Please help date this polka dot dress with an asymmetrical collar

Trish

Trish

Registered Guest
Hi friends,
As always, a $5 donation to VFG awaits...This is a home sewn garment (no tags), out of what I believe is rayon with a linen look. It is fully lined and aside from the buttons, it has a series of metal hooks and snaps down the front edge, starting at the collar and ending near the hem. Right off I thought 60s mini dress, but for all of my looking I cannot find a good reference to such an asymmetrical collar..and the shoulders seem to correspond to the 40s! The underarm gusset? is also new to me.
Thanks in advance!
Trish
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Yes, early '80s for me too. I had similar dresses around 1982-83 when that colour, polka dots, '40s styling and asymetrical details were all in. Also I had a similar "new wave" style dress that was straight down like this one. I wore mine with a belt to give it a bit more shape but yours is meant to be worn straight.
 
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I also agree with 80's - primarily for that decorative quilted style stitching, and extended shoulder line (sleeves?), which I have only seen on late 70's-80s. Otherwise I quite agree it looks 60's on first glance.
 
Wow, I'm so confused! The 80s was my era and I never saw anything like this then. Yes, the quilted dress jackets were all the rage, but I remember them with more traditional quilting, not the parallel lines. The buttons, hooks (with the multiple threads for the eye) and snaps have an older look than the 80s. Here's a few more detail shots. If everyone still thinks it's from the 80s is it possible to send me a reference photo? I've been looking at patterns and photos for 2 days without much luck...
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Trish, do you have larger version of those photos please? They're too small to see details. If the construction is earlier, it could have been made by an older skilled seamstress who knew how to do things properly.
 
Thanks Trish - she's done a great job on the feature stitching on the collar! A lot of love has gone into that dress, there's a lot of time consuming techniques.

Still with my original dating. Styles like this, which are "trendy" rather than conservative don't always make it into patterns - those styles have to be "tried and true" to be mass produced. This is a quirky dress and could have been made without a pattern by a skilled dressmaker.
 
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