Amazing 1940′s Dress Collection

September 2, 2010 | Category: Dresses, Vintage

Whilst at Twinwood Glenn Miller Festival last weekend I stumbled across the most amazing exhibition in one of the huts. I happened across it on my last rounds of the festival and thank goodness I did as it was a gem.

A lady called Leigh has been collecting 1940′s dresses and shoes since the age of 15, she’s now 38, and has the most stunning collection in the most incredible condition I have ever seen out of a museum In fact, I did my utmost to encourage her to get them all onto a website and even set up her own museum. They were just amazing and absolutely made my day.

Leigh was happy for me to take photographs but it was difficult to get good ones with the way the exhibition was set out. However, here are are a few of the gems in the collection which are all from the 1940′s:

Three of the most stunning dresses I have ever seen. The detail and finish on them was incredible. I love the lacing on the middle dress and the Edwardian style neckline. These were probably wedding dresses.

This dress was Leigh’s first ever purchase aged 15! Imagine having such an amazing eye at 15. She ended up wearing this as her own wedding dress many years later.

This is simply the most amazing dress I have ever seen. I am so in love with it i’ve been dreaming about it. I’m sure if I were to actually wear it the colour would wash me out and look dreadful but it is just sooooooo beautiful. It was probably a bridesmaid dress. It’s made from silk and drapes the body beautifully in a classic 1940′s silhouette. The detail on the bodice is just gorgeous. I shall forever hanker after this dress.

Another 1940′s Bridesmaid dress. You can see from these dresses that the glamour of Hollywood during the 1930′s was still influencing fashion during the 1940′s.

This dress struck me as being so modern and yet it is an original 1940′s dress. I love the bow applique detail on the waistline. Clearly Monochrome has had a place in fashion for many years. This dress is so wearable today.

And now for some shoes:

Look at these! Those red sandals are just beautiful. You can get many good copies of this style of red sandal today but these are original and in immaculate condition. Look at the cute bow on the black suede – I love them.

These are more like you would expect to see from 1940′s – brown but still elegant

Late 40′s shoes. I was bowled over by the amazing colour of these shoes.

I wish I could give Leigh more credit for this collection and I wish you could all see it. If she reads this I really, really hope that one day she gets a permanent exhibition of these amazing pieces. She was a lovely lady who purely collects for the love of it and my goodness doesn’t she just have an amazing eye?!

What I can tell you is that she exhibits at Twinwood every year so do go and catch her if you can.