help dating wool dress

[Dirty Hems]

Hello vintage gurus! Can I get some opinions as to date of this lovely wool dress? I love the construction of this - the seams give it a really nice silhouette. It appears to be handmade/seamstress made, but very well done. It has the buttons at the front but also a metal hidden zipper below the buttons on the front seam. Looks like it had some sort of cuff-links at sleeves too. Cameo button on the back belt is sweet.

 

[Vinclothes]

Does it have shoulder pads? What kind of zipper?
Marian

 

[Rue_de_la_Paix]

Just wondering if that is the original length. It has a sort of late 1940s styling, but the length is wrong for that time. Has it been shortened?

Looks like a gabardine. Could be earlier 40s. I will wait for more details and see what others think.

Its a very nice dress. I love the cuffs.

 

[Dirty Hems]

oooh, this is so interesting! because of your replies, i turned the dress inside out to get a closer look and wow! it looks as if it was totally restructured from whatever it was originally. there are two scraps of some sort of lining that serve no purpose as is, it must have been part of the original garment. the front looks as if it might have been open originally, either over an underskirt or dress or as coat or some such? the hem has been taken up considerably. i love this! i wonder if it was a form of "make do and mend" in the 40s? the zipper is metal with cotton tape, says Talon.

 

[Pinkcoke]

I think the dress as it is now was made in the 1950s. I have the cuff-link style button fastenings on the bodice of a 1950s dress, similar cameo buttons on a 1950s tea timer style brocade jacket and I also find buttons are one of the most common ways to update a garment fashionably.

I find that neckline on early 50s coats and jackets so it would be good to know if this was original or altered.

 

[Vinclothes]

I also thought it could be a shortened early 1950's dress.
Marian