Dating a Sophie Original?

VintageReveries

VintageReveries

Registered Guest
Hi!
I found this blue satin dress on a warehouse floor (literally), so it's not in great condition but I figured it was worth the $10 I paid for it.

There's no tags on it anywhere, except inside the matching belt which reads "2183 Sophie Original". I found a hankie in the pocket with an embroidered "B" on it. Metal zipper. See the pics I took below.

I am totally new to selling vintage and am researching this forum and site like crazy. I did see the brief label descrption http://vintagefashionguild.org/label-resource/sophie-original/

How do I date this? Can I sell it as couture? Should I bother washing or mending it? Any advice, links, or info about what to do with this dress would be totally appreciated.

Thanks!
Kay

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Lovely gown and handkerchief...I would date your dress as early '50s and recommend that you mend and dry clean it, as it's beautiful and will look much better with some care and consideration.

There are bad underarm stains which are probably there for good and that will affect your price but before you think of price, I think you need to see what you can do to improve it. At the moment she doesn't look good, just a dress with potential.

Couture is a widely misused term - have you found evidence of couture sewing techniques? On the information provided I would not call this dress couture, I think it's probably a bespoke dress but not couture.
 
Thanks for the quick responses :-) What are signs of couture? I guess I'm going to have to research that more. Very cool that it could be a bespoke dress - this is really interesting to research! I left the hankie in it because I wasn't sure if it went with the dress... I'm pretty clueless when it comes to higher end fashions.

I'll take it to the dry cleaners and then mend the ripped seams (it shouldn't be too hard after I find matching thread -- or are there special considerations I should take?) ... I didn't look very closely at the inner stitching except to note that there's no holes and that everything seems intact and the zipper works...

Thanks
 
I recommend that you repair the dress before you clean it, because sending a damaged dress to the cleaners is pretty much guaranteeing that it will come back worse.

It's hard to know if it's a bespoke dress or ready to wear, but on the available information I think it's likely as evening wear of this era was often made for a particular wearer.
 
Did you check the seams inside for signs of a small union label?

The hanky would definitely not have come with the dress but been added by the owner.

I do believe it would have been a manufactured gown due to the imprinted name on the backside of the belt, the number alongside Sophie original.

I would say it is worth salvaging. Do you have a good steamer? I would try steaming it out if you do. I would turn it inside out and steam it by the underside...see what it looks like after that.

I would not say don't dry clean it but depending on the dry cleaners in your area they may want to charge quite a bit to clean it as it is full length. If you have a reasonably priced cleaner, go ahead with that...but
if you can steam it and get a better idea of how it looks after the steaming, you can then make a final decision. As Nicole already mentioned the underarm staining will devalue the gown by quite a bit.
 
Just want to say it is beautiful. As a collector of hankies also this one would easily be worth the $10. you paid and nice for a wedding if you could get it clean. Would cover the something old, something blue nicely.
So, however the dress would come out it is an extra bonus IMHO.
Must of been some dance!
 
Thanks!
I turned the dress inside out and shot these pics of it... I don't see any other tags or markings. Maybe these pics will help?

This dress was stored for who knows how long in a musty warehouse and everything I got from there smells awful. On the car ride to my studio (to take all these pics and put it on the mannequin) I put it in a paper bag with baking soda... hope this was ok?

I'm researching how to mend satin, and borrowing a steamer from a friend :-) I looked into dry cleaning prices, and need to bring it in to get an accurate price (quoted between $25 and $170 - lol).

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Oh, it's got pockets! I love that.

Good luck with getting her fixed and cleaned - she's going to be beautiful. If she's really smelly, you could try airing her outside by away from the sun.
 
Yes, as Nicole says, definitely mend the split seams before dry cleaning! Or you may end up with a dress in shreds.

Because the dress isn't pleated and has fairly simple lines, I would, if you have a good dry cleaner, spend the money on professional cleaning. My dry cleaner (who does an excellent job with vintage!) would probably charge me between $25 and $35 to do this dress (and if you can find a coupon, which I usually do, so much the better!). And although the discoloration under the arms isn't going to get better, sometimes once the entire dress is cleaned, assuming there was some surface soil on it, and neatly pressed, the difference just doesn't seem to be "as bad." It may be just psychological, or it may be that the darker color of the fabric "lightens" up with the removal of storage dust and soil.

It's a lovely dress, and I think worth the investment to clean, depending on the cost, of course!
 
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