NEW of August 2007 - check out our NEW Gallery pages showing a selection of our garments as modelled by some professional models! Welcome to the site of the JUST-PLEATS Vintage Pleated Dress Hire Co! We specialise in hiring out vintage perma - pleated frocks and gowns, mainly from the 50’s 60’s and 70’s. Our collection is modest in size when compared to some costume hire companies, but we doubt if you will find a finer and more varied collection of pleated garments for hire anywhere! Notwithstanding, some other items end up in the collection from time to time such as skirts and rock n’ roll outfits from the same era, so it is always an idea to ask in case we have what you need! We even have a pair of 70’s vintage pleated Wedding Gowns, one in ‘hippy’ style with an empire waisted smocked top, cute shoe-string tie belt and shoulder straps and the other with a more traditional beaded long-sleeved lacey top paired to a full floaty layer of accordion pleated orgasma over the underskirt! So for anyone wanted a 70’s theme for their Wedding look no further... For a few examples of the items to be found in the JUST PLEATS closet, see further down the page for starters, then follow the button-links for Examples, then from within Examples to More Examples, then finally the 50’s look link-button. Whilst some think that the idea of pressing pleats is new then they are wrong. Fashion couturiers had been trying out the style on long gowns as early as the 1890’s. Perma-pleats however, came into their own in the 20th. century with the advent of modern synthetic materials. The fifties saw a huge upturn in the perma-pleat market when the large chain stores such as Marks and Spencer proclaimed the wonders of this type of garment that was almost indestructible - so they said at the time. Perma-pleated frocks, gowns and skirts have drifted back in and out of fashion since that time, often repeating similar styles to the last fashion wave, as well as creating new and previously untried variants that herald that new fashion era - hence sometimes it is extremely difficult to date an outfit, whereas other times it is very obvious. Even from a Theatrical, Film and TV point of view, there is usually not a problem in using some items from outside of the era being portrayed as it it nigh impossible to identify many dating features from a distance; i.e. the type of fastening being used and the ‘feel’ or weave of the fabric. |
