100 Years Ago (The Delineator, November 1922)

 In its November issue The Delineator included a number of patterns for evening dresses.    This would give home dressmakers plenty of time to make their outfits for the upcoming round of Christmas and New Year's parties.

All these dresses seem strangely uniform, though they are in fact different designs.  The key features of these designs are:

• A straight, tubular silhouette
• Very low waists, dropped to hip level, and either draped to one side or emphasised with floating panels
• Skirts falling to the lower calf or just above the ankle, and
• Square or scooped necklines just below the collarbone (bosoms were not fashionable in the 1920s!)

The pattern designers attempted a couple of novel touches with Pattern 3990 (second left, top) being decorated by fabric roses and Pattern 4043 (bottom right) having an open hem-length sleeve.  I can't be sure, but I think these dresses were intended for young and older wearers respectively.