The Shrimpton Couture Archives

• The twin of the dress in black walked the runway for the Fall 1970 Haute Couture collection.
• It was made under the creative direction of Yves Saint Laurent 
• I love that we have a reference photo for you to see this dress on the body. It is very hard to photo these when they are on a dress form and the runway photo really shows you how it comes to life once it is on.
• This would have been made completely by hand to Couture standards in the Paris atelier.
• The dress is made from deep ivory silk chiffon that has little silk dots covering the entire surface of the dress. When you look at the back side of the fabric you can see how these have been lightly hand stitched into place. Incredible.
• The neckline is wide which allows you to wear it off the shoulder. I love how this leaves a bare expanse of skin across the top of your shoulders.
• The sleeves narrowed down to the cuffs and are unlined so they have a touch of transparency. Each ends in a series of five handmade silk covered buttons and loops.
• The bodice blouses over you slightly and the waist is seamed. You could add a belt if you wanted to add more shape and definition.
• It skims over the hips from there and widens out as it nears the hem. The entire hem is finished with an 11" ruffle all the way around and it is set so that the front sits higher than the back. There is a second 6" panel of the same fabric underneath the top ruffle to help hold a bit of volume.
• The ruffle around the hem beautifully ties in with the 5" ruffle that goes all the way around your shoulders. When the dress is on and you move you get slight movement from both sets of ruffles and it is very pretty.
• The dress is fully lined in a handset silk through the bodice and skirt. The sleeves are unlined. The inner body closes with a handset zipper and then the dress buttons to close over that. The silk of the dress feels like it has softened slightly and I see a bit of stress to the edges of some of the silk covered buttons and some teeny tiny areas here and there on the fabric. There is the tiniest bit of grubbiness around the edges of the shoulders and along the seams under the arms. The zipper feels slightly loose but does stay up. I am being extremely picky but mentioning all for accuracy. 
• There is no size tight present because it is Couture so please go by the measurements below.
• Excellent overall condition

Sleeves: 23" and are 11" around the upper arm
Inner bust: to 17" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: 14" flat across from side seam to side seam
Inner hips: to 19" flat across from side seam to side seam
Bodice: approx 16" from top of natural shoulder to waist
Total length: 49" from top of natural shoulder to front hem, 57" to the back hem

Modern Sizing Equivalent: SML-MED

Reference Photo: Fall 1973 Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture.

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