Berkshires - Clothing

A prime example of understated luxury, this vintage sable jacket in a shade of medium brown is hip length and features a shawl collar and wrist-length sleeves. The jacket is construc...

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...

Flowing chiffon floral gown in fuchsia and navy print featuring a deep V neckline front and back, a high waistline, and sheer, raglan balloon sleeves. The skirt falls from soft pleat...

While John Galliano was creating haute-couture in Paris for French Maison Christian Dior as its artistic director beginning in the late 1990s, he designed this "Made In France" black stretch-lace-and-net low-back boned corset featuring a bold halter neck, padded underwire bustier with a rounded bustline silhouette, and cinched waist with a lettuce-edged ruffle. Along with leading couture-fashion designers Jean-Paul Gaultier and the late Vivienne Westwood, Thierry Mugler and Gianni Versace, Galliano is closely associated with the popularity of the contemporary corset, which was the focus of his most recent couture show in 2024 as the creative director of Paris-based Maison Margiela for the past decade. Notably, a Galliano corset from his turn-of-the-century Christian Dior collection--with like tags and similar low back with bustier--can be viewed online among the collections of the Underpinnings Museum, which is dedicated to the most outstanding lingerie. In addition to the tags noting "Christian Dior Made In France" along with the size, Galliano added subtle logo embroidery to the cleavage that reads "DIOR". There is no tag noting the materials of the multiple laces, tulle mesh, bones and additional padding or strap fabrics, which seem primarily synthetic for desirable stretch-to-fit. Instead, care-instruction symbols can be found on the back of the size tag. The neck straps for this B-cup French-size 85 or U.S.-size 34 can be adjusted to one of the three tiers of hooks that suits the wearer, while the corset has two tiers of hooks to cinch the waist. As worn by our small-size mannequin, the top will flatter even an A-cup breast size. As noted in our listing sidebar, the buyer will receive the corset packed in its original Christian Dior silver shoebox-size cardboard packaging, while the lingerie will be wrapped in the original logo tissue paper. The box and paper are in good condition without rips or perforation, while the lingerie is in like-new excellent condition as if it had only been tried on and not worn for an event. For price comparison, a later dated Galliano/Dior bustier corset top--with like tags but strapless--recently sold on 1stDibs for $6,200. The previous sole owner of our top recalled making their purchase as new lingerie in 2001. This French ready-to-wear complex-structure garment should not be confused with international lingerie lines with different but similar labels--"Christian Dior Intimates...

In the sexy sleek skin-tight style that Texan Tom Ford introduced as the former artistic director at Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche while the French esteemed eponymous designer was r...

With the finest fabric and tailoring--the base expectation for all progressive minimalist luxurious fashions designed for powerful women by German Jil Sander before the Prada-buyout ...

Lauded for his innovative couture-like construction with atypical ready-to-wear luxurious fabrics tailored to perfection in the 2000s, French-born Nicholas Ghesqueire designed for Ba...

With Belgian former couture-fashion designer Martin Margiela's original blank-white textural-cotton corner-sewn label from the early 1990s visible above the prominent circular knit h...

Yves Saint Laurent rive gauche charcoal gray velvet jacket, c. late 1970s-early 1980s, trimmed on all edges in black braid. The collarless jacket is cropped and features narrow sleev...

Over 20 years ago, the late Roberto Cavalli who recently died in 2024 designed this silk-and-cotton top-and-jeans set showcasing his signature mix of animal prints with luxurious emb...

As the key element of runway finale Looks 57 and 60 in Rei Kawakubo's collection for Comme Des Garcons Spring/Summer 1999 (see our photos of the Vogue coverage), this layered overdye...

A rare find, this wedding dress and jacket from the 1930s is made of ivory lace and is in excellent condition. The bias-cut dress has a V-neck and empire bo...

Donna Karan vintage ensemble, c.1990s, incorporating her signature designs - the bodysuit and the simple black shape. Here the bodysuit is a romantic white blouse featuring a large p...

In the 1930s when French couturier Jeanne Lanvin (1867-1946) was creating decorative bias-cut silk tulle overlays for her feminine full-skirted sleeveless "robes de style", she designed this black semi-transparent tulle formal jacket featuring diagonally-striped topstitched silk-crepe appliques throughout the bias-cut panels. This sheer geometric-patterned cape-like jacket has a skirt that drapes from an open waistline and a top-fastening bodice with gathered rounded 3/4-length sleeves that each have two arm seams and shirred embroidered cuffs. It could have been the first "swing coat" design that was given that name around 1935, when Lanvin was the "uncontested leader in the haute-couture field" according to the French Palais Galliera that has collected and exhibited similar garments at its fashion museum in Paris. TheMet collected a House of Lanvin black evening coat with a similar shape that also features dramatic linear appliques, but in a white starburst, which it dates to Spring/Summer 1927. The unprecedented modern look of this Art-Deco women's jacket, which was inspired by 18th-Century French and Spanish topcoats for aristocratic court dresses, may have been good cause for Maison Lanvin to custom-make some close reproductions of a one-of-a-kind couture original for additional clients in Paris, which is implied by the remaining French brand-label noting "Adaptation Jean Lanvin...

Saint Laurent rive gauche blouse crafted of a small, geometric, vertically oriented silk print in predominantly green coloration with dark blue, orange, and ivory contrasts. The blo...

As lingerie-like runway Look 23 for her Spring/Summer 2003 collection from which we acquired this unreproduced hand-finished one-off prototype, British Stella McCartney debuted these...

Quintessential Sonia Rykiel ensemble consisting of a pullover sweater and slim skirt in ivory wool knit, c.1980s. On top, the sweater is distnguished by a button opening in front and...

C. 1960s Ted Lapidus dress fashioned of black devoré velvet on a chiffon ground, the floral-design velvet enhanced with black sparkles that catch the light. Stylewise, the dress feat...

While at Balenciaga in late 2007, Nicolas Ghesquiere designed this 100%-silk bias-cut paneled dress that explodes with a grey and pale-yellow flower print and features unique technic...

Sonia Rykiel c.1990s suit crafted of plum double knit wool featuring an elongated jacket and mid-calf length skirt. The simple cut of the oversized jacket is distinguished by a sing...

Kenzo, c.1980s, large-scale red paisley dress of wool and cotton challis fabric featuring interesting shape and design details. The loose, semi-cocoon shaped body has a three-button ...

1960s evening dress by Malcolm Starr in pale pink satin with beaded emellishment throughout. This consists of primarily silver beads in various shapes and sizes, the body covered wit...

In the early 1990s, Paris-based Azzedine Alaia (1935-2017) designed this knit pullover chemise-style sleeveless lavender violet viscose dress that features bias panels in back define...

Acquired from the French flagship Christian Dior Boutique in Paris when John Galliano was its artistic director of both haute couture and ready-to-wear, he designed this hip-accentua...

From one of the last fashion collections by legendary Belgian artist Martin Margiela, this asymmetrical plunging V-neck black jersey pullover that he designed for Spring/Summer 2008 ...

The late Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace near the end of his life--cut short by his murder in July 1997--designed this couture heavily-embroidered semi-transparent silk chiff...

Around 1970 when he introduced his eponymous brand after becoming a leading couture fashion designer among New York City society, American Bill Blass created this sleek tuxedo-like e...

Valentino jacket in soft wool plaid, the small check ground primarily in tan, ivory and olive green punctuated by horizontal bands in brown and red and thin vertical bands in brown a...

Vintage fox jacket featuring vertical skins joined by leather strips by renowned Saga company. The straight cut jacket boasts a shawl collar and hid...

Yves Saint Laurent hard-to-find vintage 1979s cape from the designer’s Moroccan collection. Crafted of black wool, the simply cut long cape features a pointed hood and burgundy braid...

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...

Uniquely designed as couture by French Jean Charles de Castelbajac in the 1980s, this oversized soft cashmere-viscose-wool bias-cut Italian-knit black sweater with made-in-France tux...

Unique cocktail dress by J. Mendel intricately constructed of charcoal wool and black faille and featuring a silver fox border which peeks out of...

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...

Italian Miuccia Prada debuted this Vogue-photographed 1940s-inspired runway "Look 1" ensemble, which includes this thick check-texture wool skirt suit designed in 1999 with defined hour-glass waist, sharp shoulders and fur accessory, at her Autumn/Winter 2000 ready-to-wear fashion show. Known for some of the best accessories since the 1990s, the Prada detachable multi-color red-fox collar with thin beige grosgrain ties and silk-lined reverse, which was selected for its ad-campaigns and magazine features, became the versatile must-have of the season at the turn of the century. With 100% virgin wool, padded shoulders, flap pockets, and full lining, the warm jacket...

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...

In the 1960s the futurist Paris-based revolutionary haute-couture designers included Andre Courreges, Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne, who was the last to died in the 21st Century in ...

Evoking late-1980s couture with complex construction showcasing a wide variety of sewing techniques and French lace, this like-new "Christian Lacroix Paris Made In France" fuchsia-la...

Patricia Clyne yellow plaid jacket features a unique double-pocket design. The lower patch pocket, which sits just above the hem, has as its flap an integral and floating bottom to t...

For her Fall/Winter 2002 runway finale as the "jeans bride", Stella McCartney debuted this unique ethereal style of lingerie-like transparent silk georgette blouse as "Look 36" (see ...

1980s red knit cardigan elaborately embellished at the shoulders with appliquéd yarn, beads, and sequins. The sweater features an oversized cut, a deep V neckline with coordinating b...

Franck Olivier hunter green corduroy jacket features an off-center zipper closure, mandarin collar, and coordinating knit hip and wrist bands. A patch p...

Featuring a dramatic never-worn zipper skirt from Alaia's iconic Spring/Summer 1986 collection--which dominated the Vanity Fair published preview of the French Foundation Azzedine Al...

Brenner Couture 1970s unusual knit ensemble consisting of a plaid maxi dress under a forest green jacket. The sleeveless dress features a mandarin coll...

Japanese Rei Kawakubo designed this wool-blend half-dress topcoat with embossed pinstripes for her Comme des Garcons Fall/Winter 2000 collection, which she titled "Hard And Forceful"...

For the first eponymous-brand debut in Paris by Belgium-born Veronique Branquinho for her Spring/Summer 1998 collection with couture details, the former Flemish-trained fashion desig...

c.1990s Gianni Versace coat in soft 15% cashmere/wool blend, featuring a true double-breasted style that buttons up to a small round collar. The body of the coat has seams towards th...

1950s-'60s cropped ivory sweater covered in ABA sequins and studded throughout in a turquoise bead and pearl motif; turquoise beaded edging is further ad...

Like a turtleneck ensemble acquired by TheMet Costume Institute, Ann Demeulemeester designed this bold-silhouette contrasting-texture wool set of chocolate ribbed high-neck cropped tight knit sweater and black bias-cut crepe mini skirt for her Fall/Winter 1996-1997 collection, when the latter low-waisted garment without a waistband was worn on the Paris runway over trousers. The soft thick darted pullover jumper characteristically has the designer's hallmark of oversized exaggerated cuffs, which can be left unfolded for a more feminine look. The Belgian designer meticulously tailored the brushed-wool skirt so that its three seams are in the back, where there are also darts to flatter the bias drape, two belt loops, and invisible zip closure at the center. Aside from featuring knitted turtlenecks in almost every ensemble that debuted on the runway that season, this collection was significant because Demeulemeester--who was known for her black-and-white palette of monochromatic pieces until she retired from her independent label in 2013--added colors and textures including this sweater. However, red was the only color featured on the runway. For an alternative pairing idea, we included a photo of a similar brown ribbed darted high-neck sweater, which was worn in Demeulemeester's runway show for Fall/Winter 2000, but with a shiny billowy slit maxi skirt...

This antique ArtDeco-period bespoke British wool and satin black tuxedo button-decorated open-breasted tailcoat fits a women's U.S.-size 6 so well that we think it was custom-made fo...

In Rei Kawakubo's iconic Spring/Summer 1997 collection "Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body", which was nicknamed Lumps & Bumps, this Comme des Garcons navy two-piece set of transparent pullover long-sleeve net blouse and convertible translucent bias-cut draping long skirt or tube dress debuted on the runway in "Look 11" (partly concealed by a discreet navy open robe) seen among the Vogue coverage. Significantly, our pair repeats the fashion show's opening white "Look 1" theme of clothing-absence/body-presence with a see-through symmetrical top revealing breasts and a feminine bias-cut draped asymmetrical skirt. Variations were modeled in navy or red. Many had net-encased organ-shaped down pillows freely inserted into net underlays by the designer to shockingly distort the silhouettes, such as with two kidney-shapes on the back or a tube across the front of the hips. This set will likewise accommodate such padding that is apparent in the Vogue photos...

Black plush wool maxi coat features double-breasted styling and self sash. The coat buttons up to the pointed collar. Set-in sleeves with two buttons at each wrist and shoulder epaul...

This couture lingerie-like spaghetti-strapped black silk satin apron vest, with extraordinary graphic cutwork featuring a heavily hand-beaded breast-plate and appliques, was custom made by a young designer for a New York City female...

Sonia Rykiel 1980s red double knit wool coat or sweater dress featuring the designer's characteristic bow at the neck, accomplished by tying the lo...

For his first collection for Yves Saint Laurent/Rive Gauche for Spring/Summer 2001, American Tom Ford debuted on the Paris runway this tuxedo-style black virgin-wool evening skirt su...

This Alaia Paris black set of a very soft 100% leather high-waisted derriere-enhancing pencil mini skirt and rare logo scoop-neck T-shirt were made around the early 1990s. The stretc...

With a delicate eyelash-lace boatneck and hem, this couture transparent red-and-black floral silk evening sleeveless midi dress is constructed with torso tucks above and below horizo...

For his Gucci Fall/Winter 2001 collection, American Tom Ford designed this sleek partly-knit pullover tunic with plunging V-neck collared suede front that drapes in a reverse V-shape...