Vintage Christmas Dresses and Suits From The Fabulous 40's and 50's
Gilbert Adrian 40's Suit
It's Christmas week and your last day at the office before your well-earned vacation begins. Your company is hosting its annual charity breakfast at the Cliff House to benefit St. Mary's Hospital. You've got to look your professional best and an occasion like this calls for your favorite Gilbert Adrian suit. As you preside over the coffee, tomato juice cocktails and Christmas breads, you are thrilled to make the acquaintance of Nancy Ann Abbott who tells you that her San Francisco-based company will contribute 500 darling Nancy Ann dolls to the hospital. What a windfall! Christmas will be brighter for so many little girls, thanks to your benefit breakfast and Mrs. Abbott's generosity. Your boss is so impressed, he tells you to expect a little something extra in your Christmas envelope this year. What's more, Mrs. Abbott complimented you on your suit...
This Gilbert Adrian suit represents the very best of 1940's design. Adrian, famous for his creation of the ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz, was one of Hollywood's most celebrated costume designers. Katherine Hepburn, Greta Garbo and Jeanette MacDonald wore Gilbert Adrian fashions, and in the 1940's, Adrian moved to New York to become a couturier for the every-day woman. His suits typify the working lady of the war years. From Elizabeth Wilson's Adorned in Dreams:
"An Adrian suit was the civilian uniform of the American woman during the hectic days of the Second World War, when she needed a style and costume appropriate for all occasions - morning, noon and night."
This wool, sage suit creates the powerful silhouette of the professional woman. The double collar gives volume to the upper shoulder, softly rounding out the shoulder hollow. Welt seaming creates a 'V' shape, angled from the waist, producing the elongated hourglass look. It is an iconic mix of masculine and feminine lines, and the heavy buttons, adorned with knights' helms, speak of confidence and ability. Gilbert Adrian suits are highly sought-after today and many are housed in America's finest fashion museums.
Madeleine de Rauch 1940's Christmas Dress
The winter sun is setting over San Francisco Bay as you hop on the cable car and zip home to your charming apartment on Nob Hill. In a twinkling, you whip up a delightful little supper for five friends, including your new boyfriend, Harry. Then it's off to the dressing room to slip into your Madeleine de Rauch dress, just in time to greet your guests. There are candles on the table and colored electric lights on the Christmas tree. You want to look your best for Harry and you hear him catch his breath when you open the front door...
Paris designer, Madeleine de Rauch, kept going strong through even the war years when her Metro collection of gowns was meant to represent a journey on the underground. Each dress and suit was named for a Metro stop, such as Austerlitz, Solferino or Mabillon. This toga-inspired cocktail dress in poinsettia red is classic couture. Only garments designed and constructed in France were permitted by the French government to bear the Made in France label. The tag, shown above, is a guarantee of quality for vintage clothing aficionados.
Fabric was in short supply in Europe and America during the 1940's, so the lavish crossed draping of this dress speaks of considerable wealth, though the simple sleeves feature a minimum of material. It is constructed of sheer red silk over a layer of solid red silk and the color has held true over the decades. The simple V-neck and perky side-tie at the natural waistline create a pretty picture. The Madeleine de Rauch label makes this dress a collector's treasure.
Emma Domb 1950's Evening Gown
While your guests sip their after-dinner Christmas coffee, swizzled with peppermint sticks, you steal away to change into your evening gown before your party sets out for the gala opening of the San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker. This is truly one of the events of the season, and your ballet-inspired Emma Domb gown is surely the perfect choice for tonight. Crisp stars twinkle over the lights of the city as Harry escorts your group to his new Hudson for an evening of holiday gaiety...
Emma Domb's San Francisco-based company was celebrated for its design of wedding gowns and glorious evening wear. This blush skin-tone silky rayon dress features an overskirt of tulle netting. Tulle ruching ornaments the bodice and has been gathered into elaborate circles just below the hips. Simple spaghetti straps finish off the garment. The choice of color and the full-skirted silhouette suggest the graceful costumes of the ballet and this dress brings to mind Jacqueline Kennedy's 1953 wedding gown which included a similar pattern of wide circles around the skirt.
Emma Domb's clothing company was in operation from the 1930's-1970's and today, her label works magic in the minds of vintage clothing fans. The creativity and care present in each of her designs is a joy to encounter, and California women trusted Emma Domb to get them in a party mood for all kinds of occasions.
Classic 1940's Christmas Dress
The Nutcracker was a thrill, and afterwards, your group heads back to Nob Hill to finish off the brilliant evening at the Venetian Room in the Fairmont Hotel. It's gorgeously decorated for the holidays with garlands of glittering bells and red roses on every table. Harry can hardly believe that Artie Shaw's big band is really here, all the way from New York City, filling the air with their romantic swing sound. At the front of the stage, crooning 'Begin the Beguine', Helen Forrest's crimson gown strikes you as absolutely soignee. In a heartbeat, you're on the shining dance floor, oh so happy in Harry's strong arms...
Though this rayon-blend evening gown has lost its label, its style simply shouts out 1940's! The military shoulders are a wonderful take on a traditional Bertha collar, reflecting the popular, structured silhouette of the war years. Extremely detailed and unusual quilting on the shoulders and hips are, perhaps, suggestive of couture and give tremendous architectural interest to the design. The blockiness of these elements is nicely contrasted by the softly gathered bust line and flowing skirt. The color is festive and has remained true over the years. This vintage dress is so reminiscent of the fabulous garments worn on-stage by America's most beloved swing singers who sang to lift America's wartime morale, and the abundant fabric employed in the design indicates that this gown belonged to someone special.
Forstmann / Vogue Couturier Designed Suit from the 1940's
The Venetian room is hosting a holiday raffle on this special night, with wonderful prizes promised. Harry insists on buying you ten tickets as an early Christmas present and your evening is crowned when you discover you've won a fabulous Vogue Couturier suit. Elegant, understated, classic. In almost breathless rapture, you turn to Harry to wish him a Merry Christmas and to say that this suit will be the very thing for you to wear on your business trip to snowy Boston after New Year's. Harry hands you a rose, and says he hopes your trip will be a short one, because he's got something very important to ask you when you come back. There's something so wistful in his dark, serious eyes. You think you're hearing wedding bells...
The flecked or speckled virgin wool tweed of this vintage Vogue suit with its princess seams and long jacket brings to mind English riding attire. The shoulders are softly padded, but the wide collar and turned-back cuffs give some angles to the design. The skirt is slim, completing the tailored look of the outfit. The warm, heavy fabrics would have made this an ideal suit for an East Coast lady, and the sedate styling is suggestive of upper class tastes.
The two labels in this suit signify that it was patterned by Vogue but high quality fabric from Forstmann - a company whose name is almost synonymous with woolen fashions for both women and men. Paired with a soft lemon or lacy white blouse, this suit remains picture-perfect to this day, and such garments are currently tremendously popular with Rockabilly fans. Proof of the quality of the original construction of this lovely vintage ensemble is seen in the fact that it has held up so beautifully over the years.