Arnold Constable Label

R

rtj2008

Registered Guest
Hello everyone... I recently laid hands on a gorgeous sarong style wiggle dress made by Arnold Constable, Fifth Ave. I am just wondering if anyone here knows where this would have been sold in the 50's? From my research so far it looks like their department store closed long before this dress would have been made and sold. Any info would be greatly appreciated! And here is a pic of the dress...

 
the shortness is bugging me too. Has it been hemmed or is that original? I'd guess early 60's too
 
Store closed in the 1960's..... They had a store in Hackensack new Jersey and Manahattan... Met a woman who modeled for them in the 60's... By the length 1960's. The store was very high end......

-Chris
 
Thanks everyone... esp Lynne for the info on the store closure. I had found info that said they closed in the 20's!

This dress is an extremely small size which may account for why it looks so short. (It's about the equivalent of a modern size 2. ) The skirt is 22.5" inches in length from the waist to hem and it does look like the original hem.

If you guys still think early 60's then I will go with that.
 
I only found out last week that Arnold Constable had a second store in Hackensack, NJ. I guess in the 60's the ladies in North Jersey went to Hackensack toshop rather then manhatten.

-Chris
 
I know that here in Portland, until the 70s or even 80s, the high end department stores offered free alterations on off the rack clothing. So a petite woman's dress would be hemmed the correct length for that season before it left the store.

RTW didn't routinely come in the range of sizes it now does. In the 50s I was first too short and skinny, then too tall and skinny for off the rack; my mother HAD to sew my clothes, radically altering patterns. Sizes 5, 7, and 9 weren't made until the late 50s/60s...to accomodate the boomers.

As I recall, clothing came in misses and women's sizes (no comparison to today's proportions) and half sizes (for 'close-coupled', matronly figures)....if your figure was outside those parameters, you went to the 'little dressmaker'.
 
True Maryalice...

I am a small person.... 5'4 and about 117 pounds and I can't wear this dress (unless I tortured myself with the proper foundation garments.) But if I were to get it zipped up the back the hem line would fall right where I would want it for my short body. I suppose it could have been altered in store for a teeny tiny gal.
 
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