Vintage dress labels. So much can be told about the garment when one is present. Often they will name the state/ country even specific town or department store. Many times the font used can be a fair indicator of age. Font stylus is an important factor in culture, by simply comparing the font used one may be able to successfully identify an era. Cross-referencing vintage adverts, magazines and other garments will expand your knowledge of typeface.
 |
| photo courtesy of Vintage Fashion Guild |
 |
| photo courtesy of Circa Vintage |
Here are two examples of Lilli Diamond labels. Can you guess which one is older?
----
If you guessed the one on the left.. you are correct! This one is from a 50s- early 60s dress and the one on the right is an early 1970s dress. While the general style of the font is similar, this company graduated their font to appeal to the era.
SIZE
Labels increased in size during the 1960s due to greater awareness of the importance of advertising.
LABEL QUALITY
Labels are also a good indicator of quality, this has really not changed today. Labels by top fashion houses, department stores or couture designers will most often be more substantial; more involved than a label of a dress from the local five-and dime or small dressmaker.
 |
| photo courtesy of Circa Vintage |
 |
| photo courtesy of Circa Vintage |
----------
(Left) A label from a 1950s day dress of lesser quality than the label to the (Right) This label is also a 1950s- era day dress of similar style.
------------
Many women sewed and tailored their own dresses 40+ years ago so a lot of times a label will not be present in a garment. Please don't use label identification as the only means of dating a piece, but it can be a helpful (and interesting!) factor.
No comments:
Post a Comment