Terms and conditions of use
Cocktail dress
1953
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Gina Willison, 2020
- Gallery location
- Level 3, NGV International
About this work
House of Youth was established by Samuel and Dora Stein as a draper, costumier and tailor catering to the general fashion market. The label produced affordable ‘Paris-styled’ wardrobes of day and evening wear, and from 1951 licensed versions of Dior’s New York line, luxury ready-to-wear collections. This dress replicates a ‘Christian Dior-New York’ design made under licence by the House of Youth. During the early 1950s, House of Youth catered to a cautious upper-middle class clientele who shopped for ready-made rather than custom-made clothing. The firm’s director, Philip Stein, promised customers the ‘prestige’ of Dior without any of its ‘extreme’ styles.
Artwork Details
Gift of Gina Willison, 2020