The Shrimpton Couture Archives

• The twin of this dress walk the run for the fall 1980 collection.
• It was made under the creative direction of Mary McFadden.
• McFadden patented her Fortuny inspired pleating technique just a couple of years after launching her label in 1973. This is from her higher end couture line that had a more limited production and was sold at higher end shops.
• We have included a photo of stylist Jamie Mizrahi in the dress so you can see how fabulous it is once on the body.
• Mary was known to say frequently that there was no greater beauty than pleated cloth on the human body and she said when she developed her 'marii' fabric that her aim was to have it 'fall like liquid gold on the body, like Chinese silk.' 
  
• The dress is made from a combination of a black and a beautiful deep salmon pink synthetic silk charmeuse that she sourced from Australia. This was her signature pleated fabric that is pleated in McFadden's proprietary pleating technique. 
  
• The dress is absolutely beautiful and so easy to wear. The base of the dress is the black layer. It comes up and over one shoulder and then plunges at the front and back. Hidden inside is a panel that attaches to the armhole of the pink layer that tops the dress. A very clever way to hold the dress in place around you. The black continues to skim easily over the body to fall to the floor. 
• The pink layer is set on an angle over this starting from the opposite shoulder and running over the bust, waist and down past the hips where it is also set on an angle. 
• Both the back and the front are set in a plunging V but because of the inner construction it feels very safe to wear.
• The dress comes with matching ties in the same fabric. One is the salmon, pink, and the other black. You can tie them on the top of the shoulders and match colour to colour or you can switch them so the opposite colour is at the top of each shoulder.
• I love that the skirt is cut very long which is a rare thing to find in her work. As she progressed in her career she preferred to design pieces that ended at the ankle so you could see the shoe underneath. Her full length pieces are a bit rarer.
  
• The dress is fantastically easy to wear and fit. Its easy shape and pleats allows it to expand where needed. It will just fall and drape more on a smaller frame. You can see this on Jamie.
• The dress is unlined and slips on to wear with no closures. The ties at the top of the shoulder are separate pieces so you can choose to wear them on whichever shoulder you wish. Hand finishes.
• There is no size tag present, so please go by the measurements below. The fabric has a lot of range because of the pleats so I put it's comfortable range below.
• Excellent condition
  

Bust: 16-24" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: 12-21" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: open
Total length: 60" from top of shoulder to hem

Modern Sizing Equivalent: XS-LRG

Reference Photos: (1-3) Fall 1980 Mary McFadden.  /  (4) Jamie Mizrahi wearing this dress, 2025.

All items are thoroughly checked over before shipping. Unless noted everything in our shop has been professionally cleaned. All sales are final. Overseas clients will be emailed to obtain agreement to our final sales policy before the order is shipped as per our return policy.