Philip Hulitar dress--opinions

P

persephone60

Registered Guest
So, I found this dress at an estate sale. I bought it because it was beautiful and clearly well made, and I didn't see the tag until I brought it home. Upon starting my research, I find that Philip Hulitar dresses are quite collectible (and often sell for quite a bit of money).

The issue that I'm trying to figure out is what to do about damage to the dress. There are a couple issues, but the trickiest issue is that there are some holes in the netting in the cutout design on the shoulders (see the pic below for the worst of the damage) from being improperly hung. I'm not sure if I should try to have this repaired, and if so, how to go about doing it, or if I should leave this for the buyer (since a buyer might be a collector who is picky about what is done to the dress).

(The other repair that needs to be done is that the waist belt (it's not really a belt because it's sewn on) needs to be reattached in places where it's starting to come off).
 
The back of the dress (and sorry for the background--it's the only place I can take pics with good lighting because of boxes being against other walls).
 
It's a beautiful dress. Depending on cost - and if you know someone who can do it properly I think it would be ideal to have the net restored/replaced where there are holes - and the waistband reattached. I wouldn't have the first clue about how to restore the net and would want it done correctly.

I don't know where you live - but some of our members may have the names of good restorers in your area.
 
I have a similar dress with a similar lace cut out issue.....I bought it for a song on ebay about 7 years ago and although I'm yet to get around to restoring it, but feeling is that you will have trouble selling it for much as it is, despite the label. So I agree with Linn that getting a restoration cost would be a good first step.

Nicole
 
Lovely dress, and I agree with Linn and Nicole.... If all the netting is still there and just torn, a good seamstress or tailor may be able to nicely repair it. If it's too damaged to repair, it does not look like an impossible job at all to replace it. Re-attaching the belt should be pretty easy. I would guess that for someone who knows what they're doing these repairs wouldn't take an inordinate amount of time--but in your area they may be expensive anyway. Definitely get an estimate from at least one or two people....
 
I Think having the conservation done expertly is going to be costly - I wouldn't be surprised if it was upwards of $500.00 to have the work done to museum standards. You may want to sell as is and let the buyer worry about the conservation costs that lie ahead.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if it was upwards of $500.00 to have the work done to museum standards.
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I wasn't thinking of museum standards--just a good, very serviceable and not obvious repair to enable the dress to be worn. I'm sure museum-quality restoration would be indeed expensive, but an "old-school" professional who makes or alters apparel for wearability should be able to do that for quite a bit less than $500.... But, obviously we're not talking $50 or $75 for the work to be done!

I guess it depends on whether you are selling it as a collector's piece or an item for someone who wants to wear it. I would guess it wouldn't be worth putting $500 into this gown--but maybe so. Kinda depends on how much the OP paid for it, and what condition the balance of it is in....
 
I was thinking that the conservation should match the relative importance of the dress. Phillip Hulitar was a top designer but his labelled work isn't thick on the ground. If the dress were flawless I think the sale price would be worth the investment of the conservation, but it will take time to find the right buyer. Selling it on for a reasonable price now and letting the next person worry about the conservation may not net as much money, ultimately, but it should be a quick sale and would require no further investment to tie up funds. The only thing that has me wondering, is that the dress looks 1950ish, and I thought Hulitar was working for either Elizabeth Arden or Hattie Carnegie at that point and neither of them allowed labels outside of theirs. Can we see a pic of the label?

Never mind... it was Bergdorf Goodman he was working for and he opened under his own name in 1949, so that all matches up. I was thinking of Sarmi... brain fart.
 
Selling it on for a reasonable price now and letting the next person worry about the conservation may not net as much money, ultimately, but it should be a quick sale and would require no further investment to tie up funds.
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That's a sensible, viable approach that would allow the buyer to determine to what extent she/he wants to go in terms of restoration.... I've been pretty surprised at what I've seen flawed, in-need-of-repair items go for, especially on Etsy. Not so much eBay, but for some reason, many Etsy buyers are less inclined to expect humungous discounts for flaws.
 
I don't believe that repair would be difficult as the solid parts of the design meet every so often and therefore the damaged sections inbetween could be replaced seperately from the the rest of the sleeve (no doubt it was a whole piece of net underneath originally but there's no sense re-doing all of it unless a good match of net can't be found). Therein lies the difficulty I think; finding a net that has the same hole, shade and stretch, though it looks like something a miliner could identify.

What you could really do with is a lady who used to repair her own stockings....it's similar work. ;)
 
I would take it to a couple of local dress makers and get a couple of quotes and then go from there. You can disclose in your listing that the repairs were made by a professional dress maker, and then when they get the dress they can decide if that want to take it elsewhere for a museum quality make-over. Chances are that the dress will be purchased by someone who will want to wear it and will be happy with a professional seamstress repair.
 
Wow, a lot of great input! Thanks, everyone!

Pinkcoke, you're right that the solid parts of the sleeves meet, and that it's just a matter of replacing the sections of netting that are damaged. And the section I pictured would need to be replaced (there's not enough netting there to repair).

In terms of Jonathan's comment, I'm not sure it's worth it to me to do a museum-quality restoration. At first glance, the sleeve repair looks like the only major issue (the belt would be an easy fix, and there's a light spot on the lining near the neckline, which I think a professional could handle), but I don't think that investing that large of a chunk of money in the dress and then waiting a long time for the right collector to come along is the option that makes the most sense for me--I'm a relatively new seller, and I'm not aiming to be someone who specializes in collectible clothing.

I like the idea of having a professional dressmaker replace the damaged areas and then selling it (and disclosing the repair). This means that if my buyer is someone who isn't a serious collector (i.e. doesn't need the dress in museum shape), they can wear the dress after purchasing it. And if I have a serious collector, they can invest in the museum quality repairs themselves and make sure that it's done properly.

I guess I'll have to see if I can find the right netting and a dressmaker I trust who's willing to do the repair for a price that would make doing the repairs (rather than just selling the dress with the damage disclosed) worth it.
 
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