The gods of vintage really have smiled on me! [clothing]

My designer friend dropped off the first box of magazines she has for me this morning - mostly 1970s but with some 1950s there. The earlier magazines are in another box that she will drop off next week. She wasn't kidding when she said I'd need a car to get them all home. Enough about magazines, though: she included a

BLACK

VELVET

1930s DRESS

MADE BY ROECLIFF & CHAPMAN.

An act of incredible kindness. It once belonged to a member of her family and I will give it the care and respect it deserves. I love her designs, because they are always classic but with a feminine, graceful touch that makes them special – devoid of any hint of vulgarity. Clearly good taste is in the genes!

Edited to add a photo of the dress: I have tweaked it in Photoshop to try to bring out the lines of the fabric as black velvet is a pig to photograph. This skirt is actually quite full at the bottom, but being bias-cut it falls very straight unless there are hips in the way. The sleeves are around elbow length, perhaps a little longer, with ruching for about 3 or fou

r inches up the outside - looking inside the sleeve there's a strip of firm ribbon (petersham? grosgrain?) about 1/2 inch wide along which the ruching is done. The cowl neckline doesn't go all the way around, it appears to be separate fabric put in at the shoulders, fixed where you see the roughly vertical folds and then dangling free. It has a self-fabric belt with covered buckle, but I undid that for the photos. The front waistline appears to be cut in ever such a slight 'm' shape; the wave is very subtle.

And to counteract all that gorgeousness, because you shouldn't be overloaded, here's a 1970s poncho.