Lanvin’s Feminist Decade
Bustown Modern, a constant source of vintage inspiration and great finds, published an astute blog post last year called “Lanvin’s Invisible Decade,” which you can read in its entirety here. While Bustown dismisses the label’s ubiquitous shirt dresses from the 1970s, we here at This Week’s Look take a different view. Those iconic, printed shirt dresses Lanvin churned out during the disco era may not represent the pinnacle of fashion, but those stretchy, often polyester, frocks reflect a rarely seen facet of the ’70s. They offer us a rare look at what every day women were wearing to work, to the grocery store, to pick up the kids, prepare meals, to do basically everything because, while moms were working, dads still felt entitled to do less around the house. As such, fashion had to be comfortable, versatile, easy to launder, and affordable.
So this week, we pay homage to Lanvin’s Feminist Decade, which is certainly not as titillating as the glamorous disco-era fashions of the ’70s, but a fitting tribute to all those women who work hard for the money. So hard for it, honey.
Vintage 1970s Lanvin iconic logo shirt dress with matching belt from SararaVintage on etsy. $200.
Vintage 1970s Lanvin equestrian-print, shirt dress with matching neck tie and belt, purchased on eBay for $25.
- Vintage 1970s Lanvin op art shirt dress with matching belt from recollectvint on etsy. $170.
Vintage Lanvin shirt dress with matching belt on eBay. Current bid $100.
Vintage 1970s feline print Lanvin shirt dress on eBay. Current bid $189 (close up of print below).
Vintage 1970s silk Lanvin dress with trumpet sleeves and ruffled hem from Revolveexchange on etsy. $156.
Vintage 1970s Lanvin logo shirt dress from Bustown Modern. $140.
Vintage 1970s Lanvin creamy shirt dress in a satiny print (see close up of fabric below) from verybestvintage on etsy. $62.
Close up of the above vintage 1970s Lanvin creamy shirt dress in a satiny print from verybestvintage on etsy. $62.
Vintage 1970s geometric print Lanvin maxi dress with matching neck tie from BlackPearlVintage on etsy. $125.
Vintage 1960s-70s op art print button down shirt from Threadhunter on etsy. $35
This Week's Look 
First off, thanks for the kind words! Second, we never meant to dismiss the shirt dresses in their entirety. They are amazing and the sheer variety of colors and patterns is incredible. Our intention was to call attention to the fact that those are what everyone thinks of when they think of 70s Lanvin when in fact they were producing some of the most beautiful and elegant pieces in silks + brocades during that period. Those pieces are much less common and tend to come to market so infrequently that we felt they aren’t as fully appreciated as they should be. 🙂
Bustown Modern
January 9, 2014 at 3:54 pm