Help me date a Helga hostess gown, please!

T

Tricia Bailey

Registered Guest
2013-07-21 17.13.03 - Copy.jpg This is my first post here, but I've been reading and using the site for quite a while. Been collecting vintage for a few years, and recently started doing it more/more seriously.

I found this Helga gown at an estate sale, and I can't pin down a date. The label looks fairly old - at least it looks the same as the one in the label resource - but I know Helga was making clothes into the mid-80s.

What's throwing me is that there are detachable shoulder pads that fasten with Velcro. I know Velcro wasn't used much until the 60s at the earliest, but these make me wonder if they were added later - they're held on with large, almost basting-type stitches. There are no other labels or tags that would help me date it - it's open down the front and fastens with a hook and eye and a tiny snap at the waist.

My best guess is 70s, but I'm still very new at this.

Thanks!

View attachment 177682013-07-25 14.00.50.jpg 2013-07-21 17.14.46.jpg
 
Welcome Tricia!

The last Helga I owned was from the 1980's and the label was the same as yours and the VFG label resource guide. Often designers never change their labels and I think Helga was one of them.

I do see what you mean about the stitching on the shoulder pad, it does look homespun. Are there any clues on the inside of the gown near the shoulders to suggest there were shoulder pads? Also does the Velcro inside look the same or are they professionally sewn in? Does the neck line have a collar?
 
It looks very '80s to me - when shoulder pads first came in during that decade they started off smallish, and got bigger and bigger as they went along. They they started putting shoulder pads in everything: t-shirts, even bras and other lingerie items. A woman might be wearing a small mountain of shoulder pads, one on top of each other - so they started sewing velcro in them, so you could get dressed, and remove some to look less like a grid iron player.

Your dress might have been from the time that they were sewn in, and the wearer snipped them out and stitched velcro in as fashions changed. Or the original stitching might have come undone and been resewn. If I had to pin the date down, I'd go with late '80s, so if the business closed in '86 you may have one of their last designs.

N
 
Your dress might have been from the time that they were sewn in, and the wearer snipped them out and stitched velcro in as fashions changed. Or the original stitching might have come undone and been resewn. If I had to pin the date down, I'd go with late '80s, so if the business closed in '86 you may have one of their last designs.
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That is exactly what I was thinking Nicole when I asked the questions. You were reading my mind.
 
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