#simplicity9793

Wrapping Up During the 1970s: Simplicity 9793

Wrapped dresses showed up in US history as wrapped aprons first, and then morphed into dresses in the early 20th Century. The Hoover Apron became the bungalow dress, an easy-to-make and easy fitting item that was supposed to serve a woman as she made breakfast or chatted with the deliveryman at her back door. You can find wrapped dresses appearing over and over again in various forms after that.

Diane Von Furstenberg's wrap dress which hit around the knee became a fashion hit in 1974 because women had largely turned to pants in the late 1960s in order to avoid the indignities of the miniskirt and the attention it attracted. They were hungering for a novel dress for grown women--the minidress was often sold using childish looks--after several years of pants. Hers had long, fitted sleeves and was good for office work or for an evening out depending on what it was made of . Which is why this re-issued pattern in modern sizes is so interesting. It is a halter version of the wrapped dress, so clearly for play wear and evening wear, and comes in both a mini length version and an ankle length version and no version for around the knee, although obviously you can cut the hem wherever you like.

Like the dress it copies, it is made out of knit. One of the luxury knits of the era was called Quiana, a DuPont nylon invented during the 1960s that did not wrinkle and draped luxuriously. It no longer exists, so they recommend knit jersey, including tricot, and stretch velvet. Because wrapped dresses flap open, stretch velvet or a wool jersey are your best bets. Both of them stick to themselves, which means that that the annoyance of baring flesh when you are not in the mood is minimized.