Help dating dress with ZIPP zipper European?

[LousyLoversVintage]

I am wondering if this is a 50s dress that was made overseas. Zipp zippers was at one time a german company? I read that on internet.

This dress has those tiny snaps on the shoulders on the inside...was this to hang the dress?

Also was this something dresses made not in the US had?

Chiffon i think and a lining layer underneath with a hem that dips down and up .

 

[Midge]

No idea about Zipp Zippers - guess I should know, I am in Switzerland, but unfortunately I don't .

Looks like a lovey 1950s dress, and from what I can see, nicely home made or by a seamstress. What you mean with the small straps at the shoulders are lingerie guards - they were meant to keep you bra and slip straps in place so that the wouldn't slip away and show. Personally, I find they also help to keep a dress in place and make it fit properly (it works both ways!) - just like the the waist stay, the inner waist band that I can see on the last photo as well. I have learned to appreciate these little details, they really do help .

 

[LousyLoversVintage]

Thank you! Learning the terminology is helping alot ! Do sixties dresses have these features sometimes too? This dress is looking better and better I've been trying to clean it up. . Very small but that irredescent blue lining is so beautiful. Just a few small holes.

It seems like it has a huge full skirt ... something more formal ..would I call this a evening gown?

 

[Midge]

Oh yes, you do get them in 60s dresses too and later as well... I have a super lovely 1970s evening gown, probably made by a seamstress, that has both features. I've had lingerie guards too in less formal dresses from the 50s and 60s, and you can still buy ready-made ones to sew into clothes. In fact that was how I knew what they were before I started getting into vintage. It makes sense - ok, today nobody will say that bra straps should not be seen at all, but let's be honest, if you're wearing a dress/gown for a formal occasion, you probably wouldn't want them to show either just because it looks nicer, so I am all for them!
Waist stays are in my experience more a thing to be found in more formal dresses... but again, I have seen them even in more modern high-end dresses. It helps to make the dress sit properly on your body.

 

[Jonathan]

Zipp was a German brand of zippers according to a collector of German fashion that I know. He gets all his information from German fashion magazines, so I assume he knows. The dipped hemline looks to me like the dress was washed and the chiffon lost its shape. However, it seems to be much improved with your ironing.

 

[LousyLoversVintage]

Thank you. Do u think the dress was possibly made in Germany then?

Also would it be beneficial to try to hem the chiffon to make it more of the same length as the lining? Would this maybe bring it back to its more original form?

 

[Jonathan]

Zipp zippers were used by other countries. I know Sweden used them, and Holland... so not necessarily German. Hemming chiffon is nightmarish - I would leave as is. Trying to correct it would be very difficult.