help dating Adlmuller beaded evening gown

laurenm

laurenm

Registered Guest
Hi everyone,
I found this intriguing dress on the Hallowe'en rack!
Looks like the hem has been altered. The beadwork is gorgeous.

So, I had thought 1950's...?
Is there a term for this internal 'mini corset'?
Feels and looks like taffeta under crinoline....is there a more specific term for that layering?

The straps look original, but because one is ripped off I've tied it up around the other giving it a halter look.

Thanks alot,
Lauren
 

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Hi Lauren,

I don't get a clear sense of the skirt length but I suspect your dress is more '60s than '50s. Do you have any photos of the interior? That will help with deciphering the "mini corset" too as I'm not sure what you mean without seeing it.
 
Hi Nicole, I was in the middle of uploading all the photos when something strange happened with my connection....here are the rest....I love your new photo.
 

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You certainly "rescued" a beautiful gown from the Halloween rack. This was an important Austrian couturier and costume designer.

you can read about him on the IMDb site
"In addition to costume design for European film and theater, Fred Adlmueller was best known as the leading Austrian couturier. His design house in Vienna was the center of fashion for Austrian and German nobility, film stars, celebrities, and high society for five decades after the first collections were presented in the immediate postwar years"
He died in 1989.

This dress looks 50s to me, it really is stunning!
 
Wow, that is a really great find from the Halloween rack :jawdrop:! Congratulations on your find! When I read Adlmüller I'd thought I'd misread first... He was the couturier in Vienna for decades. The label says Vienna, Munich and Bad Gastein. The branches in Munich and Bad Gastein were closed in 1973, as Wikipedia tells me. His story is actually quite interesting... Originally he was Bavarian and not supposed to be working in fashion, but he came to Vienna in the 30s and found a job with a fashion house, instead of getting into gastronomy like his father. He didn't serve in WWII because of his health. He stayed on at the company (calles "Stone & Blyth" - I am pretty sure I've seen the name before, either on old photographs or in one of my fashion books from Vienna), even after the original Jewish owners had to leave and the Germans took the company over. The owners came back after the war, and first partnered with him. Later he bought them out and started his own company in 1950. But thanks to his apparently good connections with the Soviets, he'd been able to present his first post-war collection already in Autumn 1945. That is pretty amazing, all things considered. He was also a professor at the university of applied arts from '73 to '76, teaching the fashion master class, and he also made the tailcoats for all the Austrian Presidents. My best friend, who is Viennese, owns a ca. late 1940s Adlmüller handbag - I know I've seen the label but I don't remember what it looks like. Anyway, what you have there is a truly amazing thing - and it's just gorgeous! Love the color!

Karin
 
Thanks for all the info. I love the history. I can't seem to find alot online........I've found some articles written around the time of his death, but come up with alot of nothing....maybe there's a spelling issue? I did find these great photos: A designer's grave stone!
 

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Thank you for the additional photos - and the compliment! I agree with late '50s: what a find! We don't get Halloween racks in Australia but gowns like this one make me wish we did. Good on you, rescuing her, I'm sure she's had some wonderful special occasions and I hope you'll give her more.
 
Lauren, I've been searching too, on German Google etc. Not much to find! He's buried at the Zentralfriedhof (central cemetery) of Vienna, where all the famous people lie. I think they even have a plan so you can look them all up... This is typical Vienna. I found a few news articles, but they didn't tell me anything I hadn't read on Wikipedia. His salon was located at the Palais Esterhazy, on Kärtnerstrasse. Now you can't get a more "expensive" address than that in Vienna, that says something about him too. I also found some references of him doing costumes for the Vienna State Opera in the 1950s. IMDb has all the movies he costumed. I can't say I've seen any of them. Some I know by title, and they're... well, the kitschy, everything-was-better-in-the-olden-days, operetta-style musical comedies/romances that were made a lot in Austria in the 40s and 50s. Some of the other movies might be more serious. Three years ago, there was a big exhibition on him, and there's a German book that was published for the exhibition. It sounds interesting, but isn't the cheapest. Maybe I'll put it on my wish list, or have a look for it in Vienna on my next trip, maybe I can get it for less somewhere. There is a big bookstore that had a pretty good sales rack the last time I was there. I have a book on one of his contemporaries, Gertrud Höchsmann, and in there it says, that clients of Ms. Höchsmann would never have shopped at Adlmüller and the other way around. It seems Adlmüller was very Paris-oriented, bringing his clients his interpretations of the latest Paris trends. Here's a few more pictures: http://www.austria-lexikon.at/af/AEIOU/Adlm%C3%BCller,_Fred/Bilder_Adlm%C3%BCller_Fred

Kairn
 
Beautiful dress and a great score! This is by far my favorite shopping time of the year! I vote for Halloween racks at thrift stores all year round!!! LOL
I agree ~ Nicole, your new pic is really lovely!
 
Thank you Villa! It's a snap I took from a professional shoot yesterday - for the cover of a magazine, hopefully. I'll be sure to post pics when they're out. I'm pleased with what I've seen so far.
 
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