Calais Lace Cocktail Dress By Germaine Lecomte Haute Couture - Paris Circa 1950

Circa 1950 France Masterful cocktail or dinner dress in black Calais lace known as Chantilly and dating from the end of the 1940s, inspired by the New-look period of Christian Dior in France. Dress with a frock coat cut, three-quarter kimono sleeves with turned-up elbows, collar with turned-down panels opening onto a fitted waist and hooked at the waist. "Corolla" skirt with conical panels extending over more than 180°. The rigid tulle structure is lined on the top with black Calais lace whose patterns recall the imperial taste of the Second French Empire. Woven label in cream silk with black lettering soberly indicating Germaine Lecomte. No defects to note. Underdress to be expected. Very good condition in terms of color and conservation. Dimensions: Equivalent to size 38-39 France. Height 121 cm, Shoulders 38 cm, Sleeves 32 cm, Chest 91 cm, Waist 70 cm, Hips 120 cm, Circumference at the bottom of the skirt 381 cm. Germaine Lecomte (1889-1966) was a member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture française, less well-known than her competitors of the time such as Nina Ricci, Patou, Chanel, Vionnet or Schiaparelli. Despite the crisis of the 1930s and the Second World War, her reputation crossed the Atlantic and her creations were admired during the fashion shows. The Germaine Lecomte house rivaled the greatest houses of this period. In 1942, she established herself at 9 avenue Matignon in Paris. A "sculptor" of fashion, she dressed women of the upper middle class and nobility as well as movie stars during these periods of the Roaring Twenties and occupation. After the Second World War, she renewed her business relationships throughout Europe, with the United States, Latin America, Egypt, Lebanon, etc. and created a subsidiary in Lausanne, Switzerland. She worked for many celebrities of the time, for the cinema, for the courts of all Europe, and to couture, she added perfumes: "amour sorcier", "soir de fête". With her companion, the painter René Durey (1890-1959), she was at the heart of the artistic and social life of all of Paris, and also present at the Cannes Film Festival in 1947. The Germaine Lecomte fashion house closed its doors in 1957.