Need help dating - Mike Benet Formals dress - black with sequins

RetroFridayVintage

RetroFridayVintage

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I recently acquired a Mike Benet Formals dress, but I am having a hard time dating it. I've looked at resources on this site, but the information doesn't all line up!
Here is the dress:
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I think it's so gorgeous, I knew I had to have it when I saw it.

Here is the label:
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According to this link - http://vintagefashionguild.org/label-resource/benet-mike/ - the company was founded in the 1960s, so the dress cannot be older than that. My label also looks the exact same as the one in the picture on that link.
The Tips and Tricks section of the website says that, "The USA Textile Products Identifications Act, 1960 mandated the use of fabric content labels." But, there is not a fabric content label anywhere. Believe me, I looked and looked.

The zipper is a Talon zipper, but apparently they've been used since 1894, so that doesn't really help narrow things down.
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The zipper is on the back of the dress and the top closes with a hook, as does the top of the halter:
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The dress also has hanging loops, you can see a little bit of one in the second picture of the zipper.

The inside of the skirt is made of a scratchy netting type material
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I'm not sure how to describe the outer fabric of the dress... it feels sleek, but it also rustles quite a lot when it moves and touches itself.

Here is a close up picture of the sequins:
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If anyone could help me out with this I would really appreciate it! This is my first post here (so glad I found this website), so please let me know if I left out any important information! :)
 
Hi, the style of the dress is late 50's/early 60's but it is a 1980s dress in a retro style. You can tell this from the extensive care details on the label (material content laws came into force around 1970 and washing symbols etc. begin to appear late 1960s) and the simple but repetitive pattern that the strip sequins are sewn on in is very distinctive of this era.
The strong wording on the care label is required because these sort of sequins can melt, discolour or become mishapen with the wrong cleaning/treatment. If you want to wear it I'd advise sewing in underarm guards (moon shaped cotton covered pads) so that these can be washed to minimise the trips to the dry cleaner.
 
Pinkcoke said:
Hi, the style of the dress is late 50's/early 60's but it is a 1980s dress in a retro style. You can tell this from the extensive care details on the label (material content laws came into force around 1970 and washing symbols etc. begin to appear late 1960s) and the simple but repetitive pattern that the strip sequins are sewn on in is very distinctive of this era.
The strong wording on the care label is required because these sort of sequins can melt, discolour or become mishapen with the wrong cleaning/treatment.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! The material content thing is still throwing me off though... If the dress is from 1980, wouldn't it have to have a content label if the material content laws were made in 1970?
I was also wondering about the wording on the care tag, it seemed a little extreme, but it makes more sense now! :)
 
Generally they only have to have the material content marked when they are sold, so it could have been on a paper or card hangtag, or there could be another label in the skirt seam etc.
 
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