How to Find the Vintage 1950s Wedding Dress of Your Dreams

Are you frustrated because you can't find the 1950s wedding dress you've been dreaming of? You're looking for a cocktail or ballerina length full skirted dress and all you're finding are full length gowns? You want strapless and everything has sleeves? That's because dresses like this Jacques Griffe from 1955 were not the norm.

You're more likely to find full skirted tulle dresses in full length.

And you're even more likely to find a dress like this that is far more simple and covered up. In the 1950s, brides were expected to look virginal and modest and churches often required brides to wear a dress with sleeves.

So, how does a bride-to-be find the 1950s style wedding dress she's been dreaming of? Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Stop looking at wedding dresses! What you're really looking for is a 1950s evening gown, cocktail, party, or prom dress that happens to be white or ivory. A party dress is far more likely to have the design details you want, like a strapless bodice, or a full skirt that is shorter than floor length. Use search terms like "1950s white prom dress" or "vintage white evening gown" or "1950s white full skirt dress". By widening your search beyond just wedding dresses, you're far more likely to find a dress that will work for you.

2. Consider a 1950s daytime dress in white or ivory cotton, and add details like rhinestones, lace appliques, or beading to it. A wide satin sash and a bridal tiara would go a long way to making this dress work for a wedding.

3. Consider color. There are lots of 1950s prom dresses and evening gowns in pastel colors like pale pink, soft peach, ice blue, light lilac, or dove gray that would work for a wedding. Do you really have to have white? The red roses could be removed from this pale pink lace gown and it would make a beautiful wedding dress.

4. It's best to leave a vintage evening gown at it's original length. If you're considering buying a gown and having it cut off and shortened, however, be sure to consult with your seamstress before buying to make sure that the design can be shortened. A gown like this would probably look fine if shortened, but the one in the second photo above would look odd if it were to be cut off. (By the way, I never advocate altering a dress by cutting it off, but if you're thinking of doing it, make sure it will work before taking scissors to the dress. And, please, don't tell me about it!)

5. Remember you WILL need to wear a proper foundation garment under your dress. 1950s dresses were designed to be worn with a corset or girdle, and you'll probably need a full, long line corselette, like the one shown here. Need tips on how to find a modern foundation that will work? Check out this post from last year. Keep in mind that the standard difference between the bust and waist measurements of a 1950s dress is 10". For a modern gal, a dress that fits you in the bust is likely to be too small in the waist without a proper corset. Even so, you may need to alter the waistline in order to make it bigger. Be sure to ask your seller if there is room in the seams to do this. It is far easier to alter the waist than the bust.

Here's a great example of what I'm talking about. This is a 1950s strapless prom dress I just listed at Couture Allure that would make a great wedding dress. The white chiffon is lined with a pale lilac-blue taffeta for just a hint of color and the waistband is the same lilac-blue. This was not designed to be a wedding dress, but is perfect for the modern bride who wants a vintage wedding.

How to Find a Good Dry Cleaner for Your Vintage Garments

My post last week about dry cleaning garnered a lot of reaction and a lot of questions from both sellers and buyers. The most frequent question was, "How can I find a dry cleaner I can trust with my vintage clothing?" Here are some tips to help you in your search.

This cleaner has been around since 1934!

1. Avoid franchise cleaners at all cost! Anyone can buy a machine and say they are a dry cleaner. Look for a small family-owned business that has been around for a long time, preferably one that has cleaned the type of garments you want to give them when they weren't considered vintage, but new! Ask if there is an expert dry cleaning technician on staff who has training in stain removal. A fancy storefront isn't necessary, but the premises should be neat and clean. Be sure to choose a cleaner who does the work in-house instead of sending your clothes out to be cleaned somewhere else.

2. Check with local vintage stores or dealers for a recommendation of a good dry cleaner that they use. If you live near a museum with a textile collection or a school with a fashion history course, try asking for a recommendation from someone on staff.

3. Once you've located a cleaner you want to try, check with the Better Business Bureau to see if there are any complaints about the dry cleaner. Also, check online review sites such as Yelp or Google for reviews from customers. Ask neighbors or friends who may have used the service.

4. Take a test garment to be cleaned. Choose a vintage garment that you haven't spent a lot of money on so you won't be out too much if it doesn't work out. Stick with something in wool or cotton, as these fibers are more forgiving, but choose something with a detail that will need attention. Don't choose a satin or taffeta garment for this first test. Evaluate the counter service. Tell the person this garment is vintage and ask if it can receive special care. Is the person at the counter knowledgeable? Even better, is it the owner? If not, did they ask for help from an on-staff expert or the owner? When you pick up the garment, check it thoroughly to be sure you are happy with the results. Does the garment hang correctly? Was the steaming/pressing done with care? Did any stains come out to your satisfaction?

5. If you're happy with the results, take a second test garment to be cleaned. This time, choose a fancier garment in satin or taffeta. Ask that it be steamed instead of pressed, as pressing can make impressions from the seams in these fabrics. The cleaner should be amenable to this request. If you are happy with the results, I think you've found a cleaner you can work with! If not, keep looking.

UPDATE DECEMBER 2012:  Due to new environmental laws, both at the federal and state levels, all dry cleaners in MA that operate in a building with shared residential or certain other business space will have to stop using Perchloroethylene (perc) by 2023.  These laws affected my favorite local dry cleaner, as their building is shared with both residential space and a pre-school.  They switched to one of the new environmentally safe cleaning systems earlier this year.  Sadly, I find that this new system does not work nearly as well in getting rid of stains and odors as the old perc cleaners do.  When searching for a dry cleaner, you will also want to ask what type of cleaning chemicals they use and keep in mind that the newer environmentally safe cleaners will not be as effective.

The Issue of Dry Cleaning

UPDATE DECEMBER 2012: Unfortunately, we have made the difficult decision to stop dry cleaning our garments. We now use in-house cleaning methods for most items sold at Couture Allure. Please read this important update to our dry cleaning policy.


I was speaking with a fellow vintage dealer recently and she asked me, "Why do you dry clean everything before you sell it?". My unspoken response was, "Why don't you?"

In the interest of full disclosure, back when I sold on eBay, I didn't dry clean vintage garments before selling them. But knowing what I do now, I wish I had. When I started my website, I began sending just about everything to my dry cleaner before selling. I am lucky enough to have a professional cleaner who knows how to work with vintage, and who takes great care with the garments I entrust to him. Even so, it amazes me how much hidden damage dry cleaning will bring to light, which is why I think you should only spend your hard earned dollars on a garment that has already been cleaned before you purchase it. Personally, I feel that if there is going to be a problem that gets exposed with dry cleaning, I want it to be my problem, not yours.

This 1950s silk dress is a great example. Early deodorants were not as effective as today's products, and antiperspirants did not come into common use until the 1960s. As a result, unless the original owner used dress shields or had her garment dry cleaned before storing, the fabric at the underarms of a vintage garment is sometimes fragile. The silk of this dress looked fine when I gave it to the dry cleaner, but it didn't stand up to gentle cleaning and came back looking like this. Damage from fabric that is weakened at the shoulders will also show up during dry cleaning.

Be wary of a wool garment that hasn't been cleaned. When moths chew on wool, they leave behind a residue that will often hold the fabric together until it is cleaned away. This dress had one tiny moth nip at the shoulder when I sent it off to be cleaned. It came back with a lot more holes, including this cluster at the front waist that was invisible when I purchased the dress.

This 1960s cotton dress was vivid black and white when I sent it to the cleaners. Unfortunately, the fabric was not colorfast and the black faded to gray with lots of white specks when cleaned.

None of these issues was readily apparent before the garments were cleaned. And can you imagine how disappointed you, as a customer, would be if your dress had come back from your dry cleaner damaged like that, before you even had a chance to wear it?

Dry cleaning will expose weakened thread, which means the seams will need to be resewn. There are some odors, from moth balls, cedar closets, or cigarette smoke, that are so deeply embedded into the fibers, dry cleaning will not help. These odors may need an ozone treatment before a garment is suitable to sell. And if you have allergies, you should be wary of an uncleaned garment which harbors decades of dust, as well as other nasty stuff you don't want to know about.

Freshly dry cleaned garments waiting to be listed at Couture Allure.

Many sellers claim that they have "dry cleaned" a garment at home before selling it to you. This probably means they have sprayed the garment with Febreze, which just puts a layer of scent on top of the dirt, or they have put the garment through a Dryel cycle in their clothes dryer, which has just baked the years of dust and dirt into the fabric. Neither of these methods brings you a clean garment. Learn to read between the lines before buying. And don't trust that old standby, "Has spots that will come out with cleaning." Really? I can tell you with certainty that yellowed underarm stains, lipstick smears, and scattered brown spots called "foxing" will not come out of fine fabrics that need to be dry cleaned. Also be wary of a seller who claims they wash everything before selling. Hand or machine washing will ruin fabrics like taffeta, satin, and rayon crepe that must be professionally cleaned.

Freshly dry cleaned garments waiting to be listed at Couture Allure

If you're shopping at a vintage website, and the seller does not state that their garments have been dry cleaned before being offered for sale, email the site owner and ask if that dress you love has been cleaned, and if so, how. If the site owner tells you it has not, consider whether you want to take a chance. And ask if the site owner will stand behind their product if the garment comes back from your dry cleaner damaged.


Think about it. Why would anyone spend $300 on a dress that still has traces of someone else's white deodorant at the underarms? Ewwwwwww.

The Proliferation of Unrealistic Digitally Enhanced Images in Advertising

Back in December, Procter and Gamble was slapped by the British Advertising Standards Authority for misleading the public when they "digitally re-touched" a photograph of Twiggy used in an ad for an Olay product.

A bit much, isn't it? I am of the opinion that the use of Photoshop and other programs to "digitally enhance" or airbrush advertising images to give the impression of perfection is way out of hand and far too prevalent.

Linda Evangelista in a L'Oreal ad and in a live appearance.

Andie MacDowell in a L'Oreal ad and on the Red Carpet.

When did it become unacceptable to show that women have lived rich and fulfilling lives - lives that naturally give us smile lines, larger pores, saggy eyelids, and crow's feet? When will advertisers stop making us feel bad about ourselves by presenting us with impossible to obtain results? I, for one, would prefer to buy products from a company that has the guts to show me natural results without digitally enhancing it's advertising images. And I'm sure I'm not alone.

Take a look at these images of Cheryl Tiegs from 1975. These photos appeared in an issue of Harper's Bazaar magazine as part of a spread about new make-up products. (Pardon the ripples in the paper. The magazine got wet sometime over the years.)

Click to enlarge this photo, and you'll clearly see Chery's pores and tiny lines under her eyes - "faults" which would have been Photoshopped away in a 2010 image.

Click to enlarge and look at those wonderful lines around Chery's eyes - lines that show true joy and laughter.

Click to enlarge and you'll see that, even on the cover, you can see faint lines to the sides of Cheryl's mouth and under her eyes.

Chery's age in these photos? 28. A true and natural 28, not a digitally-enhanced one.

Beware of Fraudulent Label Switching

I am going to make some people angry with this post, but as an honest and knowledgeable dealer of vintage clothing, I need to make my readers aware of an issue that has been bothering me for quite awhile. The fraudulent practice of sewing vintage or designer labels into clothing that has no label or replacing a less desirable label with a better known one is, unfortunately, becoming more prevalent. Now, don't get me wrong. There are lots and lots of honest and trustworthy sellers of vintage clothing out there. But before you buy, it is wise to know who you are buying from, what to expect and what to look for.

It is important to note that a seller who is offering a garment with suspected label switching may not be the culprit. There is a lot of buying and selling amongst vintage and used clothing dealers that goes on behind the scenes in this industry. There are also many, many sellers who have jumped into this industry because it is "fun". Those sellers may not have the education and experience to recognize when a label has been switched, and may be offering a garment for sale thinking it is the real thing.

Where do dishonest dealers come up with the labels they sew into clothing? Easy. It is not uncommon to see lots like the one above offered for sale on eBay, and these lots often sell for good money. This one sold for about $35 several months ago. There is lots of clothing at thrift stores that is ugly or out of style, but many of those garments bear a desirable label. Labels can be removed from a damaged garment and sewn into an undamaged one. Disreputable dealers will remove designer labels from scarves, hats, gloves, lingerie, and men's ties, then sew them into vintage clothing to pass a garment off as a high end or designer one.

This is a label from a Schiaparelli hat. It was sewn into a skirt that was not designed by Schiaparelli. The skirt sold on eBay for over $650 to an unsuspecting buyer.

This Valentino Jeans label was sewn into a brocade evening gown which was being offered on eBay for several hundred dollars.

So how do you protect yourself? The best way is to learn about what to look for. Here are some tips and common blunders to watch out for. NOTE: These are general guidelines, and will not apply to all garments all the time.

1. First and formost, if a seller is listing a garment as a designer piece, they should always show the label. If a picture of the label is not included in the listing, ask (demand) to see it before you buy. And if they do show the label, but the image is cropped so you can't see the edges, ask for another photo.

2. In general, the label on a vintage designer garment that predates the 1980s will be sewn in by hand with thread that matches the label color. There are notable exceptions, (Grenelle Estevez and Ceil Chapman labels were sewn by machine along the edge of the zipper in the 40s and 50s) but hand stitching and matching thread are the first things I look for.

This Christian Dior label looks questionable because it is sewn in by machine with black thread. Research shows that this is a Dior scarf label, but this photo was taken from an auction for a vintage coat.

3. Newer designer labels are often sewn in by machine, but you would be wise to know how each designer attaches their labels to their garments.

This Carmen Marc Valvo label was removed from one garment, and sewn into another. You can see the original needle holes and white thread at the sides of the label. The label was then sewn into a garment with black thread across the top - a garment that was not by Carmen Marc Valvo.

4. While some modern high-end designer labels are still sewn in by hand, many have gone to machine sewn labels as a cost and time saving measure. However, those labels will be sewn neatly and with care.

You can see the original white threads at the corners that were used to hand sew this label into a Chanel garment. The label was removed and sewn into a different garment with black machine stitching.

5. If a label is sewn in by machine, it will be neatly done, and again, the thread color will generally match the label.

Messy and uneven machine stitching is not found in designer garments.

6. In general, the size of the label will be in proportion to the size and weight of the garment. Accessories like scarves and ties will have small labels. Coats bear larger labels.

This tiny Molyneux label (probably from a scarf) was sewn into a coat.

7. Educate yourself about where a particular designer places his labels. Estevez usually put his labels at the back waist of his dresses in the 1960s. Norman Norell labels are usually found hand sewn to the center back seam of the skirt. Know what to expect and question any label that is not in the usual spot.

This Oscar de la Renta label from the 60s or 70s belongs at the back neck of the dress and should be sewn in by hand. Here it is sewn by machine into a side seam. It even looks like the seller has used the label twice!

8. Modern zig-zag stitches do not belong in a vintage garment.

A label sewn in with zig-zag stitching on a 1950s dress? No way.

9. Know the general styles that designers made. For instance, designer Ben Zuckerman only made suits and coats, never party dresses or lingerie.

Sometime in the late 1950s, Lilli Ann started sewing their labels in with zig-zag stitches in white thread along the sides of the label. This label has been sewn in by hand at the 4 corners with matching thread, but you can see the impressions in the label from the original machine sewn zig-zag stitching. This suit label was very cleverly sewn in to a 1950s party dress - a style that was never made by Lilli Ann.

These are general guidelines, but may not be true in all cases. There are times when stitching that doesn't appear original is fine. Most department stores and boutiques offered in-house alterations up until the late 1960s. Often times, when a garment was altered, the original label had to be removed and sewn back in by the store's seamstress. Or, perhaps the owner of the garment removed the label to get through customs without paying duty and then sewed it back in at home. I'm not saying that all labels that don't have original stitching are fraudulent. But it is in your best interest to be aware and take care.

All of the label images shown above are actual photos from clothing items that were offered for sale on eBay and Etsy over the last year. Remember, I am NOT saying that all sellers are dishonest. I am NOT saying fraudulent label switching is limited to eBay and Etsy. I am simply advising you to be careful and to look closely before you buy.