Name that dress!

Following on from last week's post, I've spent some time trying to work out the definitions of soft dresses, tailored dresses and suit-dresses - with a notable lack of success. In the hope that some readers may be more clued-up than I am, I've added a quiz at the bottom of this post.

Soft dresses

This should be straightforward. I'm guessing flowing and unstructured, in pliable fabrics. Perhaps with a drape detail for emphasis.

S-4999

Maybe a full skirt with unpressed pleats.

6762

Or a sheer overlay.

6757

But then there's something like this. Yes, the skirt has a drape, but the bodice looks more . . . tailored.

6811

Tailored dresses

Once more, some examples seem to fit the bill exactly.

S-4975

But what about this? Again, the bodice is structured, but the skirt is definitely softer.

6797

All the examples so far have been one-piece dresses, but there are two-piece dresses (?) as well. They can be all in one colour, or not.

6747

To me, the scallop detail on the bodice definitely softens the look.

6804

And surely a dress for sport should be soft, and not tailored?

6803

Suit-dresses (and suits)

In theory, suit-dresses should be easy to identify. But they share a section of the pattern catalogue with suits, and I really can't work out the rules for which is which. Even though it's a jacket and skirt, and all made in the same fabric, this is a suit-dress.

6688

As is this, with a choice of matching or contrast pieces.

6533

And this.

S-4005

This one looks a little less structured.

6829

I did wonder if a suit-dress was intended to be worn with nothing underneath the jacket, like this.

S-4926

This suit, with a blouse under the jacket on the right, seemed to confirm my theory.

6539

But then, this suit didn't!

6729

Suits don’t have to be all the same fabric. And this example also disproved my theory that suit jackets must have pockets.

S-4909

I'm completely lost.

Quiz

Think you can spot the differences? Test your skills with this quiz!

Click on the image to enlarge it

And the answers are . . .



Keep scrolling . . .



1 - S-4893, soft dress
2 - 6786, tailored dress
3 - 6732, soft dress
4 - S-4962, suit
5 - 6805, tailored dress
6 - 6719, suit-dress
7 - 6711, tailored dress
8 - 6602, soft dress
9 - S-4002, suit-dress
10 - 6559, suit-dress


So how did you do?
8-10 - Your grasp of the nuances of 1949 clothing is truly impressive, well done!
4-7 - Not bad, there were some easy ones in there but also some tricky ones
0-3 - Clearly you are as confused as I am!