a moment to chat about Mother's Day, May 10, 2009
hint hint hint hint........
In 1907, Mother's Day was first celebrated in a small, private way by Anna Marie Jarvis in Grafton, West Virginia, to commemorate the anniversary of her mother's death two years earlier on May 9, 1905. Jarvis's mother, named Anna Maria Reeves Jarvis, had been active in Mother's Day campaigns for peace and worker's safety and health since end of American Civil War.
Back to the Dress.........
It's a knockoff of a Balenciaga design circa early 60s. At first I was gonna do it in the turquoise in long sheer sleeves. Turq is a good color for me, and I do not need one more black dress....right now.
But the more I think about it, the more I will likely eliminate the sleeves .....I'm choosing a washable fabric even tho the dress must have facings and interfacings, but at least the crinoline that comes with, is detachable. Of course you knew that a big bubble skirt like that would need a custom crinni.......
I don't know the exact year and collection because I haven't done That much research...but I did find this one at Doyle's Auctions......
Lot 1094
Balenciaga Chine Bubble Cocktail Dress
French, circa 1960
Of silk taffeta, black ground with warp print red roses, camisole bodice with wide shoulder straps gathered at front, trimmed with two horizontal self bands at empire and waistline concluding in bow at center front, gathered skirt with revealed harem hem net over tulle underskirt, tulle lining with silk gauze hem.
Born in 1885 in Guetaria, Spain,Cristobal Balenciaga opened his first boutique in 1913 in Spain and moved to Paris in 1937. He retired in 1968 and died soon after. He dressed the European royals, High society women and our first lady, Jackie Kennedy. Balenciaga invented the modern styles we now take for granted including the chemise dress, that we now call the shift, the baby doll with it's sheer lace flounced tent over a slim underdress, the balloon skirt, the cocoon coat revived from the teens and 20s, and the revived Empire line in the 1950s.
