All posts tagged: 1952

Early 1950s fashions and fabrics in Japan, Part I of 5

Published by The Dreamstress

When I bought Murisaki the dress form, something exciting happened.  The proprietor of the Asia Gallery said “Oh, you might like these as well” and showed me these: Ooooooh….. And then he gave them to me.  For free! Squee! (They like me.  I buy a lot of stuff). Now, my Japanese is limited to what I remember of high school Japanese after a dozen+ years.  So what I know about these is based on what I can tell from the images. At first I thought it was a dress catalogue, and a packet with one commercial pattern and a homemade pattern for tabi socks.  Then I looked at it closely and realised that the pattern has ALL the dresses – every single child and adult dress shown in the catalogue – all drawn over each other ready for you to break your brain over as you sort them out. Based on the style of the dresses I’d say the patterns are from 1951/52.  There are dozens, and dozens of them, and even illustrations of fabrics. …

Rate the Dress: 1950s does Japonisme

Published by The Dreamstress

Oh dear, oh dear.  We were having such a good run with Rate the Dress, and then last week the grey & peach 1860s dress disappointed so many of you.  There were some that still loved it, to be fair, but not enough to raise the rating above a 5.9 out of 10 (and if I had accepted Sineuve’s ‘-8’ rating it would have been even lower!) Let’s see if this week’s dress can bring back the wins? My selection brings together all the things I have been blogging about in the last few days: early 50s, mid-50s, summertime, & Japan, all in one perky party frock. Caroline Schnurer’s ‘Rice Bowl Dress‘ uses Japanese paper tie-dye designs on cotton, a backwards kimono-collar, and a very innovative parasol-inspired pleated skirt supported by vertical bones. What do you think?  Is all that green fresh and summer-y?  Does the pairing of classic style with some very innovative construction work, or is the whole boned-skirt thing just a bit too odd?  And what would you think of the dress …