This ensemble is a signature example of Galliano's New Look style. It is composed of a corselette bustier in hand-draped natural python skin that is lined in silk. The bodice has a hook and eye closure at the center back. There are built in bust cups to support the structure of the bodice and the wearer. The other half of the ensemble is a toreador pencil skirt in a cream coloured smocked wool, Calais lace, and elastane. The skirt is intended to sit over the bodice in order to create a continuous look. There is a slit at the center back hem and the skirt has hook and eye closures at the center back waist. The design of this look foreshadows the work that Galliano will come to create for the House of Dior in the coming years.
“Dolores del Rio” Collection. Fall-Winter 1995-96. Look 5.
Atelier John Galliano, Paris
Collection of Jørgen Simonsen, Paris
The ensemble was worn by Annelise Seubert for its runway debut.
K. Taylor, Galliano: Spectacular Fashion, London/New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020, p. 112 (illustrated)
Another dress from the Fall/Winter 1995-96 collection is in the collection of:
The Metropolitan Museum, New York
Materials:
Bodice: Python skin and silk
Skirt: wool, Calais lace, and elastane
Measurements: taken flat
Bodice:
Waist: 25”
Bust: 30”
Center front neckline to waist: 10 ¼”
Center back neckline to waist: 8”
Pencil skirt:
Waist: 25”
Hip: 30” (though stretchy)
Center front waist to hem: 40”
Center back waist to hem: 39 ¾”
Length of center back slit: 13”
Brown Label with blue letters stitched on the inside of the dress, ‘John Galliano Paris’.
