At least twice, you’ve heard me complain about how unflattering 1920s clothes are. They completely ignore the female figure. It’s like they try to start with a blank slate to embellish. Well, there are exceptions, especially in evening wear.
Remember several months ago, when I modelled a 1920s silk day dress from the estate sale I’ve been calling, The Greatest Haul of All? That was just the first clothing item I was able to photograph of this amazing collection. Here is a real 1920s “flapper” dress!
While day wear in the 20s was boxy and concealed the figure entirely, eveningwear was a different story. This dress is made of a solid black silk foundation, with black netting draped over it. The netting has been very intentionally pieced. A variety of different shapes were cut and sewn together so that parts of the dress are fitted and others free flowing. The neckline of the dress is just the netting layer.
This dress would be stunning on the dance floor! I’m only sorry that the dress is too fragile to be worn to a dance now. However, I still wanted to put it on to show you a little bit of history.
As in my post a few weeks ago where I showed a dress I made from a 1920s pattern, my hair style was inspired by many pictures in an early 1920s yearbook for a woman’s teacher college. In the early 20s, only a few very brave women had bobbed their hair short, but there were many faux bob hair styles like this one.
There are more amazing pieces of fashion history to come!
Update: After posting this, I realized the Word Press daily prompt was “What’s the oldest thing you’re wearing today?” I answered it unintentionally!
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