To save or not to save: 1930's dress in need of rehabilitation

[NicolettaRose]

I came accross two very cool 1930's dresses at a local shop here in Burbank. These dresses orginally belonged to Paramount Studios, and have now been bought up by this store and put on thier racks. The dresses are not expensive, I just need to know if they should be saved, due to thier history, or not bothered with. I don't know the first thing about sewing, so maybe some of you ladies who know about it can help me out.

1. The dress which has the least problems is a brown dress, the tag says copyright 1933 in the paramount script. There is not much to complain about with this dress. It has a very unique shoulder detail, like I have never seen before. On the front of the dress there are some stains, because these dresses were used on a movie set in 1933, then shoved the the back of the closet, and then only brought out in 2007, I wonder if the stains will come out with dry cleaning? The dress is made of a nubby silk crepe and lace collar.


2. The second dress is the very sad one.The side seems of one of the dresses has literarlly split open and would need to be reinforced. The lace collar which used to be set in nice folds has litterally disintergrated and would probably need to be removed entirely, dress is made from a beautiful navy blue silk, but the silk has disintergrated in one spot, and would need to be patched.

What do you think?

Would you save pieces of history, or not buy them? The first one I am tempted to get if the stains would come out, or if I could cover it with something.

 

[Lady Day]

Like a lot of people here, most would say to have the garment de-constructed and re drafted into a pattern from its pieces. But since you dont like to sew, Id recommend either getting the garments for that reason and giving them to someone who can do that, or letting them be and hope they go to a good home.

If the structure of the garments are alright, then you can just refashion the garment with other details. But without pics, I cant judge further.

LD

 

[Lauren]

I double what LD says... If you're really adamant about the dresses, get them cleaned by the French Laundry in Pasadena. They do cleaning for museams and would be the best bet for removing the stains. Even with the stains removed, however, they do not sound wearable. They are great collector's pieces if they can be brought back to life, but someone who collects movie memorabilia may not want them refurbished other than a cleaning and even then since they don't have stars names in the tags they would not be very valuable. If you're interested in wearing them I suggest getting a copy made- destroying a piece of movie history, even if not a stars, would be sad.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

If you're interested in wearing them I suggest getting a copy made- destroying a piece of movie history, even if not a stars, would be sad.

Sad and quite possibly highly embarassing. I have been present when "dresses that should not be worn" were worn out and disintegrated on the spot, or the fabric split.

Thank goodness for nice underpinnings...but really....not what one wants to worry about all evening.

 

[MoxieGrl]

Do you collect or just wear vintage? If they were at a good price I'd be tempted to buy them and store them in an acid-free box. I have alot of vintage that I either don't or can't wear but keep them for the history or because they are pieces of art.

 

[anabolina]

Sad and quite possibly highly embarassing. I have been present when "dresses that should not be worn" were worn out and disintegrated on the spot, or the fabric split.

Thank goodness for nice underpinnings...but really....not what one wants to worry about all evening.

Wow, that did happen to me Miss Neecerie. The dress wasn't particularly tight, but the fabric was weak and I was so in love with my new Ebay buy, that I just wore it to work with out giving it more than a cursory look over. I got several rips up the side that required emergency sewing, and this was before or rather the reason I've got a sewing kit at work.

Oh bother, NicolettaRose they sound really nice, but not particularly wearable. Take it from me, that it's not fun when your dress distintergrates around you. Although it's hard to say if the dresses could take wearing and they sound like a great find. sigh. Good luck!!!

 

[NicolettaRose]

I both collect and wear vintage pieces, but most of my collection is wearable, bought or tailored down to my size. My collection spans form 1900-1970, but the bulk of the dresses I have are from the 1920's-1940s, with most of them being from the 1930's since I think that is what looks best on me and fits my body type.

I think I will take Lauren's suggestion and take the first dress to the Pasadena cleaners. There is nothing much wrong with this dress that a little dry cleaning and some tailoring might fix.

The other dress might be a lost cause. Its not THAT memoriable that it needs to be part of a collection, it is just sat because when I put it on, it fit SO perfect

 

[Joie DeVive]

If that one fit so perfectly, and it's a lost cause anyway, you could consider taking it to a seamstress to have a copy made (she could use the original to make the pattern). It probably wouldn't be cheap though....

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

I'm a sad old thing...I think I'd buy them anyway, just because of their history....I trained in textile conservation and I'm afraid I now have boxes of dresses etc that aren't wearable but are a wonderful reference guide for me when I'm sewing my own etc...
Wow, stuck here in the UK you make it all sound so glam being able to walk into a shop and find things used by those great old studios....
If only dresses could talk!

 

[Lauren]

I'm the same way, Kitty! It's not sad at all! Helps studying vintage and when you make your own repros it helps you get the details down
Besides, someone's gotta love these old dresses- even if they can't be worn- they're history!

 

[NicolettaRose]

I'm the same way, Kitty! It's not sad at all! Helps studying vintage and when you make your own repros it helps you get the details down
Besides, someone's gotta love these old dresses- even if they can't be worn- they're history!

I deffinatly agree here. They are part of history--and not just any history, movie history. Its sort of sad that the studios didn't take better care of these gems. They might not have been worn by Jean Harlow--, but they are still movie history.

 

[ohairas]

Well, since you're writing this vintage fashion book, dontcha think you should buy them both for study? Then you can take pics yourself and use them.
Nikki

 

[dhermann1]

Do the dresses state what film(s) they were used in? Whenever I see a black and white film it makes me crazy speculating what colors the dresses are. (E.g. last night Myrna Loy had several beautiful outfits on in "Test Pilot", and of course, they were all just B&W.)
I would think it would be a fascinating quest to find clips of the dresses in the movie they were used in, and compare them with the actual colors of the outfit.