Mid-calf-length dress, cut at the waistline

Mid-calf-length dress, cut at the waistline. The jewel-neck bodice fastens down the left front with self-fabric buttons. The back, cut in one piece, prolongs the shoulder line to form a bow at the front. The sleeves, reinforced with shoulder pads, are long and narrow at the cuff. The skirt has no side seams. It hugs the body with darts at the sides and gathering at the front, in horizontal lines that become a decorative motif.

Cristóbal Balenciaga gave this dress as a present to his cousin Vicenta Eizaguirre for her wedding day. Structurally, it is a typical dress of the thirties, where a precise cut recovers the features of femininity, forgotten in the twenties. However, the singularity of this dress comes from the blue colour chosen by Balenciaga: a totally novel colour, taking into account that white and black were the sole colours used in wedding gowns. The dress is completed with a mantilla, an essential element in more traditional wedding dresses.