Monday, April 11, 2011

The Daily Dress: Giambattista Valli Floral Silk

Oh, readers. Have you ever seen such loveliness? I was poking around the interwebs, looking for a modern-day kimono sleeve to show you to go along with today's Style Dictionary post. I saw this Giambattista Valli number, and well, it was love at first Google Image result.

The description calls this a kimono sleeve dress, though it has more of a "batwing" shape than we're used to seeing in vintage dresses and patterns. However, this dress has vintage flair written all over it. The tapered skirt, the lovely floral, the matching belt!
I especially like the way the gathered bodice transitions to the sleek wiggle skirt.
Can't you just see Mrs. Harris wearing something like this? It hearkens back a bit to her Season One wardrobe. A classic!

26 comments:

  1. do so appreciate the new series. this dress is a stunner. vintage patterns were a wealth of information for the home sewer, they provided style lessons and a means to achieve them. love the covered belt!

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  2. Oh my my. Now that is one glorious dress!

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  3. To take it up a level of nerdyness;
    I don't know if they did it on purpose, but the way the fabric is made is also a very common way for a old stye real kimono to be made. One that was ment to be used around the house.
    The dye is appied before the weaving which make the patterna bit uneven, just like you can see in the little closeup.
    http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list3/193334/

    (I collect and wear kimono the traditional way regulary)

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  4. I love this lots. The fabric & the style.

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  5. ohhhhh....that is incredibly lovely!

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  6. That dress is just fabulous! The belt is just the icing on the cake. :]

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  7. Beautiful dress! This dress does have great lines and symmetry. The pattern used on this one adds to its elegance. The pattern is busy but the white space on the skirt area adds enough distance between the busy top and the bottom to tone it down. I like the sleeves: they give the shoulders a broadness but not fake looking like shoulder pads.

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  8. Quite possibly my favorite of your TDD series thus far! The print is stunning, not to mention the silhouette is one of my favorites. :)

    ♥ Casey

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  9. It is gorgeous! Truly, artistic I think! I adore the belt! Sigh. It also looks like it could be terribly comfortable. Now that is such an added bonus!

    xoxo,
    Sunni

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  10. @Yukiko
    The listing for the dress calls it a silk print, so I am guessing that it is a fake ikat-dyed effect. It is beautifully done, though. I think that if it were really a painted warp, it would have to be a double ikat to avoid little dots of the weft color showing in the flower pattern. But then, a double ikat would likely show some staggering of the flower colors horizontally along the weft threads.

    Well, that's my unprofessional opinion, at any rate. Hope I don't seem too obnoxious with my speculation. I just *love* trying to figure out the technique behind gorgeous objects.

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  11. I so look forward to your daily dress posts! I love this silk...gorgeous!

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  12. Oh, with matching fushia lipstick and a sweeping updo. *drool*

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  13. This dress is beautiful. The fabric is stunning.

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  14. What an absolutely gorgeous dress!

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  15. I want this dress soooo badly. It's lovely!

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  16. I saw the shift dress in this fabric in the flesh in Flannels in Leeds last summer. It was fabulous, very simple shape but perfect for the print, and the weight and texture of the fabric looked stunning. There was no way I was going to spend that sort of money on an occasion dress so I rushed off to buy some silk twill to make my own version. Alas this is still in the to do pile.

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  17. This dress is AMAZING. Pattern? Tutorial? Pleeeaaaase?

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  18. That is extraordinarily drool-inducing! Wow...

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  19. Can you make this dress and show us all how to do it? Seriously. Because this is amazing.
    I feel it would look good on lots of body types.
    My only concern is this (and I hope I don't sound completely silly but...) what is the range of motion you can get while wearing this? Specifically in your arms. What I mean is- can you move your arms?

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  20. Beautiful dress.

    What do you call that kind of a print? A reverse ombre pint? I usually like garments that are blank on top and become more densely populated on the bottom.

    Is there a proper name for this kind of fabric print?

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Thanks for your comments; I read each and every one! xo Gertie

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