Another dress puzzle - black velvet

[plousia]

This dress also has me stumped (could just be my relative ignorance!).

Black velvet (burn tested as cotton). Lined in I think taffeta? Lot of hand-sewing around the interior seams - what Jonathan referred to in this thread as "whip stitched raw edges". In fact, the interior construction looks almost identical to that blouse.

Thread burn tests as cotton.

Lining fabric selvedge edges have metallic golden thread.

Left side zipper, BUT, modern nylon zipper ????? Appears to have been hand-sewn in, either with the same thread or very similar colour. Could be a replacement, of course.

It's just very...plain. No standout design details that might tell me anything about era. Mandarin collar, high V neckline, long straight sleeves with no shoulder or cuff details (no shoulder pads either). Straight waist. Plain A-line skirt. Both horizontal and vertical bust darts (vertical on back as well). Falls to about mid-calf on me, held up (don't think I can get it on and don't want to try).

The zipper is mainly confusing me, although even without that detail, I don't have a sense of the era. I know the 60s and 70s did a lot of velvet, but the interior construction seems older than that?

 

[Rue_de_la_Paix]

You are right, it is so plain and relatively shapeless, it makes it difficult to date very accurately. That said, the velvet looks nothing like cotton velvet and I do not think it is, it appears to be a rayon or rayon acetate blend velvet. The gold selvages are more common in post 1950s velvets and fabrics. The whip stitches you refer to are not really similar to the garment Jonathan mentioned, these stitches rather poorly done by a home sewer and not a couture detail. I might date it to circa 1960, give or take a few years in either direction, but again it is hard to tell. It may have been altered or reworked.

It is badly wrinkled and those will be hard to get out, but you can try steaming it from the reverse side.

 

[plousia]

Thank you, I wasn't sure if steaming would be ok, but I will try it. Yes the velvet might be rayon. It's much softer than cotton velvet so I initially thought it was silk. Rayon makes sense, I'm still learning my burn test results.