60's Dress with a train from the shoulder?

RadarLuv

RadarLuv

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So I found this cut little dress today, which my mom and I had guessed was from the 60's. It looked like it had what was a commissioned tag on it, would that be correct, judging by the picture? Anywho, what is this type of dress called and is the 60's an accurate guess? Is there anything to make from the numbers on the tag?
 

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Rue_de_la_Paix said:
You are welcome. I came back to look again, and it appears as I looked closer that the scarf is only on one shoulder. Is that correct? If it does not go all the way across then it is not a Watteau.
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yes. the 5th picture shows the dress from the back. : )
 
Yes, fly away panels. Odd to have it on one shoulder only, usually they're on both but it's not unheard of to have it on one only.

Agree with an early '60s date.

Regarding the numbers on the tag, they're for internal use at the factory. You can see size 14 but the style number is hard to work out. I'm sure you could decipher it if you found someone who worked in that particular factory, at that particular time and who had an excellent memory, or the business had kept detailed records and they were still around. For the rest of us, they're just numbers.
 
Circa Vintage said:
Yes, fly away panels. Odd to have it on one shoulder only, usually they're on both but it's not unheard of to have it on one only.

Agree with an early '60s date.

Regarding the numbers on the tag, they're for internal use at the factory. You can see size 14 but the style number is hard to work out. I'm sure you could decipher it if you found someone who worked in that particular factory, at that particular time and who had an excellent memory, or the business had kept detailed records and they were still around. For the rest of us, they're just numbers.
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How can it be that it is a size 14? It is barely to big for me and I wear a size 2 in todays world. I know that things were smaller then, but from 2-14. wow!
 
Vintage clothing sizes are roughly six sizes smaller than modern sizing so a 1950's or early 1960's size 14 would be close to a modern size 2. If you measure the waist, and bust of your dress and then look at a vintage size chart and conversion you will see this. I think your dress is no later than very early 1960's and if it's been shortened possibly late 1950's. Look to see if there is a really deep hem or if you can see any stitching that does not look original.

It's very pretty and good that it almost fits you so you can enjoy wearing it!
 
Linn said:
Vintage clothing sizes are roughly six sizes smaller than modern sizing so a 1950's or early 1960's size 14 would be close to a modern size 2. If you measure the waist, and bust of your dress and then look at a vintage size chart and conversion you will see this. I think your dress is no later than very early 1960's and if it's been shortened possibly late 1950's. Look to see if there is a really deep hem or if you can see any stitching that does not look original.

It's very pretty and good that it almost fits you so you can enjoy wearing it!
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It is 25.5" long from waist to bottom edge. It has a deep hem (about 3 inches) and is tacked all the way around about every 3 inches with a clear thread.

Thanks on the sizing. I almost had a heart attack. I thought the stamp was askew when I looked at the numbers earlier!
 
Linn's correct: sizing systems have changed a lot in the last fifty years.

I've written a blog post on this topic, it's about Australian sizes in particular and has a comparison chart for the different eras, but the same thing happened in the US. That's why you shouldn't pay too much attention to vintage size labels: the measurements are much more important.

The other reason why you should ignore size labels is that it was common for dresses to be altered to fit. Measurements are key!
 
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