There is no information as to who wore this dress designed by Louella Ballerino.
Louella Ballerino, who was born in 1900, is best known for her garments incorporating "South of the Border" motifs. A native Californian, Ballerino graduated from the University of Southern California and sold fashion sketches to wholesale California manufacturers. After marrying Melvin Ballerino and having two children, money difficulties after the Depression prompted her to resume selling fashion sketches. When this did not realize the money she wanted, she found a job in a custom dress shop. She also began teaching a class in fashion design and illustration. While teaching, she stressed that fashion was really the ability to adapt old ideas into new forms. Eventually, she began working as a designer for a ready-made manufacturer and then decided to manufacture her own line. That dress, first produced in 1938, incorporated small wooden blocks, and proved to be a good seller. Over the years, she featured many fabrics with Mexican inspiration. Later she designed a line of clothing for Jantzen. As a California sportswear designer who adapted ethnic designs in fabrics and style for the American market in the 1930s and 1940s, Ballerino is most often associated with smart, casual clothes and swim suits. She was one of the first California sportswear designers known by name.
This one-piece dress is constructed of a slub rayon printed in green, red, blue, gold, brown, and burgundy on a cream colored ground. The large print of a woman carrying a child against a South or Central American landscape is placed along the lower bodice and skirt section. The fitted bodice has a scooped neckline with piping at the edge and bias cut cap sleeves. A center back opening extends into a gathered skirt section with the bodice fastening with four green matte buttons. The dress measures 42 1/4 inches at the center back. The missing belt was most likely a green sash that tied in front.
According to the donor, we believe that this dress was worn by Electra Wade of Northfield, New Jersey. She was married to Henry Beach.
Although the dress is fashionable in its cut, it was most likely a work or everyday dress. The heavyweight linen from which it is made dictated that pleats rather than gathers be used to control the fullness at the center back of the upper skirt section. The donor claimed that the fabric had been woven by the wearer Electra Wade. Although we know that less expensive fabrics of this type were available from merchants, the construction of this particular fabric does appear to confirm the donor’s claim. If one looks closely at the fabric, it is evident that it was woven by a less skilled weaver, who periodically lost the pattern by leaving out a row of one of the colors. These mistakes are most noticeable part way down the center front of the skirt section and near the sleeve area on the front.
The dress is constructed of a two-tone blue and brown woven linen plaid. It is an empire style with a center front bodice opening that extends four inches into skirt section. The front bodice extends into the back at the sides and is applied over the back at the seams where it topstitched. There is deep U-shape at front neckline. A drawstring is attached to the dress at the back shoulder on either side and is inserted into a casing at the front neckline for tying at center front. There is a rectangular piece over each shoulder. A drawstring at the waist seam is attached the dress at the sides for an additional front closure. Blue and white striped linen lines the bodice. The lining is attached at the back and sides, but extends below the waist seam and hangs free. At the front the lining hangs free and is meant to lap over at center front, but with no visible means of closure. The long straight sleeves are set in far to the back. The skirt section consists of four pieces to include a straight piece at front, a triangular gusset at either side, and a rectangular piece for the back. The skirt back is pleated into the waist seam with box pleats. There is a fold over hem in skirt section.