Satin floral dress- 30s or 40s

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I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me out on this dress. The dress confuses me somewhat I can't decide whether i think it is late 1930s or 40s. The dress has small shoulder pads and is full length. When I purchased it the seller also had a reasonably similar cc41 "dinner plate" dress which was owned by the same person. Any ideas? Sorry for the rubbish pics. Terrible light in my flat!
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Does it have any other fastenings than the buttons? Can you show the shoulder pads and the dress without the tie around it so we may see the seams? and it may be the intended design, but the sleeve almost looks as though it has been taken in by folding it there - can you check this?
 
Yep, it also has a side metal zip- now I look again the shoulder pads are more shoulder flaps (when on it creates the effect of shoulder pads though) and also when on the sleeves create a petal effect- it's a very delicate feminine look it creates! I would put it back on my mannequin if there wasn't 6 large ikea bags full of clothes on the floor... hopefully the pics I am adding now might helpphoto 1(1).JPG photo 2(1).JPG
 
Good call on the sleeves Melanie - I agree, the sleeves look like a seam has been sewn, probably to reduce the puffiness when the full style went out of fashion.

I have a late '30s dress with similar sleeves that were taken in, making it look more '40s.

There are elements of '30s and '40s in this one too, but I think it's early '40s. If there is hidden fullness in the sleeves, that could put it earlier. The shoulder pads look like they might be sleeve headers to puff them out too.
 
You can also see by the size of those sleeve puffs, that they were intended for a much larger sleeve head. Have they actually got anything in them or has the padding been removed? They look quite flat.
I also wonder if that zip is a later addition, as it does not resemble a dress zip to me. The chunky round tag looks too utilitarian. Can you see from the stitching is it original?

My initial thought on seeing the photo was that there were too many buttons for it to be wartime - I know if you were making a home made garment you didn't have to adhere to the utility restrictions but I imagine nobody would be that decadent. So either earlier and kept, or later. I am thinking earlier, with the alterations.
I don't know what shape the waist seam looks like yet, but from the side photo it appears quite high waisted, which would also suggest earlier.
 
Sleeve headers sounds like a great way to describe them Nicole.
The only thing removed from this dress was some very badly perished sweat guards. The sleeve shape is defintely as it was intended-I can't quite explain it, but in person you can see it hasn't been altered. The sleeve heads have a stiffened woven fabric backing which helps to create structure.

Looking inside, i think the zip is now a later addition- the stitching throughout this dress is very neatly done- apart from at the zip! It would make sense that this is a later addition to a 1930s dress. And yes- the waist seam is reasonably high! The bottom of the sash tie sits on my natural waist.

I am increasingly erring towards it being late 30s with a later addition of a zip.
 
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