Kate Moss and the Dior Couture gown 2007

Hello all,

I'm after a bit of slightly random assistance. Does anyone remeber back in 2007 when Kate Moss wore a supposed "Dior couture 1930s" dress to the Victoria and Albert museum Golden Age of Couture exhibition opening (i talk here of the stunning cream satin floor length dress she ruined). Anyway, my query lies here, does anyone know wether this dress was a 30s original OR was it a Dior. Obviously it can't be both as s Dior as a company wasn't running then. Is it actually a Robert Piguet dress designed by Dior?
i was just wondering if anyone out there knew. I've spent a good 4 hours today trying to find the answer and failing dismally so far...

 

As you can imagine, there was quite a bit of discussion here at the time - it was not a Dior (you're quite right, his design house wasn't operating them) but it was a beautiful 1930s silk wedding gown that was in good condition and not cheap. It came from a London vintage boutique if I recall correctly.

Such a very big pity - the photos from the night showing it gradually falling apart were heart breaking. Didn't Courtney Love step on the train and rip it at one point? And Kate just ripped the rest of the skirt into a mini dress?

So sad.

 

I've just searched the forums, and found the thread - it's on the trade side so not publicly available, but it turns out that the dress was sold by a VFG member to a London vintage dealer. There were no labels. Kate bought it from a Primrose Hill boutique for 4000 pounds, but another report said 650.

 

Thank you for your responses! i just found it really odd that it was so unclear as to who designed it, as to begin with it was such a fabulous dress. I just wanted to make the distinction on the designer. I'm writing about it in my dissertation (the point I'm making is about the lack of respect given to important pieces of historical fashion, also referencing Livia Firth's oscar dress here) so i just wanted to try and clear up who actually designed it. The £4000 price tag is the one I've read most places, it really was such a sensational dress. My thoughts with the Dior confusion might be to do with the fact that the Golden Age of Couture exhibition was so Dior heavy. That was the only explanation i could fathom anyway...

 

I agree with Ruth: the high price tag reflects a designer label - so it's a mystery. I hate to think that anyone would put in a fake label, but it happens - I also find it hard to believe that a dealer would risk her reputation with an impossible dress, a dress with a too-early label, but it's quite possible too.

I recently saw a late Victorian beaded capelet, that had been remodelled into a '20s jacket and then someone bright spark sewed in a '50s Dior label. I'm sad to say that this was in the collection of a vintage dealer, and she had bought it from another dealer. They both should have known better, or perhaps they were in the scam? I prefer to think they were innocent.

You might like to read my blog post about the Livia debacle - and if you're looking for situations where historical fashion is treated with a lack of respect, there are some unfortunate incidents concerning museum deaccessions and donated items sold cheaply to people who turn them into other items. Here is an example.

 

Ooooh thanks for the other links. Nicole, i have referenced your Livia Firth piece in my work already!
There was an interesting image of the Kate Moss dress actually of the dress that i found before it was auctioned too, it appears to be in such a sorry state. So sad : ( it was so perfect at the beginning of that night.

I'm an obsessive Horrockses collector and in the past year I've had two dealers try and sell me dresses that had labels sewn in that were most definitely not Horrockses dresses, not like doing it with a Dior label obviously, but still pretty annoying!

The deaccessioning piece was really interesting too, thank you for this, definitely using this!

 

Hello everyone,
I know that this conversation is from few years ago but me and my boyfriend are the owners of the dress you were talking about.

I found this forum as we are currently looking for the best way of storing this dress to make sure that it is not going to get more damaged.
My boyfriend got it on the auction, for £700, as far as I am concerned there are no labels on the dress but I am honestly afraid to even touch it.

It had been 10 years already, the dress is not in the best condition and at this point I am looking for someone who I can turn to and take care of the dress properly. We keep it as we got it: in a paper box and it is definitely not good enough.
I am attaching the picture as well and I really do hope that there is any chance that someone will be able to help us.
We would really appreciate this.

If you need any information please let me know as I am also happy to help.

 

Yes, this is the dress!
Although I have to say it looks completely different now...
I've called literally everywhere I could, including V&A museum, vintage stores etc. The most helpful place at this point were Upstage Vintage dry cleaners in London who gave me the advice of how I should store it. I have already ordered muslin, acid free paper and acid free box + some wooden cedar moth balls. I do not know if there is anything else I could do or where I could turn. I am going to visit Upstage Vintage within the next few days and show them the dress but most probably it is not possible to clean it anymore due to the damage.
Another problem is that we are planning to transport it and keep it in Australia... I am highly concerned about the humid and heat situation. I have been adviced to rather leave it in UK at this point.
I am not sure if there is anyone or anywhere else I could turn to... I really feel like the dress needs more respect.

 

It is a tiny size indeed.
I also think that there is a whole bit of material missing from the bottom of the dress as it seems much shorter now.
It it also much more damaged than you can see on the picture. Is has several holes at the front and on the sleeves... Such a shame, it really is a beautiful dress.

 

Hi Karolina, there's no issue with looking after the dress in Australia as long as you take care. My best advice is to repair or restore the dress before cleaning it. If you're in Melbourne I can give you specific advice regarding the particular issues the dress may have.

The fabric looks like silk charmeuse: you can either hand wash or dry clean this dress but I would focus on repairing it first, as any cleaning is likely to increase the damage if it's not done very carefully.

 

Thank you for your response and the advice!
The only thing I would say is that the value of the dress is based on the history of it - which is the damage.
I think I would rather not fix the dress to be honest at this point...

It is great to hear that looking after the dress in Australia should not be a problem. Thank you, I would definitely come to you but I am afraid I will not be in Melbourne though but Brisbane.

I thought it is silk but Internet says it is actually satin. I still havent had a chance to visit drycleaners I mentioned before but I hope they will be able to recommend something more after looking at it.

If I will even be in Melbourne, I will definitely take the dress with me and contact you straight away!

 

When you take it to the dry cleaners, make sure it's someone good: not an agency but someone you can talk to in person. To be honest, considering what you've said about the value being in the story, I wouldn't clean it unless it really needed it.

It's both silk and satin: silk is the fabric composition and satin (or rather, charmeuse, which is a type of delustred satin) is the weave. It's the difference between what something is made of and what you make it into. For example, satin can be made of silk but also polyester, rayon and even cotton (in which case it's called sateen).

 

Thank you again!

Yes, I took it to apparently one of the best vintage dry cleaners in London. I have to say they they were very helpful and absolutely lovely.
Yes, the lady there said the same - it is the mixture of silk and satin! Thank you for explaining the difference I understand now how it works.
She also said the the sleeves and the front are made of organza.
She looked at the dress, said that with this amount of damage it will never be possible to fix this dress - even if I wanted to. It is also not possible to ever clean it. It has some stains but at this point the dress is too damaged. She also mentioned that because of how it looks she would strongly recommend to leave it in UK instead of transporting it to Australia.
She even gave me a name of a person who might recognise the dress as he is one of the dealers in London.
There are no labels but he might know more about it.

I am not sure if there is anything more I could do at this point. I will definitely contact this person and try to pack the dress properly. I will also probably leave the dress in UK to be honest. I am not quite sure if there is something more I could do, I really feel like I have contacted everyone I could...
Thank you again for your replies, you are absolutely fantastic.