Help dating "flapper" dress

R

rachel

Registered Guest
hi, all!

i got this dress recently at a remote consignment antique shop in california. the shop owner said the lady selling it was the original owner and wore it in the 1920s.

naturally, that would make her the oldest living lady in the world so i decided to do some research and try to date it more accurately.

the plethora of information on this site indicates it's obviously not that old (back center zipper, etc). i'm thinking sixties cocktail dress in a "flapper" style?

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Not the oldest ;) My grandfather who lives with us is 93

you're on the right track, it looks like a late 50's to early 60's 'wiggle dress' with fringing to me. A printed label is usually an indication of a later century garment, I would expect a woven label for a 1920's garment.
 
I remember in the 1970s people talking about "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and even sometimes referring to flapper costume/dress up clothes as a Thoroughly Modern Millie dress....I just went and looked it up and there was a musical released in 1967 with Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing. I wonder if there was a little 'revival' in dress up then?
 
The flapper revival was a little earlier than '67 but I'm sure the film didn't hurt it.

I agree with late '50s to early '60s for the dress but wonder if the fringing has been sewn on: it doesn't look original, you can see from the inside that it's been hand sewn on after it's been made, perhaps for shimmying in the '60s or a '20s party?
 
Love that dress, and I think it is SO 60s it hurts..... I remember these being the rage back in about 1965 or 1966--thereabouts, anyway. Not much earlier. I think it's in its original state. I can see that it looks as if the fringe were a later add-on, but this is such a quintessential style I am wondering if that's how it just was made. Unless someone took a very plain same-era sheath and added the fringe. Does the dress underneath look as if it would have been "complete" without the fringe?
 
OMG I love Candy!! She was in all those beach movies with Frankie and Annette. I only watched them for her - can she shimmy! She used to knock the guys off their surf boards with a shake of her hips and her capri sets were fantastic, everything she wore in those movies was fringed. Thanks for posting that Amber!
 
I also think the fringing is original, simply because the dress is nothing without it!

I just wish my butt were a little smaller so I could sit down in it!
 
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