Vintage Cocktail Dress - Illusion Lace and Goodbye, Mr. Blackwell

Trompe 'oeil - fool the eye.

Illusion - a deceptive appearance or unreal image.

Lace is so important for this holiday season, and I've always loved the look of 1950's illusion lace cocktail dresses. This one, by Mary Black, uses black Chantilly lace layered over flesh silk satin. The flesh satin blends with the wearer's skin to give the illusion that she is nude under the lace. Of course, nothing shows, but the dress certainly entices! From the December 1957 issue of Vogue magazine, this dress sold at high end department stores, such as Bergdorf's, I. Magnin, and Sakowitz.

Get the look with this 1950's cocktail dress by Carnival, available at our website:

In other news today, we mourn the loss of Mr. Blackwell, who was most famous for his Worst Dressed list each year. Richard Blackwell started his career as an actor, but abandoned that for fashion design in 1958. His designs were always extremely feminine and sexy. His first Worst Dressed list was issued in 1960, and included Zsa Zsa Gabor and Anna Magnani. The list brought Blackwell the celebrity he desired, and he became a favorite on the talk show circuit. He died October 19, 2008 at age 86.

Here's one of his incredibly sexy cocktail dresses, this one with an amazing rhinestone choker attached to the dress with rhinestone strands. It's available at my website, coutureallure.com. Click the picture to see the details.

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1951 Weathervane Suit

Yesterday, a reader asked on what occasions a women in the 50's would wear such finely tailored suits. You can see my answer in the comments from yesterday's post, but here is another use - travel.

This is an ad for BOAC, British Overseas Airways Corporation. They show a stylish woman in a "Weathervane suit...designed for sophisticated travelers. Setting...the handsomely appointed Sky Lounge of BOAC's luxury flight, The Monarch. Double-Decker Stratocruisers exclusively, daily service. So many extras-yet no extra fare!"

The first time I flew, I was 5 years old. My parents were moving the family to a new location. They both wore suits, and my sisters and I were all in dresses. My how times have changed.

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1951 Lilli Ann Suit

What's not to love about a Lilli Ann suit? And this one from 1951 is one of the best I've seen. The designer has taken a wool gabardine with a woven stripe at one edge and cut the various pieces of the jacket to showcase the stripes. One sleeve has the stripes across the cap, exactly matching the stripe going across the yoke of the body. The stripe is found on one side of the collar, but not the other. And just so the whole thing looks balanced, a long vertical stripe is appliqued down the opposite side. Genius! This suit sold for $90 in 1951, which equals about $750 today.

Lilli Ann suits are a perennial favorite with vintage fashion afficianados, and this one is available at our website. Here the brown velveteen of the collar is echoed in the sleeve cuffs and velveteen piping edges the slits at the jacket hem. This one is in a larger size, too! Click the picture to see the listing.

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1951 Suit in Miron Wool

This ad, found in the July 1951 issue of Vogue magazine is not for the suit, but for the wool it was made from. This suit was made by Roxspun from "Miroque...Worsted with a vertical rib. One of Miron's unique new texturals, 100% Virgin Wool."

I often find labels sewn into garments from the 40's and 50's that identify the manufacturer of the fabric, as well as the manufacturer of the garment itself. Miron is one of these.

Here is an early 1950's suit by Fashionbilt, also made of Miron wool. It's available at our website. Click the picture to see more!


The Miron label is sewn right next to the Fashionbilt label on the inside of the right front of the jacket. A well-known fine fabric was just as important as the maker of the garment to a woman back in the 50's, when suits were expected to last many years.


The Miron Woolen Mills were located in Clinton, MA, a tiny town north of Worcester in the central part of the state. Sadly, the building was demolished in July 2008 to make way for a CVS. Another piece of fashion history makes way for modern retail.

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