S/S 1999 Christian Dior by John Galliano Olive Green Bias Cut Slip Gown
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Length: 62 in (157.48 cm)Marked Size: 10 (US)Bust: 36 in (91.44 cm)Waist: 32 in (81.28 cm)Hip: 39.6 in (100.59 cm)
- Period:
- Material Notes:Fabric Contents: 56% Viscose and 44% Acetate blend (feels like heavy textured silk satin material) with 100% Silk lining at upper.
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. In very good vintage condition with very light wear throughout, including faint spot near right side chest (not noticeable when worn).
- Seller Location:North Hollywood, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3084222442492
John Galliano for Christian Dior
Known for introducing rich theatricality and memorable fashion spectacles to the runway, John Galliano has enjoyed a singular career. The audacious British designer has garnered universal acclaim for genre-breaking collections not only at his eponymous label but also for Christian Dior.
From his embroidered absinthe-green Oscars gown for actress Nicole Kidman to the iconic sleeveless newspaper-print dress that Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw made famous, Galliano’s intricate and multifaceted work is reliably collectible and newsworthy, drawing on history as often as it embodies a fresh and forward-looking sensibility, and over the years the designer has helped shape an ever-broadening new legion of enthusiasts for Parisian couture.
Born in Gibraltar but raised in South London by strict Roman Catholic working-class parents, Galliano attended the all-boys Church of England grammar school, where his flamboyance and interest in art attracted the attention of bullies. Eventually, Galliano ended up at the prestigious design and art school Central Saint Martins College (then called Saint Martin’s School of Art), where fellow British designers Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen also trained.
Galliano flourished at Central Saint Martins. While a student, he worked in the costume department at the National Theatre in London. His graduate collection in 1984, dubbed “Les Incroyables” and named for post–French Revolution fashion lovers, was modeled by close friends of his and earned a standing ovation. The line ended up in the storefront windows of London luxury boutique Brown’s on South Molton Street, and Galliano’s first official collection — after he graduated — debuted at Paris Fashion Week in 1989.
In the early 1990s, Galliano’s relationship with his financial backer, Plein Sud’s Faycal Amor, ended, and by 1994, he was broke and sleeping on the floor of a friend’s apartment. Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour and then-Vanity Fair editor André Leon Talley stepped in and introduced the budding designer to Portuguese socialite and fashion patron São Schlumberger and others.
At Schlumberger’s Hôtel Particulier, Galliano’s shows became the stuff of fashion legend. His collection, a blend of Japanese modernist style as well as nostalgia for Art Deco and 1940s’ tailoring, earned raves in glossy magazines and garnered the attention of Princess Diana, Madonna and other fashion luminaries.
Once the Galliano name was well known among the world’s most stylish set, the chairperson of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, appointed Galliano head designer of French fashion house Givenchy. One year later, in 1996, LVMH moved him to the design team at Dior. In just eight weeks, Galliano produced 50 looks for Dior Haute Couture’s brilliant Spring/Summer 1997 Maasai collection and would ultimately design a mind-boggling eight collections a year for the storied French fashion house until 2011. Today, Galliano is the creative director of Maison Margiela.
Shop vintage and contemporary John Galliano for Christian Dior evening dresses and gowns, shoes, handbags and other clothing and accessories on 1stDibs.
Christian Dior
When Christian Dior launched his couture house, in 1946, he wanted nothing less than to make “an elegant woman more beautiful and a beautiful woman more elegant.” He succeeded, and in doing so the visionary designer altered the landscape of 20th century fashion. Vintage Dior bags, shoes, evening dresses, shirts and other garments and accessories are known today for their feminine and sophisticated sensibility.
Dior was born in Granville, on the Normandy coast, in 1905. His prosperous haute bourgeois parents wanted him to become a diplomat despite his interest in art and architecture. However, they agreed to bankroll an art gallery, which Dior opened in 1928 in Paris with a friend.
This was the start of Dior’s rise in the city’s creative milieu, where he befriended Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau. After seven years as an art dealer, Dior retrained as a fashion illustrator, eventually landing a job as a fashion designer for Robert Piguet, and in 1941, following a year of military service, he joined the house of Lucien Lelong. Just five years later, with the backing of industrialist Marcel Boussac, the ascendant Dior established his own fashion house, at 30 avenue Montaigne in Paris.
Just two years after the end of World War II, the fashion crowd and the moribund haute couture industry were yearning, comme tout Paris, for security and prosperity, desperate to discard the drab, sexless, utilitarian garb imposed by wartime deprivation. They needed to dream anew.
And Dior delivered: He designed a collection for a bright, optimistic future. “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian!” exclaimed Carmel Snow, the prescient American editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, famously proclaiming, “Your dresses have such a new look.” The press ran with the description, christening Dior’s debut Spring/Summer haute couture collection the New Look. “God help those who bought before they saw Dior,” said Snow. “This changes everything.”
Dior’s collection definitively declared that opulence, luxury and femininity were in. His skirts could have 40-meter-circumference hems, and outfits could weigh up to 60 pounds. They were cut and shaped like architecture, on strong foundations that molded women and “freed them from nature,” Dior said. Rather than rationing, his ladies wanted reams of fabric and 19-inch waists enforced by wire corsets, and the fashion world concurred. The debut got a standing ovation.
In the subsequent decade, Paris ruled as the undisputed fashion capital of the world, and Christian Dior reigned as its king. With the luxuriously full skirts of his New Look, suits and his drop-dead gorgeous couture dresses and ball gowns worthy of any princess, Dior gave women the gift of glamour they’d lost in the miserable years of war.
On 1stDibs, find an exquisite range of vintage Christian Dior clothing, jewelry, handbags and other items.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: North Hollywood, CA
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- S/S 1992 Givenchy Haute Couture Deep Brown Strapless Gown with Embroidered BustBy GivenchyLocated in North Hollywood, CAS/S 1992 Givenchy Haute Couture deep brown strapless gown with embroidered sequin and raffia bustier by Maison Lesage. Bustier features brown geometric pattern throughout and 3D fili...Category
1990s Evening Dresses
- S/S 2008 Junya Watanabe Ecru Cotton Dress with Pink Floral PatternBy Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons, Junya WatanabeLocated in North Hollywood, CAS/S 2008 Junya Watanabe ecru cotton dress with pink floral pattern. Three-quarter sleeve square neck gown with elasticized gathered waist. Features lo...Category
Early 2000s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- c. 1959 Jean Patou by Karl Lagerfeld Couture Strapless Blue Satin Evening GownBy Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Patou ParisLocated in North Hollywood, CAc. 1959 Jean Patou by Karl Lagerfeld Couture strapless blue satin evening sheath gown. Matching oversized fabric buttons and large bow at back. Subtle wrap-like effect at back with c...Category
1950s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- 1970's Stephen Burrows Deep Navy Jersey Knit Iridescent Sequin GownBy Stephen BurrowsLocated in North Hollywood, CA1970’s Stephen Burrows deep navy jersey knit iridescent sequin gown. Long t-shirt style gown with metallic, iridescent shimmer throughout. A comfortable dress with minor stretch. As ...Category
1970s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- S/S 2016 Calvin Klein White Silk Gown with Bronze Loop Side DetailsBy Calvin KleinLocated in North Hollywood, CAS/S 2016 Calvin Klein white silk long sleeve gown with open sleeves and bronze loop details at sides, with raw unfinished hem. Snap closures at shoulders. Fabric Contents: 100% Silk....Category
2010s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- S/S 2000 Valentino Black Strapless Gown with Open BustBy ValentinoLocated in North Hollywood, CAS/S 2000 Valentino black strapless gown with open bust. Strapless gown with open bust paneling and open center drape wrap front. Built-in corset with boning at sides. Concealed side ...Category
Early 2000s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Vintage 1940's Pink Silk Evening Dress Beaded Pearl Floral Dress UK 8 Us 4Located in Cheltenham, GBA beauty to behold. This original 1940's pink silk dress, embellished with trailing silk threaded soutache embroidery depicting blossoming flowers, surrounded by pearlescent beaded d...Category
1940s Unknown Evening Dresses
- Vintage 1960's yellow sequin beaded cocktail dress wiggle dress UK 12 US 8Located in Cheltenham, GBThis breathtaking 1960's yellow knitted wool dress, embellished in its entirety with clear iridescent sequins, and finished with floral beaded details in yellow rocaille beads, and i...Category
1960s Cocktail Dresses
- Chanel 13P Spring 2013 Wool Tweed Runway Sequins Faux Pearl Dress 38 NewBy ChanelLocated in Merced, CAChanel runway tweed sequins dress from Chanel spring 2013 runway dress adorned with Cc logo buttons and faux pearl.Category
Mid-20th Century French Shift Cocktail Dresses
- EMILIO PUCCI vintage silk long dress 60sBy Emilio PucciLocated in Rubiera, REEmilio Pucci Long pink long dress Vintage 60s Fantasy on pink background; adorned with crystals and beads. Fully hand finished, double lined. 100% silk The size label has been cut. L...Category
1960s Italian Evening Dresses and Gowns
- 1980s Dimitri Kritsas long black dressLocated in Milano, IT1980s Dimitri Kritsas long black dress with wide shawl neckline and low cut back. Rounded high slit in front with fitted long sleeves. Evening dress Size: M Waist: 88 cm Length: 14...Category
1980s American Evening Dresses
- 1970s Basile Long Velvet Black DressBy BasileLocated in Milano, ITVoluptuous Runway dress, floor length in black silk velvet, V-neck in grosgrain with small collar, Long sleeves. slit opening in the back. with fish tail shaped draping from knee t...Category
1970s North American Evening Gowns
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
How John Galliano Caused Fashion Chaos around the Globe
The visionary designer epitomizes the pleasures and perils of irrepressible creative genius.
Too Soon for the Return of ’90s Fashion? As If
There's a renewed appreciation for the era's aesthetic, perhaps most notably among millennials seeking authentic, easy style.