ARCHIVE - 1998 Alexander McQueen for Givenchy Runway Brown Embroidered Dress

This runway documented mini-dress was designed by Alexander McQueen for Givenchy's Spring 1998 presentation. For this collection, McQueen drew inspiration from Japanese gardens and The New York Times went on to describe the “zen-like calm” of the Spring 1998 designs. This sense of serenity surprised the fashion world at a time when McQueen’s bad boy reputation preceded him and marked a changing point in the designer’s oeuvre.

This strapless dress is couture-tailored from a lightweight wool blend with a subtle iridescent finish that ripples between chocolate brown to umber. The bodice contains an internal corset, boned all the way around the body and culminating in a straight neckline. The stand-out detailing of this gown is the embellishment along the sides; a patchwork plumage of intricately detailed, embroidered feathers in tonal orange, brown and black. They seem to creep up the sides of the gown, giving the model on the runway wings. The dress has a slit at the back for ease of movement. The dress is lined in chocolate brown satin. It fastens at the rear of the dress with a hidden tonal brown zip and hook-and-eye clasp. The original label reads “Givenchy Couture - Made in France”.

This dress is in good vintage condition and at first glance presents very well with the embroidery and bodice being in fine condition. Lower sections appear to have suffered a small amount of moth damage in the past or been snagged as there is a small cluster of holes on the front of the left hip and at the rear on the right of the slit. They aren't easy to spot and are not obvious when worn. Whilst Circa usually restores garments back to excellent condition, we have left any restoration, at present, to the new owner as it may be undertaken in conjunction with alterations to fit.

There are no size or composition labels and the fabric has no stretch. We believe that this dress would best fit around a size UK 10-12 or US 6-8 with scope to make smaller.

MEASUREMENTS

BUST - 34 in. (86 cm)

WAIST - 30 in. (76 cm)

HIP - 38 in. (97 cm)

LENGTH - 33 in. (84 cm)