Anyone familiar with this label? PAB?

bluevelvetvintage

bluevelvetvintage

VFG Member
I have this pretty 60s floral party dress, very well constructed, with a PAB label. Anyone know anything about this maker?

dr4095v1-60s-floral-cocktail-dress.jpg
dr4095v6-PAB-1960s-floral-party-dress.jpg
 
I see a number of ads for Pab Ltd in the 60s and 70s (mainly concentrated 1966-1971). The head designer was Preston Smith and many of the ads actually read Preston Smith for Pab Ltd. I wasn’t able to locate very much about him but I did see that by the 1980s he was designing “large-size better cocktail dresses and ensembles” for Caberra.
It seems others designed for Pab as well. Gene Ewing worked there at some point in the 70s. I also saw an ad with Ted Duckworth for Pab. He was later the designer of the A.J. Bari label in the 80s and went on to design for Kay Unger in the 90s.
The Pab label also did dresses for Miss Bergdorf and Miss Bonwitt. Some other department stores like Lord& Taylor also carried them.
 
The plot thickens, Sherlockesses! (...keeping the theme going, lol). Looks like they're Americanos, judging by this photo I just brazenly stole off the 'net:

pab.jpg


PS: Pab's are evidently worth a mint, lol! You get a dollar change out of $9000! : https://www.jscanpoilu.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=612494

Madre de dios!!!

PPS: It really doesn't look like a 60s label to me - and it really, really, really, really doesn't look like a 1950's label!
 
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Vintagiality said:
Yeah that’s what I thought too though initially the Ltd took me on another research path.

Maybe there was a UK connection and they liked the sound of it
Click to expand...

I know what you are saying. I saw something like that too on an ad that was clearly America but mentions Preston Smith for Pab Ltd. 'Ltd' (Limited) is very UK, but do our Canadian cousins use Ltd too? A UK newspaper ad/article search revealed not a sausage. If it was Canadian, that would make a bit more sense...but why did I dig up a Pab label with a US union label next to it? I feel Resourceress failure coming on!
 
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Vintagiality said:
I see a number of ads for Pab Ltd in the 60s and 70s (mainly concentrated 1966-1971). The head designer was Preston Smith and many of the ads actually read Preston Smith for Pab Ltd. I wasn’t able to locate very much about him but I did see that by the 1980s he was designing “large-size better cocktail dresses and ensembles” for Caberra.
It seems others designed for Pab as well. Gene Ewing worked there at some point in the 70s. I also saw an ad with Ted Duckworth for Pab. He was later the designer of the A.J. Bari label in the 80s and went on to design for Kay Unger in the 90s.
The Pab label also did dresses for Miss Bergdorf and Miss Bonwitt. Some other department stores like Lord& Taylor also carried them.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that info!
 
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