Beschreibung:

A rare John Galliano 'Clam' dress, Blanche DuBois collection, Spring-Summer 1988. London labelled and size 14, the skirt with complex layering of graduated white organza pleats, the strapless white organza with grey organza sash for draping like a stole or entwining around the arms to form sleeves, bust 92cm, 36in. Provenance: the Mr Steven Philip Collection. This dress is illustrated in 'Galliano, Spectacular Fashion,' by Kerry Taylor, p.53. The inspiration for the SS 88 collection, as the title suggests, was Tennessee Williams' tragic, fragile heroine from his 1947 play 'A Streetcar Named Desire', combined with the idea of 'the English country lady', complete with bee-keeper hats. Galliano was now onto his second backer - Peder Bertelsen of Aguecheek. This collection was to be a huge commercial success - Galliano's first. The combination of ladylike, wearable, romantic, 50s-inspired pieces was hugely popular, much to everyone's relief. However, the star of the collection was indisputably the 'Clam' dress and was a design that Galliano was to return to repeatedly throughout his career. Inspired by a vintage magazine fragment, Galliano approached one of his pattern cutters, Karen Crichton, who said she knew how to achieve it - organza strips cut on the bias and curving round in shape. They resembled the grooves on a Clam shell and so the name was coined. She remembered delivering three of these skirts to the studio, late at night just before the show: 'John manipulated them into shape and we sewed them into place, then the studio made simple bodices to attach'. As the show began, Crichton recalled: 'as the models wearing my Clam dresses emerged, the room fell silent. My heart stopped and I thought, they don't like this, but there was a standing ovation and my eyes filled with tears'. These dresses were made as special orders only due to the complexity of the pattern. Lee Alexander McQueen confessed to being fascinated by this design, which in turn influenced some of his own creations..