Help with a little black dress please - new york creation label

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susanjoyce

Registered Guest
Hi lovely ladies and gents!

Im struggling with dating this dress so any help would be fabulous!

The only label i can find is the 'New York Creation' one. Sorry about the bright flash i was just trying to show as much detail as possible.

Theres popper closures at the cuffs and front, and a side metal zipper.
It looks as though originally it had a belt and maybe a third bead design as there are some untidy loose threads at the front. The shoulder pads seem quite a bit more modern to me than the rest of the dress. Oh and the fabric is quite rough.

And as for cleaning?... dry clean all the way?!

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Thank you very much for any help!
Susan X
 
What Susan said, including loving NYC dresses!

As far as dry cleaning, you really have to make sure that a) your cleaner can handle vintage in general, b) when you bring the dress in, you have it flagged as vintage, c) specifically tell them to give it a "gentle" cleaning and NOT try to get every single spot or stain out completely! It is better to have a 1940s' dress with some very minor issues than a 1940s' dress that has been ruined due to harsh cleaning and an attempt to lift every spot 100%.

I have a great cleaner, but the one time I didn't have the dress flagged specifically as vintage (since they've been doing my cleaning for years and the dress was so clearly 1950s), they just about ruined it. They now have a computerized customer database and all my incoming items are tagged as vintage and sent to their "vintage expert cleaner" person.
 
Thank you for taking the time to get back to me!
And thank you for the dry cleaning tips - Anne that mustve been awful picking up your dress to see it almost ruined :( Brilliant idea to have them note it specifically as vintage i didnt even think about that.
I think i'll call around a few places tomorrow. Ive been piling up so many clothes that need dry cleaned and just thinking oh one day i'll go but im so scared of something going wrong...!
X
 
Susan, you might want to try one piece first, one that isn't very valuable, to see how it goes. Also, my cleaner told me that small family-owned cleaners, rather than big national chains, that have been in business for many years and/or generations are more likely to have specialized training and certifications--all which will make it more likely they know what they are doing. My guy was great--he sold to a larger chain here, but they are a longtime, family-owned cleaner and they have at least one person on staff who is great with vintage. All my stuff goes to her.
 
Oh good idea with the one dress first and see how it goes!
Ive read so many dry cleaner horror stories recently and the general consensus is like you said to seek out a smaller family run firm so i'll get on that tomorrow.
Also on the subject of laundering! I have a few dresses that really have an awful body odour smell about them...:/ ive tried airing them outside even for a few days at a time but the smell just wont go away! Will dry cleaning remove this do you think? Or is there a secret out there?!
X
 
dry cleaning won't remove body odor. in fact, it usually just sets it in further. airing them out doesn't help either, as it's inside the fibers.

i had great success removing it from one dress using cheap (important that it's cheap) vodka and *really* getting the vodka well into the fabric, including the armhole seams.

it took doing it several times, and then steaming the underarms well to make sure it really was gone. (heat and moisture can reactivate the odor, even when you can't smell it otherwise.)

it's not foolproof though. i have another dress i tried that with and still haven't been able to entirely remove it. the dress i got it out of was silk, and this one's rayon crepe, so that may be the problem.

love your nyc dress! i'm a big fan of them too.
 
Awh thank you! I just hope it cleans up well and those creases come out!

And thanks for the vodka tip! I havent heard about that one before but i'll def try it! I have one dress in particular in mind to try it on haha! It is terrrrrible!

X
 
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