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Karen Wood 1940's Dating Report 5/5/98 

1940's GARMENT

Although this garment is a jacket and skirt, it is not a suit.  It fits more into the two piece tailored "evening" garment.

44481_04t.jpg (7957 bytes)44481_05t.jpg (5659 bytes)44481_06t.jpg (6468 bytes)

The tailored garment in the mid-1940's were at the smartly dressed woman's alternative to the fluffy, frilly garments.  Tailored garments were acceptable for both day and evening wear.

The line of this garment is similar to the garment shown in an advertisement of J.Magnin's "The Streamliner" from a 1945 issue of Glamour.

     garment4.gif (18586 bytes)

  The triangle line created by large shoulder pads and a narrow waist.   The streamliner appears to be a one piece but contains the same collarless neck line and A-line shirt. The addition of the decorative copper buttons and the peplum make the garment very similar to what is described as a garment which stimulate suits that are more dressy. "A blouse with a gay peplum makes a lovely two-piece costume effect" according to The Complete Book of Sewing, Constance Talbot, 1943. 

Everyday Fashions of the Forties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs Great Fashion Designs of the Forties: Paper Dolls in Full Color

American Family of the 1940s: Paper Dolls

Authentic 1940s Hairstyles : Tips and Tricks For Creating Authentic 1940s Hairstyles

Talbot's text(p.156) shows a similar blouse, descriptions of evening wear with both short

garment1.gif (1516 bytes) garment2.gif (1384 bytes)

and long skirts (p. 160), and a similar dress in a more informal fabric and without the

decorative copper buttons (p. 151). garment3.gif (2136 bytes)                                                        

Fabric:    vegetable fiber of cotton in a textured off white in color.

Construction:  Commercially made by a designer (H. Liebes & Co., San Francisco) and sold in an exclusive San Francisco shop (Helen of California).

The shoulder pads are approximately 1 1/4" thick of the same fabric.   Commercial button holes, snaps, hooks & eyes,  and a 7" metal zipper is used for a side placket are all used in the construction of the garment.

The decorative copper metal buttons are approximately 1 1/2" in circumference and 5/8" high. They appear to be made of copper metal

I would date this garment as mid to late 1940's.  Considering that it was purchased along with a similar size ladies military garment which appeared to have never been worn, perhaps the end of World War II would be an appropriate dating.

This garment would be worn for late afternoon or evening wear.

Pattern drafting of garment:
Blueprints of Fashion : Home Sewing Patterns of the 1940s (Schiffer Book for Collectors) Movie-Star Portraits of the Forties : 163 Glamour Photos draft1.gif (5307 bytes)

Fashion Sourcebooks the 1940s (Fashion Sourcebooks)

Swing! The New Retro Renaissance

The Swing Book

 draft2.gif (8021 bytes)

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This page last edited on 05/07/2007