Ceil Chapman HELP

H

Hannah Neal

Registered Guest
Hello,

I am trying to learn about a Ceil Chapman dress I found at an Estate Sale. It has a "watercolor" look to the pattern and a beautiful green color. I have seen similar cocktail dresses but I would like to know more. When did she make these dresses? Was it made for someone in particular? How should I launder and care for it? What is it worth? I have had it for a few years now. I wore it a couple of times but when I discovered the value of these dresses I became paranoid and too frightened to wear it, which is a true shame.

Any leads and information would be greatly appreciated. I read the label guide for Ceil Chapman but that is the extent of my knowledge. Thanks in advance!

(Pictures are on the way)
 
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Gorgeous Dress! And what a find. First, I would not launder it. I would take it to a really good dry-cleaner. Someone who has been in business a long time and handles items on site, where you can actually talk to the staff that is going to do the cleaning. A cleaner that does wedding dresses would also be a good start.
As to date, that looks to be mid to later 50s. As far as I know, Chapman was a higher end ready to wear producer. I don't believe she had a custom line, so this was purchased off the rack.

As to values, we can't give those on the forums - too many variables. Someone will have to handle this in person. But this is a very well known label, so if you do some searching through sold items on eBay, and search this label on Google, you will find a lot of comparables.
 
Hi Hannah, That is such a pretty dress. It looks like a very lovely later 50s dress to me and the label looks like the 50s label in our label resource section as well.

I am not sure about cleaning. Personally I would take this to a very good dry cleaner. Depending on the type of fabric the cleaning technique could vary and the colors could also bleed. This is a very nice dress so I think it is worth extra care.

As for who this dress belonged to, I am not sure that any of us would know any better than you. Ceil Chapman dresses were available for anyone to purchase, and unless you got it from the previous owner or there was documentation and/or photos showing who it belonged to it would be very difficult to tell.

The value of your dress is dependent on quite a few factors; the desirability of the dress, the condition of the dress, the size of the dress, the label in the dress, where, how, who is offering the dress, how the dress is displayed when offered, and who sees the dress at the time. For these reasons we cannot offer assistance on value. Your best bet to help you determine what dresses like this are currently selling for would be to look up the sold listings for similar dresses like this on eBay. You can also search active listings on the various vintage selling sites however while the active listings will tell you what others are trying to sell theirs for, they will not tell you what they are currently selling for on average. Even with all considered the value of your dress may be different depending on how much those who see your dress are willing to spend.

Really beautiful dress though. Thanks for sharing and good luck with it. :)
 
pastperfect2 and Furwise: thank you for the info and advice (especially about laundering/cleaning). I didn't know whether Chapman dresses were custom-made or ready-made. Thank you for setting me straight. I have some work to do on eBay and Google. Also, there is a dainty belt that goes with the dress (same silk fabric) which I managed to find yesterday. It amazes me that everything was kept together after all the years!
 
I love the print on this dress. It felt familiar so I thought it might be alluding to a particular painting but all I found was that it's quite reminiscent of impressionist art, such as Monet's water lilies.
 
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