Question on terminology

[Vintagiality]

Hi all,

What is this piece of fabric on the inside of the shoulder/ sleeve seam called and what is the name of the type of shoulder shape it creates? When were these popular?

Thank you
Victoria

 

[Pinkcoke]

It's a shoulder 'puff' to create a nicer shaped puff sleeve head, they are found in 1930s and early 1940s garments when puff headed sleeves were in fashion.

 

[Vintagiality]

Thank you, Melanie!

 

[themerchantsofvintage]

I have also seen this treatment in the 70s.

 

[Linn]

This sleeve was very popular in the 1980's. Think Princess Diana!

 

[Vintagiality]

Thank you all. I think mine is probably from the 80s based on the styling of the dress but I guess I hadn’t seen it before as most of my 80s dresses have shoulder pads.

 

[claireshaeffer]

Dresses can have shoulder pads and boosters.

 

[Sweetmore]

I am always amazed at how fashion will repeat as designers will pull from their archives older designs and concepts for inspiration and many times those older designs will come out, and each era does a retro revival. Even today you can find modern clothing designs using older looks like the puff or gathered shoulder, peter pan collars, empire waist lines, wiggle and flare skirts, etc. It can make it very tough sometimes but fun doing the detective work of who made it and when.