As an astute researcher , what was the greatest clue that led you to your momentous discovery of the missing haute couture Givenchy evening dress , and how did you know it to be the actual dress when you set your eyes on it ?
Having researched Givenchy ’ s work for over a decade now , this dress was a bit of a mystery . I couldn ’ t find any images or references to it in my files , which led me to reach out to the Archives . However , once again there was no documentation of this dress in any of the couture collections . This was in itself perhaps the greatest clue that it was something special . There was no doubt in my mind that this was an authentic Givenchy . It had everything I look for to assure me of that – the label , the couture number , the style , the craftsmanship . But the fact that this dress wasn ’ t designed for a couture collection meant that it was most likely designed exclusively for one person . This was something Hubert de Givenchy only really did for important clients , which piqued my interest in the Jacqueline Kennedy connection .
“ As my restoration of the dress came to a close , an image of Lee at the 1961 Red Cross Ball in Monte Carlo was unearthed , and in it she was wearing the dress .”
Jackie herself wore Givenchy originals on a couple of occasions , but as First Lady she often had his designs copied by American-based designer Oleg Cassini , or by New York Boutique Chez Ninon . The dress I had , however , was true haute couture . This led me to look into her sister , Lee Radziwill , who was also a regular client of Givenchy until 1962 . As my restoration of the dress came to a close , an image of Lee at the 1961 Red Cross Ball in Monte Carlo was unearthed , and in it she was wearing the dress . It was such an exciting discovery , because it meant that the story of a Kennedy connection was true . As this image gave me a concrete date for when it was
Photo credit : Henry Wilkinson ; Alamo