Featured Can you help me with the age of these two dresses?

Hello! These two dresses came in an auction lot. From a quick Google search, the first looks like a Kashmiri Pheran but I can't find any with the shoulder embellishment- could it have been repurposed to create a different outfit? I'm guessing 1920s for both (maybe later on the Kashmiri dress) but I'm really not sure. Any info appreciated as always, thanks!

 

They're both unusual, aren't they? Party dresses. How does one get in 'em? I'd think the first, given length, drop waist and surface ornamentation, dates to the 1920s. I wouldn't be surprised if the second one, given the short sleeves and tied waist, wasn't reworked in the 1940s from an earlier dress.

Debora

 

Thanks you, yes they are unusual! I was thinking the same about the dropped waist of the first. I really don't know what to make of the second, any idea what the material is? It is a stiff shiny fabric.

 

Rayon perhaps? That would make it retro, designed to evoke an earlier age but not of it. (That would explain the wide U-shaped bodice panel.)

Debora

 

The first one looks like a very elegant 1930s party dress. The second one almost looks like a costume.

 

Yes, it does look like a costume. Meant to evoke old tymes.

Debora