Stunning Art Deco Flapper Dress/Provenance? Study?

foofoogal

foofoogal

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Please help me with this.

I have a beyond gorgeous beaded flapper dress.
It has an under slip also.
I do know the silk chiffon is hard to repair if impossible.
My ? is what is the best course of action on something like this?
Study? Recreate the dress which I would love to see happen.
I have never run across such a beautiful example of this type of dress.
Tons of beads and the beads seem to be stable. Very heavy.
It was from a St.Louis Opera singer. Possibly a museum in that area would be interested in conserving it? The hem is easily let out.
Thanks for any advice.
Sandy
foofoogal
 

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Sandy,

Well I do agree that the dress is a wonderful example of 1920s beaded dresses. The way the beads are so artfully arranged, and that great Deco pattern! Truly outstanding.

I wonder, what are the damages on the dress? It appears in good shape in the photos. I might suspect that the silk chiffon can no longer hold the weight of all the beadwork and is shredding or making holes and separations. Is that the repair work you refer to? Or is it dirty or soiled? How are the underarms? It could be sewn to another piece of fabric for re-inforcment if you want to display it. But that is expensive to have done, and is best left to a professional person who has a background in curating antique garments and repairs.

A museum or historical society in your area might be interested in the dress, since it has St. Louis provenance. Please keep in mind that most small museums will have very small budgets, or no budget at all, for acquisitions. They will more likely ask you to donate the dress. If you are looking to make money on the dress, there are plenty of folks out there who would be interested in it for study or re-purposing. Selling it "as is" is always an option.

Recreating it would be fantastic. Of course the cost would be enormous.

To a collector of this type of dress, it is wonderful just as it is. Some folks would love to simply own it and try to preserve it in a collection. Some might take the beadwork and re-purpose it. Of course, all of this depends on how badly it is damaged and what kind of damage there is.

Adding that I would hate to see this cut up and re-purposed, it would be a crime to do that unless the dress was extremely far gone.
 
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Thank you both. I am way out of my knowledge on this so really do not know what is expected
damage on something like this. It has heavy beaded side panels attached. I will try to put some more photos but
do not want to make it worse.
The shoulders and back have damage and one stain about a quarter size on front is main issues.
I have information about the owner also.
If I had some sort of idea what it would cost or if possible to fix it would help me.
I found a website of finding people that can do this work.
If not possible I will contact the St. Louis Genealogy something and go from there.
Thanks again.
 
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