Paper? Dresses?
I came across this explosion of colour recently on an impromptu visit to a local shopping mall that stopped me dead in my tracks and searching the bottom of my handbag for my camera
Prior to this, i had no clue what a ‘paper dress’ was. It took me a while to figure it out, as the idea of it kind of defies logic. Paper? Dress? The two words are not usually seen together so close 
This small collection of around 50 dresses – positioned spectacularly on a hot pink stage -in a stark white and open space is from a collection of 400 paper dresses from the 1960s, one of the largest collections in the world and which captured the spirit of the movement
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Captured indeed…This collection featured wild pop art motifs, art nouveau prints, retro and psychedelic patterns like i had never seen before, that were toally bedazzling and even a few faces plastered across these A-lines such as Bob Dylan wearing Wayferer Ray Bans…hot diggity
The counter culture of the 1960s is captured in many these dresses, along with a sense of unmitigated fun… i was instantly transported from what i predicted would be a rather boring ‘in and out’ shopping mission into this realm of multi-coloured visual stimulants and loving it
It was the most welcome detour, and i did spend a good half hour, eye-ing each dress up and down, front and back and then doing the rounds one more time to make sure i didnt miss any
A woman in her 70s came over to me and gently enquired whether i would be inclined to wear any of these dresses?
‘Absolutely…but probably not in the office…’ We laughed and chatted about which ones we were most enthusiastic about…
Sadly they were for display purposes only, so i didn get to try any on…
I dont know how one would fair, wearing one of these dresses if it rained, but i probably would have sold my right arm to possess one
In fact, Paper dresses were not entirely made of paper, but inexpensive woven material that is similar to paper.
I hope you enjoy these pictures -Leah
Yesterdays Hero
