Please help me date this dress!

Sorry if this is a silly question- I am new to vintage and am still learning. Any help is greatly appreciated! A shop owner sold this dress to me as Edwardian, but I noticed that some of the seams are serged, and there is a label on the inside. How old do you think this is? Is it Edwardian?

 

Though the serger was invented in the 1800s and serged seams have been around for some time, I don't feel that this is Edwardian but 80s, I think. It's hard to tell not on a dress form or mannequin but the details point to that. What is the fabric?

 

Yes, if we know more about the fabric and the openings (it's hard to see the hooks and buttons but they look newer) it will help. There are Edwardian style elements but the overlocked seam you've shown is not in keeping with the style. I suspect it's a costume made in more modern times.

For example, if it was early 1900s the black velvet ribbon would be silk, but a more modern costume will likely use a rayon or polyester velvet. If you're not sure of the composition, a good clear close up will help determine. Silk velvet is soft and lustrous.

Is the "North shore dress" label the only one?

 

As had been suggested, it would be helpful to see the dress on person, mannequin, or dress form. My sense is that this an antique dress, but not quite Edwardian. Post Edwardian, perhaps early 'Teens era. I also think it has been altered or even added to. The fabric is lovely and I love the tag.

 

Hi everyone, Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for your feedback. Here are some better photos. Please let me know what you think

 

I have not seen a seam in Edwardian era clothing where the seam alllowances were serged togther like that. So that's a first. Other than that, it sure looks like 1913 or so. And that shop was around then. I found a 1916 reference in a trade journal. So not a costume.

 

I have a suggestion: this dress looks authentic for period, and the company label fits too but the seam construction is modern and it looks like it's the original construction rather than an alteration, so perhaps this is a costume created for a film. I've seen a lot of film costumes and they're top notch because they have to stand muster on a big screen. They often have fake labels or recreated labels in them when they're used in a scene where it might be scene - for example, she undoes her dress.

This is a fairly recent thing though, as older film costumes weren't so detailed.

The thing to look for is how does it feel? Does it seem old or modern? It looks too good to be old to me on the monitor but it makes all the difference to hold it in your hand.

PS, are you able to tell me about the black velvet ribbon? Because knowing the fabric will help, truly.

 

It's a confusing one, that's for sure.

 

Tell me more about what you found in a trade journal... there is a shop with this North Shore name and where is it? Fascinating!

 

Oh and about serged seams then... I have nightie from that era that has serged seams. At first I thought much later but it had a shop receipt attached to it. Family saved everything... 1919 for a daughters bridal trousseau.

 

Yes, I've seen menswear and lingerie/nightwear from this era that has serged seams, but my understanding and experience is that it wasn't used for women's day wear (or evening wear) until the late '20s.

 

But 'mass produced' womens nightwear, I have seen with my own eyes.

 

An explanation for the serged seams might be that, as has been brought up already, the dress has been altered. I am still thinking this is an antique dress, with changes made over time.

 

i agree with barbara--

 

Yes. I have too - many times. But I haven’t seen day or evening dresses from this era.

 

I meant nightgowns not evening gowns. Sorry that wasn't clear.

 

Thanks Cin. I thought there might be some confusion.

On the available information this dress has not been altered. The serging on the seams was applied during manufacturing, along the whole seam prior to the sewing of the skirt to the bodice and stitching the waist seam. It’s possible that the serving was done later but the dress would have had to have been taken apart to do so and that’s very uncommon. A lot of work and usually only done when there are multiple changes to the size required.

 

Here you are, from Google Books:
Dry Goods Economist, Volume 70, Issues 3762-3771
pg 57
dated Aug 26, 1916.
"L.R. Alexander, who for the last 3 years has represented the North Shore Dress Co., Gloucester, Mass., has associated himself with Crippen and Reid, dress and middy maufacturers of Baltimore, Md." Then there's a bit more about his new offices, etc.

 

Everything looks right to me but for the serging, which is weird, but I wonder if perhaps this is just the earliest example any of us have seen of its use. I once had a dress from this period made of seersucker, and I eventually convinced myself that it had to be a costume. After I got rid of it I discovered that what I had was probably an example of the first commercially produced line of dresses using seersucker. This could be a similar example for serging. PS: I think the dress could date as late as 1915ish