Help and reassurance on two Louella Ballerinos...

M

mercyonthesubway

Registered Guest
Okay, I've had these both pegged as forties in my head, but now I actually have to think about vouching for them in a sale, I want to check with you guys.

A while ago, I was in correspondence with a researcher working on Louella Ballerino, who had the light green sundress pegged as a rare piece from later in her career. Any thoughts?

First:
louellafull-1.jpg


And:
IMGP4127.jpg


ballerinodouble.jpg


Thanks for all thoughts everyone!
 
V V, I need a bit more information about these to be sure, but from the pics you've posted, the first one looks 70s or early 80s and the second one I would also put as '80s. I take it the green one has a label from Ballerino? From the label resource it sounds as if she stopped designing in the '50s so if it has the label I'll put in then. Is the back zipper metal or nylon? Do you have a photo of any labels?

thanks - Nicole
 
Was the author of the label resource, vintage voyager, helping you research previously? Or perhaps Fuzzylizzie? That first one is older, I would have to say, and quite possibly mid-forties, I'm thinking. It's an amazing dress!
Here's a previous VFG thread, written by noir_boudoir:
http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/forums/viewthread.php?tid=42565
and this:
http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/content/view/666/113/
I was just reviewing the label resource about Louella Ballerino; fascinating! I attended the same trade school as she.

I'm not exactly sure about the light green sundress; perhaps the information that Nicole mentions will assist. It's maybe later than the first one? That would be very cool to know, if it is a rarity. From what I can glean, she used the color lime in 1945.

Closest one I have to the first dress, is this, by California Darling's, for Desmonds:
2394105912_46d6ffb865_m.jpg
 
Both lovely dresses! I'm especially keen on the green sundress. Though I know nothing about the designer, I'm voting for 50s on that one. (Even with the longish skirt.) The bodice lines and waist look 50s to me.... but the look is rather timeless, so I could well be wrong!
 
Thanks everyone!!

Thanks Nicole, I'm afraid neither is 70s or 80s. Of course, there were things made in the 70s and 80s that were *inspired* by stuff like this!

Hi Joules, how cool that you went to the same school! I'm afraid I *am* the author of the label resource entry (and the vintage workshop thread), but I've been away from this for a while, and I wanted to pin down the dating a bit more precisely, according to styles others might have seen, so that comparison is really interesting.

Ballerino was mainly manufacturing under her own label from the very end of the 30s into the end of the 40s. She didn't really survive as an independent into the 50s - so, really I'm just hoping to locate these on a decades scale.

It's funny, I just had the decade in my head, but looking at them closely today, I started to wonder about the big cotton prairie dress, which has such puffy sleeves and reminds me of the kind of long, countrified dress being manufactured at the turn of the 40s. I think people forget that just before the war, there were some *big*, big-skirted dresses being shown and sold around.

Then, I wondered whether the light green one was another 'cusper', leading into that 50s silhouette (as Anne points out). Again, looking at 1940s fashion spreads in the newspapers, you can be surprised at how 'forward' to the 50s some of the leisurewear styles in particular can be. And, again, we know that LB seems to have gone out of business before the 50s really got going.

So, I was musing, and thought, I know the place to go to for help!

Lovely to see you Harriet - I strongly believe that we're overdue a get together and :booze: at some point!

Thanks all, L (just looking back at that - I do go on a bit don't I?)
 
Ooh, and *I* know what I was really stuck on as well - what would you call that fabric on the light one? It's a kind of differently-woven pinstripe glossy/matt texture. I'm sure it has a name...
 
Hi Lin,

I think your researcher muct have been right about the lime green one being a very late Ballerino. 48-49ish, do you think? I'm sure that woven-in stripe has a name, but I don't know it.

And yes, earlier on the "Let's go to a square dance" one.

Lizzie
 
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