Givenchy · 1960s · 1965
0004
The Estate Cocktail Dress, c. 1965
ENTRY 0004 · Givenchy · 1960s · 1965
Provenance
Found in the estate of a Parisian socialite who had kept her maid-of-honour wardrobe from a 1965 wedding at the Ritz. The label is Givenchy's 1960s atelier mark; the dress passed from the socialite's family to a Paris dealer, then to the Vault's own collection. Never listed on the open floor — it entered the archive directly.
The record
Estate sales are where the good secrets go to be discovered. This one surfaced in the wardrobe of a woman who had kept the dress she wore as maid of honour at a 1965 Ritz wedding — black silk faille, a sculpted bodice, the kind of construction that tells you immediately which decade knew what it was doing. It was archived the day it arrived, never offered for sale: some pieces are records first and garments second.
Plate · ENTRY 0004