1930's slip dresses? Evening wear or nightwear?

[Miss Neecerie]

Please do not link ebay auctions that have not yet ended, even for illustrative purposes, it is against the FL rules.


Now ladies, here is the dress she wanted to show you. I grabbed a picture and hosted it on my photobucket account.

 

[Rockapin-up]

Looks like an evening dress to me, but i'm no expert.

 

[Snookie]

I believe that slip dresses were popularized in the 90's, yes? Supermodels wearing slinky slips out as sexy eveningwear?

That's not a "slip dress". I think it's a real dress, it could be a nightgown, but I'm not good at telling the difference for those 30's negligees. I'd wear 'um all as dresses!

The slip dresses I remember were more like this.
http://www.blaec.com/mm-masayuki-marukawa-bias-slip-dress.shtml

That seller is using the term just because the dress is silky.

 

[Miss Crisplock]

Either way, you could wear it to a formal pyjama party!

 

[Lady Day]

Oh Snookie, you said that better than I ever could.

LD

 

[LolitaHaze]

I can't tell, but is that dress on the hanger backwards? It almost looks like it has a sweetheart neckline in back?

I think that is a dress. I do have two 30s/40s nightgowns myself. One I only wear as a nightgown as it has little poof sleeves, but the otherone I have worn as an actual dress. It is VERY body hugging and will show every little curve so I wear it out sparingly. But that one has one inch straps and looks like a modern interpretaion of a 30's gown, although it is a 30's nightgown. <-- Make sense?

 

[Lauren]

That one's an evening gown. And a very pretty one! From the early 30's, I'd wager (32-34)

Sellers list Slip and Dress in the title a lot of times to get more hits. There weren't slip dresses in the 30's, though I've seen in numerous books on vintage clothing that they advocate wearing 30's slips as dresses (and yup, they starting saying it in the 90's).

You can tell a slip/nightgown from a dress by a few things, though they aren't always consistent. In fact, the best way is to go back to period sources like catalogs, magazines, and pattern covers and get an idea of the cuts and fits of evening gowns vs nightgowns/slips.

-slips generally had narrow straps and were undecorated. There was, however, a period around 1937 when it was extremely popular to have a patterned slip underneath a sheer plain chiffon dress for afternoonwear.

-nightgowns generally will be decorated with lace cutwork, embroidery, or other frills or pintucking. Evening gowns were generally more structured and didn't look so much like "lingerie" in trimmings, if not cut.

-nightgowns often had ties which came out from the side fronts or sides and would snug it in to to the body. Evening dresses had side fasteners to accomplish this then often had a belt or ties over the top. No one likes to sleep on snaps or zippers!

-Tags of lingerie or nightwear will often have a tag which stated bust size as well as dress size (I.E. Barbizon 14 B.32) and you'll become more familiar with nightwear and lingerie companies (which often coincided, though high end dressmakers also made smaller lingerie lines, just like you see today)

Hope that helps

 

[Miss Sis]

Lots of sellers might say you can wear slips (or petticoats as I call them) but they still look like underwear and not like a dress, IMO.

I seen them being sold in London vintage clothes shops dyed darker colours but the material is just too thin to be worn without - you guessed it - a slip underneath!

 

[NicolettaRose]

Thanks Everyone!