Having trouble dating this Norman Hartnell dress!

SewLongAgo

SewLongAgo

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Hi all!! I just got this insanely good Norman Hartnell day dress, and I’m not sure how old it is? The style tells me 40s but the back zipper makes me think it’s newer? Any help would be much appreciated!

Also it may need a clean; would it survive a drycleaning? Or is it best to leave it be?
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I am really stuck about the date myself, but I just wanted to say it is wonderful!!
 
It's a great dress. We don't have this label in our Label Resource. My guess looking at the label - and the size label is that it might be early '80s. It has sort of a Princess Di feeling. You could compare the waist measurement to a current size 8. I'm not sure how much smaller it would have been in the early '80s (if I am correct) but I know that sizing has really changed since then.
 
Linn said:
It's a great dress. We don't have this label in our Label Resource. My guess looking at the label - and the size label is that it might be early '80s. It has sort of a Princess Di feeling. You could compare the waist measurement to a current size 8. I'm not sure how much smaller it would have been in the early '80s (if I am correct) but I know that sizing has really changed since then.
Click to expand...

I’d assume because of the zipper it’s not 80s plus no shoulder pads? Though, of course could have been removed. I did compare it to a both a 50s piece and a 60s piece I have that’s marked an 8 and it’s about the same on the waist? I’m not sure how much of a difference there would be between the 50s to the 80s?
 
Linn said:
It's a great dress. We don't have this label in our Label Resource. My guess looking at the label - and the size label is that it might be early '80s. It has sort of a Princess Di feeling. You could compare the waist measurement to a current size 8. I'm not sure how much smaller it would have been in the early '80s (if I am correct) but I know that sizing has really changed since then.
Click to expand...

I also compared the construction to an 80s Norman Hartnell and it’s not the same quality of that makes sense
 
Lovely dress: I see '30s styling and so with that big centre back zipper I'll go with early to mid '70s.

I did a lecture recently on Hartnell: a really undervalued designer I think: he died in '79 but his best work was in the '20s and '30s, perhaps ironically before the Queen adopted him (but he was already dressing other royalty like Queen Mary).

Here's one of his '30s creations.

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