Information on Raffia Clothing in the 50s/60s

WellWornWardrobe

WellWornWardrobe

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I've been looking for information on why raffia clothing was semi popular in the 50s/60s. I can't find any info online (I am quarantined so going to the library is out of the question at the moment). Was it because of soldiers coming back from tropical climates overseas bringing back souvenirs? Was there a surge in interest of Hawaiian/Pacific island materials after some event (kinda like the Egyptian popularity after the discovery of Tut's tomb)? I'm grasping at straws here (sorry...). I've included photos of the dress and jacket I want to write a short piece on. There are no labels on either piece, but both are fully lined and the dress has a metal zipper.

Thanks for your help!
Lonita
 

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We have a number of fans of raffia clothing from the time period. I adore it! From personal experience, it is very cool to wear, both figuratively and literally. Maybe one of our collectors will chime in. I like the Tropical Post WWII idea.....interesting and makes sense.
 
I am on my iPad because we had a huge power outage yesterday, from the tropical storm, and while we have electricity from a generator, apparently falling trees took out our cable service, soooo...

Until we get cable service back I can’t check this, but I tried to research your question earlier and I found a brief (1960, I think) article about American women on a tour cruise flocking to the stores in Italy, to buy raffia dresses. Earlier newspaper references were to raffia shoes and bags.
 
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Sorry to hear about your power loss, Lynne. So glad you have a generator. (I don't.)

I did a little bit of Googling after I commented above. Most of the raffia I found from the Philippines was handbags, etc. I did find some examples of clothing from Italy.

So while, the pieces look like they could be from the Philippines to me, they are probably from Italy!
 
Everything seems to point to a connection between Italy and raffia dresses. From a 1955 article:

NEW YORK-Straw and wool may join silk and satin as "’elegant" fabrics after American women get a look at the new fashions for the U.S. by Fontana of Rome. Signora Nicol Fontana, the designing third of the famous Fontana sisters, is proving that straw and wool need not always look like basket or sweater materials.

In the first American display of Fontana fashions for export, Signora Fontana makes cocktail dresses out of straw and evening coats of straw plus wool. The straw cocktail dresses now being shown in New York are Americanized repeats of the style Fontana sells in Rome. A typical model is of white light-as-a-feather raffia, woven delicately as filigree silver and draped as smoothly as fabric. The dress has a slim bodice, straight neckline cut below the collarbone, and little cap shoulder bands. The skirt is slightly flared.

The wool and straw coats combine rows of shiny, braided straw stitched among rows of the heavy braided knit wool that's usually seen on ski sweaters. These are done in white wool with silver straw, black wool with gleaming black raffia, and brown wool with gold straw. Both straw and wool are stitched to a fabric lining and treated like fabric. As n result, they don’t have their usually bulky look. In fact, the wool-and-straw combination, unless you see it close up, looks like cropped fur with metallic embroidery.
 
The earliest reference I found to raffia dresses dates to 1950 and one 1950 ad for a store in NY state noted they sold "imported italian hand-crocheted natural raffia sandals" and "it's 20 degrees cooler inside our junior raffia dresses." The store ad also noted (emphasis mine): "Raffia, summer's newest fabric, is climbing straight to the top in popularity."
 
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