Stunning, vintage designer wedding gown with sweet, feminine ball gown silhouette! Monique Lhuillier, well-known for her couture bridal wear, creates beautiful, timeless designs and her work is very frequently seen in celebrity weddings & red carpet appearances.
This is a vintage dress, discovered by a bridal connoisseur, who was also a friend, in a Palm Beach boutique. It is labeled with both a Monique Lhuillier label and an Erica Loren Collection label, as certain boutiques were authorized to carry Monique Lhuillier's designs.
Since it is vintage, there are a few tiny flaws (unnoticeable when wearing, but there none-the-less) - a few tiny, pin-head sized, very faint (much lighter than close-up photo) rust-type spots right at the top edge of the trim under the bust (only visible when not being worn), and a couple of the same type & size, very faint rust-type spots (fainter than the front) right below the back trim (this would typically be covered by your hair or a veil and are again not noticeable when wearing). These flaws were there when I purchased the dress from my friend & were not noticeable, nor did they detract in any way from the wearing of the dress. I had the dress professionally cleaned & pressed by a Palm Beach cleaner, familiar with high-end clothing, prior to my wedding, but have not had it cleaned since. I will need to be cleaned & pressed prior to using, since the hemline is slightly dirty from brushing the floor & the dress is quite wrinkled from storage. It has been stored in a dustproof, breathable wedding gown bag, however, due to the fullness of the skirt, it has become fairly wrinkled. A cleaning & pressing by a PROFESSIONAL cleaner, very familiar with high-end designer gowns will be a MUST! The specialty fabrics and design require a top-of-the-line cleaner!
I am 5'6" and this dress was professionally hemmed to be worn with flats, but still to touch the floor in the front. The back falls into a sweep length (almost) train. (Sweep length is a foot in length from where the fabric hits the floor. This is a 10" length from where the fabric hits the floor.) It does not have any means of bustling the train. Measurements are: Bust (straight across from armpit to armpit) 18" (I am a B cup and filled it out comfortably without being tight. Might accommodate a C cup, but no higher.); Underbust (across along trim) 15"; Waist (across at the slimmest part/natural waist) 14"; Shoulder seam straight down to hem 58"; Natural waist to train hem 51"; Shoulder seam down back to natural waist 17"; Center front neckline to center skirt seam 16"; Center back neckline to center back skirt seam 9.5"; Center front skirt seam to hem seam 37"; Center back skirt seam to hem seam 47". Contact me for any further measurements needed.
The dress design itself is stunning! The beautiful, slightly boat-necked, fitted bodice top is a lovely creamy cotton velvet, thick & plush, trimmed with a lovely, almost "art deco" style beaded trim. The trim consists of antique silvery metal bugle beads, white pearly bugle beads, clear seed beads, pearls & antique silver sequins, edged with silver thread, and sits just under the bust line. The back of the bodice top is a rounded "V" shape that hits just above the top of a normal bra. The waist area of the bodice is fitted and made of the same material as the skirt, a lovely, creamy ivory silk gazar (see explanation below). A covered zipper with a pull-tab runs down the back. However the zipper is covered by a row of lovely, self-fabric buttons, which close over the zipper with a row of loops. Please see photos for explanation.
(Gazar (also gazaar) is a silk or wool plain weave fabric made with high-twist double yarns woven as one. Gazar has a crisp hand and a smooth texture. Silk gazar is much used in bridal and evening fashion due to its ability to hold its shape. Gazar was developed by the Swiss textile firm Alexander in collaboration with Basque couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga, who featured silk gazar in his collections of 1960–68. Balenciaga's mastery of this gleaming, lightweight fabric with its "claylike" ability to hold its shape was exemplified by the trapezoid wedding gowns in his collections of 1967 and 1968. It is a medium-weight, sheer fabric used in eveningwear, bridal/wedding, special occasion, and high-end home décor. Similar in hand, feel and look to silk organza, but slightly heavier and much stiffer, this fabric makes a beautiful sheer overlay and lends itself incredibly well to voluminous silhouettes. This fabric is 100% silk, and has a velvety sheen due to the way the silk filaments reflect light, but generally appears quite matte.)
The fitted waist area falls to just above the top of the hip bone at the side seams, with only a slight dip (two inches at the lowest/center point) in the front, and dips the same in the back. The two seams on the front of the fitted waist meet exactly with the sides of the center box-pleat on the skirt. (The symmetry here is beautiful!) The front of the skirt falls in three crisp, wide box-pleats, and the back is gathered from the waistline, falling full into the train. The hem is finished with a rolled seam. There are numerous underskirts which create the fullness of the ballgown skirt. The fourth photo gives an idea. Immediately underneath the silk gazar outer skirt is a a silky liner that lines the entire dress, bodice, waist & skirt. Next is a heavy, stiff (the dress can almost stand on it's own!) tulle slip skirt (fully attached to the dress, not separate), consisting of four layers. The inside layer, next to the skin, is a soft, but sturdy tiered slip with a pinked & scalloped bottom edge (details, details!). Attached to the bottom tier is a tier of the heavy stiff tulle. All tulle layers are hemmed with inch-wide rolled & pressed seams. Then ascending up the slip to each successive tier (three layers total) is another layer of the heavy stiff tulle. So, each successive layer is longer than the previous. The top layer of the tulle is attached to the slip at the hip line, so that the skirt is not poofy, just very full, and increasingly more full as it goes down to the hemline. This creates a beautiful silhouette as you can see from the photos!
The attention to detail in the simplicity of design is amazing and a stunning example of Monique Lhuillier's "innate sense of style," and "signature silhouettes that provoke femininity, allure and style and have made her renowned for capturing the essence of sophisticated luxury."