#4009 $1,800
Beaded satin flapper dress, mid 1920s
Flapper dresses remain a perennial favorite, perhaps because no other period combined such opulence with such youthful sass. The simple sheath style of the 1920s flapper dress was the perfect blank canvas for elaborate textile art.
This spectacular creation combines chenille embroidery with various textures of beads in a lively design that is as fresh and appealing today as when it was first worn.
The unlined dress is fashioned from black satin. The body of the dress has wide stripes of amber-colored glass bugle beads. The gold, orange, and burgundy chenille flowers on the brilliant borders are accented with small rose, ivory, bronze, and amber glass beads. The dress slips over the head with no closures.
The bold color combinations bring to mind the style of dress of Millicent Rogers, the Standard Oil heiress. Her face was like a lotus flower and her figure like a Chinese statuette. In her flaming youth during the Twenties, she never failed to make an impression with her outfits. One admirer recalled the time she made an entrance, passing through a shaft of sunlight that caught her magenta sequin sheath (the color of her hair).
The condition is excellent and wearable.
It measures: 40" bust, 42" waist, 46" hip, and 41" from the shoulder to the hem.
