Evening Dress
1970s
Sydney, Australia
By ‘Mona Crawford’
This long evening dress is made of sheer silk organza and machine embroidered with cotton satin thread in an Australian Flannel Flower pattern. It is fully lined in a yellow viscose fabric. The cotton embroidery is 2 dimensional because of the density of the cotton threads. The dress is sleeveless with a back plastic zipper and has a wide sailor style collar.. The yellow velvet ribbon at the waistband and on the hem is not original.
Other information
Mona Crawford was a fashion designer and stylist, born in Sydney in 1909 and died in 1998. She worked for a number of prominent Australian fashion retailors, including Mark Foys and Myer, making frequent buying trips to the United States. In later years Mona ran her own fashion agency, Mona Crawford International, in Sydney.
http://thefashionarchives.org/?pieced_together=jean-brown-archive
Mona Crawford designed the dress for the first Australian winner of Miss International. Tania Verstak wore a yellow dress embroidered with Australian native flowers with each flower representing a state. This was the first time an Australian contestant wore an outfit that symbolized Australia and identified her to her country through fashion. In the past, beauty contestants had worn glamour clothes.
http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/3044/FriendsMar07-Miss-Australia.pdf