pads, the exterior silk look like crepe, there are two fluted shape long ties to the side-i'm not sure how they are supposed to be styled.

    I have attached images of the dress in entirety and some details of the stitching and the labels.

    Very curious about this and very grateful if you have read this far :)






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    chanel designs dress 1.jpg chanel designs dress 2.jpg
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  2. MagsRags

    MagsRags VFG President Staff Member

    Pretty dress!
    If it was 20s, it would typically slip on over the head, and 30s dresses usually fastened with snaps as opposed to zippers. It’s giving off an early 50s vibe to me, but will be interested to hear what others think.
     
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  3. Midge

    Midge Super Moderator Staff Member

    Kings Cross is an inner-city suburb of Sydney. I saw that they actually write "Chanel" with an accent aigu - Chanél. And the writing on the label looks nothing like the Chanel. I think this has nothing to do with Chanel, this was just a company/dress maker that just banked on the similarity of names.
     
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  4. GemGem

    GemGem Registered Guest

    Thank you, I was told most of the dresses were 50's so that makes a lot of sense.
     
  5. GemGem

    GemGem Registered Guest

    Yes it is nothing like it! I wonder how they got away with it? was it just because they were so far away? It is still a lovely silk vintage dress and looks to be well made. I do wonder why if they made high quality garments they would bother calling themselves the name of such a icon giant, but then I suppose it was a different world in the 50's.
     
  6. Midge

    Midge Super Moderator Staff Member

    I would say that it was a different world back then. Also, Chanel only reopened in 1954 after WWII. Maybe the dress coincides with that and someone decided to ride that wave, or they had already chosen that name earlier. And this may have been a small business, so I would say chances are, Chanel never heard of them.
     
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  7. claireshaeffer

    claireshaeffer VFG Member

    It's interesting what different people consider "give-aways" on the label. Karin noticed the aigu; I noticed the quotation marks.

    Chanel copies were made in all price ranges. Some were licensed and some were knock-offs.
     
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  8. Yes, it's an Australian label that seeks to trade off the name of the well known company. I've seen this one many times (I'm also in Australia) and was half expecting to see a dress that has come to you via my collection but yours is new to me.

    There were many similar companies here, it was part of the 'cultural cringe', a lack of confidence in buying locally produced items and seeing international connections as being preferable. It can muddy the water for local fashion historians as it creates perceived links that do not exist. Other examples from the '50s include 'Hartnell of Melbourne' (an excellent couture label, now represented in many museum collections) and 'Saba of California (another Melbourne label, nothing to do with the USA). More mid-range like yours.

    As has been pointed out, they got away with it because of slight differences in labelling and because we're so far away. In this case, your early '50s dress nods to '40s dinner dress style and was probably for an older woman who would remember the cache of the pre war Chanel label. As Karin points out, the Kings Cross 'Chanél' probably predates the reopening of the Parisian couture house.

    Would you like to submit your label for the VFG label resource? It would be helpful to add another variation on fake to watch out for.
     
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  9. Midge

    Midge Super Moderator Staff Member

    I wasn't aware of those others, Nicole, but it makes sense to me. And it is interesting to see how things were perceived then.
     
  10. Midge

    Midge Super Moderator Staff Member

  11. And here's a Saba of California that was in my collection. Note the writing on the label 'Made in Australia. Props. Saba of California USA'.
     

    Attached Files:

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  12. GemGem

    GemGem Registered Guest


    Gosh, what brilliant information! Thank you :) will submit the label
     
  13. claireshaeffer

    claireshaeffer VFG Member

    This is a Hartnell Melbourne design 01222946.jpg
    I think I bought it in Sydney many years before I met you. The good news is that I didn't pay a lot for it.
    If you can use the label, I'll post it with labels; but I can't take another photo now.
     

    Attached Files:

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