Balenciaga, Cristóbal 1950's navy blue silk dress

Description

Navy blue silk cocktail dress with matching belt.
a. Dress
Dress has very full skirt with balloon or harem hemline; bias skirt, no gathers at waistline. Gathered bias collar forming surplice bodice at front. Small seam opening in bodice and collar through which 1.25" wide self fabric ties are inserted and tied in soft knot 4" below shoulder seam; tails of tie hang down 6" from knot. Short sleeves cut on to bodice; gusset under each sleeve. Two waistline darts on each side of back bodice; one waistline dart on each side of front bodice. Waistline seam; grosgrain ribbon waistline stay. Left side seam zipper. Full, deep harem skirt/hem.

b. Belt - 1" wide self fabric belt
Belt has 2 large metal hooks and eyes fastened between 17" and 19" from end of belt, presumably for belt to be fastened at center front and ends of belt tied or knotted. Belt cut on bias.

Source

HCT.1968.2.18

Relation

Additional fiber images and information available at the CAMEO Materials Database at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Provenance

This dress belonged to Mrs. Harvey S. Firestone Jr. Born Elizabeth Parke in Decatur, Illinois in 1897 she was the daughter of Guy James Parke and Gertrude Chambers Parke. As a girl she attended Leed's School in England and Rosemary Hall in Greenwich, Connecticut, and graduated from Miss Wheeler's School in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1921, Elizabeth married Harvey S. Firestone Jr., the heir to the The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. They lived in Akron, Ohio and Newport, Rhode Island. Each year Mrs. Firestone traveled to Paris to purchase her clothes directly from designers and during the 1950s she was nominated for The Couture Group of the New York Dress Institute Inc.'s Best Dressed Women's list several times. Mrs. Firestone passed away in October, 1990 at the age of 93.