Guess the decade!
The dress, not me. I’m happy to confirm I was released in 1974.I got this dress on eBay last month. I thought it looked late 60s/early 70s, especially given the geeometric print, and I really liked the colours, but now I’ve got it, I’m not so sure of that date. For one thing, the collar’s quite small, and even though this was – let’s be truthful – not a trendy garment when it was made, I’d have expected it to be larger, in keeping with the fashionable dagger collars of the day. And that made me wonder… is this from the 80s, designed for older ladies but with a nod to styles of 20 years earlier because that's what they were comfortable with? The label’s no help; it simply says ‘Deenie of London’. The seams are raw, not overlocked.
It’s a fairly thin polyester knit, much lighter in weight than my 60s crimplene, so I’ve been wearing it round the house even on warm days (though not in the recent heatwave). It’s nice and stretchy, so is comfy for working in – I don’t want to spend all day with stuff digging in round the middle when no-one but Mr Robot’s going to see it, and even he sees very little of me in work hours. It doesn't stretch quite enough to avoid the dreaded button gape, so I'm thinking of just sewing the front up – the dress pulls on over my head, so I don't need to be able to button or unbutton it.
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| The collar seems to restrained to be late 60s/70s to me... What do you think? |
That's a gorgeous dress, Mim, and very much up my street. But I presume that you'd already guessed that ;-) In fact, that print look so familiar to me that I might very well have a blouse or dress in a similar print. I often remove the belt loops from my dresses. They are hardly ever in the right place for me, either. You can always add a belt in the desired place when you'd feel the need to in future. xxx
ReplyDeleteYes, I keep looking at it and thinking, "How would Ann style this?"
DeleteI don't know, Mim. It reminds of the dresses our residents wore when I did my nurse training in the 1970s; we always added a toning cardigan also in polyester, to complete the look!
ReplyDeleteTake care
xxx
I was considering a navy cardigan! Or possibly a cream one.
DeleteSomeone might have altered the collar later on to keep it fashionable. I'm always cutting off belt loops on dresses. You might prefer a loose chain belt that can hang below your waist. Contrary to popular opinion, I do think belts work on all bodies-you just need the right belt.
ReplyDeleteOooh, I do have a 70s chain belt with a dragon on the end somewhere...
DeleteIt’s a lovely dress, have you researched the brand? It sounds like a 50’s brand, I had to get rid of my vintage clothing we had an attack of moths, and when I realised it was too late. So we had to get the closet fumigated. So back to Japanese style for me.
ReplyDeleteI had a look, but could only find stuff from the 60s-80s.
DeleteI hate moths with a passion - every late spring I haul everything out of my wardrobe and spray it with mothproofer, and I have anti-moth hangers there and in the coat cupboard. One of the good things about moving to later decades is moths won't eat crimplene - that stuff's indestructible.
I'd say it was late 1980s or even 1990s but it's neither here nor there, the colour looks great on you and it feels good to wear. Definitely snip off the belt loops, they are never in the right place! xxx
ReplyDeleteYeah it really is an odd dress, isn't it? I think it was an old lady dress in its day, so was designed with an earlier era in mind, hence what a confusing garment it is.
DeleteI always cut of belt loops they are never ever in the right place for me either, makes you wonder who those elusive people are who they do sit right on!
ReplyDeletePeople with INSANELY PERKY BOOBS. Or very short torsos. (I'm five foot five, as average as you can get. And I'm not especially long-bodied as far as I can tell.)
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