• Philip Hulitar designed from 1949 to his retirement in 1964 so his pieces fall in a very defined period of time. He was known for his sophisticated dresses and evening gowns. Shortly after the launch of his label a journalist gushed that; 'The star of a gifted designer has risen recently on the fashion horizon'. Prior to the launch of his label he was the in-house designer and head of the women's dress division for Bergdorf Goodmans for 18 years.
  
• I had this dress completely restored and it is absolutely gorgeous.
• The dress is made out of a rich ivory champagne coloured silk.
• The bodice is strapless and it is lightly boned to help to hold the shape once it is on the body.
• I love the little bow detail that sits on one side of the bodice to add pretty detail. 
• The waist nips in and then the skirt curves out and over the hips. It widens from there to the floor in a stunning expanse of silk.
• Running down the centre of the front and also down the back are inset panels made out of the same silk. The silk has been hand gathered inside of each of those panels.
• I love how they add to the hourglass shape the dress has and it also adds an incredible detail to the dress.
• The back is cut slightly longer for a beautiful sweep of fabric as you walk.
• It is a beautiful and rare piece of 1950s couture.
• The dress is fully lined in a matching silk organza that has darkened to have a tea dyed feel to it for most of it. It closes at the back with a hand set metal zipper. Light boning through the interior bodice. I see a tiny foxing mark on one side of the outer skirt and there are minor areas of the teeniest bit of along the edges under each arm. Hand finishes throughout. 
• There is no size tag present. Please go by the measurements listed below. 
• Excellent condition

Bust: to 18" flat across from side seam to side seam with room to a C cup at the front
Waist: 14" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: open
Length: 53" from top of bodice to front hem and 62" to the back hem

Modern Sizing Equivalent: MED-LRG

Item# DD5645

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.

• Note that due to new customs regulations this piece can only ship to a Canadian address. If you need assistance with this please touch base.
• This is a gorgeous set that dates to the late 1950s - early 1960s.
• It has a Town and Travelwear label that tells us it was bought from the hotel Statler – Hilton in Dallas.
• Hotels in the 1950s and 1960s often had their own in-house label and teams of seamstresses on hand to fit their guests.
  
• Both the dress and cape are made out of a deep yellow embroidered cord and net lace that sits over a deeper yellow inner base.
• The lace is embellished with a little tiny faux seed pearls and glass tube beads. Iridescent sequins are sprinkled into the mix as are the occasional faceted bead and rainbow coloured prong set rhinestone.
• The cape and the dress are both highlighted with pale yellow feathers. On the dress the feathers are set in little tufts that circled the lower portion of the skirt and on the cape they edge the entire hem all the way around you.
  
• The dress has a sweetheart neckline at the front and I love how the embellishment is a bit heavier around the upper edge of the neckline. Inside it is formed and shaped though the bust. It has tiny piped straps that curve over the shoulders but it could also be worn strapless if you decided to tuck the straps in or remove them.
• The waist is shaped through the vertical seaming of the dress and then from there it curves out and over the hips. The skirt falls to the floor and narrows in slightly as it nears the hem. At the back there is slit to allow you to walk.
• The cape sits over the shoulders and is a single layer of the lace with no lining. I love that this lets you see the hand work at the back. All of the embellishment was applied by hand.
• It has a single clasp at the neck and the feathers have a pretty movement as you move.
• Its a gorgeous set and I always love when you have more than one piece because then you can mix and match things in your existing wardrobe.
• The dress has a yellow silky rayon structure behind the bust area and the rest of the dress is unlined. It closes with a back set zipper. The cape is a single layer of the lace with the feathers attached directly to it. It hooks to close at the collar. I see a small amount of fraying at the top of both straps the dress and some marks on the inner upper lining of the dress . Please see the photo after the label shot. 
• There are no size tags present. Please go by the listed measurements below.
• Excellent condition 

Dress
Bust: to 18" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: to 15" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: to 20" flat across from side seam to side seam
Total length: 58" from top of shoulder to hem

Cape
Neck: 16" around
Total length: it falls to approximately 17" from the neck to the end of the feathers

Modern Sizing Equivalent: SML-MED

Item# DD5622

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.

• This is an incredible and rare true Haute Couture dress whose pattern remarkably resembles a sketch we found from his 1953 collection.
• It was made under the creative direction of couturier Jaques Fath.
• Jacques Fath showed his first collection of just twenty garments in the spring of 1937. It was well received and he steadily built a strong clientele to become of of the busiest ateliers in Paris.
• Fath is considered to be part of the 'big three' post-war Parisian designers, along with Dior and Balmain. The Fath label was shuttered in 1957 after Fath's death three years earlier. One of his signature looks was a strapless hourglass silhouette. The dress is gorgeous and a beautiful and rare example of his work during this time period. 
• It would have been completely made by hand in the Paris atelier.
• The fabric is a stunning silk that has a pattern suggested of an animal print running over its entire surface. This has been done in an ivory with shades of charcoal grey. Worked into the pattern is a subtle muted gold metallic thread.
• The dress is strapless and curves up on the bodice. There is a black silk inner panel that is set behind the front panels that you see here. This let those front panels sit slightly off of the body and create the illusion of more bust.
  
• The fabric is gathered in along an angled seam under that to a wide band that defines the waist. I love how there is a bit of the same black silk that peeks out along one edge to tie all of the elements of the bodice together.
• The waist is cinched in and to achieve that beautiful hour glass silhouette there is a full built-in boned couture corset attached to the inside of the bodice. I have taken photos so you can see how beautifully and intricately this is constructed.
• From there the skirt expands outward over the hips and curves beautifully down to the floor. The front has a slightly more sleek feel to it and then the back has added fabric built into it down the centre so that you get a beautiful soft fullness there. It is cut slightly longer at the back to help to add to that feel of more fullness there. If you really wanted the skirt to be very full you could add an underskirt. There is more than enough room.
• It is an absolute extraordinarily beautiful early Couture peace from the most magical era of Couture.
• The skirt is backed with a netting and there is a built-in boned corset. It closes with a back zipper and an inner waist stay hooks to close. There is light discolouration to the inner corset. At some point, someone added fabric tape over some small holes in the netting of the interior skirt and I see some tiny ones without tape. None of this shows on the exterior. There is light fraying on part of the front hem. Please see the photos after the label shot. All of the interior work is done completely by hand to Couture standards.
  
• No size tag is present so please go by the measurements listed below.
• Excellent overall condition
  

Bust: to 16" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: to 12.5" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: open
Bodice: 10.5" from top of bodice to bottom seam of the 3.25" waist band
Total length: 51" from top of bodice to front hem and the back hand extends another 6" past that

Modern Sizing Equivalent: XS-SML

Item# DD5531

Reference Photo: Spring 1953 Jacques Fath Haute Couture. Illustration by Pierre Simon.

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.

• This is original dress from the 1950s, maybe the 1940s that is completely made by hand.
• It is an absolutely incredible example of the high level of hand work being done during that time period and you would be hard pressed to find anything modern done to this degree outside of true Couture pieces.
• I have no formal history on the dress but it does have a handwritten tag with the name Edith that sits inside the hem. The possibility of this being the name of the owner is fascinating and one wonders if it belonged to perhaps a showgirl, dancer or perhaps an actress who would have worn the dress. Having the name added like that certainly does imply that it was more of a stage piece as this was common in stage pieces from the era.
• The dress has hundreds of thousands of sequins and beads hand applied over every inch of its surface. The sequins are incredibly dense in the way that they have been applied. They are set so that they overlap each other to the point where they stand up and off the dress slightly. The black sequins were done in a swirling burst design and this lets it catch the light differently and creates the most amazing effect.
• Added to that is a floral design in pale pink, gold and greens that is also done in sequins. This wraps around the bodice and then runs down the entire skirt of the dress with the density of the design getting heavier as it near the hem.
• Then over all of that are over-sized faceted beads in a variety of colours that have been applied by hand to add an extra bit of detail and sparkle to the dress. They are all jewel tones mixed with gold and copper and it is just incredible to see.
• The dress does have weight to it but it is perfectly balanced once it is on the body. 
• It has straps but can also be worn strapless. Inside there is a full built-in boned and cupped corset that holds the dress in place and adds shape. The waist is brought in by this corset and then the dress skims over the hips. As it falls to the floor it narrows down. There is an overlapping curved slit at the back that allows you to be able to walk in it.
• The dress is fully lined in a black silky rayon. The dress has an inner corset that hooks into place with a double row of metal lingerie hooks. The inner corset is boned and cupped. It is lightly tacked into the dress. I see some wear on the inside of the corset here and there. The dress zips to close over that. It is completely made by hand. 
• There is no size tag present so please go by the measurements below
• Excellent condition with the note above

Bust: to 16" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: 12" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: to 19" flat across from side seam to side seam
Total length: 53" from top of bodice to hem
Back slit: 26" from hem up

Modern Sizing Equivalent: XS-SML

Item# DD5524

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.

• This dress was sourced from France and it was noted as being from the from the 1950s or earlier and into the 1930s or 1940s.
• The entire dress and its huge matching veil have been entirely made by hand and the lace itself is also handmade.
• Both of the veil and dress have been meticulously pieced together from larger sections of lace to create the shape of both pieces. That means all of the lace would have had to have been made and planned out ahead of time.
• The dress has higher neck and I love the soft scalloping around the edge.
• The shoulders are sloped and soft and extended into long sleeves that narrow at the cuff. Five little lace covered buttons and loops sit at the end of each sleeve.
• It is meant to to be more fitted over the bust and then comes in at the waist.
• From there it expands outward over the hips and is very full and open over the hips.
• The skirt is lovely and very full. It falls in beautiful soft rounded folds around you. There is enough room underneath that if you wanted it to feel very full, you could add a crinoline and/or additional under-skirting.
• The dress is made from a single layer of the lace so it does have transparency through the lace. This allows you to wear as little or as much of an undergarment underneath to be either daring or more conservative.
• The matching lace veil is two long continuous pieces of lace pieced perfectly together. It is narrow at one end and then opens up to be very wide by the other. A bride would have draped this over her head and then she could pin it into place or add flowers or some other decorations around the head to frame the face and hold the veil.
• This is an absolutely beautiful piece of history and an extremely rare thing of beauty. 
• The amount of hours and work to have made this is staggering to think about. 
• Both pieces are an excellent condition with perhaps a touch of very minor age related patina here and there on the lace. The colour in person is slightly more ivory.
• The dress is unlined and closes with a back zipper. Buttons and loops are at the end of each sleeve. I see a slight darkening to the fabric here and there but it is very minor. It makes it feel authentically vintage and does not detract in any way.
• There is no size tag present because it is a one off.
• Excellent condition

Dress
Sleeves: approx 22"
Shoulders: no defined seams
Bust: to 15" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: to 12" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: open
Total length: 58" from neck to hem

Veil
14" at the narrowest point at one end and 55" at its widest width at the other
It is 9 feet from end to end

Modern Sizing Equivalent: XXS-XS

Item# DD5514

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.