Midsummer Field · Solo 1970s Mixed Floral Cotton Maxi
cotton voile · mixed botanical and ditsy floral prints · keyhole collar · 3/4 balloon sleeves · sash tie · tiered maxi skirt · Solo · 1970s · L 114cm flat · AU 10–12 · Very good
Two prints walk into the same dress and the conversation works completely. The body is cream cotton voile, printed with large botanical bouquets, the flowers generous and unprecious, the kind of print that looks best against light or outdoors. The yoke and collar, the cuffs, the waistband: a smaller ditsy in the same warm palette, more contained in scale, that holds the silhouette together from throat to hem. A self-fabric keyhole tie fastens at the collar. Three-quarter balloon sleeves gather to a fitted cuff. A self-fabric sash ties at the back waist. The skirt is tiered and moves freely.
The two-print dress was a considered decision in early 1970s Australian domestic fashion. It required a confident hand to make the pairing cohere rather than conflict. Solo was an Australian label working in the romantic-peasant idiom, producing pieces for women who wore colour and movement without apology.
Material
Synthetic voile
Care
hand-wash gently in cool water. Dry flat away from direct light. Cool iron if needed.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: length 114cm, bust 47cm, waist 39cm, hip 65cm, the tiered skirt opening to a 114cm hem. Balloon sleeves 41cm long and 23cm wide before they gather to the cuff. With the sash to draw her in, she reads as an AU 10–12.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
very good. No staining. The voile is light and clean, the prints mostly untroubled by age, with some ghosting of colour around the collars edge only. Tag features some fraying.
Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.
Before it reaches you
Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.
The two prints share a border and have simply agreed to get along, which makes this dress more sociable than most rooms. The voile holds strong opinions about noon and every one of them is in your favour. Somewhere a paddock remembers her, fondly, at knee height. Wear her in good weather with bare feet, for as long as possible; when the weather turns, she will simply decline to acknowledge it.