Help dating vintage leopard print coat

M

mgundrill

Registered Guest
Hi,

Today I bought a fur coat from a flea market in Melbourne, Australia, and I am hoping to get some help figuring out what decade it was made.

It looks like the coat is made from wool. It has a black silky lining.

The label on the inside of the coat says "Gildonese Fabric, Made in England, Gildesgame Fabrics Ltd, London & Earl Shilton". There are no other labels on the inside of the jacket to identify what fabric it is made of or when it was made.

I've attached some images to this post - any assistance would be much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Melissa
 

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Interesting label - I haven't heard of Gildonese fabric before but Google tells me that it might have something to do with Gildone, a place in Italy where they produce buffalo mozzarella: so those big critters on the label are probably buffalo. But that's Italy, not the UK.

The label looks '50s or '60s but it's hard to see the shape of the jacket on the hanger: are you able to photograph it being worn? I think the style is more '60s but a new pic will help.
 
Thanks for your fast response, Nicole. The buffalo reference makes a lot of sense now!

Attached are some more pics of the jacket.
 

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Earl Shilton is very close to where I live in the east midlands in Endland, this area has a long history in textiles and hosiery manufacture. Gildonese Co. Limited, based in Earl Shilton was listed in the London Gazette as a hosiery and knitwear manufacturer that was liquidated in May 1967 and the company was wound up by Sep. 1968. which gives a good cut off date for your coat's manufacture.
They seem to have split their business into two companies, perhaps one for manufacture and one for retail? the other being Gildesgame Fabrics ltd. I haven't found any details on this one. One of the web pages I looked on did not list the address but mapped the company close to Moffat, in scotland, which is a specialist area for wool. (I have a Moffat weavers wool tartan skirt). So perhaps they were taking Scottish wool, knitting it and making garments in Earl Shilton and retailing in London.
 
Thank you so much for the wonderful background, Melanie. It's very exciting to at least have a cut off date for when manufacture stopped. It is such a beautiful cut - I feel that I've definitely hit the jackpot today!
 
it certainly is lovely, date wise the neckline looks 50s, but also looking at the hemline i think this was shortened at some point. it could have originally been early 50s, and slighlty longer with turn back cuffs, which have also likely been cut off. check inside the cuff to see. if it was that would explain the lable looking more like 50s as well.

lorraine
 
Very pretty jacket and my thoughts are similar. It does look like it could be Buffalo wool and that would make most sense with that label. Otherwise I would have guessed it to be a mohair/wool blend which if it were it could still incorporate buffalo wool.
I would guess this jacket to date a little earlier though somewhere around the mid 40s, maybe late 40s because of the lack of collar, the squared shoulders, and the center back pleat. The fitted sleeves may have been altered but if not would have made sense for that time and the length could have too.
 
I didn't think we had buffalo in the UK but apparantly there are a couple of hundred and it would make sense they would live in the highlands.
Can you show some photos of the buttons please Melissa?
 
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