The Shrimpton Couture Archives

This dress is from the Cruise 2009 collection and it is a production piece produced for the shops. The runway pieces that season were based lightly on Poiret and the Paris of the past and for production there was a group of more refined and elegant pieces like this wonderful dress. You so often see how John translated his over the top runway collections into elegant, wearable and yet still glamorous pieces like this dress but this one is infinitely wearable. The Vogue report on the collection noted that: "Galliano has been mining the good old U.S. of A. for raw material from which to spin his dreams....grandes dames like Barbara Hutton, Millicent Rogers, and Nan Kempner—women who weren't afraid to make a bold sartorial statement, one that preferably involved a whopping piece of jewelry. From a shimmering backdrop that conjured a Tony Duquette garden, there emerged a full wardrobe for their modern-day counterparts in Palm Beach, Beverly Hills, and Dallas.... What this season is really about is not so much breaking the mold as delivering a vision of the good life—and Galliano can do that in spades."

The dress is a crepe that has a little bit of texture to it and is in the absolute perfect purple colour that is so good on so many skin tones. Wide straps curve up and around the neck and they extend into two triangles that cover your front and slightly wrapped around the sides. The neckline plunges right to the waist at the front and the entire upper back is left bare. A wide band wraps around your middle to the top of the hip and it's detailed with buttons that run down the front and appear to hold and gather the dress around you. These buttons are decorative. The real buttons are spaced down the side in his signature tightly spaced fabric covered buttons and loops and this is what closes the dress around you. His buttons are a design detail in themselves. From there it curves over the hips and then falls to the floor, expanding out as it near the hem. The bottom skirt is quite full and it flares out dramatically on either side. At the back, it stands out to create a train behind you. This extra fabric at the bottom creates beautiful movement as you walk and it elongates the body fantastically. This is that long, sexy silhouette that Galliano does so well and it's spectacular in this deep purple colour. Excellent condition

The bodice is online and the skirt is lined in a purple fill that extends all the way to the end of the train at the back. The buttons at the front or decorative and the dress closes with a series of tightly space buttons at one side. Tagged a Dior FR36, GB8, IT40, US4

Bust: each triangle covered approximately 6-8" from side to side
Seam under the bust: to 17" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: 13" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: to 20" flat across from side seam to side seam
Bodice: approx 11" from neck to the seam under the bust
Total length: 64.5" from neck to front hem and the train extends out another 18.5" 

Modern Sizing Equivalent: SML-MED

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