Victor Costa

One of Victor Costa's best designs, this strapless cocktail/evening dress is fashioned of white satin and black velvet alternating horizontal stripes with fitted bodice leading to an...

1970s Victor Costa Satin Deco-Revival Pastel Kimono Top Jacket: A fabulously louche Art deco revival-style piece for languorous lounging! In a most unusual pastel sorbet palette, t...

Black velvet bustier evening dress with furs around the waist. No fabric tag composition but the lining is probably in rayon and the fur is fox. Zip and hook&eye in the middle back....

In 1987, the New York Times described Victor Costa as “widely recognized as a significant contributor to the current vogue for flamboyant, super-feminine dresses...

1990s Victor Costa incredible couture level bolero fully covered in black sequins and an intricate gold embroidered design. The gold pieces look like rope. A gold line of beads and r...

For a formal special event, this 1980s maxi dress sleeveless gown by American designer Victor Costa features glamorous glossy red satin that is gathered, ruched and topstitched in bo...

This timeless quintessential corseted, shirred, ruched and topstitched "little black dress" produced by Victor Costa in the 1980s was made for the high standards of New York's trendsetting Bergdorf Goodman when it was the first U.S. luxury department store to order exclusive special-occasion dresses from this Texas designer and subsequently to give him a namesake in-store boutique. He soon became associated with the feminine glamorous gowns worn by "PYT" (Costa-speak for pretty young things) on the Dallas-based television-series "Dynasty", which idealized a status-conscious Texas woman mostly via fashion. With a strapless curvaceous sweetheart neckline (spared from '80s shoulder pads!), narrow sinuous folds of crepe silk-blend jersey cross diagonally below the decollete, while contrasting vertical ruching defines the seven bones of the invisible corset structure that is fully lined on the interior. Under the bust in front below the empire-like peaked high waist, the fitted tucked underlay of the cocktail dress wraps around the back to end as an overlay in front, where the opening on the left side extends to the bodice like a discreet slit. The freely hanging bias-cut overlay in front is gathered underneath each breast for a forgiving central drape that adds additional curves to make the wearer's torso underneath appear in sleek condition despite a potentially less than ideal figure. The dress closes with a concealed zipper in the center of the back, with exterior hook-and-eye fastening to narrow the waist. There is a second concealed hook-and-eye fastener at the top of the zipper. Although the only remaining tag is the Costa/Bergdorf label, it is a contemporary U.S.-size 8, which will also suit a large-busted size 6 or a svelte size 10. Now 88 years old, Victor Costa (b.1935) became widely known by the 1980s in The States for perfecting affordable luxurious gowns that could be mistaken for one-of-a-kind flamboyant designs by foreign couturiers Christian Lacroix, Arnold Scaasi, Oscar de la Renta or Valentino Garavani. Early on, the avid female sketcher...

c.1970 Victor Costa for Romantica long dress combining a black sequin bodice juxtaposed with a large-scale taffeta plaid for the full ankle-length skirt and short puffed sleeves, a n...