Can you help me date this dress?

claireshaeffer

claireshaeffer

VFG Member
My guess is 20s. What do you think? IMG_6225c.JPGIMG_6226c.JPGIMG_6230c.JPGIMG_6234c.JPGIMG_6223c.JPG
 
I think it might be c. 1919-1920 but I think something is missing, like chiffon sleeves and collar? It does almost look like a Hollywood costume of what is supposed to be c. 1919, but from a movie that was made in the late 1940s and its using some of the wrong construction... its a bit of a weird one.
 
I think you're right Jonathan - I thought late 'teens until I saw the neckline and sleeveless armholes - perhaps it's been altered or updated? Certainly the fabric, especially the tassels look pre '20s.
 
I see remade, redesigned late teens, like Nicole and Jonathan. The tassels, the trim, and the fabric all say 1910's. I can almost smell the wool content. Very interesting dress.
Marian
 
I would expect the sleeves and yoke/collar were built into the suit and disintegrated over the years and were removed. You don't see separate blouses with these suits - they are integral.
 
It had been refiled and took a while to find it.
I think the tassel is a later addition--perhaps to cover a hole. The lining is a printed silk.

There's no evidence of sleeves, yoke/collar on the blouse. The blouse has a band at the bottom and fastens on the shoulder and underarm with snaps. The band appears to match the skirt, but the rest of the fabric is different. The embroidery was stitched with straight stitching and embroidered in the stitches. The lining is silk satin. Actually it looks like cotton satin, but is split like silk.

The skirt is unlined with pinked seams. The placket snaps. The waist is finished with a facing--maybe pertersham with stays. The stays--I ripped one to look at it--are in cotton tubes. They are very hard. They appear to have small rods in them and are wrapped together with string. I've never seen anything like them. Today there is a boning with poly rods; this is similar is the way it's made but the materials are different.

Please look at it again. I think the jacket and skirt go together, the jacket has an added tassel, and the blouse is completely different.

We'll do more photos tomorrow--requests---
 
Do you know where it came from? This is a LONG shot -- just wondering if it might have been a wartime remake - but probably continental Europe?
 
Jonathan, it was bought in the US and that's the only thing I know about it. I have been very bad about provenance and dating because my primary focus is construction. That said, my knowledge is very limited.

One more item. The skirt has been shortened about 1 1/2". When I hold it up it would come to my ankles at the orig. length; I'm 5'4".
I agree that there's some remake: the tassel addition and probably the blouse. I can't tell without taking the tassel off, but I wonder if there is some damage under it.
 
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