Lady Alexandra Howard-Johnston (later Lady Dacre) was the wife of the Naval Attaché to Paris from 1948-50. She required an extensive wardrobe for the many formal dinners and state functions that she had to attend.

A couture client would attend all the fashion collections, seated in the front row if she were especially important like Lady Alexandra. After the show, she would place her orders with her vendeuse (personal saleswoman). A calico toile would be created, then the final garment, a process involving numerous time-consuming fittings.

Lady Alexandra dressed exclusively at the house of Jacques Fath (1912-54). The designer lent her evening and day dresses each season, aware of the publicity that this would give his house. She recalled : ‘If there was a Fath dress I wanted to keep, I could pay sale price at the end of the season. I was not allowed to go to any other couturier, but I did not want to – Fath was perfection.’

This printed day-dress is secured by a set of intricate fastenings. The swag (stiffened with net) crosses over on the left front; the skirt opens on the left back side and fastens with a series of hooks. Its form-fitting style is typical of Fath, who draped fabric around his models in order to create his designs.