john anthony

Early 2000s John Anthony Couture One Off Single Sleeve Jersey Dress w Full Open Side & Bow Detail

John Anthony is an award-winning American fashion designer best known for simple, elegant clothing with a strong sense of chic. His work veers towards minimalism, with sharp tailoring, striking evening wear being his signature. He is renowned for his cutting and tailoring. From the day that he launched his atelier in 1971 his design philosophy is a fusion of function and purpose. The function is his logical, wearable approach; the purpose, his pared-down ideas. As a designer, he considers it his job to make things easy for the customer. He designs with focus and a narrow palette for both day and night, so items can easily intermingle. He uses natural fabrics and is noted for contradictory daywear fabrics in his evening collections. In the early 70’s he was one of the first designers to promote the idea of easy-to-travel clothes that resist wrinkling. By 1976, he was showing soft, liquid separates in muted colours that became his trademark and received 2 Coty awards, one in 1972 and one in 1976, as recognition. His business was all done on a made to order basis. That means the majority of pieces you will find are a one-off, or if there are similar pieces, very few of each piece exist. This personal attention to each dress is clearly seen in the workmanship of his pieces. His work is very expensive and beaded pieces did, and still do, retail for over $10,000. His work is a personal favourite of mine and I am thrilled to have this one in the shop. 

This dress is amazing though difficult to truly convey on the dress form. It is absolutely one of those dresses that will only truly come to life when on the body. It is made from a light black wool stretch jersey that allows it to drape beautifully over the body and highlight every curve. The fabric choice also allows a touch of extra coverage so if you chose to go more bare underneath it would not be see through. The dress shows off your curves while still feeling unbelievably comfortable once on. The bodice has a beautiful and sensual feel as it glides over the bodice and then extends down to the one single long sleeve. The sleeve is cut long and depending on your arm length will bunch up slightly at the wrist for a pretty bit of subtle detail. The neck is scooped and high and the dress falls from there to the floor. It skims over the bust, waist and hips in a beautiful sleek column of jet black jersey. It is cut supermodel long in length. At the very top of the shoulder the fabric extends out into ties. You can do a more prominent bow there like I have done for these photos, or tie it towards the back and have the ties hang down the back. Then, in stark contrast to the full coverage the dress has, one full side of the dress has been fully slit open from under the arm to the hem. To keep the dress on you there are a series of attached flat black bows made of the same fabric. These run from under your arm to the base of the hips with the two sides of the dress secured in pace with those bows. This leaves full bare skin between the bows. There is also an extra high slit on that same side that runs almost to the final bow. It is just incredible and so sexy once on the body. I really cannot tell you to trust me enough on this one because it does not come anywhere close on the dress form to what it will look like on the body. It is insanely sexy and fabulous. Made to demi-couture standards. Excellent condition.

Unlined and slips on to wear with a tie at the top of the neck. The bows down the side are attached and sewn into place. It appears to have been worn very little if at all. Hand finished. The fabric does have stretch so should fit a range of sizes. The measurements below give you the comfortable range the fabric has when lying flat.

Sleeve: approx 25" with no true shoulder seam
Bust: 15-19" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: 12-17" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: 15-20" flat across from side seam to side seam
Length: 66" from neck to hem
Slit: 31" from hem up

Modern Sizing Equivalent: XS-MED

Item# DD4494

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SIZE GUIDE

Please review all measurements carefully. More often than not, vintage garments do not fit any size category exactly. If in doubt, measure a garment of your own that fits and is a similar cut and compare it's measurements to the listed measurements below.

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