Help, please, with dating these dresses

bluevelvetvintage

bluevelvetvintage

VFG Member
Finally trying to do some work after getting totally sidetracked over the holidays! Anyway, these dresses/gowns came from an old dressmakers shop and have never been worn. Can someone tell me if they are 30s or 40s styles? As usual I'm confused! Two of them have belts that tie in back. They all have snap closures and no shoulder pads. The last one has smocking at the shoulders and the bodice insert.
Thanks
Theresa

Blue Velvet Vintage


dr0410c5.jpg


dr0409c1.jpg


dr0408c3.jpg
 
Wow, lovely dresses! Such a nice find!! The 2nd one is my favorite.

I am afraid I don't have any knowledge of the 30s or 40s but I'll bet Jonathan could help you out.

Cheers ~ Maureen
 
Hollis would probably be able to nail it right away too. But I like you have trouble when it comes to dresses of this time, I am MUCH better with suits.
 
Those are interesting. They aren't really high style for any period. Being from a dressmaker's shop, they can of course be older styles she was still making for customers who preferred a certain look. And she would have tailored them around the customer's preferences, such as no shoulder pads in a shoulder pad era.

They aren't 30s. The last dress might be very late 40s into the 50s. I am inclined to think the top dress is 50s, and the middle is early 60s. But they could all be late 50s or early 60s and made for a client who was maintaining older styles.
Hollis
 
If they are indeed made to emulate an earlier style, what I like about it..or a selling point so to speak, is an undergarment issue. the woman can get styles that have a nod to the earlier era, but not have to seek out undergarments from that era to make the clothes fit them right. It would be made to accommodate what was currently available.
 
The second one I have no idea, so go with Hollis... but number 1 and 3 both look late 40s to me, but Hollis could be correct and that they were made to order for a lady who was following an older style and they date later, but on first glance to me, they look late 40s.
 
The first and last one, I really am guessing on. I was thinking
late 50s on the first and 40s on the last. The second one I'm pretty sure
is 60s as I remember gowns like this.

Sue
 
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