Sleeveless evening dress of satin crêpe, designed and made by Farquharson & Wheelock, New York, 1928

Sleeveless evening dress of heavy white satin crêpe. Straight cut and machine-pleated from neck to hem. With self-fabric piping round the neck and armholes, and an interior canvas waist stay to hold dress in place at the hips.

This dress was worn by Miss Emilie Grigsby (1876-1964) who was a wealthy independent American who came to England from New York. She established a salon which was frequented by writers and the military. She was considered to be one of the great international beauties, with extremely pale, almost transparent skin and golden hair. She was frequently the subject of articles in the New York Times during the early 20th century. Her clothes were purchased from couturiers in London, Paris, and New York, and demonstrated an elegantly avant-garde approach to style.

An identical model of the dress in turquoise blue crepe was acquired for the Textiles & Fashion collection at the same time as this dress was given to Circulation. The number of the blue dress is T.145-1967.

CIRC.330-1968