Please help me date this Andora silk patterned dress

J

Jen S

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This is a silk dress by Andora with a label stating that it should be dry-cleaned, but not with petroleum solvents or by the coin operated method. (I made a post about this label, but perhaps just asking for dating help showing the actual dress is better.) This cleaning label is hidden beneath the Andora label. It zips up the back with a nylon zip (thanks for the correction, Leonardo da Vintage!), and has a hook & eye closure. All the seams are pinked and it's fully lined in silk. Also, as you can see from the 3rd picture, it had been at one point about four inches shorter, so a bit above knee-length, and then was let down and never re-hemmed, so that now the seam tape is what you see around the bottom. I am thinking it's early 60s, but would love to get others' opinions. Thanks so much!









 
I keep coming back to it and thinking that fabric and the empire line shape would work better late 60s, early 70s and so I wonder if it was originally full length, which this sort of fabric would be perfect for flowing about in. The sweep looks quite narrow, for that style of dress, for earlier, to me.
 
Thanks! Interesting notion, that it might've originally been full length. Yes, the fabric is gorgeous! But, I would not have thought to call the cut empire -- the waist falls at a normal height, not high up, and it fits very close to the body throughout the torso. I think of empire as being tight right beneath the breasts and then loose below... no?
 
I also don't see empire line here, it does look to fall on the waist not above it, but it having originally been longer is a good thought. But I can't figure out a date either. If not for the labels and pinked seams, I'd have thought it quite modern.
 
Looks very much like early 1970s to me. My clues are the colorway and print, the cap sleeves, the surplice front and the length (original) all fit that time period. Possibly 1969, although to me seems on the more conservative side for late 60s. It seems sort of a blend of the conservative styling with a splashy bold print for youth appeal.
 
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Thanks everyone. This dating -- cusp 60s/70s also seems to go along with the information Leonardo da Vintage discovered regarding the care label. So this was very helpful, I appreciate it!
 
Given the 'coin operated' label info - to me it now seems likely that it's from around 1972 rather than earlier. If others had thought earlier 60s, it would have shown that this particular label wording was already in use, prior to the 1972 guidelines to manufacturers I discovered - see the other thread. But as the consensus is late 60s to early 70s, it seems to me more likely the dress is from around 1972 with that label.

http://forums.vintagefashionguild.o...-label-and-dating-coin-operated-method.59536/
 
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