dress, 2-piece
date: label: Date made
content: 1975
name: label: maker
content: Charlotte Villaret
notes: label: Description
content: Dress, 2-piece; Dress: blue-gray ground printed with darker blue-grays, ochre, and pale olive floral print; twill weave; V-neckline, F & B, deeper in F; blue-gray taffeta binding around neckline in strips that overlap at CF V bottom and at shoulders; set-in short sleeves with turned-up, bias-cut, blue gray taffeta narrow cuffs; fitted obdice; CB opening, into skirt, which fastens with taupe nylon zipper, handsewn, under placket; hooks at top and waistline; full-length skirt falls straight from waistline seam; CB slit; lined in cream china silk; Cummerbund: contoured; covered in blue-gray taffeta over stiff interlining; fastens with 4 hooks and eyes at CB; CF has decorative wedge shaped panels, 6 1/2" (16.5 cm) long, attached at bottom, with vertical folds, one slightly overlapping the other; measures 53" (134.6 cm) long down CB.
label: Description
content: Label text: Haute Couture / Charlotte Villaret / New York
label: Description
content: Donor was Villaret's daughter and wore dress to granddaughter's wedding; Charlotte Villaret worked for Valentina, Muriel King, and Charles James in late 1930s through 1950s; then was in business for herself in New York and San Antonio, Texas. According to donor, Villaret's clients included Elise A. Roosevelt, Elizabeth Taylor, Katherine Hepburn, Grace Moore and Lily Pons. The Smithsonian accepted some Villaret garments from donor and the rest went to Marymount University's Costume and Textile collection.
label: Description
content: A short biography of Villaret written by donor includes personal anecdotes about her experience working for Muriel King and Charles James. See accession file for details.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Costume
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Ginette V. Patch
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1994.0263.006
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Dress, 2-piece