Bill Tice Dress

[AnnaW684]

Hi!
I know very little about vintage clothing, but ran across this cool dress at a goodwill recently. I later googled it and learned that Bill Tice was fairly well known. A lot of what I can find appears to be robes/loungewear. Anyone have any insight into when he would have designed something like this dress?

 

[retro ruth]

It's a bit hard to see what's going on with the bodice. Is it strapless? Or should it be tied as a halterneck?

 

[AnnaW684]

You know, that’s a great question. I was assuming strapless, meant to tie across the chest and leave sort of a bare triangle of skin under the knot. But I haven’t untied that knot yet to see if there’s any way it was intended to be a halter. My gut, though, is that the fabric in the knot isn’t sufficient/long enough to make those into halter straps.

 

[retro ruth]

I see what you mean, and you may be right. Just looks a bit too big a knot somehow... but hard to tell when on a hanger.

I'm no help on the date, but looks like a great dress.

 

[denisebrain]

Would this type of tie work?

I would guess the dress is from the late 1970s.

 

[AnnaW684]

Would this type of tie work?
View attachment 158731
I would guess the dress is from the late 1970s.

Great thought, thank you! I’m going to play around with those straps when I get kids to sleep tonight!!

 

[Jonathan]

I was thinking late 70s up to maybe 1981 - it has a disco/Love Boat look about it...

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

My initial feel for the dating was the early 80s, it has to do with the color combination and that large Bill Tice label.