Christian Dior numbered bejeweled crepe evening mini dress circa 1994
View Similar Items
Christian Dior numbered bejeweled crepe evening mini dress circa 1994
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 8 (EU)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Measurements Bust: 34inch/86.5cm Waist: 28inch/71cm Hip: 32inch/81.2cm Shoulder: 14inch/35.5cm Total length: 24.7inch/63cm.
- Seller Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU917110039792
Christian Dior
When Christian Dior launched his couture house, in 1946, he wanted nothing less than to make “an elegant woman more beautiful and a beautiful woman more elegant.” He succeeded, and in doing so the visionary designer altered the landscape of 20th century fashion.
Dior was born in Granville, on the Normandy coast, in 1905. His prosperous haute bourgeois parents wanted him to become a diplomat despite his interest in art and architecture. However, they agreed to bankroll an art gallery, which Dior opened in 1928 in Paris with a friend.
This was the start of Dior’s rise in the city’s creative milieu, where he befriended Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau. After seven years as an art dealer, Dior retrained as a fashion illustrator, eventually landing a job as a fashion designer for Robert Piguet, and in 1941, following a year of military service, he joined the house of Lucien Lelong. Just five years later, with the backing of industrialist Marcel Boussac, the ascendant Dior established his own fashion house, at 30 avenue Montaigne in Paris.
Just two years after the end of World War II, the fashion crowd and the moribund haute couture industry were yearning, comme tout Paris, for security and prosperity, desperate to discard the drab, sexless, utilitarian garb imposed by wartime deprivation. They needed to dream anew.
And Dior delivered: He designed a collection for a bright, optimistic future. “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian!” exclaimed Carmel Snow, the prescient American editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, famously proclaiming, “Your dresses have such a new look.” The press ran with the description, christening Dior’s debut Spring/Summer haute couture collection the New Look. “God help those who bought before they saw Dior,” said Snow. “This changes everything.”
Dior’s collection definitively declared that opulence, luxury and femininity were in. His skirts could have 40-meter-circumference hems, and outfits could weigh up to 60 pounds. They were cut and shaped like architecture, on strong foundations that molded women and “freed them from nature,” Dior said. Rather than rationing, his ladies wanted reams of fabric and 19-inch waists enforced by wire corsets, and the fashion world concurred. The debut got a standing ovation.
In the subsequent decade, Paris ruled as the undisputed fashion capital of the world, and Christian Dior reigned as its king. With the luxuriously full skirts of his New Look, suits and his drop-dead gorgeous evening dresses and ball gowns worthy of any princess, Dior gave women the gift of glamour they’d lost in the miserable years of war.
On 1stDibs, find an exquisite range of vintage Christian Dior clothing, jewelry, handbags and other items.
- Saint Laurent opt art wraparound embossed silk dress with black dots, circa 1980By Yves Saint Laurent Rive GaucheLocated in London, GBThis elegance and feminine Saint Laurent dress is constructed from embossed silk dress with black polka dots on white background. Featuring a V-neckline with gathered shoulders and ...Category
1980s French Evening Dresses
$595 Sale Price35% Off - Lanvin velvet and polka dots silk evening dress, circa 1980By Lanvin ParisLocated in London, GBLanvin is the oldest surviving couture house in continuous existence since 1909. Jeanne Lanvin(1867-1946)’ s legacy to the world of fashion is youth, beauty, and feminine-modernity s...Category
1980s French Cocktail Dresses
$606 Sale Price35% Off - Yves Saint Laurent Chinese collection baroque print satin dress, 1977By Yves Saint LaurentLocated in London, GBYves Saint Laurent's Chinese collection corresponded with the launch of the fragrance Opium. Similar to previous folkloric inspired collections, the Chinese collection is also about a release of imagination, dreams and the mystery that foreign lands evoked. This cheongsam dress, a modern Chinese garment, in Yves Saint Laurent's collection symbolises the exotic and erotic Shanghai nightlife of the 1920s-1930s. The unique cut of the dress features a slit that can be unbuttoned all the way up to the shoulder to seduce, reveal and celebrate feminine sensuality. Constructed from the most fluid and luxurious satin material, the cheongsam, it is adorned with jet buttons and trimmed with braids on the cuffs, hem and collar. Lined with jet black fluid satin material the dress looks and feels luxurious. The print gives an iridescent surface pattern, that suggests the iconography of woven and embroidered imperial Chinese dragons robes...Category
1970s French Chinese Dresses
- Yves Saint Laurent black velvet evening dress fuchsia taffeta sleeves, c.1980sBy Yves Saint Laurent Rive GaucheLocated in London, GB“One should always be tempted to untie a woman’s clothes” – Yves Saint Laurent A symbol of femininity and the love that Yves Saint Laurent had for women, the bow — be it demure or sexy, a velvet loop or a satin tie — has woven its way through his collections. Here the bold fuchsia taffeta bow gracefully placed to create the visual effect of a corset on the black velvet to highlight the lovely décolleté of the evening dress. the bold fuchsia colour is also a signature of the designer's style. Saint Laurent had a colour philosophy believing that colour is a " reflection of the soul'. But the right colour combination was essential. Here a bold splash of fuchsia juxtaposed with velvety black gives a magical visual effect. This iconic evening dress shows the designer's dexterity in creating fashion for women that is inventive, elegant, has youthful exuberance, theatrical daring and great visual beauty. This evening dress spoke eloquently of the designer’s timeless sense of style and huge influence on fashion that is a template for style that is still followed today. This 1980s cocktail dress...Category
1980s French Cocktail Dresses
- Louis Feraud black and white visual illusion tailored maxi dress. Circa 1970By Louis FeraudLocated in London, GBLouis Feraud visual illusion dress Throughout his career, which started in the 1950s, Louis Feraud dressed very chic women and actresses, including Ingrid Bergman and Elisabeth Tayl...Category
1970s English Maxi Dress
- Yves Saint Laurent sequins alter neck evening maxi dress. C. 1970sBy Yves Saint Laurent Rive GaucheLocated in London, GBYves Saint Laurent said “ I love black because it affirms, designs, and styles. A woman in a black dress is a pencil stroke”. Black liquid velvet material features with discretion , ...Category
1970s European Maxi Dress
- 1990s Louis Feraud Black Cerimony Floral Velvet Vintage Long DressBy Louis FeraudLocated in Brindisi, BtLouis Feraud vintage women dress. Black color, 100% polyester. Long model, floral applications in velvet, adjustable waist belt, collar with flou...Category
1990s German Evening Dresses
$1,147 Sale Price20% Off - Michael Kors Collection Black Cap Sleeve Jersey Little Black Dress Size 8 LBDBy Michael KorsLocated in San Diego, CABeautiful, and extremely flattering Michael Kors Collection signature jersey dress! Flattering bust, with cute cap sleeves. Attached tie belt can be tied in the front or back. Signat...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Cocktail Dresses
$440 Sale Price20% Off - Gianni Versace F/W 1993 Runway Couture Sheer Knit Mesh Lace Evening Dress GownBy Gianni Versace CoutureLocated in Naples, FLGianni Versace F/W 1993 Runway Couture Sheer Knit Mesh Lace Bustier Black Evening Dress Gown IT 44 Excellent Condition!Category
1990s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- F/2012 look # 6 NEW VERSACE MACRAME GOTHIC CROSS COCKTAIL SILK DRESS 38 - 2By VersaceLocated in Montgomery, TXVERSACE Actual Runway Samole Fall/Winter 2012 Look # 6 Macrame Gothic Cross Cocktail Dress This long sleeve, turtle neck cocktail dress features an allover macrame Gothic cross...Category
2010s Italian Cocktail Dresses
$3,555 Sale Price40% Off - The little black dress by Chanel black and white silk Sculpted figureLocated in Bilbao, ESAbsence of vulgarity was central to Chanel’s definition of luxury, a view formed during her impoverished early life. Born in 1883 in Saumur, France, as Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, she was just 12 years old when her mother died and her itinerant father put her in a home for orphaned girls run by a local convent. She learned to sew and, upon moving to Moulins six years later, became a seamstress. She also sang in nightclubs, earning the sobriquet “Coco,” an allusion to a popular song of the time. Beautiful, one of a kind vintage silk dress and jacket for everyday ware as a coktail dress...Category
1990s Aesthetic Evening Dresses
$2,759 Sale Price32% Off - 2005 Comme Des Garcons Little Black DressBy Tao Kurihara, Comme des GarçonsLocated in Scottsdale, AZTao for Comme Des Garcons, circa: 2005, The structure of these minimal, little black dress by the Japanese vintage fashion label, Comme Des Ga...Category
20th Century Japanese Cocktail Dresses
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Too Soon for the Return of ’90s Fashion? As If
There's a renewed appreciation for the era's aesthetic, perhaps most notably among millennials seeking authentic, easy style.
14 Iconic Luxury Handbags and the Stories behind Them
When the name of a bag is as well-known as its brand, you know it's a classic.