40s or 50s Lucie Ann and Claire McCardell Dresses

[Melissa Lynn]

I have two dresses that are just stunning in my opinion and I think they are from the same collection. One is a pink Claire McCardell and the other is Lucie Ann. I am thinking both are 50s but could they be from the 40s? The Lucie Ann one in particular has stumped me because I have not seen this exact label anywhere else and also it is like a very fancy satin/silk gown, not lingerie.

I really love them no matter what the era but just so curious if they could be older than 50s. Thanks for the help!

 

[joules]

Sigh, such pretties!

I'll comment on the Lucie Ann, which I see as a glamorous type of dressing gown.
It may help to picture Dita von Teese getting dolled up at home, to get the idea.
With the sleeves ruched up like that by design, it would make putting on makeup, etc. easier.
The Lucie Ann label always thrills me!

I think yours is early 50s.

Here is the earliest Lucie-Ann label that I have; late 40s, from an emerald green silk chiffon gown with matching overpiece:

 

[Pinkcoke]

I agree the Lucie Ann is a dressing gown - I have a French magazine from 1951 that shows 3 full length styles with a double breasted 4 button front and shawl collar.

Somehow I suspect the McCardell wasn't supposed to reveal the hook & eyes like that. I see you've wrapped the tie round a few times - can you have a play about and see if they will wrap over the bust or the shoulders or something?

 

[pastperfect2]

That hook and ring motif was classic McCardell and meant to show. She used it a lot over the years.

 

[Pinkcoke]

Really? Gosh it would make me feel underdressed! Are they normally that colour or silvertone originally?

 

[Midge]

Melanie - I had the same thought About the McCardell dress .

 

[Circa Vintage Clothing]

They're both lovely pieces: early '50s for them both. I agree that the second is a fancy dressing gown. Our grandmothers had much more glamorous lingerie than we did.

Melanie, I had the same thought about the bodice of the McCardell! I do wonder if there are other ways of wearing the sash, it's very long.

 

[pastperfect2]

There's couple garments on this post that have them:
http://www.fashionillustrationtribe.com/member-area/claire-mccardell-museum-visit/
and another:
http://www.fashionillustrationtribe...l-museum-visit/blog_mccardell_closure_stripe/

And here's post with paper doll versions - don't know how authentic these are, but your dress is a bit down the page -
http://stirredstraightup.blogspot.com/2009/08/beautiful-doll.html

Brett Fowler, a former member and museum conservator showed me a couple of his McCardells a few years ago and they had these brass hooks and rings. He said they are distinctive to her.

 

[Melissa Lynn]

Wow that is so incredibly glamorous to put makeup on and get ready in such a gorgeous dress!

Thank you all so much for the information and feedback!

 

[Catbooks1940s]

i'm terribly envious of you for coming across and acquiring that claire mccardell. hollis/pastperfect is of course right, and the brass hooks and eyes were meant to be shown, similarly to schiaparelli's decorative plastic zippers.

in all of the many years i've been collecting and searching for vintage, i've yet to have come across one mccardell. yours looks like silk. is it?

agree with the lucie ann being a dressing gown.

 

[Melissa Lynn]

Very interesting about the brass hooks and eyes being intentional. I had just told my husband weeks before acquiring that "no more vintage clothes" would be coming through but made the call to make sure he was okay with me getting this special piece. I just thought it was so gorgeous and now I wonder if there were more of hers that I missed in the shop - will have to return!

I do think it's silk - satin silk. Can't find a flaw on it either, like it was never worn. Just super wrinkly and I am dying to see someone in it one day as it is a touch too tight for me!

Thanks so much again to everyone for helping, I always learn so much here!