Hello Does anyone know anything about this label and the buckle? I am guessing the dress is 50s or 60s. Not too sure when crimpolene went out of fashion! Thought the markings on the back of the buckle were unusual.
This is a 1960s dress. Here's info Crimplene (says it was launched in 1959): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimplene
I just did a fast search and found only these three references to Dorothy Ward LTD. When I clicked on each of the links, I found even less information than you see here. Note in the last citation that Dorothy Ward LTD sold mail order dresses.
From THIS SITE we learn that: "A little further along Benfleet Road was Ballard Bros. shopfitters, who began their business there in the late 1940s/early 1950s...On the opposite side of the road was Dorothy Ward Ltd, a mail order house which had also been there since just after the war. The Directors of this company were all local people, Mr John W Carr had lived in Benfleet since 1924 and the business was named after his wife, Mrs Dorothy A Carr (nee Ward). In more recent years the building was demolished and La Quinta Restaurant was built there."
Thank you so much for your answers, always interesting to read the history. I remember my grandmother having a catalogue but it was named Marshall Ward.
Above are a couple of adverts for Dorothy Ward mail order fashion - one from the Daily Sketch in 1958, and another from the Daily Mail in 1979. Interestingly the fashion style seems unchanged!
