Tea coat, silk velvet, with chiffon under-dress, and gold lame belt, by Decio Rossi for Lucile, Paris, France, 1920s.

Silk velvet tea coat with chiffon underdress, gold lame sash.

Ensemble consisting of a light-skin coloured silk underdress and an elaborate brown and orange, devore velvet robe with kimono sleeves. The velvet has a strong graphic design and is surprisingly modern and streamlined when compared with the earlier, more decorative and elaborate styles for which Lucile is best known. The piece echoes fabrics and cut found in the popular pyjama suit of the time but in the more unusual form of a dress and robe, it underlines social attitudes to dress in the 1920s, the popularity of the pyjama suit and deshabille for entertaining in the home.

This type of deshabille outfit was sold in Lucile's Rose Room. This particular space was found in every Lucile House (in London, Paris, New York and Chicago) and, decorated like a boudoir, it was apparently the most successful area of the dress house for cementing sales. The ensemble is also interesting because the label lists only Lucile's Paris address so we can pinpoint exactly where it was purchased. The Paris branch of Lucile was last seen advertised in January 1934, and presumably dissolved soon afterwards.

In August 1922 Lucile (Lady Duff Gordon) left her businesses, and they were continued under various leaderships without any further input from Lady Duff Gordon. The Paris branch of Lucile was run by her former tailor, Decio Rossi, born in America,who ran the house for a predominantly American clientele from 1923 (The London label was taken over by Jules le Ban; and the American label by Evelyn McHorter). In 1923 the Lucile labels dropped the "Ltd" from their name, which allows this ensemble to be identified both as a Decio Rossi piece, and to definitely date post-1923. (DMC, 13/03/22, with acknowledgement of Randy Bryan Bigham's assistance)

T.1-2010