handmade with no closures except the red buttons on the jacket/shirt the dress has poof shoulders and an empire seamed waist with some flat pleats in the front of the skirt the top has short cuffed sleeves and the red button front there is a matching belt that is just a tie in the same fabric the fabric is shiny sort of rustling semi-iridescent - I always see this kind of fabric but don't know how to define it so help there would also be appreciated! thanks and happy new year to all
Hi! I am no expert, but to my eye (and photos can be deceiving, so..) the lace trim looks newer and would tip me off to this set not being as old as 40's.
The hem looks too short to me for 40s, and I have never seen a 40s day dress with lace trimmed sleeves before, the red plastic buttons are not impossible for the 40s, but unusual - I would have expected black or white or clear lucite buttons for the 40s. The material it is made from looks synthetic - some kind of acetate taffeta? perhaps - a fabric that is not common until after the war, and the tie belt is very 70s too. 40s belts would have buckles or snaps for a neat closure, not tied. I can see this with big clunky red or black patent platforms, nude pantyhose, and long, straight hair, or one of those short perms...
awesome, thank you! now I want to get some clunky red platforms and wear it to work a few times before putting it up for sale ;)
OK, I had the almost exact same dress, the same print, same colors, and very similar style, only mine was a rayon crepe and not shiny material, and had smocking at the bosom. Bought it in 1973 at J.C. Penny or Sterns. And Jonathan must have seen me back in the day wearing it as he perfectly described my outfit. I wore the dress (no jacket) with super sky high, chunky candy apple red platform heels, (glazed apple red wood bottoms and red leather uppers), nude stockings or no stockings, and long straight hair. And big red plastic button earrings. When I saw your post I was excited to see what looked like my dress!
It was actually a short-lived look - I liked it at the time - perfected by Rhoda Morganstern and early Better Midler. It disappeared with Disco and the Bicentennial...
