Divine Miss Black Rayon Bombshell Dress

[*~Eli!]

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying the holiday season so far.

I found 2 interesting pieces recently with which I need your gracious assistance.

Is this 1940s or 1950s?

The belt is missing, do you think it would have been grey satin to match the collar or black?

What would you call that collar?

Description: Hourglass black rayon dress, off shoulder grey satin collar & bow. Shirred sleeve ends, hip pockets, glass & metal rhinestone flower buttons. Side metal half zip, all edges pinked or finished in hem tape.

I cannot find anything out about the label. All of my searches just pull up Better Midler & when I omit her form the search I get nothing of value. Has anyone seen it or heard of it before? Dress is a beauty and a decent size too. Did not fit my dressform well bt I think the pics are decent enough for you.

Thanks

*~Eli

 

[Pinkcoke]

I would put this in the 1950's. The belt colour should match the belt loops, so I assume it was black.

 

[*~Eli!]

Thank you!

No one has heard of the label I assume?

 

[Circa Vintage Clothing]

Sadly, there are thousands of fashion labels over the years with many undocumented online. If you were feeling keen, you could search New York newspapers of the '40s and '50s. You might find an employment advert listing their address, or even an ad for their wares. The fact that google searches haven't turned up anything suggests they were small and perhaps short lived though.

Eli, can you look at the inside of the collar? I suspect you have a '40s crepe dinner dress that was altered with the addition of the grey bow and collar, perhaps in the '80s. If you look at the construction it should reveal the truth. It would also help if you could display on someone/mannequin of the right size as it's hard to discern the shoulder shape and general silhouette. But all the signs point to a '40s dinner dress if you ignore the incongruous collar/bow treatment.

 

[*~Eli!]

Thank you Nicole!

Unfortunately my larger forms are not accessible until after the New Year. I may have the arms to this form here, if so I can add them to show the shoulders better.

If the bow was added, it was done so very professionally, but I can tell that the dress was shortened at a lter date since the hem tape is different than that at the sleeve ends.

The cut and sleeves really gave me a 40s feel, but the bow seemed so 50s to me, that is why I thought 40s.

Ill try to get more pics. It may likely be after the New yEar but thanks!

*~Eli