ball dress

Gina Fratini 1934

Summary

Full length ball or party dress: Bodice section in pink ribbed watered silk with attached elbow length sleeves in cream machine lace, gathered with a naroow pink ribbon tie. Wide pleated silk bands run from the waist either side, over the shoulders forming epaulettes, and down the back to the waist. A length of lace also runs over the shoulders. A falling lace collar, round and with scalloped edges, is attached at the neck. Full length opening CB bodice, fastening with eight buttons. Straight horizontal waist. Peplum formed by pleated silk over lace. Very full skirt. Caught up slightly at the side and decorated with ribbon ties. Cream silk petticoat attached below. Triple net petticoat below this, and support petticoat of cream silk. Attached lead couture seal for customs on hem of top petticoat. 8" zip at waist and white Petersham waistband. A stock model,. kept by the designer, from the 1978 collection. A New Romantic look well in advance of the Emmanuels.

Display Label

Fashion in the early 1970s built on the decorative freedom of the later sixties to produce a riot of vibrantly patterned extravagant clothing for both men and women. Styling flaunted a range of brash features, including tightly fitted shirts or blouses, vast lapels and collars, trousers with huge flares and figure-hugging waists, and clumpy platform shoes. Men once again became peacocks, as flamboyant as the Restoration fop or the Regency dandy, happy to stand out in gaudy garments. New types of fabric were used such as cheesecloth for shirts, or plush for jackets and suits (see main picture), whilst English designers like Ossie Clark, Mr Fish, Malcolm Hall and Tommy Nutter produced superbly tailored and yet imaginative outfits for their wealthier London male clientele (see suit below). Womenswear was just as bold and colourful, although increasingly a new rural pastoralism or rusticism became popular, typified by the retro floral prints on full cotton blouses, skirts and dresses retailed by Laura Ashley throughout the 1970s. In a similar vein, couture designers like Gina Fratini and Zandra Rhodes also looked to a romanticised historicism, producing fantasy outfits for evening and cocktail wear, in rich silks and satins, and incorporating techniques like smocking and trimmings like lace and ribbon.