Divine 1955 Maggie Rouff Haute Couture Metallic Gold Silk Brocade Dress w Purple Silk Back Skirt

The woman behind the Maggy Rouff label was Maggy Besançon de Wagner and she started her label in 1928 after working at the Drecoll Haute Couture atelier. After only one season in business the Maggy Rouf label became an official member of the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris. The label continued to produce Haute Couture until 1965. Maggy developed a staunch following for her work and for her gowns in particular. One of the hallmarks of her designs was that each piece had a main focal point. Like the stunning back panel on this dress for example. Draping techniques, as we see around the hip area on this dress, where also a signature element of her work. This is a stunning dress and her Haute Couture examples are rare and becoming increasingly valuable. 

This dress has all the hallmarks of Haute Couture that you want from this era. It is entirely made by hand and the fabrics that were chosen to make it are exceptionally beautiful. Two different fabrics have been combined to make the dress that you see here. The main body of the dress is made from a rich, luxurious silk brocade made from a gold metallic thread woven through on a purple silk. This gives the dress an exotic, royal feel, and the fabric seems to glow from within as it catches the light from every angle. The thread is woven into the silk and not just applied onto it as a print. This gives it a slightly raised texture to it that is beautiful to touch and feel. Maggy chose a fine matte silk satin in a brilliant purple hue to use for the straps that curve up and over each shoulder and for that incredible inset panel at the back. The dress is cut to skim over you and curve in at the waist for shape. It is cut straight across at the neckline and has a panel in a contrasting pattern that is draped across the bust. The waist is curved in and there is a hand draped gathering that runs softly across the front at the hips. This balances out the panel at the bust and helps to highlight and show your curves in that perfect Hollywood starlet feel of this time period. The back is jaw dropping. The straps curve down to a low set back to leave lots of bare skin exposed. It is gathered in at the back waist to create shape. Inset at the low back is a sweeping train of the purple silk satin. This cascades to the floor ad opens and widens out as it nears the hem to create a trained back skirt. At the small of the back a flat bow in the same purple silk is the perfect finishing touch. Inside the dress there is a fully boned and structured bodice along with a waist stay to hold the dress perfectly in place. This dress is an incredible piece of mid-century Haute Couture. Excellent condition.

The inner bodice is boned and set into the inner purple silk lining. This inner bodice layer closes with its own series of snaps and hooks that run down and behind a painted metal zipper that closes the outermost layer of the dress. An inner waist stay hooks to close. The back train is lined in a stiffened netting to help hold the shape and the hem is finished in dressmakers tape. Inner silk lining. The dress is completely made by hand to the Haute Couture standards of the period and is done with remarkable construction technique. There is one tiny area on the inner lining's hem that has a touch of fading, that of course this is not something you would ever see when on. Perhaps the tiniest bit of grubbiness to the trains hem but I am being extremely picky.  Otherwise appears to have been worn very little if at all

Bust: 18" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: 13.5-14" flat across from side seam to side seam
Inner hips: 19" flat across from side seam to side seam
Length: 58" from top of shoulder to front hem, the train extends another 10" ato its longest point at the back

Modern Sizing Equivalent: SML-MED

Item# DD3851

This garment has been professionally cleaned, pressed and is odor free. Thoroughly checked over before shipping, it will be ready to wear upon arrival.