The Bertha · 1970s Handmade Blush All-Lace Occasion Dress
Rose-floral lace · blush peachy-pink · satin lining · scalloped choker collar · wide bertha ruffle, 18cm · puff sleeves · fitted bodice · tiered skirt · handmade · 1970s to early 1980s · L 134cm flat · AU 10–12 · Very good
Every part of this dress is lace. Not appliqued over another fabric, not lace trim on a base cloth, but all-over rose-floral lace in a warm blush with the satin lining doing the structural work beneath. The construction is theatrical and precise. A high choker collar in scalloped lace hooks at the back of the neck. Below it, a wide bertha-style ruffle frames the V. The sleeves are full puffed, the cuffs scalloped. The bodice is fitted and darted. The skirt gathers into tiers at the waist, the hem finished with horizontal tuck rows.
This silhouette sits at the hinge between the 1970s romantic revival and the early 1980s occasion dress moment: the choker collar and bertha are pure 1970s, the volume of the puff sleeves and tiered hem belong to the early 1980s formal. The piece was made by hand, which accounts for the careful calibration of each section against the others.
Material
Rose-floral lace over satin lining
Care
hand-wash cold in gentle soap. Lay flat to dry. Do not iron the lace directly.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: length 134cm, of which the tiered skirt claims 88cm. Bust 47cm, waist 36cm, the hem sweeping to 110cm across. The choker stands 7cm; the bertha ruffle spreads a full 18cm over the shoulders. Puffed sleeves 51cm long and 37cm at their widest. Fitted through the bodice, she reads as an AU 10–12.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
very good. The choker hook closes well. Zipper at centre back operates smoothly. The lace is intact across the entire surface. The blush holds without fading. The satin lining is clean.
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 lace was worked by hands that believed a collar could change an evening's mind, and the record shows they were right every time. Somewhere the choker hook keeps a ledger of every throat it has guarded, all of them mid-laugh. She is blush, but she has never once blushed. Ask her to dance and she will let you believe you led. Save her for nothing. She asks to be worn.