Need Help Dating Navy Rayon Print Dress

Linn

Linn

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Staff member
VFG Past President
Aloha,

I purchased this dress recently at a Collectible Show in Honolulu. It's a flowered print with a companion print on the collar and pocket flaps.


Navy%20Print%20Dress%20II.jpg


It has me stumped. The seller had it tagged "1950's A-Line" but I don't see 1950's. I have some other images and close-ups in this imageevent album. Be sure to click on the first photo to enlarge and then click next.

http://imageevent.com/linn/navyprintdress

My first thought was very early '40's, or maybe even late '30's because of the print - but the zipper is more modern. (It could have been added or changed.) The hem and sleeve treatment seem later - so maybe it's a '60's "granny" dress but the rayon feels more like the fabric on other '40's dresses I own. It's also quite long, (46 1/2" from shoulder to hem). Late 1930's and early 1940's were shorter - and it would have had a belt. No sign of belt loops.

Please let me know what you think!

Thanks -

Linn
 
Well I agree with both.
It is either very late 40's/early 50's (like 49-52) OR it is a really cute 80's vintage look dress.

either way i like it....
 
we handled LOTS of 80s rayon dresses that looked JUST like that (in the late 80s and early 90s); small print, calico-almost looking dresses; i actually owned/wore a couple myself...

can't remember the manufacturer anymore, but they made them to look like vintage dresses; they were very popular...

anyway, it IS very cute, but hard to say 80s or real vintage...
 
It is a puzzler.
Since it is homemade (right?) it is hard to tell.
Zipper throws one, but it is on the side.
There is not much of a hem there either.

But you can touch the fabric and if it just feels older it probably is, you know.

So if it is vintage it is probably late 40's/very early 50's.

(of course I was looking at old video yesterday and saw myself in a dress that looked so 30's/40's cusper with puffed sleeves, sweetheart neckline, and sheered shoulder yokes...cool rayon, very vintage print. Brand new in 93', I wish i had taken better care of it, but i have a bad habit of washing new rayon stuff in the washing machine and ruining it)
 
The seller is correct in dating it 1950's. It is an early 1950's (1951-52) day dress cut in a princess style which is right for the time as are the cap sleeves and the flap pockets Navy blue was also a very predominant colour then.
 
Linn, You are too cute! The Dress is also.
If it is a side zipper and home-made. I would think it's a 40's pattern that a snazzy sewer up-dater(is that a word?) for the times(late 40's 50's)re-vamped a pattern that worked for her!
Of course inside seams & zipper pictures would help,Oh wait!! You took care of that! you still look cute as a "bug in a rug" in it no matter the date!
 
Thanks, everyone!

The consensus seems to be that it's late '40's or very early '50's. I am pretty certain that it's vintage. I had a few rayon dresses in the late '80's but the fabric had a much different "hand" or feel.

I might wear the dress on Sunday. I am going to a fund-raiser brunch at a hotel. If I do, I may wear these '30's dress clips on either side of the collar. Dress clips were still worn into the '50's, but were most poplular in the '30's and '40's.


Deco%20Dress%20Clips%20Clear%20and%20Sapphire.jpg





Linn
 
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