George Stavropoulos was known for his evening wear and his signature looks often involved draping and the use of multiple layers of silk done on a bias cut. He focused on cut and fabric to convey the beauty of each piece. It was said that his gowns 'seemed to float on air'. He launched his label in 1960 and soon was dressing women like Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, Barbra Streisand and Maria Callas. The majority of his gowns are almost entirely made by hand and to couture standards. By the early 1980s one of his evening dresses started at a cost of around $8500USD and they went up in cost from there. To put that in modern terms, that would be about thirty thousand dollars now. It was an incredible amount of money at the time and yet women couldn't get enough of them.
The dress is made out of a three layers of a feather light black silk chiffon. Every layer is cut on the bias and the layers float over each other perfectly to drape over the body. It is incredible. The dress is as light as a feather and feels like heaven once on the body. It is incredible how light and airy it feels. The neckline is slightly scooped across the front and then the back dips into a V between the straps to leave a bare expanse of skin showing. From there the dress falls in this extravagant swoosh of bias cut silk. It is cut very long and I love the play on the transparency with the layers stacked on top of each other like that. It falls over you with a loose and easy cut that has an almost caftan feel to it through the body. The bias cut lets it swirl around the body underneath but at the same time it feels insanely comfortable on because the fabric weighs ounces. It is immensely flattering once on and should work an a wide variety of shapes. This is the perfect simple yet striking black dress you will want to wear over and over for every occasion from day to evening. It is truly a remarkable piece and so beautiful. Excellent condition
Made from three layers of silk chiffon as described above. It closes with a back hand set zipper. The dress appears to have been worn very little if at all. The bias cut does have stretch so should fit a variety of sizes
Bust: 13-16.5" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: 11-15" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: to 20" flat across from side seam to side seam
Length: 62" from top of shoulder to hem
Modern Sizing Equivalent: XS-SML
Item# DD4464
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