dress, 2-piece
date: label: Date made
content: 1947
name: label: maker
content: Charlotte Villaret
notes: label: Description
content: Dress, 2-piece; Dress: black; faint horizontal rib; F neckline is low circle to midriff with insert over bust of doubled pale pink silk organza with black floral lace overlay; high neckline in B; set-in tight long sleeves with zippers at inside bottoms; placket opening along L side with metal zipper; skirt of double box pleats; pleats at L side fold over zipper placket and fasten with hook and eye along waistline seam to B; turned-under hems on sleeves and skirt; measures 44" (111.8 cm) down CB; Belt: 1" (2.4 cm) wide; self-fabric covered with pointed end; rectangular covered buckle and black metal tongue.
label: Description
content: Label text: Haute Couture / Charlotte Villaret / New York
label: Description
content: Donor's mother, Charlotte Villaret, designed and made this dress to be worn at cocktail parties; according to donor, Villaret referred to this dress as her daughter's "bra" dress.
label: Description
content: 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: 1994.0263.004
label: catalog number
content: 1994.0263.004
label: accession number
content: 1994.0263
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Dress, 2-piece