White Eyelet Dress for dating

onceoza

onceoza

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I'm just getting around to listing what I have left from the fashions that I acquired at auction quite a while ago. The auction house was commissioned to sell off the overstock from a local area museums collection.

Any help with dating this? Would it be called a garden dress?

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Hi,

Lovely. You could certainly refer to it as a garden party dress, as that term is well known to collectors.

I think it is early to middle 'Teens era, post Edwardian. However, I cannot tell the exact year from just from the photo. It appears to be a shorter length, have a slightly higher waistline, and a full skirt? These garden party eyelet lace dresses were popular from about 1910 to 1918 in various forms. If it is mid teens it should be shown with a sash around the waist and petticoat/slip underneath to full out the skirt silhouette. Earlier teens would have a longer, more slender skirt.

B
 
Thank you. I was thinking around 1920. The skirt isn't very full. Could it be for maybe a teen girl?
There are some minor imperfections. How perfect does it have to be? What kind of flaws are expected and acceptable?
 
Hi,

It could be for a young teen girl, as that style stayed popular for younger girls longer than it did for adult women. I don't think it is as late as 1920, the waistline is all wrong for that time period. As the skirt is not full, it could be 1912-1914 for a younger girl in her early teen years. Again, hard to say for sure from just a photo.

Some flaws are acceptable, depends on what they are. Large holes, missing lace, nasty stains, etc, can be problems for collectors but repairable flaws or small flaws are usually not too much of a problem.

My 'feelers" tell me that the Edwardian whites will make a strong comeback in Spring 2012. I see it already.

B
 
I agree with Barbara - its a teens dress, but it might have been a bit earlier and remade (shortened from the waistline) in about 1917-18. They were worn by teenaged and young women and you see them advertised in catalogues for everything from summer dresses and proms to weddings - they were a pretty standard warm weather daytime formal dresses and they varied wildly in price depending upon how much work was in them and whether the lace inserts were real or machine made. They show up 1905ish and are around until about 1922 but you see them remade a lot.
 
I went shopping at my local thrift store to find a sash that would be suitable to show with this dress. I saw a piece of pink sticking up at the top of the rack. Went to get a closer look and it was a perfect sash to tie around the waist. Here is a picture :

:

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Surprise of all surprises! There was also a chiffon party dress hanging on hanger. The price was $8.50 and since it was half price day; $4.25. The label on the dress? HELEN ROSE!! I will be listing it soon. It's at the dry cleaners getting freshened up right now.
 
Actually, I found the exact dress on a website except it didn't have sleeves. The ad said that there were once probably sleeves that are missing. Mine has the long silk chiffon sleeves. I contacted to person to see if she'd share her sold price, but she wouldn't. :(
 
I'd say the level of "acceptable flaws" really depends on the buyer's intentions. Is the item going to be put on display or added to a collection, or is it going to be worn? Some vintage-loving folks focus on designer labels or perfect examples of this or that era or style. But others just like pretty dresses, and if flaws of one variety or another means we can actually AFFORD them, well, flaws it will be.

If only perfect items were sold, I couldn't afford to buy and wear most vintage! How sad. I don't have the funds to indulge in museum-quality garments, and furthermore, if you wear and launder something very rare and/or very old, you might be preoccupied with hurting it. But something that is already slightly "hurt" -- that would never make it into the collection of the "only perfect stuff" folks or the museum curators, those I could fix up to the best of my (or my seamstress') ability, and wear and enjoy without guilt or fear.

Lots of sellers specialize in "only perfect or near-perfect" items, or only "designer or high-end" items. Nothing wrong with that. And if that's your niche, then flaws should definitely be kept to a bare minimum. But there need to be some flawed things out there, so I have something to wear ; ). And I tend to sell flawed items when they are just too cute or pretty or interesting, because why toss aside something that, beyond a few "flaws," is marvelous?

Again, this is just my personal opinion. As they say, everybody's got one ; ).

p.s. Can't believe the seller wouldn't share the sell price. Not very friendly.
 
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