Post War Vintage Evening Gowns
(1945~1980s)

Read about Pre-War Vintage Evening Gowns.

1945 - 1950s

Immediately after the war, there was again a momentous sentiment of liberation. Women returned to wearing wild and exciting styles of dresses. Vintage evening gowns from this period featured body hugging styles with petticoats worn underneath wasp waists skirts.

The advances in man-made fiber during the war also led to the commercialization of these fibers to be used in clothing. Vintage evening gowns from this era were among the first to contain man-made fibers.

1960s

The swinging 60s was the age of the hippies. There was a mood of free-spiritedness in the air. Fashion was no longer to be a luxury afforded by the wealthy; it was to become a luxury for the masses in the 60s.

Vintage evening gowns from the 60s featured loose fitting styles embedded with flowery patterns. Like the 20s, designers of this time experimented widely with loud colors and patterns. While the design patterns from the 20s were influenced by Art Deco, designs from the 60s were inspired by many non-western cultures, especially those from India and Japan.

Some of the most classic vintage evening gowns come from this era. The paper dresses were garments cut from simple geometrical shapes and printed with bold graphic prints. These vintage evening gowns would be considered too casual as gowns today, but the 60s was a time of experimentation.

1970s

From the hippie culture of the 60s, the 1970s gave way to the famous disco culture. Disco is remembered very much as a brand of music, dance or a place where people danced to disco music. However, disco in the 70s was essentially a way of life. Vintage evening gowns of the 70s reflect the disco culture with the materials of which they were made. Disco, or its full name, Discotheque, was a culture associated with modern plastics, and many vintage evening gowns were made from the likes of polyester, acrylic or lycra.

1980s

Finally, after more than 20 years of wild fun, evening gowns returned to being prim and proper. A generation of adult begun questioning the effect of the swinging 60s on their lives and many believed that they had gone wrong back then.

The successful of Japan on the international arena brought about further convinced many that the Japan way of organized and proper society was the right system to adopt. Even vintage evening gowns from this era took on the same and this is most evident in the thick shoulder pads design.

The structure of the gowns had to be broad and upright, much like the rigid style of the society that had begun to develop then.