Sheer Dresses and Blouses

[sweetarita]

I agree if you are going to do black (like I do sometimes), there can't be too many straps going on. I like that idea of a brightly colored slip. I have orange and green, hot pink, all colors, so I might try that too! It's fun!

 

[Foofoogal]

Sheer Vintage Clothing

From a discussion on the burlesque thread on the Golden Era room.
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http://www.rubylane.com/item/456279-CB426/1940s-Summer-Day-Dress-Murray

Who would of worn this? The normal housewife or a racy lady in the 1940s?
I have sold a very sheer lovely blouse and have a sheer dress with sheer overlay but it is for a very small lady or even a teen girl of about 15 or so.

Very curious to see if this was solely to bring the men back home from the War. Though I have seen 1930s ones also.
I love them but why don't we see them more now?

 

[RodeoRose]

I have a 1950s day dress that's very sheer, but I just wear a full slip underneath and it looks opaque. The lightweight material is great for muggy summer days.

The sheer blouses have always puzzled me a little, though. If you're pairing it with a skirt you could opt for a full slip, but it's tricky when I want to wear a sheer blouse with pants. I usually wear a tanktop underneath, but I feel like it looks too bulky.

 

[Foofoogal]

From the other thread I am not asking this from a moralistic view but a historical view?

I want to know when or why they started being worn. Like the bathing suit changes.

What woman one day decided to make a sheer blouse or dress and think I will wear this out today.

I actually have seen news ladies with some on recently but it was the National news.
Still not the norm I don't think.
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http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...,1115893&dq=history+of+the+sheer+blouse&hl=en

This was before WW11 so it was not for the ladies to bring the men home so to speak.
Herald-Journal - Jan 15, 1937

------------------
Says Maggie Rouff has revived the sheer linen blouse. This is about new items from Paris. House of Patou. Revived?

 

[Puzzicato]

From a discussion on the burlesque thread on the Golden Era room.
--------------------------------------------

http://www.rubylane.com/item/456279-CB426/1940s-Summer-Day-Dress-Murray

Who would of worn this? The normal housewife or a racy lady in the 1940s?
I have sold a very sheer lovely blouse and have a sheer dress with sheer overlay but it is for a very small lady or even a teen girl of about 15 or so.

Very curious to see if this was solely to bring the men back home from the War. Though I have seen 1930s ones also.
I love them but why don't we see them more now?

With a slip underneath, that dress would have been very modest. I don't see it as much different to a summer muslin dress.

I guess we don't see more of that era because fabric that sheer must be even more fragile than other vintage clothes, and maybe it was never a seriously widespread fashion.

 

[Foofoogal]

http://fashionmuseum.fitnyc.edu/cod...earch=constituentid/,/is/,/109/,/false/,/true
-----------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Patou

Perfume. fftopic:

 

[Foofoogal]

maybe it was never a seriously widespread fashion.

This is my interest or curiosity I guess. Was it seen in Peoria then and would it now?

So was it a unique Paris fashion way ahead of its time and then the depression came and it went to the back burner to then be brought out during the War?

Possibly the gals working in the factories wanted to be extra feminine also after working all day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgpvKXLTwr8

Hair safety with Veronica Lake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQrPVsr17g4&feature=related
Here she is with a sheer blouse about frames 105 and 126. Did they see her as their ultimate role model? I think I am going to chat up some elderly ladies very soon.

 

[RodeoRose]

Many 1920s evening dresses were sheer or very thin with beading, and I have a lace (as in, just lace, no lining) 1930s gown that I acquired from the estate of a fairly typical rural Vermont woman. Pre-WWII Vermont women were typically not very fashion-frward, to put it gently, so sheers must've been a fairly common trend for them to have penetrated our backwater

Even many of the demure high-necked white lawn Edwardian gowns of the 1900s and teens are quite sheer and gauzy and require a heavy slip underneath. Of course, I'm no fashion historian, but I'm not sure a dress's fabric weight conveys much about the modesty of the wearer.

 

[Foofoogal]

http://www.tias.com/7617/PictPage/3923780886.html

True. This is one of mine but the 1940 ones still seem much more revealing to me? [huh]

so sheers must've been a fairly common trend for them to have penetrated our backwater

True. So possibly it is more a financial or durability factor over the years we don't see them as much now?
or just a fashion trend at different times?

 

[Lauren]

Sheer dresses were very common and not racy. The earliest historical example I can think of are the muslin dresses Marie Antoinette made popular- women often even wore corsets in colors, I believe, underneath them. The Regency often had sheer dresses as well, and throughout the Victorian era. I'd say from 1900 on they were extremely common and were not considered racy- even young unmarried women wore them and it wasn't considered anything to blink an eye at. The most important thing to consider was being well covered underneath- often with a special slip built for the dress. In the mid to late 30s floral patterned slips were popular under sheer solid colored frocks. I think they've disappeared more in modern wear simply because women don't wear underthings unless they're pre-built in to the frock.
So no, I wouldn't say scandalous at all- but they could be, depending on the way they were worn, but most would have the decency to wear them with proper underthings and be well covered. And don't forget in movies and high fashion they could get away with more than the average woman- so looking at catalogs, women's magazines, and real photos are probably more of an accurate indicator of how they were worn by the masses.

 

[LolitaHaze]

I don't like to think of it as a sheer blouse, but rather dressing up a boring slip!

 

[Foofoogal]

Lauren, I know you would know.

I guess I am not getting my curiosity across. My point is not that they were shocking back then because I don't think they were.

My point is they would seem more shocking or controversial in the average smaller town today. Why is that.

Why there was so many pretty colorful slips to match back then.


http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/main...LBASE001&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=0885410005643

Here is the modern version.

 

[KittyT]

There is already a whole 5 page thread on Sheer Dresses and Blouses: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=7688

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I guess I am not getting my curiosity across. My point is not that they were shocking back then because I don't think they were.

My point is they would seem more shocking or controversial in the average smaller town today. Why is that.

I don't know anyone who would think that modern sheer blouse was shocking. And I am from the marshlands of Southern New Jersey. If I wore that blouse in the depths of towns called Cedarville, Fairton, Bivalve, Port Norris, or Heislerville I don't think anyone would care. They'd actually probably think I was "dressed up" and from that thar big city of Millville lol

 

[Foofoogal]

Guess this is the difference from the North and South. I promise you would be the talk of the town for probably years to come. lol

 

[Lorelai99]

I don't know anyone who would think that modern sheer blouse was shocking. And I am from the marshlands of Southern New Jersey. If I wore that blouse in the depths of towns called Cedarville, Fairton, Bivalve, Port Norris, or Heislerville I don't think anyone would care. They'd actually probably think I was "dressed up" and from that thar big city of Millville lol

I agree. I am originally from a tiny tiny tiny town in southwestern Pennsylvania and they would just think I was very dressed up... but then again the norm there in the summer is to walk around in your bikini or pjs... no one ever accused us of being classy!!

 

[Sunny]

Ditto everything Lauren said. Sheers were worn starting in the 1780s I think (not that that's the earliest, necessarily). Sheers and semi-sheers were dirt-common in the Regency period, for day and evening wear, roughly 1800-1820. I've reenacted the 1860s for 12+ years and sheer dresses for everything from work to ball wear were common. Colored or patterned (lace/embroidery) underneaths could be worn for a different effect during both periods. Sheer materials continued to be used throughout the 1800s, into the 1900s and throughout the vintage period.

It's actually a common misconception that because "our" technology wasn't around, people in past centuries had nothing but heavy, dull, plain fabrics. The truth couldn't be more different! Actually, there are dozens of fine, fancy fabrics that flat out haven't been made for decades or centuries. Manufacturers and designers of sheer clothing in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s weren't doing anything new.

I think they've disappeared more in modern wear simply because women don't wear underthings unless they're pre-built in to the frock.
So no, I wouldn't say scandalous at all- but they could be, depending on the way they were worn, but most would have the decency to wear them with proper underthings and be well covered.

This, right here, is the key. Historical sheers were worn with special fitted or low-cut linings or under dresses, camisoles, and/or petticoats as appropriate. Slips and thin underdresses were simply the vintage equivalent of these more elaborate underpinnings. The vast majority of modern women never wear more than their bras and panties under their clothes. (Maybe there's a half slip for rare occasions.) So whereas a vintage woman would see a sheer dress and evaluate it as a dress, the modern woman sees it and is hung up on how see-through it is! It doesn't help that red carpet, the runways, and some other high fashion areas/people do use sheers without underneaths. Thus women are accustomed to only seeing sheers that way, not with ordinary, unobtrusive slips and camisoles. And sheers worn with underneaths are still recognized as SHEERS, so they might be more startling for modern eyes. Similar to how if someone's only seen seamed stockings or fishnets on cabaret dancers in the movies, they might be a bit shocking in real life, even worn with an ordinary vintage day dress.

 

[Smuterella]

Guess this is the difference from the North and South. I promise you would be the talk of the town for probably years to come. lol

What, even with a cami underneath???

 

[Foofoogal]

Similar to how if someone's only seen seamed stockings or fishnets on cabaret dancers in the movies, they might be a bit shocking in real life, even worn with an ordinary vintage day dress.

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap
Sunny, I think you explained it exactly.

I am only being honest here. I came up at the time of the good girl/bad girl era.
These are some of the things that only a bad girl would do back then.
1. Wear red lipstick.
2. Wear animal prints,
3. Wear fishnets.
4. Tie a blouse at the waist (not sure about this one, could be after age 30 or so, cannot remember.)

I lived in a town and have talked to others with similar stories of other towns where when a girl got married many of the women of the town would write it down on the calendar and wait 9 months to see or earlier.

In the 1940s my mother had to be chaperoned to go anywhere after dark and any lady out after by herself assumptions were made.
fftopic:

I love the sheer blouses and dresses BTW and have some. Of course things have changed quite a bit but I promise some of the vibes along these lines are still around.

 

[Sunny]

I am only being honest here. I came up at the time of the good girl/bad girl era.
These are some of the things that only a bad girl would do back then.
1. Wear red lipstick.
2. Wear animal prints,
3. Wear fishnets.
4. Tie a blouse at the waist (not sure about this one, could be after age 30 or so, cannot remember.)

I lived in a town and have talked to others with similar stories of other towns where when a girl got married many of the women of the town would write it down on the calendar and wait 9 months to see or earlier.

In the 1940s my mother had to be chaperoned to go anywhere after dark and any lady out after by herself assumptions were made.
fftopic:

I love the sheer blouses and dresses BTW and have some. Of course things have changed quite a bit but I promise some of the vibes along these lines are still around.

Okay, I see where you're coming from now. Maybe the attitude you're describing came from a reverse of the sheer trend: Instead of being a new thing, they actually became less common by the 50s and onward, and thus more startling when actually worn. And those who wore them were more likely to want to be startling and eye-catching.

FWIW, it's not an attitude I've ever experienced myself or heard from others.