• This is a very rare Haute Couture dress set by Madame Gres.
• While researching the dress we found that the 1958 and 1959 collections in particular were ones that featured braided details and cape elements like this dress has and this timeline matches when the original owner would have worn this set.
• Madame Gres' work has had profound effects on Haute Couture and her influence still resonates to this day. Her attention to detail, master draping techniques and respect for the female form is unparalleled. She was known for designing and creating garments directly on her models and this became a signature of her work.
• She opened her first atelier, La Maison Alix in 1932. A partnership briefly changed the house's name to Alix Barton and then the label went to simply Alix. In 1942 she married, and the label made its last change to became Madame Gres, which was a partial anagram of Serge, her husband's first name. Her work spans over five full decades with the vast majority of it, with the exception of a short-lived RTW line begun in 1980, dedicated solely to creating Haute Couture. She is one of the greatest couturiers of our time and her pieces are very rare and hard to find.
• This Haute Couture dress is exceptional. It comes to me directly from the family. Her son told me that 'Madame Grès would let her (his mother) wear many dresses as she was size model and those she really liked she purchased afterwards.' This was one of those that she kept.
• We have included some examples of other dresses by Gres that share some of those common elements to this one from those years for you to see.
• The dress is made from a bias cut silk chiffon with a small abstract print on it. From a distance it gives you that beautiful mottled red / pink effect. Then as you look closer at the fabric you see that there is a deeper red, coral, soft green and a blue that all work together to form a pretty abstract floral print.
• The cut is simple and minimalist.
• On the dress, wide straps have made from hand twisting and stitching the silk chiffon and then it curves over the shoulders.  It extends from there to detail the neckline at the back and front.
• The body of the dress falls from under that in a swoop of bias cut silk that widens out as it nears the hem. The dress is lined in a layer of bias cut ivory silk and this gives the top patterned layer more depth. The silk is as light as air.
• Every seam on the dress has been finished by hand. Working with a silk chiffon as fine as this makes that an incredible achievement that would have taken countless hours of handwork.
• It comes with a matching caped piece that has an unusual design. Two wide single layer panels are attached at the top and then they hook together at the front. The panels fall over each shoulder to the floor and just past the hem of the dress. They are incredibly light in weight. This allows the slightest bit of air to pick them up so that they waft and float around you as you move.
• The cape is topped by an oversized hood that is cut extra long at the back and in such a way that its end twirls. I have taken a photo of this for you because it is just such an incredible detail.
• When the hood is up it falls gently around the face to frame it
• It is a work of art and very rare. It very well may be the only one that exists.
• The dress is lined in a fine ivory silk. A handmade soft inner corset is set inside and under the ivory layer and it closes with its own zipper. The ivory silk lining closes over that with its own zipper and then the outer layer of the dress closes with hidden set tiny snaps. The cape hooks to close at the front. An inner waist stay hooks to close with metal couture hooks. I see a couple of small holes near the hem of the one panel that were left as they are stable. There is a very tiny and finely done seam at the base of where it snaps to close at the front and I'm not sure if it is there deliberately or if it was a repair at one time but it's invisible when the dress is on. Please see the photo after the label shot.
• The dress is finished to Haute Couture standards and entirely made by hand. The proper Haute Couture label is present.
• No size tag is present. The bias cut of the dress should work for a range of measurements and I have listed the comfortable range laying flat where that applies.
  
• No matter how good you think it looks in the photos it is better in person.
• Excellent condition and appears to have been worn very little.

Bust: 14-17" flat across from side seam to side seam
Inner waist stay: 12.5" flat across from side seam to side seam
Inner hips: to 23" flat across from side seam to side seam
Total length: 58" from top of shoulder to hem
Cape: 65" from neck to hem and will come up a touch when on the shoulders

Modern Sizing Equivalent: XS-SML

Item# DD4254

Reference Photos: (1) 1958 Madame Gres Evening Dress in The MET Collection. /  (2) Madame Gres evening dress, L'officiel de la mode, 1958.  /  (3) 1959 Madame Gres Evening Dress in the Chicago History Museum Collection.

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