Egyptian Print Dress

A

Ava

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Wondering if anyone can tell me anything about this dress...

It's quite unique! Has a floral 60s type print with Egyptian figures. Fabric feels like polyester and the dress is lined in a pink fabric that is trimmed with lace ribbon. I couldn't find a tag anywhere... wondering if this dress is perhaps homemade. Has a side zip that says 'Export' on the front of the pull and 'Canada' on the back.

Any bit of information would be much appreciated.
Thanks :)
 

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There was a huge Egypt craze in 1962. That was during the epic filming of Cleopatra - the biggest, most expensive movie ever made until Titanic in 1997. At one point Hollywood had a larger fleet of ships than the country of Egpyt! Elizabeth Taylor had nearly died, sets burned down, actors were held months longer than originally agreed, it nearly bankrupted two studios, directors and writers were hired and fired... it was a big old mess, and all the gossip and news of the behind the scenes issues actually inspired an egypt craze in 62, a year before the movie was released! There were lots of Egyptian prints, heavy eye-liner, black banged wigs... I have an umbrella with an Egyptiian print that I know is from 1962.
 
It would be nice to see it mounted on a dress form with a full slip under the skirt - it has features that look 70s, like the ruffle and the straight bustline, but they could also be around for '62 and the colours are wrong for the late 70s, the scale of the print, the type of material, the pink lining, the linen texture... those are all earlier features. If it were late 70s I wouldn't expect to see a lining, the material would be jersey or some kind of poly cotton blend or crepe chiffon, I would expect a smaller print in beige, forest green, brown, orange, black, and probably spaghetti straps.
 
Many thanks for your help so far, very informative! I had heard of the egyptian revival but didn't know much about it.

I don't have a dress form but I do have myself so have taken some photos wearing the dress. Unfortunately, it is too big on me but I think you can still see the fit. I uploaded photos showing the dress with a petticoat worn underneath and some without.

If the dress is indeed homemade, I wonder if perhaps the maker used older fabric from the 60s but made it in the 70s?
 

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I hadn't thought of that. Homemade stuff is tricky. You start getting into the fuzzy dimension of what dating really is. I have a velveteen gown that has a Vogue label that came with certain patterns of the day....so, to use an extreme , ridiculous example....if the dressmaker made the dress in 1980 from an original 1960s Vogue pattern with material she/he bought in the 60's....what do we have?
 
A dress that will probably look like it's a '60s dress unless the construction is of '80s style!

It's common for dressmakers to hold onto fabric - my personal stash (that I'm now slowly putting online) dates back to the late '70s when I first started buying fabrics and trims with my pocket money.

Ava, I think you're right: the fabric could easily be '60s but the style is still saying mid '70s to me. I wore a lot of sundresses like this as a child, they have a slight '50s look on the bodice but that tiered skirt was very big throughout the '70s.
 
I was thinking of a seamstress friend of mine who had an entire room of catalogued fabric, patterns, notions that she used to create great stuff...sometimes just freehanded, inspired conglomerates to suit her friends styles.
 
I'm going through a collection from an estate with exactly this problem: I know the lady in question made an awful lot of her own clothes, there was a whole bag of patterns dating right back to the 30's and every single one had been cut and used, a great pile of vintage fabric and the house contents dated up to the 80's, so how do I know when she made the garment? I have a 40's / 50's style fit & flare coat that is in perfect condition and I just can't believe it's that old, so I'm wondering if it was made later to the original pattern with vintage buttons she'd stashed.
 
Thanks for all your replies, they've definitely been helpful. I agree with you Lauren, dating homemade stuff is tricky! The mix of fabrics and styles from apparently different decades can be quite perplexing. My Mom was one of those people who held on to fabrics, notions, and patterns of the past - sewing garments in the 80s that some people could easily mistaken for something 10-20 years older. It's all in those fine details...

Amber, I think you may be right about the zipper being replaced. I took another look and it seems like the thread used to sew the zipper may be different from that used on the rest of the dress.

:) Thanks again for your help!
 
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