1950s Martha Boutique Black and Turquoise Beaded Tassel Dress

This luxurious and weighty 1950s black, brown and turquoise evening dress is from the famous Martha Boutique. Martha Phillips founded her high-end Park Avenue boutique in the 1930s and sold the best fashions to the upper echelon of New York and Palm Beach society for decades. She and her daughter went on to open six further shops across the USA. Martha stores became fashion hubs and played host to fashion shows starring designers such as Halston, Valentino, James Galanos and Pauline Trigère. To quote The New York Times, Miss Martha and her daughter were "the doyennes of Haute Couture in America." The last Martha boutique closed in 2003 in Palm Beach.

This decadent dress is couture-crafted from a deep black brown satin silk. It has a classic late 1950s to early 1960s silhouette which is fitted from the bust down and falls to below the knee. The dress is hand-adorned with rows of decadent black glass beaded tassels that cross the body horizontally; they sway and catch the light as the wearer walks. Across the waist is a panel of turquoise satin silk. This fastens at the back with four pretty flat bows. The bust is boned the whole way around which cinches and shapes the body. The straps of this dress are crafted from turquoise satin - it is of a slightly different finish so we believe these may have been added later, though this difference is not noticeable when worn. The dress is lined with black silk and fastens at the back with a hidden tonal zip and hook-and-eye clasp.

This piece is in excellent vintage condition with no flaws of any note. It has no size or composition labels and the fabric has no stretch. It measures a best fit for sizes UK 6-8, US 2-4 and fits our model well who is a UK 6 or US 2 and 5'7" or 170 cm.

MEASUREMENTS

BUST - 32 in. (81 cm)

WAIST - 26 in. (66 cm)

HIP - 36 in. (91 cm)

LENGTH - 42.5 in. (108 cm)