Paco Rabanne Aluminum Dress, ca. 1967
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GUEST:
This dress was, um, originally owned by my mother-in-law. Mm-hmm. And I don't know if she purchased it in the '60s, but it's probably somewhere '60s, '70s, when she acquired it.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And she wore it...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUESS: ...with a, a leather dress underneath.
APPRAISER:
Oh, wow.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
That's interesting, that she wore it over a dress.
GUEST:
She did, yep, yep. Okay. It's a little revealing, so... (laughs)
APPRAISER:
Well...
GUEST:
Otherwise.
APPRAISER:
Yeah. So, this is a Paco Rabanne dress, made in France at the end of the '60s, when the space race was sort of propelling fashion, and they were looking for different fabrics and textiles and metals to incorporate into the clothing design. And the squares are made from aluminum, so that it's light enough to wear, held together by all of these small chain links.
GUEST:
Yep.
APPRAISER:
Most people wore this without a leather dress underneath.
(both laugh)
APPRAISER:
Some of these squares have these round dots on, decorative dots, in the front, and they do follow all the way around at the hipline and all the way down. Again, they repeat the pattern up and down over the shoulders. And as you can see the mannequin right through it...
GUEST:
Yep.
APPRAISER:
...it could be quite revealing. At the center back, where, on a fabric dress, you would have a zipper down the middle, in this one, the closure is these large hooks, which are like a, a jewelry or a necklace closure used to get in and out of the dress easily. And it's, it's just in wonderful condition. If I could find one of these, I'd be so happy. (laughs) And I would put a retail value on this dress of $12,000 to $15,000.
GUEST:
Okay, okay, wow.
APPRAISER:
And it's just fabulous. (laughs)
GUEST:
Wow, it is fabulous. Yeah. I wish it fit me. (both laugh)
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