Hello! I recently picked up a couple dresses and need a little guidance. This Hardy Amies is a light gauzy cotton and the skirt has a lace trimmed skirt attached. It has shoulders pads, elastic waste and a ykk small zipper at front. beautiful cone buttons and in fairly good shape. London label at neck with a fold over label on inside that appear to be ID stamps (maker?) on the one inside. No cleaning/care instructions or symbols. First, I am trying to date this and I was leaning to 70’s. Once home I was able to find a little info on Amies. Any information or opinions on age and the brand would be wonderful. Second, it was filthy. Covered in dust and very yellow/grey. I followed the Tub soak/cleaning instructions given here with Soak cleaner and an oxygen cleaner. It is MUCH better but as you can see the collar, shoulders and neck along with the belt (which was hanging on the back label when I purchased it) are still dingy. Should I try again or try another method? I thank VFG for the cleaning and soaking information! Wonderful resource.
I love that fabric! If it was much better after a soaking, I would repeat the process until it's all clean. Sometimes this takes several days of changing the cleaning agents and water every 12 hours or so.
Hardy Amies was a British fashion designer, the founder of the Hardy Amies label, and his own couture fashion house "Hardy Amies Ltd" in 1946. He also served as Queen Elizabeth II’s official dressmaker for 50 years! Based off of the label and what I can see of the construction I would say late 1970s' with a 1940's influence. It is super cute!!
Would a late 70s dress have shoulder pads? I'm wondering if it's early 80s. Here's our label resource entry on Hardy Amies: https://vintagefashionguild.org/resources/item/label/amies-hardy/ We don't have this label. If we could nail down the date, it would be good to add it, if you are willing to submit it @IM_Jme
Yes, it is super cute. It is the lack of care instructions that keeps me in the 70’s - but I am unsure of when London labels would have started adding care tags? That interior label only carries those 2 stamps (Pattern cutter, maker/sewers?). There does not appear to be anything on the other side of that label.
In the UK care labels were usually there in the early 70s, and even the late 60s. So its absence suggests it might have been removed, rather than an earlier date.
Very charming dress and a wonderful print! Its demure retro style, elbow-length puffed sleeves, shoulder pads and vintage detailing look very mid-80s to me. Thanks @Retro Ruth for the heads-up about the label, and thanks @IM_Jme for permission to add it to our Label Resource!
