Butterick dresses for teens and small women; Delineator, November 1925.
It’s easy to generalize about the Twenties, but every once in a while I encounter a dress that is undeniably “Twenties” but also defies the clichés.
I like all three of these dresses (and, if you dread wearing those 1920’s hip bands, these are for you!) But the one in the center, with its piped and slashed tunic, has really charmed me.
Black tunic dress 6381 has a muted pink collar, white piping, and an unexpected side slit.
The tunic is very long, revealing just a couple of inches of skirt — which has white trim to continue the lines of trim on the tunic.
The brown velvet dress at right is also unbroken by any belt, and its lean lines are accentuated by a long, soft drape. The sleeves have openings bound with what appears to be lighter brown satin. Perhaps the neckline has openings, too. The sleeves continue to the neckline in a sort of yoke effect.
The green dress is also unusual:
Butterick 6385 suggests a coat over a lighter-colored under dress, but judging from the hem, it’s probably one piece.
I doubt that it would fall so perfectly straight on a normal female body. My guess is that the CF opening is bound with self-fabric, but it could be two lines of stitching instead.
Detail of center front, Butterick 6385, Nov. 1925.
On the same page of Delineator were these evening dresses for young women:
Three evening dresses for young women and teens, Delineator, November 1925.
The yellow dress, Butterick 6330, also avoids having a hip-band or sash. It is not a princess-seamed dress; it has a small bust dart or easing in the side seam. (It’s essentially a tube with a circular flounce added, but getting the flounce to fall as illustrated would take some patterning skill.)
A closer look at Butterick 6330, 6328, and 6383, dresses from the winter of 1925.
The center dress may be a two-piece (I think I see a camisole top with narrow straps showing through the tomato-red georgette bodice.) This would be a great dress for dancing the Charleston –imagine all those skirt panels flying! The light triangles give a touch of Art Deco and a sporty quality.
Detail of skirts; Butterick 6328, left, and 6383, right. Delineator, November 1925. Notice the picot edges on the green panels.
It’s possible that the green panels are matching-colored chiffon on top of a narrow skirt, rather than inserted into it.
In January 1926, Delineator suggested that last year’s straight skirts could be made to appear more stylishly flared by adding “godets, circular flounces, inserted [pleats,] flying panels, etc.”The vogue of two materials, two colors or two shades of the same color makes reconstruction possible and practical.”
This rosy-red dress has gathered flying panels of a different material in a slightly different shade:
Butterick dress with flying panels, Delineator, January 1926.
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