Mystery Dress!
So, for my birthday, my marvelous sister Kate sent me this:
Isn't it awesome? Just the thing to hang in my sewing room.
Of course, I am now consumed by curiosity: who drew this? Why? How did it end up in a junk shop in Park Slope, for Kate to find?
It's marked "DeZine Studio, 105 W 40 ST. NYC", and the style number is D-1725. The illustration is marked "Peau de Soie" (and it's spelled correctly!).
Here's a slightly closer view of the actual dress (sorry about the flash glare):
Anyone have a clue for me? I could just *invent* the story, a la "Secret Lives," but I'd like to take a stab at finding out actual facts, first.
Isn't it awesome? Just the thing to hang in my sewing room.
Of course, I am now consumed by curiosity: who drew this? Why? How did it end up in a junk shop in Park Slope, for Kate to find?
It's marked "DeZine Studio, 105 W 40 ST. NYC", and the style number is D-1725. The illustration is marked "Peau de Soie" (and it's spelled correctly!).
Here's a slightly closer view of the actual dress (sorry about the flash glare):
Anyone have a clue for me? I could just *invent* the story, a la "Secret Lives," but I'd like to take a stab at finding out actual facts, first.
Labels: mysteries
posted by Erin @ 8:04 AM
31 Comments:
At Aug 17, 2007 8:36:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
I don't have any answers for you, but what a find! This would look great in my studio as well. I would like to do a knock-off of this one - it's beautiful!
BTW - I've been looking at your blog for a couple of months now and I love, love, love it. I check it often to make sure I haven't missed anything. And the comments are so clever, informative and fun to read. Keep up the fun work!
Alabama Seamstress
At Aug 17, 2007 9:13:00 AM,
Kate said…
Does it say WHO St.? I thought it was a number with a "th" after it, maybe West (W) 40th St. I remember googling some street address after I got it...
At Aug 17, 2007 9:44:00 AM,
melissa joy said…
my boss has a sketch of a different dress, same style of sketch in her office. it was a gift as well, so she doesn't have any info on it.
when exactly is your birthday?
At Aug 17, 2007 9:45:00 AM,
melissa said…
never mind, i went back an entry.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
At Aug 17, 2007 10:32:00 AM,
Erin said…
Kate -- you're right, it does look more like 40th St. I changed it in the post.
I wondered where "WHO" street was. And if Dr. Seuss knew about it ...
At Aug 17, 2007 10:41:00 AM,
Archiknist said…
Old NYC directories might help you figure out when the studio existed, while city records (held by the municipal archives: http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/about/archives.shtml) might also have some record of the business. They'd might also know who could help you if they can't.
Rebecca
At Aug 17, 2007 11:45:00 AM,
julia said…
Erin - Happy Birthday! Mine was yesterday and I would consider another chapter of Secret Lives a most wonderful birthday gift!
At Aug 17, 2007 11:59:00 AM,
Summerset said…
Oh Wow! I want your sister as a sister!
At Aug 17, 2007 12:18:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
I love the sketch! I don't know any info on it, but I wish you luck with your search.
At Aug 17, 2007 12:30:00 PM,
barbie2be said…
i love that dress! it's fabulous!
At Aug 17, 2007 1:40:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Can we please have another "Secret Lives" anyway? Please?
At Aug 17, 2007 1:41:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
I'm more curious if it ever actually got made up than who drew it. That dress is gorgeous!
At Aug 17, 2007 3:14:00 PM,
Jen ~ MOMSPatterns said…
YOWSERS that is amazing! I tried to do a bit of sleuthing and did NOT find anything exactly like this, but DID find a gorgeous 50's Vogue Special Design pattern (that looks like it sold for $50 last year) with a SIMILAR ruched bodice. At least it has a pattern number attached so maybe no day in your journeys, it will surface!
http://www.lulusvintage.com/ephemera/index.html and it's the 4th or 5th entry down.
Good luck with more googling, guys & gals! I'm off for a nap. This heat's unbearable..
At Aug 17, 2007 3:18:00 PM,
zimmersarmy said…
Jan 1958, in Oxnard California...A dress shop called DeZine Dress was robbed of $708.90 in merchandise. The shop was on 2207 Ventura Blvd (which now has me humming that song.)
Perhaps your sister has traveled back in time to swipe you a present. But is it shoplifting if it is done through time travel?
At Aug 17, 2007 3:42:00 PM,
renee said…
What a wonderful present!
The dress is soooo divine. I would make mine in a gunmetal taffeta, and go for a night out at the steak house, with a Manhattan to drink.
Happy belated birthday! Oh, and thanks for the tape measure that arrived the other day, which now lives in my purse.
At Aug 17, 2007 4:03:00 PM,
mickey said…
The sketch is just screaming "Make me a "secret lives" story!
Happy birthday and many more-
At Aug 17, 2007 5:15:00 PM,
susan said…
Would you wear a necklace with that neckline? I don't think I would. I think I'd do earrings and bracelets.
At Aug 17, 2007 5:58:00 PM,
Els said…
Happy birthday.
A beautiful present. Peau de Soie is French and means skin of silk and is referring to a medium weight smooth with a semi dull finish. Originally made in Padua Italy.
At Aug 17, 2007 8:22:00 PM,
Carol said…
Ooh, renee, I received the best compliment of my life in a gunmetal taffeta dress. A man I had worked with for months (though I must admit, he had usually only seen me in scrubs, an OR cap and a mask) saw me at a formal occasion wearing a gunmetal taffeta dress and asked a mutual acquaintance, "Who is that incredibly attractive woman?"
Being a shy person of dubious self-esteem, it warms my heart that at least once in my life I was thought to be "incredibly attractive".
At Aug 18, 2007 4:16:00 AM,
Welmoed said…
What a beautiful gift!
Happy Birthday!
At Aug 18, 2007 8:03:00 AM,
Jen ~ MOMSPatterns said…
'Maybe ONE day'. Not maybe no day. Geesh, that was a sly negative statement, wasn't it?!
At Aug 18, 2007 8:13:00 AM,
Joni said…
One of the gowns in the Christian Dior exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art has that same drapey gathering at the top of the skirt panels. My mother and I scrutinized that dress for a good ten minutes and we couldn't figure out how they do it beyond, "First, you take a LOT of fabric..."
At Aug 18, 2007 9:04:00 AM,
Josephine said…
...yes a LOT of fabric, how wonderful to feel all that floating around you? :-) If I made it, I'd think of a rich maroon, or maybe forest green?
At Aug 18, 2007 9:40:00 AM,
Kathy F. said…
I have an enormous portfolio of my Mom's watercolors that look like this. She was 15 when she began doing them - amazingly talented! She entered contests for local department stores, too, and I have those "entries" also. One day I want to have some of them framed and hanging in my sewing room - this is just the inspiration! Thanks for sharing!
At Aug 18, 2007 11:47:00 AM,
Theresa said…
Geesh - I checked out your sister Kate's site -- is the ENTIRE McKean Clan amazingly talented and brilliant?
At Aug 19, 2007 4:41:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Ever since I've been watching "Mad Men," dresses like this fill me with a certain tristesse. (Hey, if it's in "peau de soie" I can refer to my mood as "tristesse.") When I look at these garments' tight, unforgiving construction, and their extreme exaggeration of seondary sexual characteristics, I can't help thinking how women were defined by their gender in the 1950s, subordinated to men, and profoundly unfree. There's a Max Ophuls movie, called "The Reckless Moment" with James mason (it was remade as "The Deep End" with Tilda Swinton a few years ago) that uses these tight, highly structured 1950's-era dresses to make a point about how suffocated the heroine is by her role as wife and mother.
But if I could look at the garment as nothing but a garment, deracinated from history, it is very beautiful.
At Aug 19, 2007 11:52:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
ooh ooh ooh - Secret Lives are so much better than "actual facts"!
At Aug 20, 2007 9:15:00 AM,
MJ said…
Believe it or not, I saw a similar drawing on the wall in the ladies room of a furniture store this past weekend. The subject was wearing a two-toned kimono sleeved jacket and a pencil skirt, and the drawing was labeled: "C26-250, Helene E. Simke (or maybe 'Sinake'), DeZine Studio, 1054 40th Street, NYC".
At Aug 20, 2007 9:33:00 AM,
theredvelvetshoe said…
I just love the picture~~it reminds me of Mad Men, too. (Which I watch solely for the style and clothing!)
Michelle
At Aug 22, 2007 5:09:00 PM,
Wendy said…
The drawing and the location raise the possibility that this might have been (DeZine Studio might have been...) costume designers for Broadway shows.
At Aug 23, 2007 10:55:00 PM,
Martha said…
Anonymous's post on gender roles reflected in dresses, along with the dress design, remind me of a post on Go Fug Yourself this week with a dress that has a scarf that reaches up from the bodice to wrap around the nick. On first glance I thought this dress was similar (now I see that it is a necklace worn with it).
I'll drink to modern day freedom to wear either slacks or froufy dresses.
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