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Tea Dresses
Appears in
Published 2014
Afternoon tea is a rare opportunity to get dressed up. From the 1900s onwards, women entertained at home in ‘tea gowns’, full-length, Japanese-influenced dresses that wrapped around the body. To make the occasion even more comfortable, one didn’t have to wear a corset with a tea gown.
The 1940’s ‘tea dress’ is still worn whenever women wish to feel extra feminine. The tea dress can be worn with heels or flats, buttoned up for a prim look or undone for a more sensual, casual vibe. It suits every figure. The Second World War tea dress often had little puffed sleeves with small pads in the shoulders and a sweetheart neckline. Even during the rationing of the war years women wore florals. In the 1950s ‘Horrockses’ dresses in bright cotton were the fashion, and in the ‘60s and ‘70s, floaty fabrics by