Help for a Mod Princess - a few questions...

I've had this dress chalked up as 'Mod Princess' for quite a while, but now I'm trying to list it for the Mall, I wanted to check everyone's opinion.



I bought it from bonho when she was having a clearout earlier this year - but I forgot that peach is definitely not my colour... Apparently the boutique, Cynald, was a swish place in the wealthy neighbourhood of Brooklyne, Mass.

So my questions: am I OK on early to mid-sixties on this? (roughly). And the fabric - it's a thick, sculptural silk blend with an even 'grain'. I'm sure there's some specific name for good quality silk/wool blends of this era, but I can't recall it, anyone know?

I took this shot to show an almost invisible slight tide mark - do you see anything???


I upped the colour contrast a bit in the hope that that would define it.

Also, any particular name for the squiggly beading?

And the neck/collar... not quite bateau, not really scoop at all, what is it?

Sorry, not feeling very bright today - need to ask about everything!

Finally, just in advance of trying to Mall this Chinoiserie jacket too, I need keyword advice:


Would you call this pale jade rather than eau de nil?
And the cut: again, not totally boxy, not a short bolero, but with dolman sleeves... am I defining myself out of keywords here??? Late 50s?

Phew. Too much, I know. Need to go on a hunt for at least some of my missing brain cells. Thanks for any help!!
Lin

 

Hi Lin -

I think your dating is good.
My Vogue sewing book just calls that a <I>band</I> neckline or collar - So "richly beaded band collar with prong-set rhinestones?"
Yes, the water mark does show up on my monitor.

And that little pale celery/light jade jacket is too cute!
It probably can with a little sheath, originally - and I'd love the see the original ensemble - but now would look cute over a perfect LBD with some black accessorizing.
Not sure about the date on that one.
C

 

Thank you! I've just scuttled off to revise the wording...
Good to hear you can see the mark - I have a dim laptop screen, so I often can't tell the subtleties in my own clothes, unfortunately.

Yes, I'd have loved to have the whole jade set, but alas, some vivid cocktail probably got spilled over the dress... I've actually got it over a black wiggle dress there, but my background editing has made that almost entirely invisible. It needs a rhinestone brooch really...
L

 

Lin - the fabric on the peach - silk pique?

Carolyn

 

Oh - and for the jacket - how about celadon for the color? I'm only passingly familiar with the term eau de nil - meaning that I must've read it somewhere along the line, but don't really know what it means (water of nothing?). Of course I just fell off the turnip wagon

As far as keywords for it - frogs. Really great big fat ones, at that!

Carolyn

 

Ooh thanks Carolyn! Silk pique could be it... I'm so fabric illiterate - I love all the terms, but I have no idea what they all really denote. I really want a swatch book - starting with silk organdie, ending in wool tweed and with everything in between.

Celadon - now you come to say it, that sounds right. Again I have some illiteracy of colour - if it's not in my old watercolour box (restricted to 'cobalt', 'carmine' and 'burnt umber' really), and not a vividly memorable pigment I remember seeing sitting like an alchemist's experiment in a jar in the art shop, I'm totally vague.

Eau de nil is one of those terms a friend and I recklessly throw around for any delicate shade from aqua to green found on a purchase that needs to be justified. I fancifully think it denotes all the light semi-transparent shades of a river at dawn on the grounds that 'nil' might be 'Nile'. But I have no idea!
Thanks for the keywords! I was going to put something totally graceless like 'giant knot' for those fastenings...
L

 

Only thing to add at this point is that "Brooklyne" is spelled with an I as in "Brookline". ;) A Massachusetts boy...

 

Can you do anything about those bust dart puckers on the peach pretty? Even edit them out? That would turn me off.

Bren

 

Whoops, thanks Kevin - just checked the listing and I actually managed to *read* properly there! It's the 'cyneld' name, it's fertilizing Ys all over the place..

Bren, good point. It's been a little squashed in my closet, so I think that's what's making it so obvious (I don't have a steamer) - also, it's about a 37-38" bust on a 36 form, but I didn't pin it because of the stiffness of the fabric... Not sure what to do, as I think photo fiddling might be obvious on this - I'll see what's possible. Thanks for letting me know!
L