1920 Party Dress

Oh, I so should have been born during my grandmother’s time. The clothes were so feminine and beautiful. This 1920 party dress is a fine example of what I mean. It was included in a fashion catalog for the 1991/1920 season. I’m not sure which I like better, the dress or the peacock headdress.

The silk chiffon dress has a Grecian neck-line and the entire thing is finished with lovely floating flounces. The bodice is embroidered as is the skirt. The catalog called this lovely yellow color maize and the dress was also sold in white. Oddly, the sizes were listed as 14 to 20 years – I’m not sure how that would work out of a catalog but I guess the girls back then knew what age corresponded to their size. It was offered for $18.45.

It might not sound like it today, but $18 went crazy far back then. Butter was around 66 cents a pound, bacon 42 cents, sugar 11 cents, flour 8 cents and 4 cents would buy a pound of carrots.

I would think this 1920 party dress would have only been available to well-to-do ladies. The dress reminds me of what flappers wore. It took a while to get it out of her but in a quiet moment my grandmother admitted that she had been a flapper. She admitted having gone to speakeasies and being a bit of a wild thing in her younger days. Don’t know if she ever had a dress like this one but there is at least one photo of her in a party dress from this era. What a fine time it must have been to have been a woman.