Dating a vintage Hawaiian dress

DeLaBelle

DeLaBelle

Registered Guest
This is my first time posting here but I was hoping someone might help me with dating this dress.

I have an Hawaiian dress that I found that at first glance looks to be from the 1970s but it just feels much older. I found it in a thrift shop amongst some 1940s dresses that all looked to be around the same size. It could be the cool feel of rayon that is throwing me off but when I did a google search I found only 2 other vintage garments (mens shirts) with the exact same label and they were both dated 1950s-1960s. I'm not sure if you can tell by the pictures but there is some fading from age here and there throughout the print.

Here is a link to the pictures
www.flickr.com/photos/delabelle
(first 9 pictures)

What are your impressions?

Thanks so much for any help you could provide me!
 
really? I wish you guys could feel the material, its the heavier cold rayon fabric. As well the only other hawaiian pieces I have found to reference with the same label are much older than 80s.
 
Oh I also wanted to mention the fact that it is marked a size large but the elastic waist is 20" - 29" when stretched to the absolute max, definitely not 80s sizing.
 
I don't think that particular sizing is indicative of much. There is a wide variation in 80s sizing, and that waist measurement could very well be consistent with the decade. And it is labeled a size large? Another reason to feel that it is of the vintage we are seeing.

If you could post links to the other items of this label, that you found online, perhaps we could see if they have even been dated properly.
 
I'm afraid that I agree with the others and would date your dress as late '70s to early '80s. As for the other ones, the first one has the same label but I can't date the shirt confidently on the details provided, the photos aren't very good.

As for the second one, I agree that the date is '50s but the seller does not display the label, only the swing tag which is different. Most annoying - they should have included a shot of the label too! They're asking a lot of money for not much information.

Nicole
 
There is a label on the second shirt if you click on "tag detail" but it does not match the other two labels. I think that shirt is '50's and the other one is newer.

I have several books on Aloha attire and there is no information about Pardise Isle, the label on your dress and the shirt in the first link. Doe is say "Made in Hawaii" anywhere???
 
hmm, it doesn't say "made in Hawaii" anywhere, maybe it isn't even Hawaiian?

I was thinking the swing tag label on the second shirt was from the same time period because it has the exact same font and styled illustration as the stitched in label and don't they usually slightly change these details as the decades go on?
 
sometimes they do and sometimes they don't - whilst the font is the same, that's the part that's least likely to change. The rest of it is different, although it is similar in theme. As mentioned before, it's a pity they don't show the label, as it may be the same but because the swing tag is different, it's hard to know.

Nicole
 
I just emailed them asking if they have a picture of the sewn in label :)

Thanks so much guys for talking with me like this, this is an amazing resource!
 
Wow excellent customer service, they got back to me right away. The label is exactly the same right down to the circled "L" (size large).
Can I post picture here? I feel funny putting his pic in my flickr.
 
The fact that it's an elastic waist is another factor against 40s dating. 30s, 40s, 50s dresses were made to fit a specific size and rarely had elastic waists unless it was intended as a design feature, like with smocking. Most of them didn't have sizes on their labels, but if they did, it was a number - whole for average women and halves for petites.

Small/Medium/Large sizing came along later and was a cost cutting move - the manufacturer didn't have to make as many diffferent versions of a garment. The elastic waist was part of that.
 
at first glance it does look 70s, mostly bc of the gathered waistband.

but my first impression of that application of elastic is that (to me) it does not look original to the garment, it just looks zig-zag sewn in.

that wide scoop neckline/front and back was very popular in the 60s for aloha wear ~ and it wouldn't be the first time someone had altered a garment to make it more "suitable" for an updated fashion trend.

are the sleeves sort of flared, looks like? are they set in on a raglan cut, rather than a regular shoulder set-in?

the rayon looks yummy, that print is great. can you check the seams to see if there are any selvage edges, sometimes the fabric maker can be found in the seam allowance, sometimes not. it looks like a nice old Japanese rayon, to me.

as far as the Paradise Isle name ~ (in reference to Joule's link) i know that in Hawaii, if a DBA name is not renewed, after a number of years, the "protected" business name can be used by another person/company if they do a look-up and its no longer active.

also, there were (are?) many California based manufacturers of aloha wear ~ label use, fabric use, silhouettes ~ it's possible. HOWEVER, just because it doesn't SAY made in Hawaii, doesn't mean it isn't, either.

in the aloha shirt book i use, Paradise Isle is not included in the label section, just a Paradise Sportswear (2 different ones) and the same Paradise Hawaii as on the label resource here. HOWEVER, one of my favorite aloha manufacturers, Ui Maikai, isn't listed either.

my gut with this, (going against the trend) is that its a 60s dress that had elastic added (perhaps in the 70s) to make it more "wearable".
 
Mary, this is exactly what I am feeling too! That makes total sense. The elastic band does not look original to the dress, you can see from the pictures that the thread color is totally different and the stitching is much sloppier on the inside.

The sleeves are slightly flared and the seams are raglan style.

The edges are all folded and then sewn so I'm not able to see any maker marks on it but yes it really feels like the older rayon which is exactly what threw me off in the first place.
 
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