In 1966, Scott Paper & Co. (yes the company that sells you paper towels and toilet tissue) introduced the paper dress. Meant as a novelty item, customers were offered a coupon printed on the packages of whatever Scott product they purchased. Women could mail in said coupon plus $1 and receive an awesomely strange paper dress in the mail. Within 6 months, over 500,000 paper dresses were sold, thus starting a paper dress frenzy! The paper dress wasn't actually made of paper, but rather made of disposable cellulose fabric and synthetic fibers.
Many other companies capitalized on the success of the paper dress and started to manufacture their own. Hallmark introduced their version of the paper dress as "hostess dresses" meant to match the party napkins and tablecloths; And department stores started to carry paper dresses as well. Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, and I. Magnin set up entire store sections exclusively dedicated to selling designer version of the paper dress, which sold for $8 bucks!
The most recognizable dress is of course the Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup paper dress. Thanks to Mr. Warhol, the paper dress is forever immortalized and totally captures the zeitgeist of American 60's pop culture.
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