Miniature day ensemble designed by Christian Dior, late 1940s

Miniature day dress and jacket. Fine woollen fabric in grey, subtle tone on tone striations. Jacket lined with grey silk with white polka dots, bow on bodice of dress lined in same.

Dress is sleeveless, mid-calf length. Front of dress cut in two long Princess panels from shoulder to hem, bodice halves extended from top pattern pieces and draped to create a subtle jacket illusion; also, near waist, Princess panels extended further into streamers, faced with polka-dot silk, and tied in a large bow over the bust. This serves to draw together the sides of the bodice and to hold the gentle drapery in position. A triangular gusset is inset into the front of the skirt. The back bodice, which has a normal waist seam, has two soft pleats where normally shaping darts would be, and has two covered buttons at the nape of the neck. Zipper down wearer's right side; centre seam down back bodice and skirt. Three weights in dress - one at centre back of bodice waist, two at either side of skirt, coin shaped and covered in thin cream fabric. Elastic stay along top of neckline which would hold bodice in position over the bust. Moth damage to dress. Hole in side of skirt near hem, and surface damage on back bodice. Strain to waist seam near weight.

Jacket is hip length, simply cut. Sleeves cut in one with main front and back pattern pieces of jacket. Collar and shoulder yoke formed by extending front pattern pieces around neck and creating open-ended bust darts. Sleeve seams also have a double triangular gusset inset into the back sleeve seams, extending entire length of arm, so the garment is not totally two dimensional.

Given by Mr David Sassoon

Given by David Sassoon of Bellville Sassoon Lorcan Mullany, who acquired these from the ready to wear house of Dorville in the early-mid-1970s.

Historical significance: Fascinating example of miniature couture dressmaking from the period.

According to donor, these dresses were bought with the toiles by wholesale companies who copied and adapted these dresses for the ready to wear market. During the post-war fabric shortages, items such as this would have provided a way to show a wholesale-purchaser what the dress looked like without the expense of making a full-size dress with all the attendant usage of fabric. The ready to wear houses and representatives would buy couture models to reproduce and copy.

An early theory was that the dress was intended for the Théâtre de la Mode travelling exhibitions (of 1944 and 1946),but didn't make the final cut. Théâtre de la Mode was intended to show the world that Paris still had mastery over dressmaking and couture, and featured quarter-scale dolls dressed in the very best miniature garments that Paris could procure. A connection is unlikely, as while the dress demonstrates superb couture craftsmanship and perfect miniature scaling, it does not appear it would fit one of the very small-waisted Théâtre de la Mode mannikins, making the theory unpalpable. The Maryland Museum, who own the 1946 Théâtre de la Mode mannikins, have confirmed that these objects are not connected to the Théâtre de la Mode.

What is clear is that they are amazingly well-made, beautifully hand-finished, exact scale models of couture dresses, using the same fabrics as their full size equivalents.

This is a quarter-scale couture reproduction of a late 1940s Christian Dior day ensemble. This dress is shaped with soft pleats and gussets inset into seams, as Dior tried to avoid darts where possible. The bow is cut in one with the bodice and helps hold together the bodice folds. Small weights in the skirt hem helped the garment hold its shape while being worn. The jacket is lined in grey polka dot silk.

These scaled copies use the same fabrics and show the same superb craftsmanship as their full size equivalents. We have four of these miniature dresses which the donor acquired from the archive of the wholesale house of Dorville. Wholesalers would buy the copyrights to couture dresses so that they could sell modified ready-to-wear copies. It is thought that these quarter-scale dresses were sold alongside the patterns to show how the dress looked when made up.

T.18:1, 2-2007