The Study of an Original 1940s German Dress

 

Photographs, illustrations, and patterns books are great but sometimes you just can't beat studying original clothes. In my collection I am fortunate enough to have a few original pieces, clothes included, and I figured a nice addition to the blog would be featuring them here. I think by adding them here you can study them as well and use the knowledge gained to apply towards shopping and sourcing your own wardrobe. What is great about studying original clothes is that we can see how the skirts were pieced together, how buttons may be did not all match, and all the little lovely details that a illustration or photo simply cannot convey. 

This velvet dress was the first original garment I added to my collection many, many years ago. To this day it still one of my favorites to admire. At my first WWII event in Rockford Illinois, this is what I wore. I don't fit into it anymore, so it is now a lovely study piece. The material is a deep wine-red velvet, I am guessing based on the texture it is a cotton or a cotton blend. The cut suggests to me that it is a late 1930s or very early 1940s cut. The bodice is very shirt waisted and there are no shoulder pads. The bodice features a short peplum and a matching belt that is sewn into the dress that has a snap at the end to keep closed. The sleeves are a puffed sleeve with a ruched detail and the sleeves are gathered into the sleeve arm hole. The buttons are covered in the same velvet and are small domed buttons. Not all the buttons match. It is apparent that at some point some buttons were lost and replaced but covered in the same fabric cut out from the inside seam allowance and hem. The buttons are all functional and the buttonholes are bound buttonholes. There is a facing in red cotton around the front opening and neckline. 

There is a side zipper! This is an interesting feature for European clothing because press studs or poppers seem to be more common in European clothes but here, we are with a lovely little side zip. What makes this zip extra unique is that it is painted to match the dress color. Some of the paint is chipped off but most of it is there. There are no stamps or maker marks on the metal side zipper. Another interesting construction feature is that the zipper is not on the skirt, it is on the bodice and peplum while the skirt is left open to be hidden by the peplum. 

There are no shoulder pads and the best I can figure, this dress never had them. Looking through photos of women from the period from Germany, many clothes seem to lack them. What this suggests is that for early 1940s or late 1930s clothes some did not have shoulder pads. For wartime fashion, that trend continued. Although a common wartime fashion element was shoulder pads to create that masculine angular look, not every look had them. Many photos of German wartime women are without shoulder pads so in creating your own look, don't be too worried if your look is shoulder pad less. 

The skirt is pieced together and is an A line silhouette. The A line silhouette was very common for late 1930s and 1940s clothes. The A line look is smooth at the hips and then flares out. It is not all full as a circle skirt and not as slim as a pencil skirt . . . It is somewhere in between. At the sides of the skirt, there is a lot of piecing, material in the 1940s was narrower than our yard goods today so that could explain why it is like that. Another explanation to why so much piecing is that it could have been from repair work. The bodice also features a lot of piece work as well but in a more decorative way - creating diagonal lines at the front and back. I believe the bodice piecing was more deliberate to create a pleasing visual effect.