Raspberry Crush, or How the Twenties Tube Was Sexy
This silk velvet dress offered by Augusta Auctions dates to the late 1920s, an era when clothing was slim but otherwise shapeless and women were often drawn as long tubes. The 1920s experienced a dress revolution in women’s clothing where older and more fitted looks were scene as retrograde and what they called a “boyish” look was seen as new and modern, so young women tried to ignore or eliminate their curves. Skirts also became much shorter and short was worn both daytime and nighttime. Despite this odd treatment of feminine curves, there were ways to create erotic appeal as you see here.
First of all, this panne or flattened silk velvet catches the light as the woman moves around in it. Silk velvet has a nap to it which makes this happen. Then, the designer draped the fabric at front and back and added a tail to the bow at back--all set at the hipline. So every time she moved, those draped bits would catch the light even more and the tail would sway. Although some women had to wear long corsets in order to flatted themselves to the flat shape desired, some slim women would have been wearing hardly anything at all beneath the dress which would have allowed curved to be revealed when they move as well. Of course, the deeply cut armholes and the front neckline revealed flesh as well.
The label reads “A. Traina & Co” a New York firm, which later became the Traina-Norell company led, by Anthony Traina, but the auction house things it was probably designed by Germaine Monteil. Whoever made it, they had a good idea how to catch the eye.
You can find Augusta Auctions here: https://augusta-auction.com/
