What:
Black Day or Cocktail Dress
Design label: "Samuel Winston by Charles James"
Store label: "Julius Garfinckel & Co. Washington"

Where:
699 or 716 Madison Avenue, New York, sold in Washington, D.C.

When:
ca. 1952-1954, the years Charles James Services was under contract with the manufacturer Samuel Winston

Who:
Unknown wearer

How:
Black silk faille dress with a black faceted plastic button at the back bodice. Although the waist level is normal at the side seams, it curves upward at the center front and back. The front bodice has three parts: a sleeve gusset, interfaced in black silk organza; a curved lower bodice piece that extends to the front sleeve, also faced in organza; and an upper bodice piece, interfaced in black plain weave cotton. This last piece is folded over to create the inner facing, darted three times at the front. The upper piece, in addition to covering most of the front and back sleeve, also extends backward at the neck, to create a small stand-up collar. In the back this piece, along with a large triangular gusset at the neckline, covers the back bodice. The sleeves are tucked at the elbow on the top and bottom parts of the sleeve. The front skirt is in two parts: a piece with a diagonal dart for the hips and a triangular gusset touching the center front and waist line. The back skirt is twice as wide at the hem than the front and is in four parts: a side princess panel curving towards the side seam to meet the dart of the front piece; a center princess panel curving to meet the dart on one side while echoing the same curve to end at the waist seam on the other; and a narrow piece at the center back. Each piece of the skirt is interfaced with stiff black bobbinet tulle and a Petersham ribbon is attached at the waist. The dress closes at center back with a zipper and with three sets of hooks and thread bars: one at the upper neckline, one below the button, and one midway between those two points.

Credit:
Collection of the Goldstein Museum of Design, University of Minnesota
Gift of Marcia Jane McCabe
C2001.070.001


For more information on the collection of the Goldstein Museum of Design,
log on to goldstein.che.umn.edu