1950s Blue Chiffon Strapless Gown

Royal blue silk chiffon over taffeta, strapless gown with tight boned underbodice, back zip closure, loops of fabric form 3 bands around top of bodice, full chiffon skirt over narrow taffeta underskirt.

HCT.1965.4.5a-c

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.