Spring 2000 Hanae Mori Haute Couture Forest & Butterfly Print Silk Chiffon Dress & Silk Huge Scarf

This is a rare example of Hanae Mori Haute Couture from the Spring 2000 collection. This dress is an especially  interesting couture example because it illustrates how couture pieces are made specifically for the client when they are produced and are not always an exact copy of what was shown on the runway. The dress itself is a sleeveless version of Look 7 from the Spring 2000 runway but the print on the silk was shown in the Fall 1990 Haute Couture collection. I have included a reference photo of both of those for you. I love the idea that the client had this dress made but somehow saw or remembered the print from a full ten years before this and asked to have it made in that earlier print. It just shows how much love and care goes into couture and how it is truly made for each individual client. Hanae was the first woman of Japanese descent to have presented on the Paris and New York Runways and the first Asian woman to be admitted as an official Haute Couture house to La Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. Haute Couture examples by her are a rare find and this one is exceptionally beautiful. With its level of customization it is most certainly the only one that would have ever been made. 

The dress is entirely made by hand and is stunning. It is suspended from the shoulder by two tiny silk straps. These curve over your shoulders and meet the peaked bodice at the front and the dropped edge at the back. The bodice is hand draped to create soft folds that follow the curving angle of the panels. I love how she has mixed two shades of silvery greys there. The front is set in high peaks above the breasts and it dips at the front into a V. It then curves around the back to leave the upper back exposed. The silk hugs in and around the lower back. The skirt is set into that structured bodice giving it a touch of an empire feel. It has one of her custom designed prints screened onto feather light silk layers on both the exterior layer and on the inner dress. The print is a beautiful forested mountain scene that is done in grey-scale. This runs from the hem to to about the hips all around the dress. In the ivory above the forest print you see her signature butterflies floating on the imagined air currents. Some of the butterflies are almost ghostly in the way that they are printed onto the silk and they are incredibly beautiful. The scene is printed on both the silk chiffon top layer and the silk twill inner layer. This allows the two prints on each layer to be slightly offset as they float over each other giving the print an extra dimension of depth. Doing this layered technique is one of her signatures. By using a slightly transparent silk chiffon for the top layer she also builds in that sense of lightness that the dress has. The skirt widens out as it nears the hem as the front and has a softness to it as the chiffon floats over the inner layer. At the back it is cut longer then the front and flows down and past the ground beautifully. The movement and drama this creates is extraordinary. This dress came with a huge single layer silk chiffon shawl that has that same forest and butterfly print screened onto it. It is so large that it creates a caped effect if you decide to wear it simple draped over the shoulders. You could wrap and style it many different ways for different styling effects. It just adds to the air floating feel the dress has and it is wonderful to have this little extra bit of romance. The dress is a stunning example of her work and beautifully made. Finding her true couture pieces is rare. This would even make a beautiful wedding dress for someone looking for something non-traditional. Excellent condition

Fully lined in a hand set cream silk. It has a fully built in inner boned bodice that closes with its own independent zipper. A second hidden set zipper closes the exterior. The top silk chiffon layer of the skirt hides the zipper below it and closes over the zipper with her signature teeny tiny fabric covered snaps. An inner waist stay hooks to close. Hand finished throughout to Haute Couture standards. The proper Haute Couture label is present and it has its hand written couture tape underneath marked #C 1109 5.4.2000. There is the very faintest of tiny marks to the silk just below the waist line. Perhaps the tiniest of pulls to the fabric here and there and a small bit of scuffing to the inner lining of the train. Please see the photo after the label shot for the exterior mark noted here. All minor and other wise is appears to have been worn very little if at all unworn.

Bust: 18" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: 14.5" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: to 20.5" flat across from side seam to side seam
Bodice: 15.5" from top of bodice to waist
Skirt: 44" from waist to shortest point of front hem, 59" to the back hem
Shawl: 36" x 124"

Modern Sizing Equivalent: MED-LRG

Item# DD3020

Reference Photo: (1) Hanae Mori F/W 1990 Haute Couture Collection.  /  (2) Hanae Mori S/S 2000 Haute Couture Collection. (3-4) Cherie, Owner of Shrimpton Couture, by Erin Leydon. Cherie is wearing a Magnetic Midnight X Shrimpton Couture 'Shooting Stars' Headpiece - available on the site here >

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