Dating Older Marimekko Dress

[Fishstique]

I am hoping for more information on the date of this Marimekko maxi dress I just bought. It looks like 60s or 70s but the XS is throwing me - I thought older ones would be marked 32, 36, etc. But the rest of the tags look very vintage.

Also wondering who designed the fabric if anyone knows. I think it's a great piece - and fits me perfectly - needs a little rehab with a few stains, tiny holes and ciggy smell but I'm confident I can revive this beauty!

 

[Circa Vintage Clothing]

You're right: XS is a fairly modern size. I just did some looking around for information on the care symbols and found this thread, which suggests that your lovely dress is no earlier than 2012. Which is a lot more modern than I expected. But it should make it a lot easier to discover the designer!

 

[themerchantsofvintage]

Beautiful dress. I think it's from the 70s, even though the care label symbols are not standard for the period. With the exception of the size, the label matches those in the resource for that period. The use of XS could have been for export.

I have an early 70s dress with an XS label; so XS was in use.

 

[bycinbyhand]

Definitely early 1970s!!

 

[Midge]

Personally, it looks like an older care tag to me - more like 70s. I adore Marimekko, but I own only modern pieces by them, so I can't say much else about the labels. What is important thought that besides bringing in new fabric designs, they also keep reviving the older ones, sometimes in new color schemes. The Designmuseo, Helsinki's design museum, has an archive of prints - no guarantee that it is complete, I think it's just based on what they have in their collection, but it might be a start to finding out about the fabric: http://marimekko.kokoelma.fi/