cocktail dress
Summary
Cocktail dress of watered 2 tone grey silk with mouse brown silk velvet short sleeves and wide edging to bodice; full puffball skirt gathered in at hem to bands front and back; inner side label 'Hattie Carnegie Inc'; skirts lined silver grey silk. Unsold as lot 174 in Christies 'Fashion Through the Ages', 3.12.09 sale. Belonged to Anne Moen Bullitt (1924-2007). Born in Paris but brought up in the States, she married 4 times. At first she bought clothes in New York, mostly from Hattie Carnegie, but her second husband, Nicholas Duke Biddle, who she married in 1947, was vice consul in the American Embassy in Madrid, giving Anne access to Balenciaga couture clothes with the Spanish name 'Eisa' operating in tandem with the Paris house. She later moved to Ireland and bought clothes by Sybil Connelly, Lanvin, YSL and others. Anne Bullitt was tiny, with an 18-20 inch waist, making her clothes virtually unwearable for anyone else. Hattie Carnegie (1889-1956) was a celebrated New York couturier with a boutique on 42 East 49th St from 1923.
Object Name
cocktail dress
Creators Name
Date Created
1950-1952
Dimensions
waist: 50cm
accession number
2011.21
Collection Group
Place of creation
New York
Medium
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