• This gorgeous dress is from the Spring 1988 Bill Blass collection.
• It was made under the creative direction of Bill Blass.
• The twin of the dress is documented in the book on his work titled "Bill Blass: An American Designer".
• I love that we also have the runway and advance photos so you can see just how fantastic this dress is once on the body.
• Please note that we do have the rosette with the trailing ribbons that you see in the reference photos. It was sent after the dress was shot for the site and will be sent with the dress.
• The dress is made out of a bright pink silk that has a finish that slightly stiffens the fabric and this is what allows it to hold it shape. The fabric also has a slight iridescence to it and is very pretty in person. The colour is slight different pink than how much photoed but it is nice and vibrant.
• The neckline cuts across and is shaped around the bust to the waist. The waist is nipped in and this added shape around the middle balances the volume above and below.
• The skirt curves out in an almost bell shape and then come slightly in at the bottom. This creates a beautiful shape once on and you really get a sense of that in the runway shots.
• The sleeves are phenomenal. They are attached and hand stitched in along the edges of the bodice and they have a elastic running around the inside to hold it around your arm and top of shoulder. They are gathered into a piped pink silk band at the other end and the gathering and extra layer of fabric inside are what helps to hold their incredible full shape.
• Onto the bodice and the sleeves is a black stiffened netting that would have traditionally been used as an inner lining/ structure to help hold the shape of a hem of a skirt for example. Using it as a detail on the exterior of the dress would have been a very unusual and avant-garde choice for this era. I really love when you see these pops of unusual fabrication in his evening pieces.
• The netting is entirely applied by hand and is set in pretty curving shapes to twist and turn over the bodice and to completely run over the sleeves. 
• This is a fantastic example of his work and very well documented.
• The dress is fully lined in a matching colour pink silk and has a built-in corset that is lightly boned and has its own zipper. There is an attached waist stay that hooks to close along the bottom of that inner corset and then the dress closes with a hidden set zipper over that. Elastic through the tops of the sleeves. The fabric has some very faint fading here and there that is not enough to be photoed. I have never seen a dress made out of this particular type of silk not have this as it ages. Some grubbiness along the very edge of the bottom hem. This is all very minor but mentioned for accuracy. I see one small mark near the zipper at the back. Please see the photo after the label shot. Hand finishes throughout.
• There is no size tag present so please go by the measurements listed below.
• Excellent condition with the one minor note above.

Sleeves: approximately 11" and the bottom piped opening is 11" around
Bust: 16" flat across from side seam to side seam
Inner waist: 13" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: open
Bodice: 9.5" from top of bodice to inner waist
Total length: 54" from top of bodice to hem

Modern Sizing Equivalent: XS-SML

Item# DD5480

Reference Photos: (1) Spring 1988 Bill Blass Runway.  /  (2-3) Spring 1988 Bill Blass Advance.  /  (4) Spring 1988 Bill Blass dress photographed by Nana Watanabe from the book "Bill Blass: An American Designer".

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